:: gato? ::

{conversation after school the other day}
henry: mommy, what is your favorite animal?
me: a dog.
h: really,?  hmmnn.  i thought it was a horse.
me: that may be my second favorite animal.  what's your favorite animal, h?
h: a cat.
me: a cat?  really?  we have never had a cat since you have been alive.
h: well i'm hoping santa claus will bring me one this christmas.

{so much laughter on the inside!}

so since then, he has said, a few times, "we need a gato {spanish for cat}."  ha!  {and he only knows a few spanish words, so don't think he is bilingual  :) }

so there it is, folks.  we need a gato.  i did tell him that santa claus has to get mommy and daddy's permission to bring anything living.  to which he said, "let's call him up and tell him it is okay!"

a gato.

early july

 

{pretend you are reading this in july}

the boys' preschool is out during the summer, so this summer they went to cornerstone preschool two mornings a week and were home all day with a sitter on the third day.  they had a blast!  our teachers at cornerstone were great.  they loved splash days and playing in kid's town.  owen and henry were on separate playgrounds during their outside playtime and owen was a really sad fella about that.  :( 

 

summertime is always a bit challenging care wise for them, but we managed.  oh, and i forgot to mention that starting when we returned from the california trip, owen's sleep went crazy.  we have always been very fortunate {many thanks!} that he has been a GREAT sleeper.  however, those days were long gone and thus started the extremely long time it took for him to get to sleep, then waking up every hour or so, and getting up for good super early.  this continued until about two weeks ago ... i don't want to jinx anything so i will just leave it at that.  what a stage!  henry and owen share a room, and henry has been in our guest room {termed the "zeus" room for the paint color} for what seems like kind of a long time.  eek!  another reason for lack of blogging ... many nights spent working with little o ... 

 

on to pictures

another beautiful sunset and view of the house from our driveway

so coming home one evening from work, the sunflower field looked like the below ...

... and the very next morning they all popped ot and looked like this!

what a special time of the year

cotton on the right of the driveway, sunflowers on the left ... love it!

view of the yellow tips from our porch

happy fourth of july!

we were home and helping my sister move.  it was a nice day and got to see most everyone in the immediate fam  

 the boys watching the tractor {the gentleman across the street farms the cotton and sunflowers on our land} and every time the tractor headed for the fields, it was a majoy deal.

painting on the deck



 henry's masterpiece {he said this was a sailboat}

 and owen's masterpiece {he said this was a pond with ducks}

early july kicked off with the birth of three sweet babies ... our twin nephews on the 9th and our good friend the bentley's little girl on the 10th.

then we headed out of town to sarasota / siesta key to meet the perlins for our annual trip {which we missed last year}!

:: the rest of june ::

june flew by.  BAM!  it was gone. 

henry participated in a science camp through parks and rec - he made the below canvas and painted all of it with various types of food.  he also painted with leaves, made elephant toothpaste and a lava lamp.  it was a great little camp! 

the next week he attended his first Vacation Bible School at our church.  

he really enjoyed it and in typical henry fashion, remembered most everything about it and soaked it up like a sponge ...

the next two weeks he had swimming lessons every evening. 

oh. my. goodness.  he completely loved it.  loved it!

and the reflection from the door on the living room wall of two of the sweetest and loveliest sets of hand prints in all the earth. 

i don't remember what they were watching, but isn't this just cute?

father's day weekend - watching a little golf.  owen loves anything that has a ball and really enjoys watching sports.  it is about the only time he sits still.  :) 

but seriously, witnessing this two year old intently watching sports is hilarious.

silly O!  and, he has the longest, most gorgeous eyelashes you have ever seen.  crazy how this commonly seems to happen to boys rather than girls?!

and our home ... we have now been here for six months.  eek!  sometimes it feels {and looks!} like we just moved in yesterday.  my motto on decorating and projects has been and will continue to be, "it will be there ..."

we all really love it out in 'poka - our own little oasis. 

from small ...

to big.  our raised bed garden back in june.

 peppers, peppers everywhere.  we had seven different types of peppers. 

they are still producing fruit!

 baby carrots - these were henry's favorite to watch grow.

 mini cantaloupes.  we only had a few but were tasty!

 basil and mint.  need i say more?

 peas

 and lots of tomatoes ... which just stopped bearing fruit.  i am absolutely, one hundred percent convinced there is NOTHING that compares to a home grown tomato.  move over grocery stores.  not only are tomatoes one of my favorite foods, store bought totally pales in comparison to home grown.

 our very first orange pep

 sweet bananas, jalapenos, a hot banana, and tomatoes

and pimientos.

we attempted to be as organic as possible.

THIS whole gardening experience was an excellent experience in so many ways ... we ate what we produced, we were more resourceful and wasted less, it provided a great teaching tool for the boys, it gave us another means to see the beauty of God's handiwork ... sure it required some effort, but the benefits were well worth it.  and, gary is quite a gardener ... he really has taken an interest.   

:: 10.03.2012 sunset on beehive ::

from the first week in june

daddy and the boys

 

 for a while now, henry makes the distinction between the "light hairs" {mommy and henry} and the "dark hairs" {daddy and owen}.  it is a hoot. 

those handsome "dark hairs" :)

 family movie night!  the muppets re-make.  none of us had seen it and it was hilarious!  owen's first movie and he has termed it "the muffets."  he sings the "doo doo doodoodoo, do doo doo doo ...me-no-me-na" - funny funny.

and guess who stopped by for a visit?  it was so nice to see jordan lee and her mom.  she asked to the boys to be ring bearers in her wedding {which was held in august, another post to come}.  they said yes but had no idea what that meant at the time. {but when the time came, they really did great!}