yet another reason to love Brad Paisley:

In his Reader's Digest interview....

Q. Are you the kind of dad who changes diapers?

A. I think the days of men saying they don't are over. I'd like to see the guy who pulls that off now. No, I'd actually like to beat up the guy who says he pulls that off.

Adventures (or What Mommy Does While We Have Adventures)

So, if the boys are fishing/boating/doing boy things, I am capturing it all on film, or reading a good book, or both, if I'm really lucky. And a couple of weekends ago, I really lucked out.

We were at Aaron's family cabin in Wisconsin and I was reading this and trying to get some cool shots, too. I didn't realize it until after the picture, but baby girl has quite the swim diaper snuggie in this one.

Baby girl has fallen in love with anything water-related, and is brave enough to be dangerous.

We went exploring through the Upper Eau Claire Lakes, where you have to pull your boat through the straits between lakes. Notice Hope "exploring" by camera bag...

Cousins caught so many fish!! But J. wonders, "When you don't have pockets, where do you put your hands?

"Uh, Daddy?" Mama doesn't do worms.

Subway Serenity

We took a bike ride tonight into Spicer, had some Subway. No big thing.

But it is, ya know?

Peeking into the bike trailer to see a sleeping 4 year-old, crawled up in a ball.

Watching the baby girl laugh behind her Daddy, enjoying the wind in her face.

A big redhead flashing me a smile and a wink.

And a blond 6 year-old whose face turns tomato red like his Mama when he's winded.

These are the summer memories I don't want to forget -- jewels in my pocket I want to take out and hold onto when I feel like climbing into bed for a good week or so...

One of Our Favorite Summer Places

You know it's summer when the kids starting begging to go here:It's a park in Spicer with mini-golf, mini-motorcycles/go-karts, and bumper boats. Here's some pics from a few weeks ago -- back when Daniel actually had teeth. He's lost his top 2 teeth and 2 on the bottom since this was taken. Bumper Boats! K and I slamming into each other :)

J on his last leg...

Just like his Mama; can't keep his eyes on the road...

Decorating Questions

I've been trying to figure out what this room needs upstairs -- anyone wanna take a crack at it? I know I need greenery of some sort, but where and what?

I'm also thinking of adding a small ottoman in front of the dark chair.

A coffee table would crowd things, I think. Would a rug help add the color I want, or would that be too much?

Any suggestions for paint color for the wall behind the big couch?

We also switched the chairs -- so the dark one is against the red wall now.

And here's a cutie...just because. :) Are these eyes green? hazel? I have no idea.

Four Looks Good On Him, Don't You Think?

I can't stop grinning everytime I look at this picture -- J.'s 4th birthday party was a few weeks ago, and he insisted on a RED party.

We had lots of cousins over, plus some of Aunt B.'s family up from the South with their kids. He had a blast opening gifts and loved this stylin' jacket and hat.

A captive audience

Do you know how hard it is to put pigtails in a 15 mo. old's hair?

Smoochin' on the birthday boy

Just how many people can this dock hold?

At least that's what we always wonder as we sit on C & S's dock on the Fourth of July. I have a lot more pictures, but I'm too lazy to go get the camera. Thanks to S. for this one!


Summer is going pretty well so far. I've only lost my mind a couple of times, so that's encouraging. D. asked me a question the other day in that WHINEY voice that makes me insane and all I could do was let out this GRAAAHHH that sounded more animal than human.

That only resulted in more WHINEY voice telling me how scary I sounded.

We've had our usual Target and Cub Foods disasters which are a requirement of summer with all 4 of them. I always vow at the end of June: "I will only grocery shop at night without children!" or while they are all in the van with A. - whatever works....

One benefit this summer has been watching Baby Girl enjoy playing with her boys. She loves to "wrestle" with them and basically do whatever they are doing. G. can lift her up into her toddler swing outside and keep her entertained while I get dinner going - that's a blessing!

And, really, that's what it comes down to. I'm crazy about these four. Unique and individual as snowflakes, they astound me daily. And I know, I KNOW someday I'll miss this. (Or that's what I keep telling myself when boys are fighting and a toddler is permanently attached to my leg...)

America in 6 Words

I had so much fun with this on Facebook, I had to share it here. Reader's Digest did this cool thing where they had people describe America in 6 words or less -- so I gave the challenge to Facebook friends and they did not disappoint!

Here were the results:

Baseball, fireworks, the smell of rain

Root beer stand, bicycles, and sandboxes

Walmart, FBI, diversity, Dolly Parton, Starbucks

Porch swing, sweet tea, Disney World

Work Hard, Play Hard, Drink Coca-Cola

Movies, ipods, cellphones, twitter, and facebook

...and mine was: John Wayne, McDonalds, and Roller Coasters

Join in with your own!