Noah's New Grin

Noah lost his first tooth on Friday! He was biting into an apple and his tooth came right out. We didn't even know it was loose! Olivia immediately grabbed an apple and tried to get a tooth to come out, but didn't have any luck. :)

The tooth fairy was kind and gave Noah eight quarters, since Noah LOVES quarters. He was soooo excited and has had quite the day at church showing off his new grin. :)

First Day of School

When your kids are dressing up like this, you know it's time for school. :)

The first day of school was yesterday. They were both soooo excited to start. Noah is in first grade, and Olivia is in kindergarten.
Olivia and her special friend Bethany.

We celebrated with a special lunch at "the peanut place" - Logan's.

I'm Back!

I am still alive! I haven't been blogging for awhile since my camera was water-damaged. We just now got a new camera, and I feel like I am complete once again. :) The warranty did not cover water damage (hmmm...how did they know??) But Panasonic did graciously offer to repair the camera for about $600. Um, no thanks. Their second offer was to give us a nice discount on a new camera, so we took that offer. And now I'm back in business, re-enacting all the events of summer so I can capture them on camera. Not really.

The day our new camera came, Olivia had an inspiration. She has been wanting new sunglasses all summer, but we haven't found ones to her liking. So she decided to make her own!

The Garage Sale Solution

We had a two-day garage sale on Friday and Saturday. We have had garage sales before, but this was our first time having a two-day sale. We had tons of people on the first day and sold lots of stuff. Yay! The second day was a bit slower, but Olivia was deep in thought, coming up with ideas of how to get the Friday people to return on Saturday.

Olivia: "Mom, I have a great idea!"
Mom: "What's that?"
Olivia: "We can go inside and change our hair so we look different and people will come back to our garage sale. They won't know they've already been here!"
Mom: "Do you think they might recognize that this is the same house they were at yesterday?"

The wheels of thought are hard at work.....

Olivia:"I know! We can go and get lots of new flowers, pull out the old flowers in the garden, and plant the new flowers! Our house will look so different!"

How can I argue with that?

I should have taken her advice. I'm sure I saw people driving past thinking "Look at those flowers...this is the same house I was at yesterday!" :)

Waaaaahhhhh!!!!!

My camera literally flew into a lake yesterday, where it sat for five minutes before we discovered it. We were visiting Paul's sister and fam on their vacation. We decided to go swimming, so I searched the area looking for a safe spot for my precious camera. It should be safe on the stroller, right? Little did I know that a huge gust of wind would send the stroller into the lake along with the camera. I wasn't actually there when it happened, so when I returned to the lake, we figured out what had happened and located the camera in three feet of water.

After a day of drying out, the camera does not seem to be working. It will actually turn on, but there is way too much sand in it and the lens is very spotty from water stains. So, I'm hoping we may be able to return it since it is less than a year old and is still on warranty. Wish me luck!

Of course, every moment of today was a photo opp. How will I survive???

Why We Love Baseball Games

1. You can eat lots of food!

2. You can cheer as loud as you want to.
3. You can walk up and down the row, working up an appetite for all that food.
4. You get to spend time together.

5. You get to be happy!


I guess you also get to watch a wee little bit of baseball too. :)

A Small Town Memorial Day Celebration

Of the four years that we've lived in our little town, this was the first year that we were actually in town to celebrate Memorial Day. It was a page out of the typical small-town Memorial Day celebration that captures the imagination. I was charmed by the whole weekend, and I hope to be in town every Memorial Day after this.

Sunday evening was a concert in the bandshell. It was a throw-back to the music and dance of the 1920's, complete with phrases like "bee's knees, cat's pajamas, and hotsy totsy".

Chloe loved the concert. She made her way through our bag of popcorn in record time, giving away sweaty handfuls of popcorn to all the people sitting close by.
The next day, Memorial Day, shone bright and clear. The parade was the highlight of the morning. The lady on the right of me in this picture did not stop talking the entire time. I finally switched seats with Paul because I couldn't take it any longer!
I love this picture because of the beautiful sky and the red balloon in the foreground. Our church handed out these balloons, which have these words printed on them "Lest We Forget".
Here are some parade participants - the dog dressed as a butterfly...
...the old jalopy...

... the (very loud) racecar...
...the float from the college football hall of fame. Driving home we passed this site, which speaks for itself.
Once home, we brought out the pool for the first time this summer. Chloe was waiting with great anticipation.

Filling up the pool.

My handsome husband soaking in the rays.
I had to take this picture - Chloe ended up getting wetter than she liked - especially in the freezing water!
This is Paul doing a cannonball into the pool. If you look closely on the side of the pool, you will see a picture with the words "No Jumping". Hmmm...
Noah and Olivia's friend Carmen was over too. I love this picture of childhood fun - not a care in the world, going through life with a good friend and a bag of Doritos.