A few things

Brett likes to scream.  He does it out of excitement, but it's REALLY loud and high pitched.  

Grant is a really great helper.  And he's proud of himself for it. 

Ice cream can be really messy...

...and it's best shared with a brother.

Grant's Swim Lessons

Due to some technical difficulties with our computer I haven't been able to download the pictures from our camera.  Keith came to the rescue last night and now I have my pictures from July!  

Here's Grant at his swimming lessons at our local pool.  I started teaching him earlier in the summer, but it was too hard to get to the pool without Brett in tow so that we could have one on one time.  Plus, Grant got to the point where he needed a teacher that wasn't Mom, so that maybe he would be braver and listen better.  I will say that his kicking skills are much better now and he's starting to try to use his arms.  He loves to swim around under water and I'm hoping that with more practice he'll learn to come up for a breath now and then while he's swimming.

He loved his teacher from his first session of lessons.  The kids called her Ms. Mickey.

While Grant was waiting for his turn, he'd often be watching the water in the drain around the pool.

One day Grandma Jackson came to watch a lesson and we got to go swimming at her house afterwards.

Grant and Brett's hair got sooooo blonde this summer.  A couple weeks ago we buzzed their hair and I seriously had to hold back tears.  Hopefully it'll grow back fast so it can go blonde in the sun again before summer's over.

from around the house

We picked some apples last week from my parent's friend's tree.  We still need to do something with them all.  I think an apple crisp will be in order for dessert tonight.

 Grant entertains me with a puppet show.

Because it's too hot to run around outside, Grant has me put on "basketball music" and he and Brett run around the outer edge of the family room super fast.  See the umbrella too?  I brought that inside as a dust storm swept through our area last night.  Too bad it was HOT wind.  And see the trampoline?  That's how I get my cardio in.  And see the new draperies?  

Here's a better view of the draperies.  We love them.  I love the color and interest they add to the room.

And I love how they make the fireplace scream, "Remodel me NOW!!"  I'm not sure where on our list that project falls, but I'm thinking it should get bumped up to first or second place.  :)

My Laundry Helper

Brett is determined to help me every time I do the laundry.  He's so good to unload the dryer and he loves it when I hand him things from the washer to put in the dryer.  The whole time he keeps saying, "help, help."  Then he waits for it to be time to close the dryer door and he gives it a big bang and then we give each other a high five.  I'm so glad that he's around to make this work a whole lot more enjoyable!

A Birthday/Father's Day Post

I had a birthday.  Hooray!  

We had my family over for what I called a "Great Big Texas Dinner."  That's the fancy way to say that we had ribs, rolls, Texas Roadhouse butter, potato casserole, celery sticks spread with cream cheese and chopped olives, and watermelon.  My mom made my favorite dessert, Evil Dessert.  It's an ice-cream cake that I can't get enough of.  

Now onto the Father's Day part of this post.  Here's my man.  He's a fancy basketball player.  Look at his forward and backwards action with the hoop.  Wow!

He's our hero.  He takes the boys out to play after dinner when there's finally shade in the front yard.  It's been so hot here, so what else do you do but run through the sprinklers with dad?

Here's some cute ones of the boys playing out front on another day.  Notice the glove on Grant's hand. That boy and gloves!  But it's kind of funny because it's just one glove...kind of like Michael Jackson.  And no, we are not related.  At least I didn't think we were.  :)

But this is probably my favorite picture...BEDTIME (One of the best times of the day.)!  Brett's been getting in on the bedtime stories lately.  Usually he'd just go to bed with a simple song and no fuss.  Now he joins Grant for his routine.  So cute!  They love to have Dad read the books and Mom to sing the songs.  

As you can see, our Dad is pretty special to us.  Happy Father's Day Keith!  We're so happy to have you!

Peaches 2013

One of the fun things we did when my sister was in town was picking peaches at Schnepf Farms.  We went early in the morning to beat the heat, but it was still pretty hot in the sun!  You can see in a couple of the pictures, that Grant wore his special "peach picking glove."  That boy and gloves!  He just loves to wear them!

My Mom came too.  Isn't this a sweet picture of her and her peach picking grandkids?  Looks like little Ellie had enough of the heat!

I had to capture this moment.  This is typical Brett lately....one thumb in his mouth, and one finger on his belly button.

Until next year, peaches!  Actually, we'll see.  Our new little peach tree is doing quite well.  Maybe we'll have one more year before we can pick our own peaches!  Hooray!