a big event in the morning

Yesterday morning Kate and Josh were in the kitchen while I was tidying up around the house. When I came back to the kitchen Kate wanted to fill me in on what had happened while I had been gone. Apparently, there had been an ant on the kitchen floor, which Josh scooped up on an envelope and deposited outside via our kitchen door to the backyard. Kate babbled over and over again about this ant, pointing to the floor, and to her daddy, and to the back door, and over again to make sure I did not miss out on this big event. I think she told me about it four or five times.

Toddler chatterboxes are so funny!

Arlington friends

A week ago we got to go to Arlington to visit our friends. We miss them and had a wonderful time getting to hang out and share our lives again.

Kate got to meet Daisy. They ran around Starbucks together.
Kate and Shanda are shoe buddies. How cute is that!
Kate and Grace hadn't seen each other in a long time. They had a good time running around the house together and learning to share.

We miss our friends in Arlington and are so thankful they welcome us back and spend time visiting with us.

Picnic by the river

Picnic dinner by the river with my favorite people...

...and favorite dog.

Dad Life

This is dedicated to all the great dads!

Dad Life

Love it!

BFF

A July 4th Adventure!

After all the parade festivities and resting at home through the rest of the heat of the day, we decided we needed to get out and play on Independence Day. Josh thought we should try the nature trail we had seen a sign for down near a playground we go to. All we knew was that there was a sign that said "Nature Trail .7 mi." Off we went.

In this case, "trail" is used very loosely. It was more like "people have walked here before so someone came and put a few signs with arrows once sometime ago." The nature was beautiful, though.

My adventurous husband and brave daughter. Yes, that is a fallen tree behind them. We actually encountered several of those. One time we had to lift the stroller over a tree. I didn't get a picture of that of course. Sammy was with us too, but he was not interested in pictures.
This time Josh decided to push the stroller under the tree. Oh yes, he did.
Kate was clearly not that impressed with our adventure.

We decided next time we go we will take Kate in the ergo (backpackish baby carrier). We didn't think that would be necessary since we were on a trail. Ah, learning from experience.

Happy July 4th!

Celebrating the 4th with a parade...

...remembering freedom is bought with a price.

Checking in

It's been a busy few weeks. Lots of things going on and lots of things needing to be processed. But that doesn't happen well when I am busy.

A song came up on the playlist yesterday while I was playing with Kate and it struck a chord with me. I realized that my heart is needing to be touched, to be expressed, to be sung to. I need to take the time to be still and listen to the music that sings to my soul.

Maybe I'll get a chance to do that today. Maybe I'll put aside the chores screaming to be done. Maybe I won't pick up the parenting book I'm reading to make sure I cover all the bases parenting. Maybe I won't take the nap I'm really wanting. Maybe.

(I'll post pictures soon. My computer is hiding the pictures I just downloaded from the camera and I don't feel like wasting anymore of my time looking for them. )