Our garden

Brooke and Charlotte love helping in the garden. This year, it's a combined garden with Grandma and Grandpa. We have corn, zucchini, green peppers, tomatoes, and strawberries.

This is a pretty tree in the backyard. I don't know what kind it is, I just think it's pretty. :-)

The Sunflower Seed

When Brooke went to Kindergarten registration back in May, one of the teacher's gave her a packet of sunflower seeds and a little poem. Unfortunately I didn't keep the poem but it said something about planting the seeds and watch the sunflower grow. When the sunflower is bigger than you it will be time to go to Kindergarten! So we've been watching the sunflower all summer and here it is!! It's definitely taller than Brooke. If we were to stay here in Indiana, which hopefully we don't, Kindergarten starts in 1 week and a half. If we are in Michigan it doesn't start until the day after Labor Day. She is already signed up here, so maybe I should go ahead and send her while we're still here for 2 weeks? I haven't decided, anybody have any thoughts?

Take me out to the Ballgame

Thanks to the summer reading program at the Library, we got buy one get one free tickets to an Indians game last night. It wasn't a good game for the Indians (it was 13-1 when we left in the 7th inning) but it was great company. We decided to sit on the lawn and it ended up being a great idea. They had more room to move around. For some reason I didn't get any pictures of Brooke, but enjoy the rest.

Summer Time

We went to Bouncertown again. I guess we just couldn't resist.
Here is Brooke taking a self portrait. She actually did a pretty good job I think.

Nathan's sisters, Jenny and Rachel, came and got the girls today and took them swimming. I had an afternoon all to myself. I kept thinking I had so much to do. Mostly I just ended up relaxing and reading. They had a ton of fun though. I'm glad they're getting to know that side of the family better. But they were also exhausted. Brooke had her last gymnastics class tonight and she was so tired she could hardly stand up. They were both in bed by 8:30 which is a record for a summer night.

My friend, Jason that was shot, is doing much better. He should be moving to a rehabilitation center in the next few days. We went to visit his family at the hospital last week and I think they were grateful we went. They are making t-shirts to help with costs that sell for $10. I got mine yesterday.

We got a Nintendo WII. Much to my dismay. I just don't want it to take over our life. Brooke is actually really good at bowling. I need to take some pictures and post them. She gets so excited. So I guess it's finally time to sell the nintendo. Anybody interested?

The Memory Game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, if we’ve actually met in person or not, anything you remember about me!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Officer Shot

A good friend of mine that I grew up with was shot in the head tonight. He is a police officer and was in pursuit of a suspect. Please pray for Jason Fishburn and his family! Click here for the full story.

Bouncertown

We had a great time at Bouncertown today. Nathan's boss took all employees (Nathan and LaDawn) and our families there. We went last summer too and Brooke talks about it all the time. Charlotte was too little last year but had a great time today.

After a while, Charlotte got tired of the rides and wanted to bowl.

Isaac and his wife, Julie, racing each other

Brooke got sick on Saturday right before Grandma Benjamin's birthday party. So I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the cake. We didn't even get to go to the party. Brooke woke up about 8 pm and was so sad she missed it. She cried for about 30 minutes. Both of the girls are much better now.

Brooke was supposed to start swimming lessons today. I say "supposed" because she didn't like it, or maybe it was the teacher. She was fine at first, and then he helped her go underwater and float on her back and after that she started crying. She's not normally a crier, but I think I figured out she doesn't like the male teacher. There's also a female teacher so we'll try and see if we can get her tomorrow. There were 10 kids and I think they just divided them up randomly.

4th of July Festivities

Brooke and her cousins, Regan and Brett, visiting from New Jersey
Our fireworks show. Who needs to go downtown when all you have to do is sit on your back porch and watch from every direction. Nathan set off fireworks but the neighborhood behind us had some really good ones.

Brooke and sparklers

Charlotte slept through the whole thing. I was going to keep her up but she was scared when we were setting some off earlier. And she hasn't been feeling so well so she needed her sleep.


We also went to a friends house on the 2nd for a bbq and fireworks. There were about 10 little girls between the ages of 2-6, mostly 4 and 5 year olds. They each took turns helping light the firework and would then run back and sit on the blanket. At one point they would all go watch it being lit and run as fast as they could back to the blanket. It was so funny. I wish I had taken my camera. Charlotte got in on the action but had to be rescued a few times. For some reason Brooke was not really interested. She stayed on the blanket the whole time.

Grandma Benjamin's birthday party is tonight. I'll be making a flag cake so I will post pictures of that. Yummy!