swimming

my baby learning to do a canonball. sniff sniff. i remember my dad always did these at the pool when i was little.
corbin is so confident in the pool now. the arm floaties keep him afloat, but he's using his arms and legs like a swimmer more and more. with a bit more practice this summer he will be a swimmer :) oh that makes me happy. it's so hard to relax with littles around a pool. coop put on some flippers and made quick work of swimming around the pool.thank you to our friends for inviting us over for swim and fun. what a lovely day!

good morning Tuesday

african violet. in my bathroom. blooms all the time. so pretty.
we have zuchini! giant leaves. lots of blooms.
hello pink crepe myrtle. you are pretty too.
first okra bloom. okra, YUM.
green bell pepper goodness.
yellow squash is coming!hello big beautiful cantaloupetoday we're taking a break from crafts and sewing upstairs ... we're going swimming with friends!! coach left early this morning for a playdate with two doodle girls :) hope everyone has a blessed and happy happy day.

Coach got a summer do

it took two days for adam to complete.
almost worth the $60 price the groomers charge.
his cut turned out so cute.
man that dog had a lot of fur.
so thankful he doesn't shed much.
sweet doggie who has been in trouble a bunch lately for having accidents.
and chewing up both of dad's pairs of crocs.
we are keeping more bedroom doors shut, and putting our shoes in the closet.

good thing he's so darn sweet otherwise. he needs a walk twice a day.
and lots of raw hides and pig ears to chew on.
probably a little less dog food now.
love our dog. he's so worth it all.

Pig Roast

adam and i went to his annual end of the season lacrosse officials party a few weeks ago. {{loved the vintage lacrosse stick adorning the front door to the party. i can't remember the age of the house, but it's near the UT campus in downtown Austin. Totally remodeled, yet quaint and still old, and immaculately clean. my kind of dream home.}} the officials bought a full pig and roasted it. 75lb piggy laid open in all his glory. the guys were crazy to eat the crispy skin pieces.
we brought an ear and the tail home to Coach. the roasters read online that the brains were a must try... and they did. Umm no thanks. all the women passed on that one. they said it tasted like liver. still no thanks. it was a stretch to sit and eat off the pig sitting right in front of us. but he was good. the tenderloin was delicious.
yay for lacrosse in Austin! love all the friends we've made here.
and one day soon our boys will be old enough to play.

Glen Rose

this is the biggest pool I've ever seen. and most of it is only 4 1/2' deep. the deep end is behind a wall. the boys and lots of kids floated around the shallow side watching the talented big kids dive and flip. our nephew Ryan was a crowd favorite. so talented, and limber, and athletic and young. sigh. i jumped off the trampoline to show the boys i could... just barely i could. geez i felt old up there. of course there's no picture of said jump. you'll just have to ask the boys :)

i didn't get a lot of pictures cause i was in the water playing with the boys most of the time. they wore arm floaties and showed lots of interest in kicking, moving their arms and jumping in. i think this might be the summer they learn to swim!

can't wait for our next adventure to visit our country livin' family. ;)

the happiest day

oh so happy! last Monday was a SUPER great day!
one of my happiest days in a while.
i finally delivered this project to it's owner.
she was pleased, and i was elated to be done.
then me and the boys drove to my sister in laws to play play play for a few days.
{i talked to my mom and mother in law first thing after making delivery of the organizer.} they both had been praying for me as i muscled through to just get it done. thank you... those prayers truly pulled me through. i found strength and perservance i didn't know i had. a lot of trial and error and error with the making of this. lessons learned while mastering the art of seam ripping. for sure!

the finished product is really cool and useful.
hoping for a picture of it hanging in her office soon. i made it in four panels, 56 pockets that hold 8 1/2 x 11 paper, 9 grommets along the top for hanging. it was heavy and bulky to sew. we used outdoor furniture type canvas material. adam helped me measure and sew on pockets. i was so thankful and desperate for help. he jumped right in. thanks babe! here's evidence of me everyday the week before. the boys grabbed my camera and took a picture of me. they were so patient while i finished this up. i made lots of promises for fun if i could just get it done. sunday night corbin told me at bedtime "mama i hope you get all your sewing done tonight". ahhh love that boy. i stayed up until 3 am working, and got back up at 6am. he came in my room about 6:30am while i was packing and ironing, and asked "mama, did you ever go to bed last night?". i didn't know i had an almost all nighter in me anymore. crazy what we can do when we just push ourselves.

a smaller custom sewing project now in the works... stay tuned :)

boy and his frog

this little guy is all about animals, bugs, critters.
cracks me up. he's not afraid of a thing.
rippet! rippet!
of course, we let the poor frog free.

blackberry harvest

{iphone pic}
we had weeks of fresh blackberries in May. the boys couldn't wait to pick what turned black... and then promptly wanted to wash and eat them. when the berries started to diminish i had to pick them before they did cause i had to make a fresh berry cobbler. bummer i didn't get a picture of the finished cobbler. it was super good!mmm, and next time i want to make blackberry jam too.

crawfish boil fun

we had a crawfish boil with a few neighbors mid May. the kids had a blast playing with the fish before they were put in the boiling pot. they helped search out the dead ones. corbin, i mean Batman carrying a tray of the dead. thanks for keeping us safe batman. so yummy and super messy. they were too spicy for the kids to eat. and too gross for most all the girls to eat. except me...i'll eat anything. by the end of the night we were all gathered around a heater because it turned cold outside. miss that nice weather! love our neighbors!!

UMC Cuero

Uncle designed an upgrade of this church, and we just happen to be driving by on our way home from the coast. so fun to stop and see the finished product and take a few pics. Pretty church!
as always... beautiful work Uncle!

memorial day weekend - @ the Texas Coast

we went to Rockport with our neighbors over memorial day weekend. we strapped the boy's bikes to the roof of the car.
while the guys went fishing both days me and April took the boys to the beach and pool. on Friday morning we went to Fulton Beach in Rockport.
the salty air & water, sand between my toes... i love the beach. we tried to make sandcastles but they didn't quite turn out like i imagined. i blame it on the buckets i bought at the dollar tree... so cheap they broke right away. next time i'll spend $3 to get the good sturdy buckets. we had trouble getting the right sand water mixture but we had fun playing anyway. there were jellyfish EVERYWHERE so the boys stayed real close to me in the water. i finally took them out to an island spot 8-10 feet out so we were deep enough to not see jellyfish everywhere and could enjoy swimming and splashing in the waves. good times with my boys! thankfully no one got stung while we enjoyed the waves and salty water. the wind was blowing hard and the sun was real bright. {i need to remember to bring sunglasses for the boys next time.}
Friday afternoon i took the boys across on the ferry to Port Aransas to see Adam's sister and family who were vacationing as well. the boys slept the whole way across the ferry, so i got to take pics. pretty cool riding in the car on a boat, then driving off onto land.
the boys played with their cousin Kiara and Uncle Ronnie in the pool. Kiara was carrying Corbin around in the water and got in over her head. her daddy was occupied splashing the boys and i happen to notice she was bobbing up and down a lot. i almost had to chunk the camera and jump in after her. Uncle Ronnie finally grabbed her up. he made them practice swimming. and splashed them in the face with water a lot. of course they loved it!
whew! this is a long post. we did a lot that weekend. part two tomorrow...

backyard gardens

one of our favorite summer traditions is to grow a garden in the backyard. seriously, we all love it! a little TLC and we've grown some nice big cucumbers. (lots of water and rich soil) they are sneaky and tricky to see at first. they start out looking like this. the first one we found was already 6-7 inches long. they hide pretty well on the vine. the taste is so fresh out of the garden!
the boys find the lady bugs right away
, and the nice honey bees.zucchini has always been hard for us to grow. it starts out looking great, but then the heat zaps it dead. maybe this will be our year. fried zucchini! yummyokra, strawberries, peppers, onions...all the good stuff ;} thankful for a great gardening season thus far. we are really enjoying all our raised beds in the back.