Planting a little garden!

My garden

If you've been a follower of mine for long  you saw the garden pictures last year and knew how excited I was for everything to produce things. Well this year, we had planned on a big garden but then Justin went to the hospital for a week and I knew it might be awhile before he could contribute. I went to the store, bought seeds, plastic liners, and soil. I planted my stuff and I can't tell you how excited the girls and I were when stuff started sprouting within days! We've got okra, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, spaghtetti squash, strawberries, kale, spinach, chard, sweet corn, carrots, lemon cucumber, cucumber, lettuce, pumpkins, zinnia, and sunflowers. I still have a few more things to plant too! I know that a lot of it will need to either be planted in a bigger planters or in the ground. I'm ok with that but at least I got it all started and happily growing. The girls love helping me water and take care of our little garden. I love showing everyone who comes our garden. I even drag my poor neighbors to check it out. It's so exciting!!

Sky sometimes gets carried away and likes to water her sissy. Crack me up!

I love my helpers. Pai is a HUGE help, she is learning a lot about the whole process. Well, me too.

Sometimes she isn't really the biggest help, but she will be! How could you say no to such a sweet little giver.

SchoolMessenger Company Picnic

My awesome girls on the jumping pillow.

Last night 6/12 we had our company picnic with SchoolMessenger. I took the girls by myself since Justin still isn't feeling great. We had so much fun. We spent most of the night with my coworker/friend Kirby and her 9 year old son Jordan. Jordan and Paili got along great and had a blast playing together. I'm so glad she was able to buddy up with him. Skylar rode a bunch of rides to and had a fabulous time. Paili drove her first go-cart. She really thought she was BIG stuff. She got a mark from hitting the car in front of her when trying to park. Since it was her first time, she wasn't familiar with the brakes. I laughed, there was no one in the go cart so no harm done. She was a little upset to get a mark against her but thankfully didn't cry. She looked a little like driving Miss Daisy out there but she had a blast. I remember thinking I was the coolest kid when I got to drive one. It was fun getting to see my coworkers with their children and spouses.

Paili on the carousel.

Skylar driving the truck.

Jordan, Paili, and Skylar in the bird.

I had no idea it went that high. They all lived. Whew.

Paili, Kirby, and Jordan rode the ferris wheel.

I love this girls JOY.

BIG stuff Paili. Driving a go-cart.

She loved the Jumping Pillow. Me too. But I pee a little every time I jump. :/

Paili in the bumper car.

Sky LOVED the elephant ride.

Paili and Jordan riding the purple tiger coaster.

My girl rode the carousel twice and picked the same horse both times. So funny. And she had to walk around for it. It wasn't in the same place or at the entrance.

The end of the night. Covered in sand, sweaty, and tired. But we had so much fun. I LOVE being these girls Mommy.

P.S. I love you Becky Jo. It let me post! Maybe it's because I used iPhone pics instead of real camera pics. I have a whole lot of updating to do. Thanks for caring so much about me and my family. I love that you do.

Pumpkin carving and painting...in Indiana!

My Aunt Jill braiding Paili's hair. Sky wanted to hang out too.

He's much happier to have her sitting next to him then he let's on. My Uncle Phillip and Sky.

Aunt Jill attempting to fix Skylar's hair.

Aunt Joy talking to Skylar about the deer.

Aubree checking the bugs out.

Lillian looking through pictures with me.

Jack and Sky. She loves him.

Caitlin and Sky. She was very snuggly.

Cousins jumping!

Aunt Jill walking her dogs. (See what I did there Aunt Jill?)

Sky and Brookie. So sweet!!

My ode to Carly. 

Gorgeous cousins. Carly and Holley

I love this boy! Uncle Cousin Joe.

Time for pumpkins!! 

Carly sorting the seeds for her gerbils.

Skylar did a great job coloring her hands pumpkin.

All done!!

Holley and her boys.

Paili painting pumpkins. Say that 3 times real fast.

Master carver Holley.

How great is that little face? He is so cute!

Tuesday was a pretty low key day compared to how it had been. Spent the majority of the day at the Kemp home with Carly, Jack, and the kids. Tasha and the girls brought dinner over because she had nothing else to do...HAHA! I'm not sure Tasha ever rests. Being the queen of her castle with 4 gorgeous little helpers and a husband who works and bikes...she's B.U.S.Y.! Tasha has such a sweet servants heart that she still found the time to try to make life easier for the rest of the family. Aunt Jill asked us to go through the pictures for a slideshow for Grandpa's visitation and funeral. While we were looking through them we all oooh'd and awe'd over Carly's amazing picture taking abilities as a young girl. She loved to take a picture with the people in the corner with most of the picture the ceiling or sky. We laughed and laughed as we tried to find pictures without Carly's special touch. The kids were bouncing off the wall to carve the pumpkins so we made that happen. Holley headed that project up. I got a fantastic picture of her that I didn't share to save her from that but EVERY TIME I see that picture, I nearly die from laughing. The kids all painted little pumpkins. They had so much fun being artistic with their pumpkins.

Goodbye, Grandpa.

Just chillin. How cute are they?

Jack, the baby whisperer.

Twins I tell ya!

I can't say I blame her. I'd do the same thing in that tub.

Carly taking a dip.

Checking on his non stinging caterpillars.

Sky loved that couch. Paili loves her.

Monday morning was a little hectic at my Grandparents with all the hustle and bustle of a new day going on and my Uncle letting the world know how he was feeling about the whole situation. Love you Uncle Phillip! My Aunt Jill took me and my girls over to her house to play. I got to see my cousin, Joe for the first time since being there. What a great kid he is. When i say kid i really mean mid 20's. While we were hanging out my Aunt Jill got the call that my cousin Ryan had gone by the hospital on his way to work to check on Grandpa and that the Dr's wanted to have a meeting with the family asap. When Ryan had asked the nurse that was with my Grandpa what was actually going on, she said that our family had gotten very wrong information from the Dr that had been on duty over the weekend. The Dr that had been there was only looking at his lungs, not his entire body. She showed Ryan how his skin was breaking down and some other things that were going in his body. She said, it truly was just a matter of time and she was so very sorry for the way that weekend Dr had belittled my family and sorry that he gave us false hope. Aunt Jill left in a hurry to go pick up the other siblings and go to the hospital for the meeting. We got a call a little while later that we needed to head up to the hospital to say our goodbye's. Jack stayed with all of the kids while Carly and I left for the hospital. (Thank you again Jack!) He's an EMT and loves kids so I was completely confidant in his ability to keep them alive. When we got to the hospital my Mom, Dad, Aunt Ellen, Uncle Phillip, Aunt Jill, Uncle Gene, Aunt Joy, Uncle George, Holley, Whittney, Zach, and Joe were already there. They were trying to arrange transportation for my Grandma because she had recently been admitted into a facility for Alzheimer care. Carly and I walked into the room hand in hand. I am so thankful for such a loving family. There was a lot of love in that room. My precious family kept walking around Grandpa, touching his arm, talking to him, whispering into his ear, and brushing his hair back. We stood back and studied him. We hugged one another and tried to think of comforting things to say. There was a whole lot of craziness regarding my Grandma's arrival as to when she would arrive, which door she would be taken to, etc. She finally arrived and stepped into the room filled with family. She asked for a moment alone with her husband of nearly 60 years. It was very emotional to see a little bit of that scene. Carly and I left to go to Wal Mart to get groceries to feed the masses. We tried hard to forget what was happening at the hospital. We masked our sadness with making each other laugh. I finally got the text from my Mom that at 6 something Grandpa had passed. Jack, bless his heart, called Carly because Aunt Jill called him first to let her know. I was glad to be there, in that moment, in the frozen section at Wal-Mart to get the news with Carly. We stopped and grabbed some pizzas to feed our hungry crew. When we got back to the house we didn't talk to the kids about what had just taken place it seemed easier right then to not try and explain it. We failed to inform the next arriving crew and poor Aunt Ellen made the call to my cousins Ashley and Devon to let them know while we were sitting around the table. Sweet, sensitive Oliver burst into tears and ran to gain comfort from his Momma. Aunt Ellen felt terrible for letting the cat out of the bag but really it wasn't the end of the world. Skylar started freaking out all of a sudden after dinner and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what in the world her problem was. Paili was going to the bathroom and I thought that Sky was just angry to be locked out of the room. She kept trying to take her pants off and would get so mad when I'd pull them back up. Pai came out of the bathroom finally and Sky ran in there and exclaimed, "BA!!!". Duh, obviously my brain wasn't fully functioning or I would have figured that out much sooner. Oliver and Sky enjoyed a nice, long bath. Oliver is quite a gentleman by the way and pee's in a cup so as not to dirty the water. I'm certain that Skylar is not such a charming little lady and pee'd frequently in their bath. The joke was on me the first time it happened and I didn't see him pee in the cup. I thought Carly was being silly and I nearly drank it. She thought I knew and didn't try to stop me at all. Oh the silliness that happens when we are together. I had forgotten just how much I enjoy her.

Sunday's in Indiana are my favorite.

Cousins on the trampoline.

I love this!

These 2 could be twins.

Oh, Jack! I love this guy. He's working on his motorcycle. 

Now he's just showing off. But he did get a little dirt on his finger. No big deal.

Loved seeing them play together.

Precious boys looking for the right pumpkin.

Carly, Holley, and Paili.

Silly girl.

Even Hulk hunts for pumpkins.

Simon was looking for just the right one!

My pretty girl.

2 sweet cousins. 

Talking amongst themselves in the pumpkins.

Part of my family.

Brooke and Ryan.

Ryan and Aubree.

Hubbs family. I am crazy about them.

Cousins! Ryan and myself. He's one of my hero's in real life.

Carly. I love her. Just this picture makes me smile.

Sky was fascinated with this Kleenex holder.

Sky and Aunt Jill

Obviously quite taken with one another.

I hate that this picture is blurry. My Mom talking to Whittney's belly.

The Sharp family. Whittney, Deacon, and Zach.

Sunday we got around and went over to the Kemp household to play. I got to see my Carly and meet her husband (for what they all think was our first meeting) Jack, and her two precious boys Simon and Oliver. Our kids played together like they have all of their lives. My cousin, Holley, came over and we took Paili, Simon and Oliver to the pumpkin patch. My Mom offered to take Sky back to my Grandparents house so that she could get a nap in before the big family gathering that evening. I had so much fun walking around a big field filled with pumpkins with my cousins and the kids. I so loved watching the kids pick the perfect pumpkin. Simon was on the mission of his life to find THE perfect pumpkin. He was very particular.  I loved Oliver getting super distracted by the caterpillar that he found. Carly trying to rescue it and worrying about it being a "stinging" caterpillar. I laughed hysterically at her convinced that it was something my Aunt had told her growing up to keep her from picking up all kinds of treasures while they were trying to get things done. I later found out while we were all together that there really are stinging caterpillars...who knew? My Dad said it, so I know it's true. That poor caterpillar must have flown out of Carly's hands 50 times while we were walking back to the van and every time it happened the two of us trying frantically to find it again. Just thinking about this makes me laugh. We left the pumpkin patch and went to my Grandparents house where I got to see my precious cousin (in law) Tasha and her 4 girls. Those girls are all just gorgeous. My cousin Ryan had been racing so he hadn't joined us yet. I could do a family gathering like this every week. It felt so good to be there. There's something about watching your kids play with your cousins kids that sends you all of these warm fuzzies. Talking with your cousins watching your kids play. I'm telling you. It's priceless. Even when one of the kids comes in frantic while you're having a good conversation with one of your said cousins that your child ate a rock. It was a tiny rock. I wasn't concerned because she wasn't chocking but Tasha (mother of 4) confirmed that I shouldn't  be because...it will come out...eventually! I love that girl! I have so many really great memories with my cousins. And I got to make more memories with a NEW cousin, Jack, that evening dancing in the kitchen. I love him!  Even though I never lived close to them, I always felt so much love when I was with them. A little later my cousin, Whittney showed up with her husband, Zach. What a precious couple. She is pregnant with their first child, Deacon. I feel so sad when I think about all of the kids there that I miss seeing all the time. Who knows when I'll get to see Deacon for the first time. I got to spend some quality time with them watching The Walking Dead and watching a video of the highest free fall. It was crazy! One of the best text's I've ever received in my entire life came from my cousin Ryan after he left. It said, Btw, you look great. So keep it up. I nearly texted back asking Tasha if her phone had died and she had to use Ryans. I knew better but it was so shocking to get an atta girl from him. He's just not a guy who spews forth praise. I knew he meant it and I knew he must really think so to say it. I'm so proud of my family. I love that my girls are finally getting a taste of Indiana.