independence day, baby!

Happy Independence Day, friends!

I truly hope you are reflecting on and savoring in our freedoms in this,

THE GREAT, US of A!

We are a blessed nation, like none other.

And we need to regularly be on our knees in thanksgiving to our Creator,

and in desperate plea to protect those God-given freedoms.

AMEN?!

Our day, thus far, has been uneventful.

And that's okay by me.

I am enjoying the down-time!

I cut some of my hydrangeas to put in a jar because I just could't resist them any longer.

 And as my summer lethargy continues,

we bought a pool!

(Is it just me, or are we devolving in this situation?)

Twelve bucks, baby!

And the kids are having a blast. 

Of course, this budget-friendly liquid entertainment only satisfies the boredom of

two little ones, leaving any big people to fend for themselves.

And that's fine by me.

Anyone old enough work, I'm not responsible for.

That's my new standard.

And here is my perch.  By the pool.  With a drink.  My Kindle, filled with books.

And some Vitamin D therapy.

It's sooooo good.

And above all else, K-Man is smoking some chicken.

Now THAT, says Fourth of July.

Swing by for some chicken and a dip in the pool!

our independence day

We had one wild and wacky

Independence Day celebration.

We swam.

We ate.

And we par-tayed.

And by "party" I mean...

well, here's what I mean:

The fireworks began prompted

at around 5 PM,

to ensure optimal lighting.

Yes, that's it.

And we made sure Little Man

had his PJ's on.

Because, you know,

it was getting so late and all.

(Ignore the extreme sunshine)

Isaiah-Bob Square Pants.

The display was the finest these kids

(and cows)

have ever seen.

It was the best $13.45 we've ever spent.

Just look at Macy...

she's having the time of her life.

Watch it with that sparkler, girl...

you're about to set our golf-course lawn

ablaze.

And then we set all the children on fire.

Lucy escaped.

Then K-Man and I posed

for some photos.

We really enjoyed our day.

the 5th of july

We noticed recently that some of our ever-green shrubs
seemed to be dying...then last night I noticed
Bag Worms ALL over them...eating away.
The nerve.

The shrubs were clearly history.
And big boys being boys (and pyromaniacs) wanted nothing more
than to light them on fire.

They lit up like the 5th of July.

.Because it was the 5th of July.

The younger kids watched in awe from the upstairs window.
I'm very sure that this seals the deal
that we will no longer ever be approved to adopt again.
Ever.

It looks way worse than it was.
But the kids were thrilled at the excitement.

Then the pyros got the idea to use their left-over fireworks
to finish the job.

Don't you worry...
we had a professional fire-fighter on the sidelines.
Safety first.

That was enough excitement for one day.
Let me tell you.


And today I took Isaiah-man down to Children's Mercy Hospital.
Poor lil' fella has a hear murmur that our doctor wanted
to run past a pediatric cardiologist.
After three agonizing hours,
an ultrasound showed that everything is fine.
I'm so thankful!
But I must tell you that I had more meltdowns than my two
little kiddos that were with me.
Especially when I couldn't get my big ol' family 'burban into
the only parking space I found after pacing the parking garage for
what seemed like hours.
Lucy even said,

"Mommy, are you going to cry?"

Then we finally found a spot.
And wouldn't you know it, I forgot where that spot was after our appointment.
We searched and searched.
Finally found it.
Again, my kiddos were amazingly calm.
I could learn something from them.

Anyhoo...
Isaiah loves our chickens with all his healthy heart.
I changed the subject suddenly...did you notice?
And when I gave him a sack of
old hot dog buns to throw out at them, he could hardly
believe his good fortune.

Although things started out a tad shaky when he saw
one of his beloved friends eat a butterbye (butterfly),
actually it was a moth.
We'll deal with the details later.

Petrified, I tell you.
But he quickly got back to work and fed those chickens
like nobody's business.

And was stinkin' cute in the process.

Then Lucy came on the scene.
I think the look on her face says it all.
Let's just slap the label, Control Freak on her, and call it a day.

And speaking of Ms. CF,
it's her job to feed Zeke.
Though it ain't easy.
He's a feisty one.
Jobs are carefully calculated around here
and assigned according to personalities.

It's all about strategy.

I'm outta here!

And so am I.

Bye, ya'll!!

Fiji {and the 4th of July}

So sorry for my week-long absence.

I was invited at the last minute for an all-expenses paid
vacation to Fiji and they didn't have internet.

Just kidding.

But oh how I wish I wasn't.

Anyway, things around here are busy, to say the least.
And rather overwhelming, if you must know.

Sigh.

I'm just feeling tugged in so many directions
and a plethora of emotions to go along with it all.

Fiji, where art thou?

Anyway,
our 4th of July was rather uneventful.

But we did have a big ol' family swim fest (minus Macy and Brenden),
which was way fun.
And great exercise, which I get none of these days.
Not that I miss it.
But if there is any hope of looking good for Fiji,
I need to do some kind of movement.

**Note to self: give up on the Fiji pipe-dream.

We also went to a party at our church...
which was *fun* (meaning, it was hot and boring).

But the kiddos had a lot of fun!


I forgot my camera but my trusty cheapo cell phone did just fine...

Face painting...
(that is Eli in the background and Nick's hand behind Lucy...
had to tell you that since there aren't any other pics of them).

She looks petrified...but she loved it so much!

Isaiah loved his too.
And was so sad when it washed off in the shower.

No party is complete without inflatables.
That's all I'm saying about that.
Lucy on the way down...Macy and Eli on their way up.

We were there for an hour, tops...then headed home.
One can only stand so much fun.

Fun, fun!

I'll try my darndest to not wait another week for a post.

Promise.

freedom

We had a quiet but fun-filled Independence Day.

Watermelon, at Lucy's insistence.
The girl loves her some watermelon.

But it didn't brighten her grumpy demeanor
so her father played along too.

Time for fireworks and I kid you not,
this was Lucy's reaction before the first bang.

So Mama had to show her how it's done, baby.

That was just the encouragement she needed.
I'm happy to help any way I can.
You're welcome.

Fireworks are old hat to Macy
and what we set off didn't hold a candle to what
she experienced in China.
But she had fun anyway!

Look how incredibly different their skin tone is!

Freedom.

Sweet, priceless freedom.