Fourth of July

For Independence Day, I took the kids to my folks house. What was going to be just a quick weekend trip turned into a week-long vacation due to some inner-ear problems I was having. (Yes, I'm better now.) So aside from a little vertigo, we had a nice long visit with Nana and Popie. My brother Joel came down with his kids, Cole and Kylie, and Stephan and Alison were there too.

The highlight was, of course, the fireworks. I let Michael stay up late to watch and he was in total awe; not a bit afraid! And surprisingly enough, he didn't burn himself with the sparklers!

We devoured the smoked chicken my brother, Stephan, made. Not only is he an excellent chef, he's quite the marksman too!

One day, Mom, Alison, and I canned tomatoes. It took all day! But I think we came out with over 6 dozen beautiful red pints. I remember my mom saying once that one of the cheeriest sounds she's ever heard is the "pop" of a canning lid sealing. After hours of boiling, peeling, slicing, and steaming, I have to agree.

Matt's mom came up to share a day with us, including taking Michael out for ice cream and to the park!

Higher, Grandma! Higher!


Back at home, we've invented a new sport--Plastic Bubble Racing! Thanks to a kiddie gimmick at our local grocery store, we have an over abundance of these vending machine bubbles. So one rainy Saturday afternoon, we realized the perfect way to recycle these babies is to race them in the water draining from our complex's parking lot. Now every time it rains, Michael want to go bubble racing.





After a visit with my cousin Chris and his wife Julie, who successfully survived potty training their twins, I have decided to revisit potty training with Michael. I must admit that have been dreading this ever since I became a mother. We're using a horse and carrot approach. Each potty session earns him an M&M. . . . As my mom said, it's not bribing, it's a reward. We also went out and bought him some fun character undies. He's pretty excited about all of it, and he's doing pretty well all things considered . . . as long as I remind him periodically. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Giddyup Dinosaur!

It's never too early to begin training for a career in piracy.


Sarah is zooming all over the house these days. I can't go from one room to the other without her following me. Within the last few weeks, she has also learned to pull herself up to stand. She's still kind of wobbly, but she does pretty well as long as she remembers to hold on.