part 2...

while in SC, auntie kiki came to see you and she put your hair in piggies...SO CUTE!!!

and she brought this super cutie-pie outfit...one of mommy's favorites for the summer...

you learned to pull up on furniture...you learned to fall gracefully after pulling up on furniture...not easy to do with hardwood floors...

mommy found you and jackson behind the couch many days...this particular day you two were just looking at each other and laughing hysterically...it was precious!

see my sweatshop curtains???  LOVE them!!!

how we spent our summer vacation...part 1

as promised...pictures from summer...starting with our time in SC...HOME...jackson, you spent most of your days in the water or begging to be in the water...too bad it was so doggone hot!!!  had to find an umbrella to shade the back patio so that you could spend more than 20 minutes in your pool...

 oh, how you loved your "nemo ball"...had to have "nemo ball" at all times...and when "nemo ball" blew away in a storm, mommy chased him down and brought him back because she knew you'd be heartbroken if he was lost.

my little water bug...

 you weren't too sure about the sprinkler at first...mommy had to run through a couple of times with you before you wanted anything to do with it...

the hair...

oh, the hair...

i don't know what to do with it...

it's getting big.

i don't want to cut it, but maybe...

poor girl has a mother who doesn't even know how to do her own hair...

LOOK at this face!!!  i'm pretty sure she doesn't care what her hair looks like at this point...

so maybe i shouldn't either.  i'll start practicing my braids, zoey.  i promise.

so, it's been a while...

for many reasons:

1. i haven't really been home (missouri) since june because i went home (south carolina) for a month and a half...BECAUSE...we were SUPPOSED to be back in SC FOR GOOD in june, but people quit matt's project which meant we had to stay...biggest.bummer.EVER!!! i'm still pretty bitter about still being HERE...but whatevs...get over it already. ANYWAYS...we had planned some work to be done on the house before we got home...had it scheduled and all...so i went home...to make sure it got done...finished. it did. and then some. mom came for a few weeks and i PUT HER TO WORK!!! ran my own little sweat shop...she sewed and sewed and sewed until i had curtains in the living room, curtains in the bedroom, curtains in the kitchen, a dolly in zoey's arms, and two SUPER cute quilts in my babies' beds. (i'll have to look for pictures...) then it was on to a family reunion in TN...which is why i stayed in SC an extra long time...no reason to go ALL the way back to MO to drive ALL the way back to TN in a two week period. the driving with the children...not my favorite thing...i don't want to talk about it.

2. when i got back to MO, our computer crashed. what seemed like a simple repair ended up being a total loss...hard drive...FRIED!!! thank you, Jesus, that i had backed up my pictures and music...didn't lose anything. BUT the computer was out for the count...couldn't focus on that because...a week after getting back to MO...

3. we got BACK into the car for a 25+ hour trip to MT to visit matt's family. the trip there...good...despite the DAILY blow-out diaper situation. (and matt scoffed when i wanted to pack laundry soap and dryer sheets...he knows better now.) the time with family...SOOO GOOD. the trip home...i really don't want to talk about it...it was just time to go home...after three weeks with two kids in a car, out of a suitcase, without our "stuff" and "space"...ya think?!

4. HOME...FINALLY...even if it is MO and not SC. ordered a new computer...that was backordered...we were given a really specific delivery window...between september 19th and october 1st. it's best that i don't talk about this either. phone calls are made, orders are cancelled, new computers that are NOT backordered are looked for...and i know i said i didn't want to talk about this but i have to say this: we ordered from schmestschmy.com (changed the name so as not to defame the company...can you figure out which one i mean???) and were told the computer was backordered-as mentioned before-and after cancelling our order online we went to the store to find one that wouldn't be backordered and WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT?!!!! LO and BEhold...there's the computer...THIS computer...the one i'm typing on...the one that was backordered. there. in the store. schmest schmy is NOT my favorite place right now...i don't want to talk about it.

i bought the computer at the schmest schmy store and now i'm connected...hooked up on the intranet.

so, enough chitter-chatter...you didn't come here to listen to me yammer and complain...you came here for the pictures...and they're coming...i'm gonna go back to the "beginning of summer" pictures...but not in this post. i'll just leave you with a few....

more soon...i sorta promise.

we're off...

peek...

his favorite feature of the new van??? the dvd player. my favorite feature of the new van??? the dvd player. HOPEFULLY it saves the TWELVE hour trip we're about to take...didn't i just vow i would never ride in a car with these two alone again?!!

say a little prayer for us...i'm sure we'll need it.

i'm hoping to get half-way tomorrow...then the rest of the way on thursday...please Jesus, help us!!!

lovely, lovely, love my family...

that's a hug...he's a very thorough hugger...

the sitter...who sits...

aw yeah!!! ridin' double...

this is the new "face"...sucking of the lower lip...she's sitting. sitting. self-taught sitter. i turned around one day and there she was...sitting.

yes, she's always THIS STINKIN' CUTE!!!

poor boy...has no idea that his sassy days are numbered...sassy goes at two...them's the house rules.


see??? THIS STINKIN' CUTE!!!

swingin'...

aaannnnddddddd...we're in the water again...

went in to answer the phone...came back to find him licking the window...

conducting important business on his cup phone...hello???

who knew the fun that could be had with a tub of water...he would stay in that tub of water all day if i would let him...

all jumped out...

piggie...

just one...right in the middle...CUTE!!!

hold onto your hair...

spent a weekend with the batchelors in kansas...WINDY, WINDY kansas...

one of these children just doesn't belong here...might it be the little red-head???

jackson and zoey were in heaven...it was like spending three days living in a toys-r-us!!! the batchelors are HOOKED UP!!!



gross...but cute!!!

we even managed a few parting gifts...BUMP, BABY, BUMP!!!

thanks, batchelors, for a great weekend!!!

we will be back soon for another weekend of kart...matt owes you a baby daisy...

just eat it...

these two pictures perfectly summarize zoey's attitude towards solid food:

at first, LOVE!

then, confusion and indifference...

this week, we'll add veggies...

she needed a new coat...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

have been meaning to do this since i bought it...four years before jackson was born...

sanded her down, sprayed her with several coats, then banged her up again because she looked too new. she's a beauty.

spray painters out there??? there's this fancy new attachment that clamps onto the tops of spray paint cans and SAVES your finger the pain and cramps of holding down the spray nozzle...with the attachment, the can sprays like a bottle of windex...TOTALLY worth the $6!!!

zoo...

yep, he's trying to get into that nasty, algae-filled/tinted pond...

mommy stopped to feed zoey...and when she caught up with daddy and jackson...THIS is what she found: her son shirtless and soaking wet. nice, daddy.


good thing mommy had an extra shirt...the shorts? they were stripped off and jackson had to run around the zoo like a white-trash baby in a diaper...for a while...until they dried...


CHOO-CHOO!!!

LOVED this part just as much as the water part...

the animals??? the reason you go to a zoo??? don't really remember seeing any...oh wait, the ducks while we were eating lunch...jackson thought they looked a bit hungry and so he fed them his hot dog.

GOOD DAY!!!