Cleaning Out

With high hopes of moving soon, I have been attempting to clean out my "junk drawers" one by one.  That task, however, is made a lot tougher (albeit a lot more fun!) by this little guy who tends to perch inside the drawer. 

Take note:

A picture of my world famous candy drawer!

It really does exist, and we have daily appointments to keep.

And yes, those are scissors in Tiny's hand.  We live on the wild side around here.

Guitar Hero

Owie is musically inclined.  Jeremy and I are at a loss.  We are tone deaf, completely.  LouLou gifted O with this pint-sized guitar a couple of years ago. I have tried to teach him a few things by watching you tube videos, and Uncle Joel has demonstrated a few chords that O plays over and over again.  Owen composes little songs and sings his heart out.  It is dear.  And greatly entertaining.  And loud.  Yaya has generously provided O with a series of real life guitar lessons this summer.  We'll see how it goes.  If he loves it, I can definitely see us continuing with further instruction.  I see church praise bands in our future.  And campfire songs.  And swooning girls.  And concert tours.  He is my guitar hero.

The Bubble Lady

We have never attended one of the free Saturday fun days at the library before.  But then, I heard about The Bubble Lady (must be said with awe and adoration).  She was world-renowned and supposedly unbelievable.  Amazing.  Unprecedented.  She was a must-see.  So I stood in line when the library opened, along with about a hundred other devoted moms, and snagged tickets for our fam. 

Can you tell by looking at Jeremy's face that she was mediocre at best?  At it was durned uncomfortable smooshed together on the floor in the overly warm conference room. 

But the Boys thought it was cool.  And it did start Jeremy's wheels turning about what kind of so-so act he might be able to take on the road for a bunch of money.  Hula-hooping?  Juggling?  Hop-scotching?  Don't quit your day job, Buddy!

Plethora of Baseball Pics

Little boy baseball.  It doesn't get much more all-American than that!  Here are my favorite pics from the season.

The team, minus a few that were out of town.  It was so much fun for Jeremy to coach with his brother and good friend, Josh.

Ryder

Pre-game pep talk

Cousin Oliver

O got to home plate first, so this poor guy was o-u-t!

A little down time between batters

O's first run and the HUGE grin that followed.  He has the best smile!

High fives for Noah after his first run.  He acts so nonchalant when he scores, but inside he is jumping for joy.

Coach pitch.  Poor Jeremy was under so much pressure pitching to all his kids this year.  How awful he felt when one would strike out.  He did a great job!

Waiting to advance bases.  Little boy in a huge batting helmet!

The Halpin crew

All In

Scored again!

Kaden

Best Buds

Some advice from Coach Joel

Another run from O for the Little Sox

Waiting to run

Now that is some intense concentration!

What a great season we had!  The boys learned so much and loved having some of their best friends on the team.  See ya' again next summer, Little Sox!

Owie-Wan Kenobi

See the resemblance?



With his TP roll/construction paper "light saver," he's the spittin' image of this Star Wars hero.  What cracks me up is that he came up with the name himself: Owie-Wan.  So funny!

Big Boy Lunch

I have had so much trouble transitioning each of my boys from pureed baby food to table food.  O and Noah were still eating homemade puree at 18 months.  Yikes!  I am trying to do a better job with Jones by introducing table food quite a bit earlier.  He loves it!  And although I do not love the humongous mess he makes all over himself, me, the kitchen, it is so much fun to watch him enjoy every bite.  Today, he ate an entire lunch of big people food: chicken nuggets, mac & cheese and watermelon.  I couldn't believe how much food his tiny tummy could hold!

 Over and over between bites, he'd say, "Mmmmmm.  Mmmmmmmmmm!"  So cute!

"I am done with mashed up baby food!  Done, I tell you!"

Probably not, but we have made a great start!

Now I am off to soak watermelon juice off the cabinets and mac and cheese off the ceiling!
This sweet Baby is off to dreamland for a good, long nap!

Happy 4th of July!

What's for Dinner??

Shopping for supper in the babyfood cupboard.  Looks like he's happy with his choice!

Happy Birthday, Kakie!

We had a great Grand Finale to Camp Gigi/Papa planned.  As soon as VBS was over on Friday, I met Julianne, Gigi and the kids at Taco Bueno to satisfy our Bueno craving (something I must do at least once a week!).  Then all of us that could (poor Jeremy and Erica had to work) headed over to celebrate Kakie's 98th Birthday.  Sweet Kakie.  Knowing her is such a wonderful perk of marrying into the Halpin Family.  She is precious Mimi's sister, and such a dear lady.  Hopefully we did not completely overwhelm her with our off key performance of Happy Birthday or the kids' enthusiastic handing over of the homemade birthday cards.  Julianne brought a yummy cookie cake and I brought juice.  We made quite a party of it!

This picture was taken before Joel, Oliver and Elliot arrived to complete the group of partiers.  Dorothy, Kakie's roommate is also pictured.

We can't wait to celebrate your 99th Birthday next year, Kakie!