Lay over

GG was in Washington for my cousin's graduation and her flight home had a lay over in Denver. Of course, we jumped at the chance to see her. Mack was so excited and insisted on bringing along a snack for GG, pretzels ( which she found out during GG's last visit are one of her favorite snacks). As we approached the airport, Mack whispered to me that she was feeling nervous since she hadn't seen GG in so long. The nerves wore off and we all had a nice snack and chat before GG jetted back to Michigan.

Watching and waiting for GG

Chatting

Mason never tires of being adored

Photo a day Favs

Prompt: Sharp

 I'm still loving my photo a day group! Here are a few of my favorite additions from May and June. I took nearly all of these with my phone and edited them in instagram. I hope to be able to find the time daily to use my DSLR but I enjoy the compact nature of my phone for this project ( since I never know when I'll find the photo for the days prompt) and like that I can edit it and upload it to the group in a few minutes with out a computer.

Prompt: Looking up

Prompt: enjoying life

Prompt: Transportation

Prompt: Special

Prompt: sweet

Prompt: can't live with out

Prompt: Broken

Prompt: five

Prompt: snack

Prompt: family

Prompt: centered

Prompt: street

Prompt: mailbox

This and that

While Mack has been sick, we've been home bound which has been pretty nice since we had been running nonstop prior to that. Here are a few pics to catch up

My mom has spent the last few months working on this
quilt for Mike and me. We love it!

It's sideways in this picture but can you see the sail boat?

Mason , who rather likes being on the "go, go, go!" as he says,
wants to go " OUT!"

Duncan wouldn't mind being released, either.

While we've been trying to stay healthy,  the flowers are thriving!

My attempt at capturing the super moon. This was the best
I could do , between patches of clouds.

This is a bouquet that Mackenzie picked and arranged for me from my
garden. I just love it!

And so it goes

Toss 100 kids into a church and let their germs intermingle and this is what you get:

one sore throat, one goopy eye and two infected ears followed by
10 days of amoxicillin.

God's Backyard

Mack has been spending her mornings at VBS this week! The kids have been busy learning about God's Backyard- both insects and creatures you'll find there, but also learning about serving their families, neighbors, communities and God. Today, the kids served a free lunch to anyone who happened to wander in. Tomorrow they are all bringing in shoe boxes with money they collected that will go towards helping children who need new shoes for school but can't afford them. Friday is canned food drive day. Sunday  the kids will wear their VBS shirts and participate in the service! Suffice it to say, Mack sleeps well every night!

So excited to get started, I could barely get the picture!

While Mack was at VBS, Brooklyn and Mason and I ran some errands.
Mack wasn't the only one having fun.

Ready to go home!

 

 

Moments with Mason

Everyone is a critic! Mike actually captured this
picture and I just love it.

One fish, two fish

Mack is still loving swim class! She gets more and more excited with each week. Last week after class, she proclaimed that she no longer wants to be a marine biologist. She wants to be a swim teacher! That's a big compliment to the teachers she's had! She and Mike even went over to the pool today so that she could practice her skills during open swim.

Excited!

The classes are kept small, only 6 child max. Mack is, by far, the most excited
fish in her class

Little brother came along last week to watch

Mack isn't the only water lover! Mason had his first swim in the horse trough at
Gram's and Papas! He was a *little* excited.

Sweet Mackenzie

With VBS this week along with her other activites, I feel like I haven't seen much of my girl! I suppose it's a good test run for when school starts ( August 14th as Mack proclaimed when she noticed the sign at school had been updated with the start date)

Mack, daddy and I are playing Chinese jump rope, a favorite
of my sisters and mine growing up.

Jelly beans!

Wild and free

Or at least trying to be!

Happy Father's day!

Mike had to work on Father's day but that didn't stop us from celebrating him! We woke him up with lots of goodies and cards and snuggles before we all headed off to my parents for dinner.  Among Mike's favorite gifts was a box of bacon flavored popcorn, a composting bucket and three bottles of BBQ sauce made with beers he's tried.

I could never imagine a better father than Mike. He is gentle and understanding but also understand the importance of discipline and consistency. He's always ready to go and our kids are so, so lucky to have him as their daddy. We love you, Mike! Mx3

Daddy's side kick

We got a good chuckle at this card made by Mack. If one didn't know Mike,
they'd think he was all about pills and alcohol.

That was easy!

Mason has started answering " yes" or "no" to questions. This is really helpful and has cut down on so much fussing while we try to figure out what in the world he wants. He sometimes speaks his answers, sometimes shakes his head or points and sometimes all three. On top of that, he's gaining understanding. Here are a few examples:

Mason had overstuffed his mouth and before he finished chewing what was in his mouth, said " OUT." , wanting down. I told him he could get out as soon as he finished what was in his mouth. Before I could fully understand what was going on, he'd spit the chunk of pb&j sandwich into his hand, tossed it to the floor to a waiting Ellie and again said " OUT." Ok boy, out you go.

Each night before dinner, we join hands and say prayers. From the time Mason sat atop the table in his bouncy seat to now, we've always just touched his arm while we prayed to included him. We always giggled at what he must have thought was the strangest occurrence ( They touch me, then they close their eyes and talk to someone I can't see and then it's ok to eat?) To our surprise , two nights ago, we prepared to pray and Mason stuffed his little wrist in Mike's hand, shoved the tator tot that was in his other hand into his mouth and put that hand into mine, then looked at Mike, waved and smiled. I think even God got a chuckle at the sweetness of our proud boy.

Flarp!

I came across a recipe for homemade Flarp on Pinterest. Flarp is sort of like the slime played with by my generation  but less messy with an added bonus. When one stuffs the flarp into a small container, it sounds like a fart. You can imagine the excitement.

The real appeal of Flarp. This silliness lasted for well over
an hour.

It slipped OUR minds

Mack is so good about doing her chores with out being asked...that is when she remembers...and when I remember! Between the two of us, things can get a little hazy when we're trying to remember if things have been done. That's when I remembered seeing chore charts that Chantel made for her kiddos and I knew this was a great resolution to our problem:

In case your wondering, I just made two since I knew Mason
would need one eventually. If he had a chore, it'd be to try his hardest to
reach his chore chart, pull it from it's spot on the wall and eat the magnets.

That's our Mack

We've been breaking heat records all over the place here. This morning
Mack ran through the sprinkler ( at 9:30 am and in 85* weather) while I
watered. She came in, asked for a cup of hot cocoa and went up to get dressed, coming down
wearing a turtle neck and velour pants.

One of Mack's assignments for reading program
was to write a poem. She and Grams
came up with this one together.

Papa gave Mack $5 dollars for graduating preschool. She
held onto it for a few weeks when she finally decided she'd like to
use it to buy jelly beans.

She's such an independent girl! I love watching her do things on
her own for the first time and being so proud.