cows.

We can't make a trip back to Grandma and Grandpa's without visiting Grandpa's cows...



Lawson thought they were too loud.
We were guessing that they thought the same thing about him.



Grandpa gave us a closer look at one of the new babies.


While Lawson rode all comfy in the front seat with Daddy and Grandpa...
Mommy, Sophie and Grandma were all squished back here...


But... Grandpa didn't get stuck in the mud this time! :)

canoe trip.

Last weekend we drove back to go for a little canoe trip with my parents.

Lawson loved the sparkly water!

It was pretty chilly waiting on the dock.

Lawson's turn!

Poor Miss Marley just had to watch from the shore.

Watching the waves roll up to her feet...

The last time we went was in 2006. Look how little...

One of my favorite pictures of my guys...

On this trip, whoever was sitting with Lawson couldn't row. You had to hang on just to keep him inside the boat. He was very adventurous in his little shark lifejacket.

Beautiful Kansas sunset...

garage game.

While I am inside, snuggled up, trying to fight off a nasty cold, I can hear these sounds coming from the garage:

* The world's best daddy... watching the K-State game... whooping and hollering... playing a loud and very energetic game of "football" with our kids.

* Sophie and Lawson shrieking and laughing as they try and catch Daddy with the football.

* TOUCHDOWN! (they are all 3 yelling in at random times)

* Marley barking and leaping on her leash... just dying to get in on the action.


Love this little family of mine.

my two favorite guys.

Oh, how this little man loves his daddy.

I know how he feels.

curly.

For those who think I am exagerrating about the extent of my natural curl...





See why this was such a big change for me?
See why it would take so much work every day?
See why I hate rainy, humid weather?

I could never live in Seattle.

someone is 6.

Every day, you make me smile.
Every day, you make me glad to be a mother.
Every day, you make a memory I'll never want to forget.
Every day, I'm more thankful than the day before that you are my little girl.
Every day, I smell your hair and touch your skin and wonder how I ever lived my life without you.
Every day.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl.

I'll love you forever.

breakfast in bed.

So it doesn't quite compare to my Dad's homemade omelets that we always got on birthdays and special occasions...



But McDonalds made a very nice breakfast for that sweet hubby of mine.


Someone was in bed singing (loudly) at 9:55 pm, so he didn't join us right away...
"He's got the strong muscles... in His hands."


How many days until Sophie's birthday?!


We love you!

happy birthday, corey!

Happy Birthday to my favorite guy!



You are the best daddy.


You are a wonderful husband.


We are all so lucky to have you.
You are funny and sweet and kind and helpful.
You are such a hard worker.
And you are just as handsome as you were when I first met you.
14 years ago.
At Kwik Shop.

Happy Birthday baby.
I love you.

she runs.

Look at those ears flop around.




Don't worry... he got up smiling.


See?

fence.

Our yard if fully fenced now.
We debated over whether or not to save a few hundred dollars and just have Troy do the fence posts and bring all the supplies, while we put it all up ourselves.
I am so glad we spent the extra money.
Troy had all this done in 2 days...


How many people have neighbors like this?

When we were deciding with Craig and Amy what we wanted down the middle, we all said that we hated to do 6 foot cedar the whole way and not be able to talk over the fence anymore. But neither of us could afford to do 6 foot wrought iron the whole way. The panel in the middle was our solution. (This one is temporary... the 6 foot is on order, so Troy gave us this 5 foot one to use for now. The real thing will be even with the top of the cedar.)



Corey made the white gate... isn't he handy?!

We are loving it, the kids are loving it and Miss Marley is really loving it!

days off.

No school on Thursday or Friday...



Thursday:

* took Lawson to pre-school
* Sophie to Jessi's
* spent the rest of the day shopping and having fun with my mom!
* realized that evening that I totally spaced on ballet. Oops. Luckily, Sophie didn't realize anything and I am not about to point it out to her!

Friday:

* Corey up and around early to head to the farm and meet his new cows that are being delivered from Tulsa this morning
* kids and I sleep late
* they will spend the day at Jessi's (celebrating 2 birthdays!)
* I will spend the day working on the 17 things on my to-do-list

This was the plan, anyway.


What actually happened...

* Corey up and around early to head to the farm and meet his new cows that are being delivered from Tulsa this morning
* kids and I sleep late
* heading out the door to Jessi's, I realize... my keys... are in my mother's van. Crap.
* call Corey (who has the only extra key to my car). He is already halfway to the farm and agrees to turn around and bring me keys, but with a loving little warning that if he misses the "cow guy" he is not going to be happy. Crap.
* call Jessi (because the kids are obviously not going to be there on time) and do some brainstorming/thinking out loud with her (and some laughing about the whole situation, because really, you just have to laugh)
* hang up with Jessi and wait for her to call back
* run to the car and try the key that I found, even though I'm sure it's a key to Corey's truck. Crap, it is.
* Jessi calls back.
* call Corey and tell him to turn around and head back towards the farm (actually, it was more convince him to go back towards the farm... see how much he loves me?)
* Feed kids breakfast (since they have missed breakfast at Jessi's)
* wait on "NeNa" (Jessi's mom and our neighbor) to stop by after dropping Lilly (Jessi's daughter) off at pre-school.
* say good-bye and wave as NeNa delivers my children to daycare. (love her. thank you, thank you!) (fyi: on any other day, this wouldn't have been a big deal, I would have just kept the kids here and not sent them to Jessi's. But... one of the birthdays they are celebrating today is Sophie's. She kind of wants to be there for that.)
* blog about this so in 5 years I will be able to remember this day and laugh about it
* now I am going to enjoy a bowl of Trix, a big mug of hot chocolate, look at my long list of things to do today and figure out a way to do some of them without a vehicle.
* and figure out a way to get my kids home from daycare at 4:30.

It's gonna be a busy day. :)

10.5 hours...

is how long I slept last night.

Went to bed at 9:30, shortly after the kids.
Woke up at 8:00 this morning.

I told you I was exhausted.

apple day.

So my theory about having at least 3 more delightful days this year... Apple Day, Kansas Day and 100's Day... didn't work out so well.
Today was Apple Day.

I am exhausted.
I took ibprofen two times at school.
I'm staying home from our small group tonight to rest my throbbing head.
(and to put a very tired kindergartener to bed early. All day K started this week. We left school at 3:15 today, came home and I put her straight in bed. She was asleep by 3:30. )


But... we have NO SCHOOL Thursday or Friday!
Yahoo!

i can't be the only one...

who saw this van driving down the highway and immediately thought of that Chevy Chase movie with the dead grandma strapped to the back of their car...

Surely I'm not the only one!