let's go swimming!

we took the first first dip in the pool for the summer. the kiddos were so eggsited (excited in benglish).

their favorite thing to do is of course jump & have daddio catch them.

splashing came in a close second for fun things to do in the pool. it unfourtunatly, drove zaky the dog nuts (& probably the neighbors with all the barking). .

everyone slept nice & sound last night after the swim. thank goodness!

pap's new look

here he is with no tubes in & bandage off! i won't show the side, it's a bit gross yet. but he is doing awesome. praise god!

friday night summer social

we went to neighbor john's church's summer social last night. ate waaay too much. the dumplings were out of this world awesome. we ate very quickly though, because beano could hardly wait to ride the rides.

the first ride the kiddos rode on cracked me up.
gracie up front driving, having the time of her life


ben in the back miserable. i think he was a bit embarrassed by this.

but never fearo, next, him & daddio went down the big slide!


then, some jumping around in the bounce house & a carousel ride which ben was less than thrilled about. gracie had fun. she has been wearing these camo boots nonstop with everything. girl has style.


gracie cracked me up so. on every ride she would hold the operator's hand the entire way to & from the ride. i think she even gave the bounce house lady a hug. what a sweetie pie.

the last ride was the ultimate spinner around fun ride for both of them (thank goodness)
after they were nice & dizzy,
we called it a night & went home to bed.

freeze frame

we went to the photo fundraiser for jeriah ciulei family today. we had a fun time getting dressed up & smiling for the camera together. (ok, the kiddos not so much today). but, we got some kinda cute pictures in the process & the $$ is going to help a family that really needs it. here are the best pictures. we went shoeless, as i didn't think ben's yellow crocs & gracie's camo boots matched too well.





we had the best time waiting for the picture cd....
ben busting a move for some pretzels from the vending machine.

gracie finally smiliing...

trying out her locker combination..

hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

family fun at monica's

we went to cousin monica's to celebrate aunt donna's birthday & father's day on sunday. the kiddos always have a good time over there. there are so many kids,i mean adults, to play with.

the beautiful birthday girl in her beachwear. i'm sorry we got it to ya after your trip! it will look good next year though!

opening up presents..

monica putting the smackdown on ben. sometimes he calls her harmonica. i love that. she's such fun!

the kiddos & their grandparents. they really enjoyed spending the weekend & part of the week up at namaw & poppy's. we are missing you guys so much! it's been an adjustment getting back to home life here in evansville. cooking again, rules again yikes! we love you & look forward to the 4th!

a tough cookie

he's gonna teach my kiddos to be a tough cookie, just like him (this is him day 1 after his surgery!) he went home today on day 4 (he was expected to stay 10 days!!)
we are proud of you papaw for your recovery; you are an inspiration to me. keep on chugging!

hanging out at norton

we spent a lot of time at norton hospital on saturday. i'm so thankful pap's surgery was then. the waiting room was pretty much empty except for us, which was nice. nobody had to make special work arrangements, which was good for the working.

saturday was quite a day, but we made the best of what we thought would be 9 stress filled hours during pap's surgery at norton.
lots of naps were attempted

lots of coffee
lots of good conversation,
lots of talking on the phone.




surprisingly lots of laughter. i think that's what gets us through.
after word that the tumor was removed, us rotten grandkids went and ate some good food down on 4th street with a good drink too.



these pictures make the day look like we were having a blast, but it was actually pretty stressful. i'm so thankful that it turned out the way it did. Thank you everyone for your thoughts & prayers.
the doctor finished up the surgery in great time & did a wonderful job on our pap.

surgery success!

just a quick note to say papaw's surgery was a success! thanks everyone for your thoughts & prayers. it meant and means so much. thank you dr. bumpus for your expert hands. you did awesome work! pap looks much better already, can eat food, it just doing awesome i think! once i figure out how to post a pic here at namaw & poppy's, i will, you won't believe it! it's just amazing!

sweet berry pie

miss gracie helped me to make a pie with all the berries picked from papaw's house. ben was too busy watching wipeout with his dad on tv to help. she is quite the helper.

first, she greased the pie pan.

then, she helped add the ingredients to the bowel. i didn't have a recipe, just threw in some sugar, some homemade vanilla extract, some almond extract & some flour.

next, she stirred, stirred, stirred.


then she tasted, tasted, tasted. she thought it was pretty durn good prior to even being baked.
mr. ben really enjoyed the fruits of her labor.

ben's favorite cousin

ben had a great time playing with his favorite cousin darby this week.

they played mario kart (with brad), jumped on the trampoline, pretended to be pirates, had a dance party, had a dinosaur attack, played pillow fight, and the list goes on and on. they even played in the bilibos. one of the only times they get played in is when she's in town. they are perfect for eating cereal.

or just laying around.... happy sweet 17 birthday to you miss aub! hope you had a wonderful day. we love you! come over & play anytime please.