beat the heat

We have already had several days with 100+ degree temps in Kansas. Oh my... what will July bring? We have been hanging out at the pool a lot lately!! We go between two pools -- our neighborhood pool which is awesome because it's not too crowded and we can walk there, or the Genesis pool where Grayson does swim team. Two words: diving board. The boys love going off the board!

 Grayson getting lots of air!

 another dive

 Grayson and Elliot

 Carter and Jerry

 Ruby and Carter

blackberry picking

On Monday morning, we went out to Elderslie Farm to pick blackberries. We had lots of fun!

 George gave us tips on how to pick the perfect, most ripe berries...

 Nana and the boys were hard at work!!

 Grayson loved playing with the two German Wirehairs that followed us around

 We all had to taste a few as we were picking... :)

filling the buckets...

 the actual blackberry plants were gorgeous!

We had so much fun! Hopefully we'll pick some more before the season is over!

happy father's day!

we had a fun weekend celebrating some of the dads in our life!

happy father's day! we love you guys!

patriotic wreath

I was looking at several crafty blogs recently and got the "itch" to make a wreath... somewhat similar to one I had seen. I headed over to Hobby Lobby, purchased material, a straw wreath, and some ribbon, and I was ready to start crafting. I think I spend a whopping total of $14!

 First, I cut lots of 2" strips of both colors of the material.

 I then wrapped about 2/3 of the wreath with the red fabric, securing the ends of the fabric with my hot glue gun.

 Then I finished covering the wreath with the blue fabric.

 Finally I added a basic bow made out of patriotic ribbon and topped with a white ribbon rosette. The glue gun came in handy here, too. :)

The finished product hanging on the laundry room door.

A little splash of red, white, and blue!

masked intruders

Gramps called us this afternoon, asking if we wanted to head down to his office warehouse. One of his co-workers had literally stumbled across a raccoon as he was leaving. They set a few live traps out, along with some scraps of velveeta cheese... and hoped for the best.

When we arrived at Gramps' office, this is what we found!!

 two baby raccoons -- about the size of 6 week old kittens

 as the boys got closer, the raccoons got scared... making hissing and growling noises :)

 we think they have to be siblings whose mother abandoned them -- they really are kind of cute!

Gramps' co-worker is planning to take the raccoons and make small coon-skinned caps for his grandkids.

Just kidding! He's going to release them into the wild tomorrow afternoon!

take me out to the ballgame

Summer is officially in full-swing with swimming and baseball! Grayson played in his first game on Friday night. They are playing coach-pitch, and he loved it.

 he was the lead-off batter that night, and went 3 for 3!

 Carter is a good cheering little bro!

 ready to run home!!

 yay for scoring another run!

 Ruby and Carter ran around most all night...

on second base

after the game -- don't forget the snacks! :)

fun smile from Grayson and Carter's eyes are nowhere to be found... oh well.

Batter up!!

swim team {2012}

We have plunged into a new endeavor this summer... swim team!

Grayson has loved it so far -- which I am excited about -- and today was the first meet.

The kids have been practicing daily, since summer started, for an hour each day.

Today was a bit of a learning curve for us parents as we've never been to a swim meet before. :)

 the first thing you learn is that ALL the kids get written on with sharpie markers

their names on their chests, and their events on an arm

 Grayson swam a 100M freestyle relay, 25M freestyle, and 25M backstroke

 we are working (thanks, Nana!) on perfecting his racing dive ;)

 waiting for his individual race to begin -- game-face on!

 "Eat my bubbles!!" was written on his back :)

doing his last race -- the backstroke!

At the end, he said it was "AWESOME!"