recently

I have been so bad about blogging! Just can't seem to keep up and it's driving me crazy. Here are a few photos from lately.

Parker's tongue depressor immigrant doll he made for school. He could have chosen to make a doll dressed from a country of his heritage, but England and France don't have the most interesting costumes. Neal's family comes from pretty much the same places mine does (with maybe some Austrians thrown in). Audrey did a Scottish doll when she was in Mrs. Smith's class, so we wanted to branch out. Parker chose to make an Argentine gaucho, since his daddy served his mission in Argentina. My favorite part is the mustache.

We got together with some friends to make missionary care packages and to play Beatles' Rock Band. So much fun. Here are Parker and Miles with some of their friends. I think Audrey must have been playing the drums during this song.

Miles completed his season on the Padres and we had a fun party to celebrate.

Neal's office recently moved locations (hallelujah). They had an open house for all of the dentists around, their staffs, and me.

Fridays

Fridays are great around here. Neal's office closes at 12:30, so Miles and I usually meet Neal for lunch, or he brings lunch home to us. Then when the big kids get home, we do things like replant our front yard, which we are in the process of rehauling.

It's going to take a while, but step one: Elephant Ears.

Miles loves Fluffy Doggie.

today . . .

It was 84 degrees here today, we went to the zoo!

S'mores at home

We made s'mores in the fireplace last night.

Excuse the messy kitchen!

4:44 pm

I really can't think of a single interesting thing to blog about, so I'm doing one of those "capture the moment" posts. This is what everyone was doing at 4:44 today.

Today was the last day of school (for most of you, too, probably), and we are pretty relaxed. Our shopping and wrapping is done, Primary is coming along nicely, and I have just finished addressing the last of our Christmas cards. I had run out of envelopes and finally got more today. So out go the last four cards. I'm thinking about either making pancakes for dinner or ordering pizza.

It's only 49 degrees outside, but no one seems to mind.

Parker and his friend, William, are playing catch. 

Neal is mowing the lawn for the last time before winter. 

 Miles is running bases in his own little baseball game. The fence corner is third base.

Trooper and Audrey, bonding on the trampoline.

snooping on the kids

It's friday!

We made it through the first week of school. This weekend, we hope to relax a little bit, get some yardwork done and spend time with friends. Here are Audrey and Trooper, excited about life!

Off they went!

First day of school, 2010

sno cone time

Gotta love the new "spill stoppers" for 2010.

stormy sky

We take a walk most evenings, down our street to the end, then turn around and come back. We're trying to wear out the puppy, but we have a nice time, too. Sunday night, the sky was just fascinating. We never got a drop of rain out of it, unfortunately, but it was pretty nonetheless.

We couldn't get over this cloud. It was positively BLUE. I hadn't ever seen a blue cloud, we guessed that it was somehow using the setting sunlight to reflect the blue sky to the west. Anyway, it was hard to take your eyes off of it. Miles said, "It's like we're on another planet!" And then we talked about imaginary planets all the way home.

Surprise, It's Pa!

My dad called today from the airport asking if we could pick him up! We were so excited, jetted over to get him, and had seven fun hours until his flight took off. Thanks for coming, Pa!

blueberry progression

Also exciting: peaches

Toy Story 3

So maybe we counted down the days until last Friday when Toy Story 3 was released in the theaters. And maybe we got there an hour early so we could get good seats.

It was worth it. And how great are those mini 3-D glasses!

buds

I love the summer. We can just hang out with friends, no pressure, no time constraints! We've had fun with our buds this week, and it's not even half over yet.

Callie and Cater stopped by at our house, the half way point between their old house and their new one in Amarillo. We already need to plan the next time we hang out; they're such great kids. And their parents aren't bad either!

Miles and his best friend, Simon, at the museum in Fort Worth on Tuesday. These guys never get tired of each other, it's so cute.

town fair

We had a good, sweaty time at our little town fair on Friday night. Obliged the kids with a few rides and ended the evening with a funnel cake. Life is good!

thursday night

These last few weeks before school gets out are always crazy, filled with activities that are just too fun to pass up. So we spend a lot of time running around! Miles and I had a relaxing morning though: took care of my speeding ticket at court, returned some library books, checked out a new candy store. But once the kids got home, it was pretty much nonstop action.

Audrey's aboriginal dot painting of a dingo was in the school district's art show, so she and I went over to City Hall to see it.

Meanwhile, Parker had his last in-season baseball game with the Yankees, or, as Miles thought we were saying for a few weeks, "the slinkies". He got two hits and played catcher, "pitcher", and left field.

And when we got home, we gave the puppy a bath. Why are wet dogs so funny-looking? The kids were cracking up.

man on first and second

When we were kids, my brother Matthew would often stage one or two person baseball games in our backyard. I seem to remember him being the batter most of the time, and the designated sibling would be the fielder. He'd always envision an entire team out there with us, and call out who was on what base and how many runs were batted in as he whacked the whiffle ball all around the yard. Sometimes the whole family would get in on the action, and we really would have a full-fledged game.

Those were the days.

Well, Happy Birthday to Matthew today! Surely he's staging the same kind of game for his own little boys these days.

We've been playing lots of ball lately, too. Parker has gone back to batting right (he started out the season right, then switched to left, now he's back right). He really can't determine which one feels better, so we'll have to keep it up as the years go on. We were talking last night about what a rarity Parker is: a left-handed redhead. He added, "with a freckle in my eye." I added, "and no teeth."

Miles and Audrey like to play, too.

How is her hair really that color? Seriously. Post rainstorm cloudy sunsets really bring out the red. :)

Batter up.

Spummer

We're teetering between Spring and Summer right now. The cool breezes are still around, but we know that the heat is on the horizon. We're just enjoying every minute outside that we can. Except I have to take it easy; allergy eyes/nose/throat are out of control!

We went to the kids' favorite park after school yesterday. Since I'm such an awesome mom, I even packed along their trudging boots so they could go hiking in the woods. They would have stayed all day!

Rangers Game

They had KISD (our school district) night at Rangers' Ballpark. We got a couple of free tickets and a few discounted ones, so we took advantage. Going to baseball games always brings back such fond childhood memories for me, and Parker gets so pumped every time our team makes an out or gets a hit. It was so fun! We can't wait to go back.

family concert

We headed into Westlake tonight to hear a Beatles' tribute band, Me & My Monkey. It was so much fun, they were really good!

Our kids are having their first "ear ringing" experience. Everybody is talking really loud.