Cute Pic!

My friend Steph posted this on her blog this week, and I have to steal it since it's such a cute pic!! This is Connor and his friend Sophie (who belongs to Steph) at the "Great Picnic" which happened two weeks ago. It was crazy--over 2,000 people in our downtown. They blocked off Broadway and set up tables--every table had a theme...well, except ours! Ha! ;) It was still very pretty, though, and we had a great time!

Pool Time!

We've been having so much fun at the pool this summer! Anna and Brad were in town this weekend, and while the boys golfed, the girls and kids hung out by the pool. Here are some pictures that come November, we'll be drooling over! :)


The kiddos sure do looove their Auntie Anna!


Anna taught Connor how to swim with his speedo jacket on...he was so proud of himself!









Connor and his favorite friend, Brad! ;)


Brookie and Grandpa after lunch on the patio...silly camera is going crazy again--counting down the days till my b-day so I can get a new one!


Mimi and Brooke


Steph and Sophie

Sweet Baby Ben!

Here are a couple pics of my dear friend Lyndsay's sweet baby Ben! They were in town this weekend, and it was wonderful to see them! Ben is absolutely precious...as you can see from the pics!

I think I am OCD (slightly).....

I have major issues with obsessive compulsion....and I'm a bit of a hypo-chondriac. All my good friends and family know this about me, and most of them laugh with me, not at me (cause I'm not laughing)...well, sort of laughing, maybe. Anyway, lately I've been afraid of spiders--brown recluse spiders, to be exact. I'm pretty darn sure that I have seen them in my house, and in my parents house. I went to throw a load of laundry in the other day, and a very suspicious looking specimen scurried out of a dirty towel...I did the only thing I knew to do--grabbed the dustbuster and suctioned the darn thing up. I left the suction on for a long time, and then put it back into the charger--sincerely hoping that the hole is now plugged. This, my friends, was two days ago. I am petrified to check and see what kind of spider is looming in that dustbuster. I need to dump the contents and see if this little guy has the identifiable "violin" pattern on it's torso, or thorax, or whatever it's called in "bug lingo"...but I can't.

If I find that this is, in fact, a brown recluse, I will never, and I mean NEVER sleep again. My children won't either because I will be too scared to let them into their beds--one of the most common ways to get bitten is by rolling over on a spider in bed! So, the spider sits in the dustbuster, and then I don't have to freak out and know for sure. I was forced to stop googling "brown recluse spiders" and "brown recluse spider findings in our town (which, by the way, didn't turn up any relevant information), by my dear husband tonight, who lovingly called me "crazy"...but mind you this was only seconds after he calmly asked me to grab a tissue and turn on the light. He was tracking a spider who somehow scurried away--I adamantly asked if it was a brown recluse he had seen...he didn't even respond to that one! And, to add insult to injury, I was getting a relaxing foot massage right before that dumb spider sauntered into our living room.

So, now I'm waiting to go to bed and praying that I won't dream about these silly spiders. These brown recluse spiders that I've never even heard of being spotted in this part of the state. But, if there's one to be found, believe you me, I'll be the one to find it! See, I told you all, I'm a little OCD....yikes! ;)

We're back!!!!!!!!!!

We had another fabulous vacation up in Michigan these past two weeks! Aside from the excruciatingly long car ride up (the usual 7 hour trip somehow became a 12 hour marathon adventure, with a hysterical baby, tired kiddo, and very spent mommy and mimi), it was just perfect!

We had so much fun with Auntie Lynne and Auntie Teah the first week! It was so wonderful to catch up and just to relax and enjoy being together! Poor Connor was the only male for many days, though, and after awhile the testosterone began to build up in his little system. When the cable guy came to the cottage on Thursday afternoon to make a simple sales call, he had no idea what he was in for! Connor instantly caught wind of another male on the premises and was on him like one of those biting black flies we were dealing with the entire vacation. It was pretty hilarious, actually! :) I don't think the guy knew quite what to make of Connor asking him to look at every toy he could find in the 2 minute time span he stood at the door!

By the time Daddy and Grandpa got in on Saturday, Connor was ready to do some fishing! They had so much fun down at the dock fishing for hours and hours, they caught many perch (or "porch") as Connor so fondly refers to them, and also quite a few "stupid sunfish", as Grandpa not so fondly refers to them! :) A large pike loomed in the shallow water by the dock, and although he did finally bite the line, he snapped it instantly and got away with a poor little "porch" used for bait. I'm quite sure he swam away with a full belly thinking "suckers" as he barely had to work for that breakfast! ;)

Brookie had her first taste of cereal, and began rolling like a champ! She is almost crawling at this point...YIKES!!! I don't think I'm ready for all of that, yet. All in all it was an awesome trip, and we can't wait to go again next year. Now, for your viewing enjoyment, a whole schlew of pictures....... :)