August highlights

I know August isn't quite over - but if I don't get to what I've got now I won't ha ha! We had a great time w/ Daddy in Nauvoo this year - he hadn't been since he was in high school & we all loved the county fair :0)

Corvette car show in Hannibal - sooooo cool

Funny people

First & last sink bath

Last day at Countryside for the summer - so much fun with bikes!

Goodbye trusty big ol' rollin' turd!  We will miss you!  I always liked driving my living room around....but it is nice to have a much newer (& cleaner!) car!

Lake Life!

Mac got his own fishing pole at the fishing derby this year (like Curious George...it had a wall hook not a real hook!).  I have a bit of an issue with fishing in general - so we stayed FAR away from everyone else!

One of the nearby families brought this awesome water slide to the lake & shared with us - so fun

Homerun Derby at twilight

Papa J & I got an overnight get-away thanks to Zach & Julia! Happy 25 years baby cakes!

All in a day's pickin'.  Ben washed everything & we made it into a delicious tomato sauce for dinner

My boys - some with more teeth than others.....

Some Countryside Playschool fun - looking forward to starting up again next week!

Summer Fun

Honey Bunches (Abbie!) was here for a visit in June - we miss James but someone has to work ;0)  It was heavenly to have all the chicks under my wings again....and see those yellow boots? They've been worn by all of our children!

Blue tailed skink - tail intact - which is hard to do when catching these guys!

All the floaties

We didn't get Abbie's hubby this visit, but we did get two of his brothers!  Ray & Elijah drove down for a visit to see all their Quincy pals

Countryside Playschool fun & learning

Taking after big brother - talented toes tying a bow tie

We realy have a fantastic group at Countryside - I am loving getting to know each of them! It's also been a joy to work with Zach & Julia :0)

MUD MAN

Abbie enjoying the wilds of Montana

And there's our James!

Sword fighting 101

Making window stars at Countryside

Chalk is my new favorite!

Mac has been into McDuff lately, so we made vanilla rice pudding with sausages on top

Ben is super fashionable

Chalk is so easy to blend & beautiful to work with

Other than the obnoxious Raisin Bran box, a lovely picture! This one reads constantly - and loves to reread favorites.  This is the Grade 5 Pathway Reader.  She just finished Little Women so we're on the lookout for Little Men.

Ooops this is sideways, but anyway, our watercolor lesson from a couple of weeks ago - the liquid watercolor wasn't as strong as I would have liked so we went with the cakes.

Summer is here!

May Day

Just a tiny update...

Sleep started happening again at our house - took 26 months but we're here.  Now on to potty training!

Taking an awesome art class through Waldorfish - this is Ben's veil painting

This is Josie's - it takes several hours bc you let it dry between layers.

Update! February 2017

Hanging out in Florida for a bit!

Quick September update

Zach looks so young here with Bruce!

 Ok, not really!  These are old! But I don't have time to do a proper update & I'm feeling sentimental.....

This is a self portrait, by Abbie...

Of course, we relished the 3 days per week that Papa J was home - and every beach day!

August update

Had a quick get away to Chicago - 4 hours on the train w/ 3 littles & we actually enjoyed most of the trip ;0) Little guy here cried the last 2 hours but it's all good - we had an awesome time with the Cheese Monger peeps!

I did a bit of painting & woodworking to update the hollow core doors upstairs - I'm happy w/ the results

I found this end table in the burn pile & made it into a play kitchen for Mac! The old one was pretty nasty after having 6 kittens use it for a litter box BLEH

Our wild garden....love it

Our 3 awesome boys soaking in the lake - Zach was giving his beloved some swimming lessons

I guess I was busy or feeling creative or something??  Made these sallopettes for Mac out of an old silk skirt.  Wears GREAT for playclothes & is solf as...oh wait....

another Chicago pic - "The Farm at the Zoo" in the park by JG & AG's apartment (not AJ anymore!).

    Do those handmade backpack thingies make them hipsters?

Papa J getting in his cuddle time

Let's all go buy westies & combis & live on the road, ok?? ;0)