bragging on my neice

I want you to close your eyes and imagine the cutest little neice you could possibly have. Perfect in every way, she's beautiful, spunky, imaginative... Well, here you go...
The only thing that could possibly make this picture any cuter is if you could hear her voice... well today is your lucky day... have a listen...

WARNING: the following is a bit graphic

So the kids were playing in the sandbox last night which had a little bit of water in it, so they got pretty messy. Gabe sat right down in it so his diaper was pretty soggy. He decided to take it off. I figured I would let him run around naked for a few minutes before his bath since he loves to be naked. He stood over by the edge of the driveway facing some mulch. His hips were thrust forward a bit like he was aiming. He just stood there like he was waiting for something to happen. I decided to watch. Eventually he peed! I was so proud of him. And he was pretty proud too! That's when I went inside to start running the bath water. When I came back out, this is what I found:

Oh boy.

strawberry picking!

Yesterday we went strawberry picking with Aunt Shannon and three of her kiddos. It was great. The strawberries were red, juicy and beautiful! The kids did a great job picking the perfectly ripe ones. In fact, Gabe smushed his thumb into a few. He's an aggressive picker! Next time... blueberry picking!!!

A sweet welcome home

I got back in last night around 8:30 and stopped in to the hospital to visit little Conner who is fighting a serious infection in his knee and leg. He seemed in very good spirits but things are still not improving. I pulled in the driveway at about 9pm and the boys opened the door before I could even get to it. It was so wonderful to be greeted by their hugs. I immediately noticed that Isaiah felt very hot. He was running and fever and so we gave him some medicine and he actually slept through the night but was still hot each time I checked on him. When I walked in the door though, I noticed two empty wine glasses waiting on the counter next to several birthday cards and a gift. There were candles lit in the kitchen, living room and bedroom. It was very sweet. After we got the kids into bed Justin pulled a very nice bottle of champagne from the fridge. I opened several great cards that he picked out. They were very funny and my gift is that we can do some painting around the house that I have been itching to do. I love to change colors. He is going to paint the kitchen and my bedroom. He wanted to have it done when I got home but wasn't sure if I had made a final decision on the colors yet. Anyway, we had a very nice evening together. Now I'm 28, hard to believe that it's been a decade since I graduated from high school. I still feel like such a kid! Anyway, it looks like we will be back up to see my Dad in about two weeks. Time will tell if we can make it up to the lake or not. So far things don't look very promising but we'll see.