Summertime fun!

This month has been full of birthdays and parties. John turned 33. My nephew, Eli and Ethan, both turned 3. Today is Holly's birthday so we visited her at work. Happy Birthday, Holly!

Today was a fun day at the zoo! (Holly was working at the zoo today since it was senior citizen's day at the zoo and she is a co-owner of the local Home Instead Senior Care.) Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Micah, Isaac, Eli, Uncle Matt and Katherine were all there with the boys and I. For the special event we all got a free carousel ride, free popcorn and free lemonade. It rained too - a lot. So we got a free shower thrown in there too. It was lots of fun in spite of the rain.

Josiah and I have started reviewing letters and numbers while the younger boys take a nap. He is doing great with his phonics. It's nice spending that special time with him.

Nathan is doing great saying more and more words. He tries to repeat everything Josiah says. He is also really good at figuring out doors and locks. We had to install an out-of-reach latch on the back door to keep him from helping himself to the outside.

Noah got up on his knees this week and rocked a couple of times. Crawling won't be far away....

Here are some fun summertime pics:

Grandpa and Nathan - just hanging out.
Josiah took this picture of Grandma and Noah.

You've got a little something there......
It's hard getting Josiah to SMILE for the camera.

Nathan's munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Dad makes a great table.

Noah gets his hands on just about everything these days.....Can someone get me out of here??

Noah and I

Me too.

As John and I were driving to a movie on our last date night, seemingly out of nowhere, John says, "I'm glad we got married." It made my heart smile.

How much will it cost?

What is the price of a shower?

Just a ten-minute shower - not too long, just long enough to take care of the basics.

Just recently I risked one of these showers. Noah was in bed. Josiah and Nathan were dressed and eating breakfast. "Alright, guys, Mommy needs a shower. Eat your breakfast. I'll be done in a few minutes."

It's nice to be clean. I come out of the bathroom and ..... see the cost of my shower.

Apparently, Nathan found the 5 boxes of spaghetti that John had purchased the night before. (Nathan really likes dumping things right now.) I come out of our bathroom and see Nathan standing in the kitchen surrounded by spaghetti noodles and empty boxes strewn about. "NATHAN! What have you done!?! GO SIT IN TIME OUT!" I start picking up the spaghetti from the kitchen floor when Josiah comes in with his report. He says, "Yep, I tried to tell him not to do that. He even put some in the aquarium." WHAT? OH NO! I quickly check on the fish and, yes, a whole box has been dumped in the fish water. The fish are swimming around and through them. Now I must extract them as quickly as possible before the water gets too cloudy and the fish get sick and/or die.

To make a long cleaning story short. I had to take spaghetti out of the aquarium, pick up the kitchen floor, sweep, mop, vacuum, and then change the water for the fish. The cost of a ten-minute shower was about an hour's worth of clean-up.

The next time, it will have to be more like a 5 minute shower.

Happy Independence Day!

Josiah took this picture!

Friday morning, I greet my two older boys, "Happy Independence Day!" "What's that?", Josiah asks. I respond with my brief history lesson. In 1776 we signed the Declaration of Independence stating that we were separate from England. I told them why and that, yes, it was before I was born. "What happened after that?", Josiah wants to know. We went to war and fought for our freedom and God helped us win and founded our nation on freedom of speech and freedom to worship God how we want. I explained more since I still had their attention. May as well teach while the teachin's good.


After the history lesson, we get ready for the cookout at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Fun times with all the cousins and even Nona and Papa and Aunt Angie and Aunt Kelley from the Perino side came. Grandpa just got a new patio and walkways which are a huge hit. They are a great runway to race up and down and all around the house. We had lots of food; I think Nathan ate most of the day.

Josiah and Nathan (with the shades) pause for picture

Quiddler is the game to play and I am the one to beat. Aunt Angie gave me a good run but I still beat her by 4 points. Better luck next time Ang!

Aunt Angie, Bella and Josiah

Noah with his favorite person in the whole world

Ah! Now it's time for the fireworks. Since I didn't think Noah would appreciate them, he stayed with Grandma. It ended up that he didn't appreciate that either. What a baby.

Well, we found free parking and free shuttle service right away. Excellent! This was the boys' first bus ride. Nathan was enjoying it so much he didn't want to sit on anyone's lap. When we arrived at the park, we beelined for the closest grass. I didn't want to fight a crowd going in or coming out of the park and the view was great. We spread our blanket and got out the popcorn and drinks while waiting for the show. Josiah was looking forward to fireworks since we were rained out last year. Nathan was really excited ... until the first explosion. The rest of the show was spent in Daddy's arms facing away from the scary lights and sounds in the sky. Thankfully there were no tears. It was a nice show though I missed my lakeside Edinboro fireworks from the previous 5 years. When it was over, we headed right back to the bus where we crammed in a lot more people going back to the parking lot. It was a great day and we were ready to head home and get the boys in bed.

Nathan's first bus ride

Riding the bus to the fireworks

John and the boys waiting for the show

Nathan doesn't think this is fun anymore

Back on the bus

Hello, my friends.

Writing a blog is new to me. The thought of complete strangers reading my musings is uncomfortable to me who doesn't like to speak when in large groups. I love to stay in touch with friends and share about my family. Perhaps with this blog, my friends will be able to better stay in touch and strangers could eventually be friends.

We are a family of five. John and I married in October of 2001 and now have 3 boys. John and I love to visit with friends, play games-card games, board games and video games, watch movies and read. We are both competitive and opinionated so at times we clash. Those times are far outnumbered by the adventurous, pleasant, humorous, fun, reflective and devotional times.

Let me introduce our boys. Our firstborn, Josiah, is 5 years old and very excited to start Kindergarten in the fall. Josiah is very creative, intelligent, witty, curious, active and a great builder. Our middle child, Nathan, is 2 years old and extremely adventurous and outgoing as well as ornery. Nathan loves to play, cuddle, build and climb. Our youngest son, Noah, is 8 months old. Noah is smiley, cuddly, peaceful and investigative.

Nathan and Josiah on the 4th of July

Noah being patriotic