Flying By.....

Can you believe that it is almost August already? I am having a hard time with the fact that this weekend is the last weekend of July (at least half of it). But the better part is that we get to celebrate Ben's birthday on Sunday, and that is always a highlight of the summer.

The summer is going so fast, as usual, but we are enjoying all we can. It has been warm, but not unbearable. We have been enjoying seeing Nettie thrive in swimming, and hopefully with a few more lessons will overcome her fear and take off in the pool. She is getting very good, but likes to make sure someone is close by at all times and the wall is easily attainable. John is starting to ride his bike more and loves playing outside whenever possible. It makes it nice to open the back door after work and let the kids run out for a bit before dinner.

Nettie is helping me with a garden that we have with our neighbors, I will attach pictures soon. It is a wonderful garden and we should have more food than we can handle in about a month. Right now we are starting to get lots of tomatoes, but the rest is coming:) I never thought I would say that I love to garden, I love picking the weeds, I love watching the plants grow and I love seeing the vegetables coming on, and knowing that it all started from a seed.

Here are a couple of recent pics from this month...The 4th of July parade, the family picnic, birthdays, some of the flowers in the backyard, and of course SuperDad, allowing both kids to help him mow the lawn..

Yeah for Summer Haircuts

Tonight was haircut night. This happens for John every 4-6 weeks, but for Nettie only about every 12. Tonight she said "I want a haircut like cousin Paige" so here it is.......

Summer fun

Ben and I went to Red Rocks to see Sting in June
Cousin Lily playing with bubbles
The whole family camping Memorial Day weekend
The kids playing croquet

40 years

Last Saturday we spent the day celebrating my Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary. It was a fun party full of friends and family. It celebrated 2 people that I admire and strive to be like as a parent, a spouse and a person. I feel so blessed to have them as parents and can't imagine a better reason to have a party! Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad (take that Al and Tipper!)

Her first tooth

Last Friday I took Nettie to get her toenails painted. The woman at the nail salon gave her an apple as her "going away present". A little odd, but she seemed to like it so I said it was fine. As she was eating it, it occurred to me that her front tooth was pretty loose and this could be interesting. As we were sitting in the driveway she said..."Here is my tooth" and after shoving a napkin in her mouth for the blood, she proceeded to finish her apple.

Here is the pic from the first tooth down, only a few more to go....

Not so good at the update thing....

Enjoying kite day at Mother Cabrini with Nonna, Poppa and PoppieDaddy and Nettie acting silly
Nicole and Tiffany after complete the Platte River Half Marathon
Nettie practicing her writing
Hanging out with the cousins at Geemas and Geepas

So, it has been, as usual, busy in the house. Lots of things going on and as I sit here thinking of what is going on and I am suddenly drawing a blank. So, here is a list that I can think of..

John is out of diapers at home - YIPEE!! Even at night, he doesn't wear them.

Nettie is learning how to read and is doing a great job. She is working on her sight words and can read some books in part. She is also practicing writing whenever possible.

Tiff ran her second 1/2 marathon and finished (always the goal). 2 more are in the plan for this year, although the one is May is a maybe.

Ben survived a weekend with the kids while Tiff went to Vegas with a friend. The trip was fun, but Ben was more excited to see Tiff than the kids.

Cousin Lily spent a few days with us, always fun to have cousins around, and Lily loved playing with the big kids.

Tiff survived a few days while Ben wen to visit his Dad. Jack enjoyed having Ben in town for a visit. They got lots of stuff done and enjoyed the time together.

That is about it for now, we are getting excited for summer and ready for warmer weather. Although we are expecting snow this week, so who knows when the warm weather will arrive.

The things kids say

I have been sitting here thinking about the things that come out of our 5 year old's mouth. I think at 5 kids don't have a filter, this is definitely something you learn. Now, I will be the first to say that in my family we tend to speak our minds, and the problem occurs at a younger age with each generation. I am a prime example that sometimes I speak my mind and then think later - "Maybe I should not have said that" - but it is too late at that point. 2 things that still strike me as funny are:

Mommy when I am grown up you will be old - Yes Nettie, I will.
Mommy - (as she is putting on lip gloss) look you can put it on your lips and then use this to shove up the buggers. Note to all reading this - NEVER use Nettie's lip gloss, you have NO idea where it has been .