New Jammies...

I've been a bad blogger. I have been really busy, but haven'tt had my camera with me...took some pictures of Jack in his new monkey jammies last night. He got them on Saturday and told me he is going to wear them every night...and he has so far.

The Challenge of Me...

I think my calendar is off on my blog...it has not been publishing like it should be...sorry that there was no blog on Thursday...I am sure you were all very bummed out not knowing what was going on in my life!!

I signed up for an online class, at Big Picture Scrapbooking, called "The Challenge of Me." We are to create layouts and do journaling that tells different stories about ourselves. If you remember, I decided to write 40 stories about me before I turn 40, in March. I thought this would be a great way to force me to write those stories, considering I have only written two. The class is 4 weeks and each week we focus on a different category. We are also given a challenge list, which the instructor wants us to try with our LO. One item on the challenge was to use a shape paper - which I did with this layout. If you look closely, I also painted on my paper for the first time. It looks pretty gloppy in the picture, but not so bad in real life. I also sewed the words, "my life" with the Bazzill In-Stitch kit. I really like painting and stitching...I am sure you will see more!!

The class began today and we were to make the section page for this week's topic, which is "Me." So, this is my divider page. It is an 8x8 page as is my entire album. Which is good - I am to make six layouts, that tell a story about me, by next week...wish me luck!!

Storm Damage...

A week ago, we had a terrific storm come through in the middle of the night. It was very noisy with lots of rain and straight-line winds. Lots of people around town lost trees limbs and swing sets!! Thankfully, everything that happened at our house was easily repaired!!

This is a shot of our deck. The chair on the right usually is tucked to the left of the grill. Notice the grill has no cover! The geranium on the left blew over...that is the debris on the lower deck.

This is the rest of our deck. The chair on the left (which should be by the grill) caught the grill cover against the other patio furniture. (phew - from Jason.)

This was the hardest for me...one of my big pots of geraniums blew into my flower bed (unless the mafia bunnies pushed it over.) Don't those "bunny fences" just give the right touch to my beds!! I am about to give up, take down the fences and let them be munched away!!

This is what the pot looked like after I hauled it up back to its proper place. Smashed, broken and flat!

This shows how flat the flowers are..

The other pot looks pretty good. I am just guessing, but I think the winds came from the right...

First Official Pool Day...

Yesterday we finally got out our pool. The boys have been waiting for "years!" I started filling it up around 9:00 am...it didn't take long for them to be out there!

Sam had to get the last few blades of grass out. Jack adjusted his goggles and then the party started!

Splashy cannonballs...

and slam dunks.

The boys were outside for three hours. Then off to swimming lessons in the afternoon. When we got back from swim lessons, they headed out for another two hours of swimming. I think (and hope) that they will sleep well!

A Good Day...

My parents came over last night for a little Father's Day celebrations...

The boys with my dad.

Then we went outside to play a little bean bag toss. Jas got the game from the boys for Father's Day. We gave it to him in the am and headed out right away with our neighbors for three quick games...then we played again with my parents tonight. How sad is it that my right arm is sore and so is my right side...I really need to start to work out again!!

When we headed inside, Sam said that he was addicted to bean bag toss. At bedtime he told me, "Mom, today was a good day." I agree with him...

3,2,1, BLAST OFF...

Last year we bought the boys a rocket launcher. It was the best purchase...the boys spend loads of time shooting off the rockets this way and that way during the summer.

First you must load your rocket...

Then jump on the "launch pad' as hard as you can (the boys like to launch themselves off the deck!)

Sam loves this picture because you can see the rocket actually leaving the launcher! (I think if you purse your lips together real tight, it will help with your jumping and launching technique.)

Survivors...

A picture of two surviors from my flower bed!

I took these pictures earlier this week...I will post some pictures of the flowers after those storms last night! 70-80mph are not nice on flowers (or my sleep!) One of my huge geranium pots was blown right into my flower bed. (actually, it was probably 10 little mafia bunnies pushing it into the flower bed.) It's not pretty...

Fighting Rabbits...

I went outside to look at my flowers and thought I would share with you how beautiful my flower beds are...due to those stinking rabbits!!! When I first planted the flowers, I put green wire fencing around the entire bed. Then a baby rabbit, see here, squeezed itself between the little wire squares and CHOWED my flowers. So, part 2...I wrapped the individual flowers that were pleasing to the rabbit's palette, with smaller green wire. So beautiful...

A closer shot of the wrap and double wrap...

Part 3: The little furry friends then JUMPED DOWN INTO the beds. So now I have chicken wire lining the back of the beds. It is such a beautiful sight and sure to add value to the house. The good news, my flowers haven't been chewed on for a while...bad news, it looks like a chicken coop in the backyard!

Sniff...

We have finally reached the point where the house is on the market. It is bitter sweet...sad, because we were not looking to move and we really love where we live, excited because we found a great place that we would like to live. The entire family, except for jack, is having a little trouble with that sign in our yard.