The Ozarks 2011

Yes I know I'm hot and cold on blogging! I've got lots to say this week - we had a great trip to the Ozarks with the Hogan family. We had the most awesome house that fit our large family well -plenty of space for all of us - big & small. The kids had a great time together with minimal conflict - it is so much fun to see them together. Lincoln and Cael bonded like never before which was fun for me to see - my same age cousin was one of my best friends and I hope they will be good friends too - in fact I'm already sending them to Iowa State together but I guess we have a few more years before we sign them up for that! Carter loves all of his big cousins but seems to be a sucker for Charlee - they will both be in Kindergarten this year and for at least a few months each year are the same age, we overheard them saying "I'm 5" and "me too!". Loved seeing the big girls swim like crazy fish - they were having so much fun & are getting to be old enough to play with the moms & dads - especially on the water trampoline. And Ms. Elin was a little delight on our trip, she's such a little trooper and did great - even taking a dip in the lake at the old age of 4 months! Thanks Hogan family for the memories!

My finger painting

While the boys were away, I played! I made a picture for our dining room that I'd been working on in my head for some time! I'm loving that it brightens up our dining room a bit but it did take a little more work than I was expecting, I spent quiet a bit of time in my studio - the kitchen, at the easel - the tile floor!

Sean's Birthday

We celebrated Sean's birthday this week with a trip to Shogun - which equals a peaceful dinner because the boys love to see the fire & eat seafood too! They come home begging for shrimp and scallops. We ended with ice cream cake - yumm-0 even if it wasn't our beloved DQ. I'd say Happy Birthday to him here but we all know he's the least likely person to actually read our blog!

What we've been doing

Carter took another round of swim lessons last week - he did great, he's got a great teacher whom he adores and made all the difference for him, wish we'd been able to squeeze in another week of lessons but the summer has been just crazy enough that we haven't been able to!

The boys had a great few days on their Iowa Adventure last week and were delivered back from Iowa by Grandma and Grampie who where here last week. While in Iowa they spent a lot of time playing farm boys, Carter even learned to drive the 4-wheeler by himself, only on the driveway with his helmet and going super slow (so slow he says that Red Dog wouldn't even chase him!) I don't think Linc will be trusted to do the same at nearly 6 years as that kid has the need for speed! They also were able to attend the races in Corning which is something they have been wanting to do for a long time & they had a lot of fun! Thanks to Mimi and Papa for keeping them and letting us have some kid-free time (movies and eating out, house projects) and thanks for Grandma and Grampie for transporting them back - after 5 days, 4 nights we were ready for a noisy house again!

We've been so busy, I'm still catching up from June! That is sad, isn't it? Here are a few pictures from our Grapevine trip - had a great time - hated to cut it short but the tummy bug Linc had forced us home a night early but not before we had a trip to Home Goods & yes we were Home Goods happy! The top picture is of the boys with the "TJ" as they call him, not to be confused with his real name of DJ....they insist he was a TJ who gave them glasses! We all got temporary tattoos and spent a lot of time on the lazy river - this picture of Carter on the tube is the very last time he went around - he ran every other lap which had to have been 100's!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a little celebration at our house for the 4th - it is nice to not be in city limits on the 4th! We had a great firework display from our driveway - maybe not LibertyFest material but certainly enough to entertain our boys!

Happy Birthday Dizzy Don!

And the story goes that when I was 3-4 and having a horrible, very bad, terrible, no good kind of day, I sat down and read my book "How To Be a Grouch" - this story gives Grandma and Don a good case of the laughs, so when I saw the "How to Spot a Grouch" shirt I thought we must have it just in time for Don's birthday and Grandma and Don's anniversary. Incidentally Lincoln had a horrible, very bad, terrible, no good kind of night last night...

How to Spot a Grouch

~ Beady Eyes

~ Trash Can Lid

~ Green Fur

~ Grouchy Mouth

~ Bangs & Dents

~ Old Grey Trash Can