Summer lovin'

my new favorite website - http://www.poladroid.net/index.php

Pickles and pens

Last night I made dill pickles (I won't know how they taste for 8 weeks which is always a long wait for me!) and a "Pom pom pen."

I used this recipe. 2 small cucumbers from my garden and 2 large cucumbers from my mom's made 5 cans, so I almost had to double the recipe.

Unfortunately I can't remember where I found the instructions for the pen but basically you just make a fabric "pom pom" and glue it on :)

End of a season

Go Daredevil Dawgs!
(Brady - far right-hand side and was the youngest on team)

Brady's last coach pitch game was Saturday afternoon. He got to play pitcher and catcher, so that was nice.

After the game, everyone met at a nearby pizza place to eat pizza/cake and have a trophy ceremony. His coaches told a little bit about each player when they gave the kids their trophies. I don't think Brady let go of his trophy the whole night - he was pretty proud. They all improved so much throughout the season!

Next year little britches will be excited to start t-ball!

On my front porch

Aw, much better.



Another Goodwill find - we spend the majority of our time outside at home in the front yard so I thought we needed a chair for the front porch (shaded by our grapes). Somewhere to sit and read magazines while the boys dig in the dirt . . .

I thought spray paint would make it look better, but I picked the wrong color. I thought "Almond" would be a light brown, but its really just "dirty cream" - actually it just looks "dirty" because the chair's original color is still showing through (note: need more than 1 can of spray paint) .

I chose the chair/cushion colors with our "new" house color in mind - "Avocado" green. Here it is beside our current yellow (these colors don't look like they do in real life).

Closeup of the chair cushion -

In bloom

Swim Lessons

Brady started swimming lessons Monday. I'm wishing I had signed Brett up too, so we'll definitely get him in there next year.

So far the water has been pretty chilly, but he's only had 2-3 kids in his class each night so that has been really nice. Still working on getting the 'ol eyes wet, but he's doing great.

Fun Run

Whitney's class was hosting the "Fun Run" Sunday morning, so my sister organized "after run" snacks and Garrett and Breckyn had registered for the 2K. Breckyn cut herself last week at church camp (19 staples in the leg - ouch!) so I walked with her.

Garrett got first - male in his age group - so we were all very proud of him! He had been training hard and has really gotten in shape this summer. Preparing for junior high.

And of course, we were all super proud of Breckyn too for even wanting to do the walk with her injury. We are glad she's healing so well!