Summer

We haven't actually done much this summer. Aaron takes the kids fishing and that has pretty much been the highlight of summer. My summer is pretty much summed up by the top picture. I sit on the porch and listen to a book on tape while the kids gather wildflowers for me. We have quite an assortment on our property and they love to explore and bring me back some that from root to flower are taller than Kessie.
The bugs are in full force now, and Lanny loves catching things. He caught this beautiful butterfly the other day. I let him keep it for 24 hours and then told him it was time to set it free. He didn't want to, but he willingly complied with my wishes, or at least he tried. Apparently, the butterfly was quite attached to him. It kept climbing up his arm and neck to rest on his ear. He would carefully put it back on his hand and it would go right back up to his ear. Finally, he set it on the ground and then the butterfly flew away. He was pretty pleased that his butterfly liked him so much. It was pretty cute!
Hope everyone's summer is going well!

Father's Day

Big shocker, I'm a bit late, but I wanted to wish all the father's out there a Happy Father's Day! More than once my father and father-in-law have saved the day in my life and I'm so grateful for the wonderful men and examples that they are. Neither of them are close enough to hug, but I hope they know how much they are loved.
This is a picture of a picture, so it's not the best quality, but it's me and my dad. Obviously, I was a troublemaker even back then. Wow, what Dad's don't put up with.
The other one is my sweetie and his crew! I'm so blessed, love you honey, you're a great father!

Avian Flu

Have you hugged your chicken today? Well, what are you waiting for? Aaron took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, and I thought they were pretty cute. I might not like chickens, but the girls adore them! They help Daddy take care of them everyday. They also just go out to play with them.
Looking at the pictures I feel like I've been transported back a hundred years. Seriously, who has chickens anymore? Oh well, my family is happy, and the chickens are out of my garage, yahoo, so I'm happy too!
So, have a great day, and get out there and hug a chicken. (If you don't have one of your own, you can find them in the freezer isle, where they belong---don't tell my kids I said that.)

Summer---Not So Much

So far our summer vacation has been spent indoors. Last Saturday, Aaron took the kids fishing for the only nice day we've had in about two weeks. And the weather forecast ain't gettin' any better. Yesterday we even got to experience a bit of hail, well quite a bit actually. The hail wasn't very big, luckily, I think parts of our garden may even survive. It was pretty loud, and the kids didn't like it. However, afterwards, they loved collecting some hail and putting it in the freezer. And of course, the double rainbow after was beautiful! Kessie got so excited and told us it was her rainbow. It was huge and amazing. We're not thrilled with the bad weather, Lanny is terrified of tornadoes, which luckily we haven't even had any warnings, but they've been having a few in Denver which makes Lanny nervous. But we'll look on the bright side, I guess it gives us time to rest and recooperate, I don't know from what, but we'll definitely have plenty of energy when summer finally shows up!
P.S. The rainbow picture decided to flip on me, but I'm not fixing it, you get the idea.

That's All Folks

They're done!!! Although school officially ended today for Lanny, I let Wednesday be his last day. Wednesday was also Louie's last day for this year of preschool. Louie was pretty excited, but Lanny is ready to go back as a Second Grader! Aaron softened the blow that he wouldn't be a Second Grader just yet by taking him fishing yesterday. They were up at 4:30am so that they could be on the lake early. Due to the nature of their smiles when they got home, I'd say they had a pretty great time!
I had some pretty fun ideas to keep my kids busy this summer, but summer kinda snuck up on me and I have nothing ready, so I'm sure we'll just have a few weeks of boredom until I can get a few ideas ready.
I really just wanted to share these cute pictures of Lanny and his teacher Mrs. Jackson. Seriously, love this lady. She is an amazing teacher and truly loves her students and wants them to enjoy school! I tried to convince her to move up to second grade, but alas, she will still be teaching first grade next year. As well as these pictures of the boys fishing experience. They brought home quite a few and I can guarantee that I will not be eating any of them. For those of you who actually want to know they caught walleye and one perch. The fish Lanny caught in the photos was a whopper of a carp, but since they are "junk fish" they threw it back. Lanny actually wanted Aaron to mount it for him because it was so big, but Aaron said he didn't know how (yeah right, he pretty much can do anything, I think he just didn't want another project right now.)
Happy Summer to all!