SWEET DREAMS

This is how we found Oliver after our family movie the other night. we sent him in the kitchen until he could stop whining and until he could be nice. he never did come back in!

PUPPIES FOR SALE

We have the sweetest pups from rockette. we had 5 and now we are down to 3. there is one that is so fat and cute! two are brown and white and one is black and white. they are english pointers and are GREAT for hunting! any takers?

CAN I CHANGE MY NAME?

why is it that i am the ONLY one that the kids come to when they want a snack or anything at all to eat? why do they whine ONLY to me? why do i constantly hear, "mom, can i" or "mom, can you get me....." UGH!!!! it is exhausting and annoying to tell you the truth. and then i realized my husband does it too! i guess it is true that kids follow your example. i think i need a vacation, and i'm sure i will be fine tomorrow, but today i want a break!

SLEEPING ROB

It is not very often that Rob falls asleep before any of us. he is usually the LAST person asleep in our house, but he started a new job this week and has been pretty exhausted. Just to be safe, he took something to help him get to sleep because he usually has such a hard time. Before he even made it to bed, he was out. the kids had so much fun with him and were laughing hysterically while he was trying to feed himself a brownie or when Jakob SCREAMED in his ear to try to wake him up and Rob instinctively slapped him (NOT HARD). the kids even started to make funny faces with his face, but when they threatened to get the finger nail polish and permanent markers out..... i had to call it a night.

TENNIS CAMP

i LOVE tennis!!! i have been playing since i was about 12, with the exception of a 10 year break to have kids. i am so glad that my kids have also found a great love for this sport also. they had so much fun this week at tennis camp. Coach John did such a great job with the kids and helped them learn some very important skills. this year Nico, Jakob and Annelies got to be in camp. Sofia is dying for her chance to get on the court.

ANNELIES AND HER NEW DRESS

For the past few months, Annelies has been very interested in making a dress with some of the fabric i have. i finally had some time this week to help her pick a fabric and cut it out. she had so much fun coordinating fabric and ribbon and flowers. She was more than thrilled when it was finally done and she could go outside and twirl around in it. i am really enjoying watching this little girl grow up.

FACEBOOK REUNION

i was born in Richmond, MI and at age 4 we moved to GA. i hardly call myself a northern girl, but i still have great friends that i have stayed in touch with through the years. thanks to facebook i have officially reunited with one of those friends. We met up at stone mountain last night for a cookout at their camp site and the laser show afterwards. we had so much fun talking about memories and reminiscing about 'back then'! thanks Karrie for coming to visit and inviting my family to come play! we had so much fun.

MORE FAMILY FUN PICS

FAMILY FUN

my sister and becks came down for a visit yesterday and we had the best day! we all hopped in my car for a trip to the movies. the kids loved seeing Charlotte's Web and even seeing some of their friends from church. after the movies, we came back to the house and played in the back yard. the kids and aunt rissa had fun in the sprinkler. there is nothing like eating popsicles in the heat of the summer with your cousins! it was a very fun day!

OUR NEWEST ADDITION

as many of you know, rob has a love for animals and one day we plan to live on lots of land where we can have LOTS of animals like cows, horses, sheep, etc.... For now on our 3 little acres, we are happy with our 3 hunting dogs, 4 puppies, 2 frogs, 2 rabbits, 26 chickens (13 fryers, 12 layers) and now we have added two kittens. the kids are in heaven with our little farm and it keeps them very busy taking care of them. i often find a kitten hiding under a blanket on the couch with one of the kids! the animals are all outdoor because of our severe allergies.

OUTSIDE FUN

our neighbors had their grandkids in town for a few days and we LOVE it when they come! all their kids are my kids ages and they all play so well together. unfortunately they were only here for a short weekend, but we enjoyed every minute of it. the kids played baseball in the yard until they couldn't see anymore and Shawna (their mom) and I sat on the porch watching the kids play and drinking the most delicious strawberry smoothies!

PUPPIES

we have three dogs. one female (english pointer) and two males (one english pointer, one black lab). all dogs are pure breds and are awesome dogs, so when we realized that our female pointer was pregnant, we could only hope that our male pointer was the proud papa! well today (since rob is at a scout trip in tennesse), i am in charge of tending to all the animals. as i went to check on the dogs, i noticed a cute little bundle of white and brown fur huddled in the corner of our dogs make shift birthing box. we now have 4 FULL BRED english pointer pups! whew...

***correction*** there are now FIVE puppies!

THE LAKE, FINALLY!!

All summer there has been nothing that Jakob has wanted more than to go on the boat. unfortunately it has either been too cold or too wet when we have planned to go. We got lucky this past weekend, when Melanie was in town, with some good weather. Jakob was thrilled and we had a great time with family! Nico got to wakeboard and got up with no problems..... the boys enjoyed a ride on the tube before we called it a day. Melanie, being 8 months pregnant decided to sit on the beach with mya and avoid the rough waters. we had a great time!

THE BIG GRANITE ROCK

My sis-in-law Melanie was in town for a few days so we tried to do some fun things while she and the kids were here. poor Mya was sick for the first couple of days, but eventually she was well enough to take a trip to the laser show. the kids had so much fun and LOVED the excitement of the fire works and lasers (except sofia who stayed tucked in Nanny's arms the whole time with her little ears covered). the boys were very patriotic and stood in salute to the american flag during the national anthem. the kids had so much fun dancing, singing and just enjoying each other. it brought back memories from when i was a kid.

LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES!

my girlfriend robin and i have devoted our summer to being FREE!! i have done my research and found LOTS of great things to do. our local bowling ally offers 2 free games per child each day! our library has puppet shows and stories and all kinds of great activities, and our local movie theatre is sponsoring a free kids movie morning for the month of June. so Robin and I got our munchkins together and went to the movies. she took the girls to see an American Girl movie and me and my boys saw Shrek the 3rd. it was so much fun, they LOVED it and best of all it was FREE!

WALKS WITH NANNY

while the boys were at the father/son campout. the girls and I decided to make the 45 minute drive to see nanny and poppy. lucky for me they were having a garage sale and i inherited some lovely things, but after the sale, we grabbed some popsicles and took a walk down to the lake. it was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend. the girls LOVE their nanny.

BAKING

i have a love for baking and one day would love to take classes on how to make fancy pastries and tarts, but for now it is fun to dabble here and there with recipes i come across. Annelies, Sofia and I found ourselves home alone while the boys went to the father/son campout with church. so we decided to make the most of it by baking the most delicious, made from scratch chocolate fudge mousse cake! YUM. you know you want some!

HOME ACTIVITIES

Today we are staying home from the pool. instead of letting my kids gaze lazily into a television screen viewing mindless cartoons, i give them a few choices..... they can play on starfall.com, or they can play outside, in the playroom, chores or watch these awesome dvd's that i found at target a few years ago for $10 each. if you are trying to get your younger kids or 'special needs' kids to learn there alphabet and put words together using phonics, then these are the dvd's for you! i love them. jakob sings all the songs and has memorized them. it keeps their attention and they are learning something! check them out at leapfrog.com. there are a lot of other dvd's as well.