"Cool Treat".....,

and lots of grins! These should bring a smile to anyone's face this night. Happy children make a happy home.

"Who needs toys or paper for that matter...."

When you have paint??  This is what memories are made of.

"My little fish"!

Swimming has clicked this summer!  He has come lightyears from last year. He is doing fantastic and loving every minute of it. Swimming lessons further solidified what we thought he was very close to. Knowing how far he has come since last year makes me so happy, and I am so proud of him for pushing through fear and anxiety. I couldn't believe it when I saw him on the diving board, "hamming it up", and begging his teacher to let him jump. He all of a sudden, "found his confidence" (as he calls it), and was literally begging her to let him jump. By the last day, she had him jump and swim the length of the pool. He was exhausted when he reached the steps, but he did it. As he gets older and more adjusted, his stamina will increase...., but for now, I am thrilled that he is truly swimming! He has no shortage of pools in our community, so I know he will get plenty of practice this summer.

Learning about water safety 

This picture just makes me smile! 

"A bug's life....."

So recently, this little guy came to visit our family...., although, he wasn't so little.  He planted himself high on our window and we were able to watch him daily. He rarely moved, if ever, from his position on the window. Elijah Brooks enjoyed waking up each day and running to the window to see if he was still there. He remained on the window about 5 days - not really sure what he was doing all of that time, but clearly was enjoying some "R&R". One warm afternoon last week, I had left the backdoor open and the kids were going in and out of the house and I was in the laundry room washing clothes.  I heard the pitter-patter of little feet heading my way and these words, "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh" over and over again. I turned around and saw my adorable little daughter with a tightly clinched fist that was waving in the air side to side, continuing to say "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh". As she was waving her tightly clinched fist in the air, I could see lime green coming out from her fist. I knew exactly what she had in her hand, although I didn't know the prognosis of this lime green creature. My reaction startled myself, and her, and for some reason I started screaming like a crazy woman...., all the while, she stood there looking at me rather strangely, wondering why her mommy had gone mad. It is funny to me now as I think back to my reaction - I still have no idea why I reacted like that, but it makes me laugh now. I guess I was expecting her to put it in her mouth, which was probably the next step anyway. I had no idea if the poor thing was dead or alive, so I just screamed, "put it down"......, and all at once, her little fist opened and our "house guest" fell to the floor in my laundry room......, and didn't move. In silence, she stood there staring at it and I stood there staring at it, and then her (still shocked that she had brought him inside), and then she said in the saddest little voice, "awwwww". I gained my composure and in the meantime, Elijah Brooks heard the commotion and came running in to see what was wrong. He stopped dead in his tracks and went, "Oh, this isn't good". To make a long story short, EB wanted to give him a proper goodbye, so he is buried in our backyard near the fence.  I truly doubt that Ellison actually killed him...., but the way she was waving her arms around in the air, it's possible. My guess is that he died of natural causes and she brought the dead creature inside to show me - don't think she would have been able to catch him.  But with her, anything is possible!  I have since then fished out a fly and a beetle from her mouth...., what am I going to do with her??

pictures really don't show how big he really was 

   

And yes, this picture actually makes me tear up! 

"VBS fun with Cousins"....

I grew up going to VBS with my cousin and have such wonderful memories of doing that with her. I was thrilled that Wyatt and Bradford were able to spend the week with us a few weeks ago and attend our VBS "Sports Camp".  It was a fabulous, and fabulously busy week!!  We spent the mornings at the church, and the afternoons in the pool, the sprinklers, at the movies, at the Planatarium, or at our house. It was wildly fun and wildly exhausting!  But such fun memories were made, and we miss them already so much.  Bradford had to leave a few days early because she had to have her tonsils out, so we were all sad to see her leave. I hope that we can keep this tradition alive in our family of the kids going to VBS together each summer.  Here are a few pictures from our week.

Wyatt (7 1/2), EB (4 1/2), Ellison (1 1/2), and Bradford (4 3/4)

Such silly kids! 

This was her participation in VBS - walking barefoot in the grass watching the kids play! 

His love of watermelon came honestly - he and I both could eat the entire thing in one sitting.  

Beautiful Bradford

Her interpretation of a dinosaur

The girls loving each other

Story time before bed

The boys making "chocolate soup" one afternoon.  Elliot would have been so proud of me. I turned them completely loose in the back yard and let them put whatever in the world they wanted to in this "soup".  It was truly the nastiest bucket of stuff I have ever seen - and smelled horrible by the next morning.  But I loved every second of watching them laugh, run around gathering stuff to put into their concoction. The whole thing started when I was telling Wyatt that his mommy and I used to make up gross recipes in our mom's blender and dare each other to drink them!  He thought it was hilarious and so he and EB decided they wanted to do it - I made them do it outside! 

Digging for something to add to the "soup" 

And of course, you can't have chocolate soup without some chocolate syrup! I think the boys thought I had lost my mind. I said yes to everything they asked....., which very rarely happens - okay, maybe has never happened.  But, it was such a fun memory and you have never seen 2 happier little boys. 

Slip n' sliding at Bebe and E-daddy's house

My favorite summertime flower - and my mom's yard is full of them

What a wonderful week full of memories!  And Bradford, we missed you SOOOOOO much the last 2 days. 

"Mini me...."

Jay took Elijah Brooks to a music "coffeehouse" at our church tonight to spend some special time with him. While I was bathing the kids, Jay was getting dressed in the other room. I had already chosen EB's clothes to wear tonight having not seen Jay's choice of outfit. Much to everyone's surprise, they walked out of their rooms and looked like this.....!!!

Ellison walked over and struck her pose literally as I was snapping the picture.  Speaking of  "mini me", I wish I had a side by side picture of me at this age to compare with Ellison - she looks identical to me at this age in this particular picture!