Samuel

Samuel was exhausted from a long day of throwing and breaking things, so he fell asleep in the shower with mommy. I wrapped him in a towel and put his diaper on him and laid him in my bed. Gracie came and put the sweetest note beside his head. It says "Sam, I like you."

Abagail

Gracie was insistent that we celebrate Abagail's birthday, complete with cake and candles. What a lucky dog!

Cackleberries

My Grandpa Archibald called eggs cackleberries. When we would visit he cooked breakfast of fried eggs (never scrambled), bacon, wheat toast, and whole wheat cereal. My Grandfather would sing hymns the entire time he was cooking breakfast. There was something special about waking up to the smells and the sound of the food cooking and my Grandpas voice. I always looked forward to the experience although I wasn't overly fond of eggs.

Fast forward a few dozen years...I love eggs. I love the shape of the soft, brown, orbs. I love their centers of yellow sunshine. They make me happy. I wonder if eggs have a happiness inducing compound in them? I love them soft poached and served over lightly toasted, buttered (smart balance) sourdough bread; With slices of cold tomato underneath. Topped off with a dab of hollandaise sauce and some chopped avocado. MMM...yum...I love you cackleberries.

Dorothy, Scarecrow and Oompa Loompa's? Oh, my!

Guess who the oompa loompa is? What a good sport he is.

Sam and his cuc cuc's

Samuel loves the chickens. He loves to feed them, water them, gather the eggs and of course eat the eggs. Samuel takes it upon himself to make sure the chickens are being taken care of properly. This is the day he found the water bucket empty!!

Boys and girls

Fishing

Random scenes I love...

Rides in the wheelbarrow
Ice cream potato from the fair, it's worthy of two spoons.

Helping Daddy with the car.

Sink baths.

First day of Kindergarten...sob...hicup...sigh.

Gracie started Kindergarten at Pioneer School of the Arts in August. It is a year round art magnent school. Her teacher is Mrs. Gilliam and her best friends at school are Ben, Norah, Eden and Emma N.

Up...up...up...up...up...

I spy challenge...find the dog bite and bandage on this messy face.

Samuel "D" is a boy of few words. He does manage to get the point across and communicates quite well without speaking much at all. His favorite word for months was "UP". Said in all capitals. He uses it when he wants something, when he wants, up, down, food, outside...It works. How could you not love this face?

Camping

Grandjean...hiking...swimming...throwing rocks in the stream...dog bites on the nose...midnight run to the hospital in Sun Valley...Ah Sam...my little accident magnet. What did we do with all or our time before you?

No better way to spend a hot July day...down by the river.

Lemonade

I love these pictures, they tell the whole story of how our day went selling Lemonade...it's not a very profitable business anymore. We spent $8.00 on Lemonade and the sign. Sat for two hours in the heat of the July day and drank most of the lemonade ourselves. We finally made $6.00, half of which came from Daddy.

A failure? Not even close, my kids had a ball. They learned it's not always fast and easy to make a little money. They learned to stick it out...don't give up. They also learned that their mom will help them even when it's hot and miserable and she doesn't feel like it.

Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone

On the way home Nakel and I stopped at Mt. Rushmore. It felt way more touristy than I anticipated, but was so much fun to see. Well worth the extra time on the trip!

Nakel and I split in Montana where she headed north to visit Gabe and we headed on to Yellowstone and Home.Samuel spent his entire time in Yellowstone trying to clean up the boardwalks with his baby wipes. Funny kid.