Together Again!

Tonight we picked Michael up from a local grocery store parking lot where the Wyld Life camp bus dropped off the kids. He had a wonderful time, has a suitcase FULL of filthy clothes and sopping wet shoes, and many stories to tell. This was his 1st camp experience, as he has never wanted to go until this year. We picked him up at about 8:00pm. He hadn't eaten dinner because he hates fast food and they stopped at McDonald's on the way home. Here he is eating his minimally sauced spaghetti (he doesn't like a lot of sauce) and telling us all of the crazy goings on of camp. Steven missed him quite a bit. He got to stay home with us (he didn't want to go to camp), and then just me when Dave had to go to Albany yesterday morning. He came home today. Steven and I had a nice time together biking, eating out, and having Monkey Ball competitions. Now we are all together again, and I am happy!

A Calm Rain

This evening Steven was in the pool when we got a nice calm downpour. Since there was no thunder and lightening he stayed out there. A few minutes after I took this picture, the rain stopped and Koty joined him in the pool.

Action packed day

This morning at 8:00 we said our goodbyes to Michael as he headed off to camp. He was quite embarrassed when I automatically picked up his heavy suitcase to help him out. He politely told me that he could carry it himself. I'm always embarrassing my kids somehow. I guess I need to remember how big they're getting.
Later in the day, around noon, Dave, Steven, Dave's sister, and I put our bikes on our bike rack and headed out in our cars to the Erie Canal in Pittsford, NY, where we got on the bike trail that runs along the canal. It was a beautiful ride. We rode about 10 miles to the Rochester airport where we stopped and layed in the grass to wait for the Thunderbirds to fly overhead. (the air show was on) The Thunderbirds put on an awesome performance right over our heads! It was very loud and I can't hear anymore, but it was really neat! After the Thunderbirds performed we started the almost 10 mile trek back to our car. In all, we biked 19.74 miles.
After going home and showering we headed out to Bill Grays for some food. We chose to eat outside since the weather was so beautiful. We were starved! We also got frozen custard from Abbott's which dripped like crazy all over us. The weather was much too humid to lick an ice cream cone fast enough. I really wish I had my camera with me because Dave's sister was covered in frozen custard. She had gotten sprinkles on hers...big mistake today. Steven was fortunate to have ordered his in a dish. Since Abbott's is right across the street from Lake Ontario, after finishing our sloppy cones we walked down the pier. There were people fishing along the sides of it, children climbing on the rocks, and honeys walking hand in hand (Dave and I included). It was a very beautiful and action packed day...very fun!

Boys

Dave bought the boys magnifying glasses today, for the purpose of burning beetles...eeew! I just don't understand this about boys. What is so fun about burning a bug? Here is Dave giving it a shot.
Here is Steven doing what he seems to really enjoy doing. He LOVES to eat whatever he can find. This time it was cream cheese and crackers.

A Very Touching Video

This video made me cry this morning.

Steven

I am feeling very frustrated at the moment. Steven has been having some issues these past few days. He is choosing to worry needlessly about things and it is so frustrating to me that I can't seem to do anything to help him. He seems to want to cling to these worries, and it is throwing him so out of whack that he walks around like a zombie. Please pray for him. These teenage years are proving to be quite a challenge. Dave is a wonderful father, very willing to talk to him for hours on end, and very patient...mine is beginning to wear very thin after 4 or 5 days of this. All I have left are tears of frustration and helplessness.

Hooray!

The stone fireplace is progressing! Today Dave put up the corner pieces.

Tagged

I have been tagged by Judi to list 7 songs that I really like. Here we go...

1. Empty Me, by Chris Sligh
2. You Never Let Go, by David Crowder Band
3. Every Man, by Casting Crowns
4. Need Your Love, by Caedmon's Call
5. Turn up the Music, by Avalon
6. Jesus Messiah, by Chris Tomlin
7. ?

The REAL Golf Story

Today we had a fun golf outing with my niece, Bethany and her husband, Adam. Bethany and I are very inexperienced golfers, but Bethany had a misleading post today, so I will explain the REAL story. You see, Bethany needed a lot of help with her stance, so being the nice Aunt that I am I was trying to show her how SHE should bend her knees (see Bethany's post). After that lesson she played SO much better. ;-)

Dave was very patient with me today. He is a very good teacher!

Bethany was quite the little pro (after my lesson), so not only did she have the look, but she could play the game. Great job, Beth!
p.s. You look GREAT in my visor!

Happy Independance Day!

We had our annual 4th of July picnic/mini family reunion at a park in Penn Yan today. It was an absolutely perfect day with lots of bright sunshine, and temperatures around 80 degrees. My Uncle Chuck has put together several rather challenging bicycles to ride.Here is Dave trying one out. The frame is upside down so the pedals and seat are much higher.

This is Ben (Martha's son) trying another.

This is one that I hope to see at next years picnic. Doesn't it look fun?

Water Balloon War!

Tonight we had some friends over that we have known for many years. Michael found some water balloons, and the kids decided to have a water balloon war. What fun they had! It was a refreshing end to a muggy day.

Dave was the official water balloon knot tier.

The kids filling their water balloons. Michael and Jonathan fight for the next spot in line.

Michael laughing after he was blasted with a water balloon.

Cherries and cool air...ahhhh!

This morning Dave and I went sweet cherry picking. Yummy! When we returned home there was Adam (Bethany's hubby) hooking up our central air. Thanks Adam!

The Dog Whisperer

Koty LOVES to watch The Dog Whisperer, but Dave and I have decided that maybe it isn't the best show for him to be watching. After all, the dogs on there have some pretty serious issues. Last night we pulled him out from in front of the TV and put him in his crate to go night night. Are we meanies for not letting him watch his favorite TV show?

Happy Birthday Dave!

Today Dave turned 40! It's hard to believe that he's 40 already. Time sure does fly!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!

The Pool is Open!

Dave had to repair some leaks in our solar panels. No matter how well we try to drain the water from them at the end of the summer, we must not get it all because there's always a leak to repair. I hate it when he has to go up on the roof like that.
The boys had fun rough housing on the tube. They were so happy to get in the pool today after 2 very hot, humid days. Tomorrow and Monday are also supposed to be hot. (in the 90's)
Koty decided that he was tired of being hot too, and he went for a ride on the tube and then for a swim. He seemed very relaxed about it, and is quite the good little swimmer! I wish I could've gotten a good picture of him swimming, but he was so fast and I didn't have my camera ready.

Koty goes to the beach again...

"I think this is close enough to the water"

"No way, I'm NOT going in there!"

"Oh, I don't know if I like this...it sure is cold."

Koty decides that he likes to walk in the water

Koty is pooped after his trip to the beach

Help Me Rhonda!

This morning I decided to work my abs to a dvd I have (I used to do this all the time...now not so much, but I am determined to do better!). A couple of months ago we got a new plasma tv, now things aren't quite as simple as they once were. I sat there for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to play my dvd. Finally I called Dave at work and he walked me through it. When I finished my workout and went to turn off the equipment, I couldn't even turn it off. I called Dave again and he tried to walk me through it, but I still couldn't turn it off. Technology is so frustrating! I liked things when they were much simpler.

I think I'm getting old

On Friday Dave, Steven, and I were in the car driving to an appointment, and Steven looks at me and tells me that my teeth are yellow. Today someone tells me I have sun damaged skin on my face...OUCH! I need to tell my boss what Steven said so that she gives me a free power whitening, after all I am a Dental Hygienist and I shouldn't be modeling yellow teeth to our patients. There's really nothing I can do about all those years that I abused my skin by tanning....wahhhhh, I'm getting old! Okay, I'm done now, thanks for listening. By the way, I know that my eyebrows need plucking in a really bad way in this picture so NO ONE better comment about that, and the nose hairs either...okay?!

A New Do

Recently I decided that I really need to change my hairdo, so I found a website where I can try different hairstyles on to see what looks best.



Dave likes the longer hairstyle. I think the shorter ones look surprisingly good. How about dreadlocks? (jk) What do you think looks best? I am definitely going to grow my bangs much longer so that I can push them to one side.

Cookies!

My taste buds are very happy right now. After reading Martha's blog today, I decided to try making cake cookies too. I put mini chocolate chips and some chopped walnuts in mine. Mmmm yummy!

Durand Eastman

Today it was so beautiful that I decided to take Koty for a walk along the bike path at Durand Eastman Park.
The bike path goes along Lake Ontario for quite a ways. Of course there was plenty of sand, which Koty had never seen before. He was very curious about it at first...sniffing it, tasting a little, sniffing some more, and then sneezing. It was very cute to watch him. I thought he would love to get his feet wet, but the waves were splashing so he was a little nervous to get too close.


Part of the path crosses a marshy area and goes off into the woods. It's very pretty, but I was nervous to go into the woods with just my little doggie by my side, so we turned around.

Happy Mother's Day

Today was a beautiful day to celebrate the day with our moms. We had another wonderful and treasured family picnic. I think our moms really enjoyed the day, and there was PLENTY of food to be eaten. I am very blessed to have a wonderful mom and a wonderful mother in law. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!
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A baby in a bucket

Since my niece, Bethany, is posting babies in buckets, I will post this picture of Mikey in a bucket. He fell into this bucket at my mother in laws and couldn't get out. She quickly snapped this photo before helping him.

My dog eats everything he can get his little mouth on! 13 things my dog eats for Thursday 13...
1. sticks
2. leaves
3. dried worms off the driveway
4. cement pieces off of our unfinished fireplace
5. blankets (he will actually chew it like it's gum and swallow it if I'm not paying attention)
6. dirt balls
7. grass
8. money (Dave took a penny out of his mouth yesterday)
9. plant material that has blown off trees in the yard
10. paper
11. strings off his tug toy (there are none left on it)
12. stuffing out of his cushie pillow that goes in his crate (he can't have this anymore)
13. more sticks

This dog acts like he's starving, but we feed him plenty...honest!

Baptism

Yesterday I was very happy to get to witness the baptisms of Dave , Michael, and Steven!! It was so awesome to see not only my husband make this public statement that he has given his life to Christ (23 yrs ago, but never baptized after) and is committed to follow him, but also my children. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures because they wouldn't have turned out good due to the distance I would've had to take them from.

Are these MY kids...wiiieeerd!

Tonight Steven and Michael wanted to show us something they learned at Wyldlife. Wyldlife is a group of Middle School kids that get together at someones house to sing crazy songs, do silly skits, listen to a life application Bible lesson...and of course eat. Dave's mother just happened to have a box of rubber gloves she uses for cleaning. The boys saw the gloves, each brought one home, and just had to do this. They put a glove on their head and blow through their nose until the glove pops. It's quite a sight, don't ya think?

"Hello, I'm Home!"

Today when I got home from work (around 4:30pm) this is what our dinette table looked like. It looked nothing like this when I left this morning. The table was clear and the boys were eating their hot bran muffins here when I left. Lets see if I can count 13 things there, after all it IS Thursday thirteen...
1. The newspaper
2. Michael's homework
3. A box of popsicle sticks for crafts
4. Some plastic bags from Petco that have been emptied.
5. Koty's frizbee
6. A box of colored pencils
7. Another container of colored pencils
8. The packaging to a dog toy
9. A design book
10. Steven's mechanical pencil
11. A package of Teddy Grahams
12. A choke collar
13. Michael's package of ortho bands
14. The lap top
15. and a heel sander from Dave to me. He says that he got an abrasion on his leg last night while he was sleeping next to me. He's such a funny guy, isn't he?
The table got unburied right after I took this photo, and it was set for dinner. I wish that I had my kids (and husband) trained to pick up really quick when they hear the garage door go up when I get home (jk), although Dave was busy cleaning the garage. (which I'm sure looks great by now!)