happy 4th

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!

we had a fun day spending time as a family, with friends, AND of course ... good food ;)

we spent the afternoon at a friend's house
having a bbq and a fun afternoon of swimming

and i decided last minute to use it as an excuse to try a pinterest idea

the boys swam NONSTOP for a good 4 hours

alex started the day finding just enough nerves to jump off the diving board into my arms

and ended the day jumping off the diving board ALONE
and then swimming the entire length of the pool!

he was SO proud of himself

and loved how being brave got him the freedom
to play with the big boys
and more importantly their tubes with built in squirt guns ;)

we ended the night with some neighbors

playing with sparklers ...

and watching our very own pyrotechnic show

compliments of mr.barnett himself ;)

a very fun, very full day -
and if my kids don't sleep until at least 8 tomorrow morning ...
there is something SERIOUSLY wrong ;)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY, EVERYONE!!

happiness is ...

FINALLY having a bowl that is big enough
to EASILY make monster cookie dough



now if i just had 3 more ovens ...
and a way to make the cookies not go straight to my thighs ;)

a sweet treat

it's a pretty sweet day
when
you're busy playing with a neighbor,
the ice cream 'truck' shows up on your street,



AND
instead of a healthy lunch ...
your parents let you enjoy the sweet 'meals' on wheels
that ONLY the ice cream truck can bring

what a sweet way to kick off a long weekend!

slippin and a slidin

when the temps hit 90...

and stay that way for days on end ...

this is how we roll ...

agent p.u.

drew always has something to say about everything
BUT
his latest and greatest ...

'i am the military's greatest secret weapon.
all i require is brown beans and a match.
it's super cheap and effective.'

so proud.

fortunately unfortunate

although swimming was fun
our REAL destination for the weekend was



fortunately ...
we were given 4 GREAT seats that were 7 rows up from the brewers dugout
UNfortunately ...
we were given FOUR seats

fortunately ...
alex loves being with aiden and he didn't care that we left him in wausau for the day ;)
UNfortunately ...
we stayed there overnight, woke up bright and early, drove 3 hours and
JUST missed batting practice
fortunately ...
they have such a fun kids area and the boys got over it quickly

we were all quite occupied actually ;)

fortunately ...
it was a BEAUTIFUL day for a game

unfortunately ...
it seemed as though the twins didn't even show up

fortunately for the brewers fans ...
their team did ;)

unfortunately ...

mauer didn't even play until the 7th inning!

fortunately ...

thome came up right after

unfortunately ...

neither of them changed the score ;)

unfortunately ...

we lost.

seriously lost.

fortunately ...

prince fielder had mercy on a twins fan

and threw drew a game ball

we still had a lot of fun

AND THANKFULLY ...

miller park serves THE BEST cheese fries to help us forget how badly we lost

all we can do is hope that next year

minnesota won't send the gophers JV squad

in place of our twins.

BUT if they do ...

just as this year ...

we'll consider ourselves fortunate to have even gone

splish splash moo

when i was growing up
we spent MANY days at the country club pool

on saturday ...
while stacey and my dad golfed ...
we let the boys have a little pool fun of their own

ben mastered his dive belly flop



while drew mastered his cannonball

and hannah and i ...
well ...
i would tell you that we ordered some cheese curds to keep us busy
and
i would tell you that we charged them to my dad
using stacey's name ;)
BUT
that would give away our little secret
SO
we'll just say that we watched the boys
talked about the countless hours we spent doing handstands in the pool
and flips off the diving board
AND
we'll leave it at that

peek at our week

this past week kept us very busy

drew did a football camp at st thomas.
their facilities are BEAUTIFUL
and the camp was very well run

drew's favorite part?
each day they got to choose a friend and share an entire pizza
:)

my favorite part?
at the end of this week i got an email just for me
(as did every parent)
with 2 pictures ...

one of drew with the head coach



and one of the entire crew

it's funny how a simple unexpected detail like taking an individual picture
and taking the time to send it on email
can be such a fun and positive surprise!!

and THEN ...
while drew was at football camp ...

ben was at basketball camp

it was SO perfect for him
and it's safe to say that i now know
that if ben could do a sports camp every day of the summer ...

he would

he came home excited every day that he got to play with the older kids
that they called him 'fisher' - after the player for the lakers
and
that their team name was 'the flaming barneys'
thank you, junior highers, for your wonderful contributions ;)

most of the week was rainy and cold
we had 2 baseball games cancelled
and
i began to wonder if i was ever even going to need summer clothes

BUT ...
THEN today came along
and ended our week BEAUTIFULLY!!

we were able to have our first REAL day at our beach
and it was MARVELOUS!

summer is in full swing ... AND WE ARE LOVIN' IT!

the view from here

this is a busy week for us.

on top of everything else -
drew is doing football camp
and
ben is doing basketball camp

i had just gotten done with today's morning of running
and had stopped home for about an hour.
alex was playing with the neighbor.
they were on the tramp and doing fine
and then suddenly
when my hour was JUST about up -
and i was supposed to be leaving to get drew at st. thomas -
i looked out the window and saw this ...



i called my neighbor jen and
thankfully she grabbed these pictures -



i have never seen a funnel cloud so close!
it was CRAZY



AND what's even crazier is that
i watched the cloud for a while -
grabbed a few pictures -
got the neighbor's stuff together -
grabbed all of the stuff that i needed for our busy night of baseball and a birthday party -
calmly got a shoeless alex in the car -
although he was still TOTALLY freaking out that we were going to get blown away
threw chewy in the car -
because he also was at my feet and refusing to go anywhere
got the car started
AND THEN
the sirens went off.

nice.

thankfully the storm was moving northwest and i was going south
thankfully there ended up not being much damage in the area
and
thankfully my car is a safe haven for many miscellaneous items -
so after an hour of sitting in traffic,
finding a pair of flip flops for alex to wear for his party
was the least of my worries

here's to you, sbarn

happy father's day!!

i hope you enjoyed your special day ...
drew's special pancakes,
superhero treats,
the best coffee ever,
and no it is NOT my fault you are addicted
a nap on the couch,
a family trip to target,
your favorite part - i know ;),
a fun dinner out,
where we actually got good service ;)
a walk downtown,
a bike ride,
and whale wars ;)

WHEW!



a busy day ...
but all fun because we celebrated YOU!

you are a GREAT dad!

our kids are SO blessed to have you
AND so am i :)

you are my best friend
and as exhausting as some days are ...
i wouldn't want anyone else next to me through it all.

thank you for EVERYTHING you do for us!

i love you
and want you to know that today ...
and EVERY day ...
you are SO appreciated
and i can't imagine my life without you :)

happy father's day!

xo . xo . xo