More of July 2008

Evie was sitting and then fell back on the pillows !

We LOVE the blanket our cousins made her for Christmas - it's pink with cows !  

Too cute!  And extra soft for all of the falls!

A random shot of Matt and I as we watched fireworks - Matt was experimenting with the camera; hence, the 'interpretive' photos ...

The face of a fatigued (with fun) boy !

The side of our house isn't an eyesore anymore!

Matt and his dad 'gifted' us with service as they built two "raised plant beds" with scraps and then put our old stones to good use.  The best part of this is that it wasn't my idea, nor my request!

Awoken too early from nap ...

Hmmm...double post

This is Matt !  Notice the similarities with Simon!

Notice the old-school McDonalds party paraphernalia and the ash trays on the table!

Really, she IS this happy !

Sunday morning I took Simon outside to see the lemon tree and orange tree we had bought the night before - (at Lowes half-price!)  Anyway, Simon immediately retrieved the watering can and began watering the trees on his own initiative - in his pjs!

Filling it up with water from his wading pool.

On the trees:  the salesperson told us she left her citrus tree in the container it came from and put it on her patio at her condo and that her orange tree yielded 200 plus oranges last season!  So, we'll see!  I guess we have to wait a year ...?  Not sure how this works.

I've been wanting a lemon tree since hearing my Aunt Nancy rave about hers last December!

Diligent in service

My friend Debi commented (and complimented, in my opinion, though I guess that is up for interpretation,) that our backyard felt like the "deep South."   I concur !  

Si watering the tomatoes and peppers that had yet to be planted.

After church Sunday, Matt's mom wanted to take a picture of Matt and I.

Look who snuck in the picture!

Funny thing is that we could NEVER get him to pose so well if we had asked him to ...

We visited The Ridge on Sunday.  I was excited that part of the worship service included several favorite Hillsong United songs ... including my latest favorite, "Mighty to Save."

One of Simon's creations.

Bedtime Storytime

Poor Evie is coming down with a cold!

You can't tell in this picture, but I had 'dressed' for gardening, with pig-tails, and rolled up, "work" jeans.  Getting "in character" helped me not mind getting my fingers dirty!

Matt's parents helped me fill the two plant boxes with tomatoes and peppers!

In the background of this picture you can see some paper on the back wall.  While Matt's parents were here, we had written down what we wanted to do each day.  We did this at the beginning of their visit, just to kind of parcel out activities, meals, and projects.  Mostly it was fun stuff on the list.  Each page "held" two days' worth of lists ... 

We did great on all of our intentions, except for tennis.  I had drawn tennis rackets on several days, as reminders for Matt and his dad to play.  Everytime Matt's dad visits, Matt asks him to bring his rackets, and then Matt will never play with him!  It really is quite funny.  They did well on the bike icons and went biking, but...the tennis 'duties' were shirked once again.  So, I brought that to Matt's attention yesterday and he commented that the fact that they watched Wimbledon and played tennis on the Wii fulfilled the tennis duty, so we could cross it off the list!

This is Matt's older brother Ollie and Matt at two weeks of age.

Simon resembles Ollie a little, too !

Matt, at age 2, sporting Mr.Potato head glasses.

Simon at age 3 sporting Mr.Potato Head glasses.

Matt at age 31 sporting Mr.Potato Head glasses.

Another picture of Matt when he was younger that reminds me of Simon (see picture below of Simon...)  Simon is 3 in this picture and in the picture above, Matt is a bit older than 3, but you can definitely see strong similarities!

Fourth of July on the Third

Right before Bedtime ...

Simon wanted to "hold" Evie for "just a little bit."

I LOVE this outfit on Evie.  I will put it on her every day it is clean, or even relatively clean.

Maybe I treasured it too much, for, alas, ... it now has pureed carrots under the collar :(

Nana has been making balloon creations for Simon. 

It took Simon literally hours of outside water play to get in the itty bitty little pool by himself.  He had asked me for his "outfit swim."

I thought he meant a swim-suit.

Then I discovered he meant his "shark outfit" which is his life-jacket.

Hmmm.... :)

Next Summer, we must do swimming lessons!

Simon was very particular about this patch of mud.  Sandy, Evie, and I were innocently sitting on the porch, and Simon had purposefully moved his Elmo sprinkler to this patch of mud, RIGHT BEHIND us.  He then turned on the water and Sandy and Evie were right in the path of the water!  We yelled for Simon to turn it off, but I think we scared him to where he just stared at us!  So, after a little more water, I went thru the stream of water and to the water-shut-off point.  Simon was teary-eyed.  He really wanted to specifically water this part so that the grass would grow in the mud.  So, after we showed him how he could take his water pail and fill it with water from his pool and walk over to the mud and "water it," he was happy !

Evie has her appointment at the Children's Medical Center last week with the pediatric G.I. specialist that we were referred to.  After an invasive exam and such, the doctor ruled out the obvious abnormalities that we feared.  So, we're just on a regimented otc milk of magnesia routine and extra fruits and veggies ... Good news!  Also, Matt accidentally hit Evie with a huge piece of wood last Tuesday.  Little "hiccups" in my children's health can be a little unsettling.  I didn't have peace about Evie until we all stopped to pray for her (we were at an intern house putting a bed together for them AFTER Tuesday Prayer -- late night!)  All this to say, or write, that God is faithful.  Even if something were wrong with my kiddos, He is faithful and His strong arms are also good.   (As we tell Simon)

A SONIC "happy hour" break

We had so much food yesterday as we celebrated the 4th on the 3rd !

So, today, which is the 4th, we get to just relax and try and deplinish some of the left-overs.  I commented to Matt and his mom last night, given the over-flowing state of our refrigerator and pantry, that we would be set for a famine, if one were to occur soon :)

Ava and her parents came over to celebrate the "3rd" with us last night!

Here is Ava and Evie, only 7 months apart !

Summertime

A random drop-in visit from my friend Megan and her kids !  I love it that she felt free to call just down the street to ask to stop in (and use our internet!)  AND I'm loving that we're good enough friends that I could just leave my pjs on and not feel completely lame! 

 (I should emphasize that it was an early morning drop-in!)

So, Megan and I were able to sit on our partially finished screened porch and chat!  

Can't wait for the day when there is screen on the porch and a fan plugged in!

First time to sit in Simon's old booster seat!

Simon loves nectarines!

Family play-time

Hats

We went to the Arboretum with Matt's parents last weekend.  We arrived just after 10 and left around 12 and it was only 88 (ish) degrees when we left!  This weather has been amazing!

Matt's mom waving

So, Matt took a few pix of Evie and then gave me back the camera.  I didn't realize he'd changed the setting from "auto" so a lot of pictures came out really dark and I just kind of changed the exposure, shadows, etc, which makes them interesting and arguably salvageable.

I took Evie in for her 6 month shots today.  Even though she is 8 months.  Long story.

In the waiting room, a little boy struck up a conversation with me.  

He was probably 8 years old.

Boy:  Your baby is pretty.  Is it a girl?

Me:  Yes

Boy:  I could tell by the pink she is wearing.  (um, thanks)

Boy:  How old is she

Me:  7 months.  Mmmm...Wait, no, I think she is 8 months.

Boy:  When was she born?  

(I am thinking, "Oh, he is going to try and help me figure out how old my unisex baby is...")

Me:  Around Halloween.

Boy:  Let's see, that's about 4 months away from now, so ... yeah, she is about 8 months old.

Me:  Thanks  

(spoken incredulously with no hint of sarcasm, really, as it was quite sweet of him to help out a harried mom -- at least he didn't try to help  me figure out if "it" was a boy or a girl.  That could have been an interesting conversation)

(His mom enters from the hall.)

Boy:  Well, bye.  Have a nice day.

This is a face we see a lot.

I had to run to Lowes last week with both kids.  For lack of a better explanation, I had told Simon we were going to a store that was like the "Man's Store."  (Home Depot)

Pulling up to the store,

Simon:  Is this the woman store?

Me:  No, Simon, it the man store, but a different color.

Simon:  Where's the orange one?

Me:  That one is called Home Depot; we're at one called Lowe's.

Simon:  Where's the green one?

Me:  Green?  When did you go to a green "Man Store."

Simon:  With Pops.

Me:  Really?

Simon:  Yeah it had boats.

Me:  Oh, Bass Pro Shop.

Simon:  What's a woman?

Me:  Well a woman is like a girl.  I am a woman.

Simon, interrupting:  MOM, you are NOT A WOMAN !  You're a GIRL.  You're a MAMA.  You're not a woman.

Me:  Yes, I am.

Simon:  You are a mother.

Mom and Dad were returning Simon last Thursday from a two-day adventure with them at their home.  Dad was also going to help us a little bit more on the porch.  When they exited Josey Lane, Mom recounted this story.

******************

Dad:  (Sighing, Huffing, etc)  I forgot my tools.

He probably did a little more lamenting and then Simon responded,

Simon:  My Daddy can share his tools.

**********************

I am happy to report that Matt did share his tools with my dad and everything worked out fine.  Things just maybe took a little longer with the lack of advanced "toolage."

This is another favorite of Evie's facial expressions.  She likes to purse her little lips.  She also has the sweetest of sweetest smiles that is SO EASY to elicit !