Sidewalk Paint

I found this recipe on the internet (stir same ratio of cornstarch and water together and add food coloring) and we tried it out with the Lee's last night in the driveway. The paint dries really bright and I think the kids had fun. We'll definitely do this again!

Brady liked to "flick" his paint everywhere and was also interested in writing "West" but only got the "W" written before moving on to something else

Cameron wrote his name "Cam"

And Brett got the award for covering the most driveway with paint - I was surprised the big boys took the smaller brushes and Brett & Porter got the bigger ones. Brett, as you can see in the next picture, was also the one who had to get hosed down because he had paint all over him (but it came off really easy)

Gone Fishin'

BT mowed a path and shared his "secret fishing pond" with us Sunday - he told all the kids to shut their eyes on the way out (Brady was proud to say he knew the way out there because he kept his eyes open :) Brady caught around 10 fish so he thought it was very fun!

You know it's been a good day fishing when you can show your "fishing" thumb!

45 Years!

Our family celebrated my parent's 45th wedding anniversary Saturday night with dinner at Bruff's. Happy Anniversary to the best parent's in the world!

Made my heart melt . . .

I always enjoy the short ride to Brady's school after dropping Brett off at Sandy's - I think it's because Brady has had "alone" time while I've taken Brett in and always has something interesting/funny to say.

I was getting him out of the car yesterday and he said " I wish when I was at school you were a kid and could come to school with me and then when I got out of school . . " and I piped in, "could still be your mother?" and he goes, "no, be my girlfriend." These are the moments that make every mother's day . . . . . .

The Next Tiger Woods

Since its been so cool outside, we've been going to the dog park almost every night - which happens to be right by the driving range. Ed even got Brett some new "lefty" golf clubs. Brady can hit it really well and looks forward to riding in Grandpa Stockwell's golf cart next summer!

On my drive to work

I was so excited to see the Budweiser Clydesdales walking through a parking lot by my office! They arrived at the Red-X (a grocery store/liquor store/lottery place and I think also carries guns/tools - anything you would ever need :) yesterday and will be here through Saturday.




The dalmation catching up after getting distracted . . . .

Monkeying Around

She took me about a week to make (a little bit every night) and she's finally finished! At first I thought I might give her away, but the boys immediately claimed her so she will probably be living at our house. And since the boys started fighting over her, I'm going to make another one (I bought a blue pair of socks too) so we'll have a "couple" of monkeys at our house (not that we don't already!).

And yes, I realize her tail is in a bad position on the first shot, so I'll have to take another one and replace it :)

1st day of preschool!

Brady had a week off between summer session and the first day of "preschool" and he was excited to be going back! In addition to Ms. Stacey who was his teacher this summer, Ms. Laurie will be a new teacher in his room. Which is good, because there are 20 kids in his classroom!





Brady on the playground with Ms. Stacey

(End of) Summer Days

We went to the Trailswest festival in St. Joe Saturday morning to watch Randy's shootout show on the hill. I took this picture because of the huge corn dogs, but now I'm really glad I took it because I'm sure this will be the last summer for both boys riding in the wagon. And I have to laugh that Brady's holding his beloved feather - he always has some "treasure."

Hired Hands

Sandy had the day off today, so I stayed home with the boys this morning and Ed has them for the afternoon. Its amazing how much we can get done in a morning when I know I have to go to work in the afternoon (this much never happens on a weekend)!

After making breakfast, doing laundry and walking the dogs . . . . .it was time to work on the two plants I've been slowly trying to dig up - the Russian Sage and dead Azalea bush. I planted the Russian sage a couple years ago and by the end of every summer I've hated it every year. I see people with these pretty little plants and wonder why mine had to get enormous! Actually I usually like this about my garden, but not this time. And the hot pink azalea bush has been so pretty, but for some reason it died this year and only had one living branch (at the very top, which looked super strange).

The boys loved helping out and didn't want to go inside even after probably an hour of working (Ed's going to have to finish the job!) Brady wore his gardening gloves and worked on cutting branches - I let him use the pruners and he thought that was very cool. And I heard Brett say "awesome" for the first time (after Brady said it), which cracked me up.

I want to try this. . . .

Rainbow jello!

Here's the recipe:
You'll need: a half gallon of sherbet (any color or flavor), 6 different packs of jello: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and a 9x12 glass pan
Starting with the purple jello, mix one cup of boiling water with pack of jello mix. Whisk for about 2 minutes, then add 1 cup of sherbet. When it's well mixed, pour into glass pan and refrigerate for 1 hour. Repeat 5 more times with the remaining colors.

2008 Olympics

We have really enjoyed watching the Olympics every night this week! I also get a kick out of checking out the artwork on Google every day (what a cool job! that's what I'm going to do when I grow up :) - there have been some super cute ones. Wish I would've kept them all, but here's today's (and I'll try to add them here for the rest of the time) -

I won!

I never win anything (actually Dedra will probably disagree, but if I do win, it's not usually this good). I received an email yesterday saying I was one (of 5,000) winners in the Quaker Life Cereal "Book of Life" sweepstakes!
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahandfriends/peetes/20080625_oaf_peetes_bookoflife

I wasn't the grand prize winner - but the first prize winners (me) get to create a free 8X8 Shutterfly photo book, so I am very excited.

Ed's Ride to Work

As many of you know, Ed has really gotten into a health kick this summer (I think he's trying to make me look bad! :) I get to go to Olive Garden now (salads) and this summer we've had more fresh fruit in our house then ever before (which is awesome because both boys think its cool to get an apple off the counter and eat it now because dad does).

Anyway, Ed has been talking about riding his bike to work but was trying to decide how he would do it since he has "pick-up" duties after work and that includes some busy streets. This week Brady and Brett are both going to Sandy's since Brady's school is off a week to get their classrooms ready - so Ed decided this would be a great week to try the bike commute out! I dropped the "trailer" off at Sandy's this morning and he'll pick it up for the boys to ride in.

I reminded Brady of this on our way to Sandy's this morning and he thinks it's totally "awesome!"

So far so good - I had to get out my camera this morning to see him off :)

Garage Sale Find!

I've been looking for a little wooden table/chairs set the boys can use for crafts, etc. - haven't found it yet but I did find this desk chair at a garage sale right across from Brady's school. I think it's pretty cute and the boys enjoyed sitting in it over the weekend.

Sleepover at Grandma Jones

Ed and I are going to a "couples" wedding shower tonight and the boys are having their first sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa Jones. They are looking forward to this -

Wanna Play?

Our neighbors, the Lee's, invited us over for a cookout and playtime last night. The boys had fun together - until a penny showed up and the older boys couldn't share it so they decided to tackle each other and be mean. i.e. Time to go home!

Thanks for having us over Sarah!

And yes, Brady is wearing his spiderman costume.

Election Time

My dad ran for county commissioner again this term and won his primaries yesterday! Congratulations dad!
(The pics are from Lebo's 4th of July parade - where the whole family loaded up in the truck and threw out candy.)

You've Come a Long Way Baby!

When I go to the pool this summer, I have some sense of what it means to sit back and watch your kids enjoy something - I'll never be ready for them to not "need" me, but it sure is nice to not have to entertain them all the time or carry the youngest everywhere I go.

Brett loves the water and has loved the water since he was born - he's our daredevil and does not have a fear in the world (not always a good thing, but he sure doesn't get hurt as much as his brother!). Brett has gone down the water slides since the beginning of the summer, but his brother didn't like to get his face or hair wet so spent most of his time swimming with his lifejacket in the deep end.

THINGS HAVE CHANGED. Not only does Brady now go down the smallest (red) water slide on the swimming pool playground, he goes down the biggest (blue) one! AND runs through the water sprinkler when he gets off! That's pretty much all they do when they go now and they are worn out and happy when we leave. I am NOT ready for summer to end. . . . . .

the "most fun ever" blue slide!

The water is shallow enough that they get off the slide and walk on their hands over to the steps to do it all over again. Fun times!

And because I'm a freak, I took a picture of just the sun hitting the water. Pretty cool, eh? :)