A visit to our local "ocean"...

traci~momma

Today...

Today we have been busy playing outside, pulling carrots, cooking carrots and singing and playing the drums in the Rockin' Band...

Hayden was selling food at the concert...
Case told me that this is what his job is...playing in the Rockin' Band, that he has 5 boys, and the gator is his pick-up...

Hayden and I went ahead and picked the rest of Jim's carrots from the garden...136 of them as a matter of fact...needless to say, my fingers hurt a little from cleaning and peeling them...

One of the AWESOME songs that was performed today at the concert...daddy will especially enjoy it... don't forget to stop my song playlist before you try to play this...

traci~momma

Lil' Toledo's Independence Day...

Here are the rest of the pictures from our previous weekend...Jim's family has a lodge over by Chanute...they always have a good dinner and a major fireworks display and we feel so lucky to be a part of it every year.


They have at least 3 gigantic gardens...

The wires Case is playing with were hooked up the night before to the large firework holders on the back of the trailer...one touch of the wires and it sets them off...

Jim's mom went over with us to the lodge...

This is Robbie...one of Hayden's most favorite people...she's Jim's uncle's wife...

Look at this beehive...Case spotted it way up in a tree...

uncle Rex and Hayden...

more relatives...the boys basically hung out here the whole evening...they loved having some boys their own age to play with...

the "shed" where we had dinner and later that night where I sang karaoke...per Jim bugging me for hours and hours

We do not drink pop at our house...but I guess since it was the 4th, Jim thought he'd treat the boys and buy them a Pepsi...it's the little things!!!

my 3 boys...

the pork loins we had for dinner...

traci~momma

God, thank you for July...

The title of this post is just a little sample of Hayden's prayer the other night before dinner...the boys have been asking if it's July for a couple weeks...they love love love it...but now are somewhat sad because the firework tents are leaving town and won't be back until next July!!

traci~momma

Dually's and Diego...

If I tried to imagine what one of Case's dreams would look like it would be the following two pictures...the only thing different to him would be that HE would be driving this dually!!! He is absolutely obsessed with these trucks, and if it's a diesel, even more!!! Can you believe he fit under the tire hub area!!!! Little pip squeak...

(this all went down at one of our local car dealerships while I was having my tire fixed) :)

Hayden pretended to be "Diego" last night while outside...he had on some hand-me-down tennis shoes from I don't remember, that are too big for him, his safari shorts, and his "rescue pack" as Diego would say...he was running from tree to tree outside...crazy kid...he loved it and was smiling constantly.

traci~momma

This, that and some other stuff...

Our week has been filled with so many "exciting" things...
As you know, Jim's birthday was yesterday...here are the lemon bars we had for dessert after a nice dinner over at the Fireside in Thayer...(when it was time to order...Case said "I want a steak"....yikes...this kid is really gonna cost us when we go out to eat...he ate 2/3 of Jim's steak!!)
The boys were so excited about the one candle we had to put on it (Case told me not to forget the "fire" on the candle after I put it in the dessert)...they sang to daddy and were all smiles...it was very cute!


They picked out some heartfelt gifts for daddy to open yesterday too...candy...and mechanical pencils and ink pens...more candy....and candy.... (they were very concerned to know if I thought daddy would share his birthday gifts with them?!?!?)

We have a few acres that we have cut to hay every summer...this is a BIG event at our house...the boys were consumed all week with this...
After cutting the "tall grass" per Case....Case loaded some of the leftover hay into the gator... he really wants to keep all the round bales...even though we have absolutely no use for them!! He's a little farmer/cowboy at heart. Those of you who are not around him, when he talks it's very "twangy", cowboy-ish, mumbling...

I was trying to clean out our HUGE pool and while I was spraying it out, Case was standing behind it...and of course I thought...ahhh, neat picture...so I had them both stand back there...Case was standing far away so it makes him look tiny...when in fact, he's almost as tall as Hayden...

We had to pose on the hay bales, right!!!

Friends, buddies, enemies, brothers, partners in crime...the list goes on and on

The garden's looking fantastic...Jim's going to pick all the beets today and cook and freeze them...he is determined to have some of his beets on Thanksgiving!!

Smoke bombs...we had leftover fire works from last year, and Jim being the kid he is at heart...can't wait...every morning now when the boys get up, they ask "Is it July yet?" They know the tents set up in town sell only when it's July!!!!

"Where's my lightening bug at?"

Sssssssnakes....

traci~momma

Happy Birthday Honey...

Today is Jim's birthday...37th birthday that is...hope you have a wonderful day honey...the boys and I love you so much. We are so lucky to have you in our lives...you're funny, witty, smart, hard-working, loving... and a real cuddle bug...just kidding on that one :)

We love you love you love you...

traci~momma