Arlington Pool

We went to the Arlington pool today with the Fraziers. It was a beautiful day and all the kids had a great time. Jack played with Amy in the big pool with his life jacket and the girls were happy for the most part in the fenced in splash puddle. I could not have made it without the help from the Frazier girls who always take such good care of the girls!

More Camera Pics

VBS Times Two

Jack went to VBS at St. Charles last week and Our Lady of Good Hope this week. I had signed him up for St. Charles before I heard about the one at Our Lady, and I heard really good things about that one, so he went to both. He did  alot of coloring, crafts and singing! This week at Our Lady, the kids went to mass first thing every day which I think is great!

Picking up Jack at St. Charles last week. We went to a little reception with juice and cookies on his last day.

Today was the last day for the kids at Our Lady

Jack is the one with his hands up. The kids sang the songs to us that they learned.

On a side note, I stayed for mass yesterday and made it...alone...with the girls, and we weren't even in the cry room! They stayed in their stroller the entire time, no fussing, crying, talking, fighting, etc. Well, I came home after mass feeling pretty good about my accomplishment, only to realize that I had left Carter outside the entire time I was gone. Thankfully, the neighbors saw him roaming the neighborhood and took care of him. Whoops! It always seems just when I'm feeling good about doing something with the girls, I do something like that. Oh well, I think I am going to celebrate the successes as they come.

My Garden

This is the second year I have tackled the project of a garden. If someone would have told me ten years ago that I would have a green thumb today, I would not have believed them. But, I have found a that I take great pride in growing vegetables. I consider last year a learning year. I only yielded a few zucchini, cucumbers and one tomato. I did have a nice crop of green and yellow wax beans that provided fresh beans all summer. The girls had many jars of baby food from these beans too. Last year, I planted pretty much everything from seed. This year, I bought most plants and only did the green and yellow wax beans and sugar snap peas from seed. I sent a picture of my garden tonight from my phone to one of my friends who sparked my interested in gardening. After I sent the picture, I looked back at the text and saw another text that I sent her last month of my garden the day I planted everything. I didn't realize how much everything has grown! I was feeling like I cheated this year since I didn't grow everything from seed, but when I saw the difference in the pictures, I think my garden is a success--well, definitely much improved from last year.

Here is what I planted (from the top of the picture towards the bottom):
First row: yellow wax beans
Second row: green wax beans
Third row: sugar snap peas
Fourth row: Watermelon plant, two plants of sweet corn, one of Indian corn, green bell peppers, Roma tomato plant, beefsteak tomato
Fifth row: Cherry tomato, four types of green/yellow/red peppers, another type of green pepper plant, and my three herbs, dill, parsley and basil
Sixth row: Strawberry plant (Jack picked two red strawberries today and ate them), four pickling cucumber plants (two separate types)

My garden last month. The watermelon and strawberry are towards the back, the cucumbers plants are along the left side and my tomato plants are near the front. I planted the beans and peas from seed so there is nothing in the back. I had not planted my pepper plants or corn yet.

Today

My three corn stalks are most impressive to me, only because I thought these were dead for a while. I hope I get a few ears of corn!

Jack helps me water and loves to look at the vegetables grow which I love!

St. Joe T-Ball

Jack finished his first season of T-ball. He played two games a week since the middle of April. I think he enjoyed it, especially since Noah and Amy were on the same team. He got his last trophy today at his last game.

Experimenting With My Camera~22 Months Old

I have been experimenting with my camera--the one we have had for almost two years and I don't know how to use except in the "auto" mode. I didn't realize how much there was to this camera! I figured out a few things, and then I went to try them out on my kids--moving targets! I have so much to learn. Here are some of my experimental pictures of the girls at 22 months.

Kate is my little stinker! She loves her paci, lovie and throws her vegetables. She is still missing her four I-teeth (12 total teeth). She is starting to talk and loves dogs and saying "doggie!" She loves to push the doll strollers and loves being outside. Kate is notorious for pulling out her pony tails and bows. She is my strongest child--often I find her climbing on chairs, couches and anything else she thinks she can get on top of.

Elizabeth is such a happy girl! She loves to smile and laugh. She recently has really picked up on her verbal skills and has said four new words in the last two days! She is the pickiest eater of the bunch and will often throw her food off her tray when she doesn't like it. She loves her milk. Elizabeth is so dainty and will often bring me the smallest piece of dirt, food, etc. that she finds off the ground. She also loves dogs and will say "woof, woof" when you ask her what dogs say. She is my water bug and will keep swimming even if she is shivering.

Anna is my cuddlier. She loves to be held, and is very easy-going these days. She will eat anything you put on her tray and sometimes everything off her sisters' trays, too. She will give "real" kisses. Anna, being the oldest, definitely plays the part. She will assume she can play with any toy, even if her sisters are playing with it first. She gives some evil-eye looks and when we tell her "be nice" she will grin at us. We love her curls and blue/green eyes. She (like Elizabeth) has all 16 teeth.

One of my favorites

Kate is sharing her food with both her sisters

These last four are pictures that my mom took.