Ladybugs & Stinkbugs

I posted some pictures of the kids and the baby chicks the other day, and our friends also posted a lot of other pictures of the kids with their goats & horse. Pop over to the Hag Ranch and check them out!

Last week, the boys got to go to the new Petting Zoo in town, and they had a blast. They really enjoyed feeding the animals.

From August 2009

This little lamb LOVED Andrew...

From August 2009

...and followed him around...

From August 2009

Andrew wasn't sure - brother and sister did it, but he didn't think he really wanted to...until it was time to leave!

He finally did!

When Annie hit the water


Taking turns


Annie jumping agaion


Matthew's jump - You have no idea what a victory this was for him. For the past three summers he has been TERRIFIED of the water, and now he's jumping off the diving board! It's incredible...he's getting so big!

During the day, the kids often beg to "take a break" - and a 5 minute break can quickly turn into 15...20...45 minutes. That's okay with me cuz it means I get to finish folding clothes. =)

This is one of the things that they enjoying doing outside. They were clamoring for me to record them yesterday, so here's what we got:

Matthew is practicing climbing the rope, you know, like they do in gym class. He's very gangly, and can make it up about halfway, but then he gets distracted trying to do "tricks" and never makes it up to the top.





This is Annie's turn to climb. She does pretty good! Also, Andrew has taught himself how to swing! I'm very impressed with him; he just picks up all of this stuff like it's nothing!

As I post this, I want everyone to know that this is NOT a sarcastic post!! (I know...sarcasm from Lindsay? That's just crazy talk!!) Anyway, my husband is such an impressive guy, as you will soon see...=)

Jeremy went with some of his friends to the shooting range last week. It was actually his first experience shooting a gun...ever. He was shooting a deer rifle, and as he shot, he leaned in a little too close to the scope...this was the result:




There was evidently a lot of blood, and it was followed by a quick trip to the emergency room. Our friend drove him, and snapped this picture:



(I was glad it was THIS friend who volunteered to drive him, and not the one who said, "Can he wait until we're finished shooting?")

The result was 5 stitches. And a story that Jeremy had to repeat about 573 times over the past week:





He had an appointment scheduled to remove the stitches TOMORROW...but since our friend Ike is on his way, and all of Jefferson County is evacuated, no one is there! So, I'm researching the ramifications of leaving stitches in too long. It turns out it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal, if we were sure he could get them out Monday. But with not knowing, we didn't really want to wait that long. We had a couple of options. One involved a trip to the emergency room...in Beaumont. However, (as you can see here), traffic is SO BAD because of the evacuation that it would take about 2 days to get there and back. That left finding someone local. However, all the doctor's offices were closed. So we started thinking...how hard could this be? Jeremy was trying to talk me into taking them out at home. I could have/would have if I had needed to, but thankfully I was saved having to do that:







By the way, he is absolutely THRILLED with me telling this whole story! =) I seriously think he's a very brave guy. He impresses me.

Birthday parties are a lot of fun. We went to one last week at the new Miniature Golf course in town. The kids had a BLAST! Here are some fun moments from that excursion:

Annie rocked out on the bumper cars - she really had a blast:



Matthew, of course, thought he was the BOMB when it came to driving around. The only disappointing part about the bumper cars is that Andrew (our NASCAR guy) wasn't tall enough to drive them...=(



Paddle boats were fun! The kids (even Andrew) all had fun paddling around the lake...but of course Mommy did most of the paddling! You might not realize it, but it's hard work! lol This video is Annie with some of her friends:



It was HOT! Andrew's favorite thing was hitting the ball with his own, personal-sized golf club (or "glof cub", as he says it).



And I carried Jakey around in his purple (but NOT LSU-purple, Fay) sling. Jeremy got out of yet another birthday party...which would have been fine, but it was so hot I thought Jake and I would BOTH suffocate before the evening was over!

Here are some more pictures of my garden. I am having so much fun! It was a lot of work (and money!) to get this planted, but now we get to pick the fruit and eat it!

I'm a little disappointed - my zucchini had LOTS of blooms, but we don't have any fruit yet...hmmmmmm. So we're still waiting on that. But the tomatos are doing well, as are the cucumbers.

Okay, I thought this was really cute: the kids riding a horse!! (And, yes, "The kids" does include Jeremy!) Thanks to Shelly & the girls for letting us ride!

Here is a photo of how my garden is growing:



It's doing really well. The cucumber is running along the ground and starting to grow up the fence. The zucchini is just taking over! We also have a few bell peppers already on the vine - cute little baby ones. The tomato plants are getting huge, but not a whole lot of blooms yet. Here are some close-ups:


Zucchini Squash


Baby Bell Peppers!!

We are having so much fun taking care of this garden. The kids love to help me keep the grass away from the edges, and they watch me water (sometimes they water without asking...), and are very eager to pick those bell peppers!

This is how hot it is out here!
:o)


The above video was sent to my blog via my cell phone...from the ball field! (Sorry, I just think that's really cool.) I know the quality isn't that great, but what that is, is Annie and Andrew slouched in their chairs like wilted flowers. The heat was so intense at the tee ball field today, it really made me glad that the season is over!!

Matthew had a great game...of course, he was sad that the season was over. He's already finagling to play in the fall season. Jeremy & I are thinking it over, but we are not sure if we want him to play during the fall season or the spring. We DID tell him he could only play one of them, though - not both! Since we will eventually have four kids wanting to be in different activities, we have no choice but to start limiting NOW.

Matthew loves it, though, and it will be a lot of fun to watch him progress. And, of course, I will keep you updated!

I'm so excited! We finally got the garden planted! Dude, this is HARD WORK. I dug up a 7x8 plot, moved all of the grass over to another part of the yard (we are trying to get grass to grow there!), put down about 10 bags of soil, and then planted.

We have planted red & green bell peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatos, and cucumbers. So far they look like they are doing pretty well!

His latest obsession is the Ice Hockey game that he plays on XBox. So, when his friend gave him an old pair of roller blades, he suddenly became transformed into a professional hockey player! He became an expert overnight.
(Please note, this is all from HIS perspective - not a biased mommy's...)