Max's Picnic

When I was a little girl my big brother, Mark, made me a log cabin doll house. It was my favorite toy ever. The kids have recently discovered its magic and play with it every chance they get. I showed Anna Kate how I used to set it up when I was a little girl (spinning wheel by the window so that Momma could see out while she spun cloth, treasure chest behind the bed so that the bad guys couldn't find it if there was an attack, etc.). That's how she does it now. She sets it up perfectly and plays for hours.
Max...well, he's added his own twist. When Max is the boss-man, you never know who might come for a visit. On this particular day, all of the small creatures from the Land of Playroom were invited for lunch (not dinner-he was very emphatic about that). Jay-Jay the Jet Plane, Captain Feathersword and Jeff from the Wiggles, a few Little People and others. Yes, that's even a Transformer lurking in the shadows. They came from yards away in their cars, fire trucks, buldozers and helicopters and parked on our treadmill. They feasted on turkey, pie, bread and coffee. A good time was had by all.

Funny

Somebody got to our blog by doing a google search for "mouth noises are driving me crazy." Go ahead, try it.

I think that is really funny.

Chad the Dad is
Gone.
How sad.

We are all
Alone.
Too bad.

He'll be back on
Wednesday.
That's rad.

Happy Anniversary, Dustin and Jamie!

Today is Jamie and Dustin's 1st Anniversary. We love anniversaries and we love Jamie and Dustin. Happy Anniversary, you two. Love you-

The Check Out Lady

Today, while Max was finishing up his math, I was working around the house. Anna Kate was shadowing me. I would go to a different room and a split second later I would have company. Each time I would ask if she needed something. "Nope," she would reply. I asked again and again. Finally, this conversation took place:
Me: Anna Kate, do you need something?
AK: Nope.
Me: (sick of being followed) Then, Anna Kate, what are you doing?
AK: Nothing...well...I'm just checking things out to see if you need anything and to make sure that everything is okay. I'm the Check Out Lady.
Me: Ahhh. The Check Out Lady. Of course. Well, thank you for being available. I'll let you know if something comes up.

She's the cutest Check Out Lady ever, in her pretty pink dress and hat (thanks, Alayna!) and her red boots.

Pictures from Sunfish

We celebrated Independence Day with Mom and Dad in Comanche. Because of the rain, Comanche's fireworks display was moved to Saturday and we joined in the fun. It was such a fun weekend. We took a ride in Dad's "country limo" and the kids played all day while Mom and I sewed. Here are a few pictures:

Thoughts...(unimportant ones)

Anna Kate is learning to "click" her tongue. Now I realize that this is an essential life skill. All people know how to click their tongues. But as a person who is extremely "sensitive" to all noises (especially mouth noises...i.e. smacking or crunching of any sort), I must say that it is driving me crazy. Crazy.

This cracked me up.

How To Eat Brown Rice

Jake has done a photo demonstration of how to clean your plate in case you ever find yourself in a situation where you have a tray full of brown rice and fine motor skills that are lacking.

He cracks us up. He did "face dive" brown rice eating tonight at dinner. It was hilarious.

Five years ago...

Five years ago today we lost sweet Riley May. We miss her so bad, it hurts. Each year we celebrate Anna Kate's birthday on the 30th and then have "Riley Day" on July 1st. We release pink balloons in her memory. It's always a very special time for our family. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Happy Birthday, Anna Kate!!