Golf with Daddy

After several hectic weeks, we were so happy to have an afternoon at the golf course with Daddy.

McCutie

Forget Drs. McSteamy and McDreamy.

I'll take Dr. McCutie any day!

Making Music

My kitchen supplies are often repurposed and/or relocated...

Today's theme: making music!

Someday they'll all be put away nicely and I'll miss the mess and noise.

Puddle Jumping

After a good rain...

Put on your rain boots and jump in the puddles (don't worry if you don't have time to get your pants)!

Heartbreaker

Sometimes I look at my children and I love them so much it's heartbreaking.  When Ellis was first born, I felt like my heart just cracked wide open.  I started to look at other parents in the grocery store or in magazines and think, "Ohhh, so that's how much they love their child...."

When I look at this sweet face, my heart breaks all over again.  I am so thankful for these reminders of my intense love for my precious children.

Baby Digger

Digging is serious business.

Painting Time

Apron

Fishy Face

My handsome eldest, perfecting the art of posing

Pajama Porch Picnic

We like to have what we call "porch picnics" at our house, where we eat on the front porch.  It keeps the mess out of the kitchen and we get a little fresh air in the process!  On this particular day, as you'll see, the boys hadn't even made it out of their pajamas yet!  A good day in our book!

I had to take a photo of Oliver in these pajamas before he outgrew them.  I think he's such a scream in these!  So cute!

Eatin' biscuits on the porch

 

Mastery

When he climbed to the top, I said, "Ellis, I'm so proud of you for climbing to the top, even when you were a little scared."

He said, "I'm proud of myself!"

That is the beauty of mastery.

Popsicles

Our Internet is out, so you're stuck with cell phone pics for another day. Here are some photos of the boys enjoying a cold treat on the front porch.

Farm Fun

Recovered

I've learned my lesson.  Check, double-check, and back-up before deleting photos from my camera.  Got it.

I took a photography workshop a while back and hastily deleted some photos from my camera, only to find out later that I hadn't imported them to my computer.  I'm usually very careful about this--paranoid, almost.  I have to have the photos on my computer, uploaded to an on-line source, and then I double- and sometimes triple-check it all before I hit delete.  Not this time.  So then I got to thinking about photos I took from Eric's birthday... and it hit me.  I'd deleted them from my camera.  They weren't on my computer.  My heart sank.

Thankfully, my photographer bestie in Houston knew about recovery software, and my tech support (AKA: Eric) helped me recover the photos*.  So the next couple of days I'll feature some photos that were almost lost forever.  Precious memories, recovered!

*He said he was tired of seeing "crappy cell phone pictures" on my blog.  

Does that look like the swing of a 32-year-old?!

 Eric's older brother, Brett, preparing to pitch 

Our nephew, Caleb, is intense.

Ollie's first at bat.

Does this ever happen to you?  You crouch down and someone thinks you look like a horsey?

Tough Season

Let's be real, folks: this is a difficult time.  I thought today was Eric's 28th straight day working without a day off, but he informed me that it's actually the 38th (but who's counting?).  This will continue until 2 weeks after Labor Day.  Work, work, work; no days off.

I miss my husband.  My kids miss their Daddy.  I miss having a co-parent around.  It's lonely and isolating at times.  I'm impatient with the kids.

I know there are lots of parents out there who operate like this all the time.  Single parents, widow(er)s, and military spouses, to name a few.  But this is not our normal, and I'm sure they would be the first to say that it's hard to do it on one's own.  I'm fortunate that this is temporary.

We're trying to stay busy, get out of the house, meet friends, and ask for help when we really need it.  This time will pass, and hopefully we'll get to recuperate some and make up for lost time.  Most likely, though, our regular-crazy life will just pick up where this super-crazy one leaves off.

Yes, this is a tough season.  But in the end, I'm so thankful for a hard-working husband with a good job, especially in this economy when so many people are struggling to find and keep work.  I'm thankful that we're all healthy and that this is the worst thing I have to complain about.

So thanks for "listening."  We'll have happier posts to come.

Dr. Ollie says, "Things will look up soon."