Summer's Harvest

One of my favorite things about the summer and living in the San Joaquin Valley is that we have access to some of the greatest summer fruits and vegetables.

The above pictures are from a self pick berry place just one block up from us. Below is a peach booth on the side of the road based on the honor system where you put $5.00 into the mail box and take a whole box of peaches.

This Little Red House

Some of the reasons why I love this house!

Without Being Asked!!!

Let me tell you what occured in our household today. I was folding Blynn and Rusty's laundry on our bed while they were laying on the bed watching me. I finished folding the laundry and went to reload the washing machine and when I came back there were no children and no clothes folded nicely on the bed. So I looked in Rusty's room and he was putting his clothes away, and I ran to Blynn's room and she was doing the same thing. WITHOUT BEING ASKED! I was screaming and clapping with approval. So we rewarded them with a trip to ice cream for dinner.

104.5 F

That number always freaks me out! We had a very sick girl yesterday with whatever bug Luke, Sam, and Rusty had. But she seemed to get it the worst. She is sleeping here at 11:00 am. Poor thing!

This, however, is what I would like to note. I do not tell Todd how to fly an airplane or things he should do differently when he is flying, but yet he felt the need to challenge me on all of my medical decisions yesterday. And with that I say: Leave the specialties to the specialists!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-apple juice

These children of Todd's have been crazy lately. And by crazy I mean C-R-A-Z-Y. I don't know if it is the ages they are at right now or because they do not have any common interests (except for the common goal to drive me crazy), but they argue non-stop all day long. This stage is so much easier physically compared to a newborn or toddling walker. But this stage challenges my will and my confidence in my mothering skills more than any other. And when I am alone with them all day, I frequently reflect back on my day and feel like a failure. I am not a yeller or a voice raiser for that matter, but boy can these kids get a good voice raising out of me.

I do need to say that Rusty is one of the best children at saying 'thank you' and Blynn did tell me spontaneously today that she loved me and that I will always be her favorite mommy. Felt like I needed to end this post on a positive note.

West Nile

Doesn't that just hurt looking at it. Blynn and Todd both are very attractive to mosquitos. We can all be outside as a family and I will not be bothered or bitten one bit, but Todd and Blynn just get attacked. But Blynn's get really red and irritated. The price of being fair skinned. But my mom has been very concerned that she is going to contract West Nile Virus which isn't something to be joking about and I really need to be better about putting repellent on her. I just never think of it because it has never been a problem for me. However, if the symptoms of west nile are: lethargy (only when asked to clean up), constant whining, arguing with sibling, talking in a loud voice, kicking and hitting said sibling, thumb sucking, strange need to wear mismatched clothes with non-cute shoes, not wanting your hair to be cute, strong aversion to teeth brushing, need to dictate who goes first and where, etc. than I think we might be too late.

What Do I Do Now?

Well, the Tour de France ended today and I am already going through withdrawals to hear those british commentators and the hum of the helicopter. It was great this year, and my favorite cyclist George Hincapie had another great year. I love what the cycling team and the peloton represents and how similar it is for us to finish our 'race'. We each have our role in the team and we each have different strengths and gifts and we need the others on our team to do our strength/gift well. Except that our GC (general classification) guy is the big JC. I hope I am a good domestique for Him.

All You Need is Love

Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless-cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God's words; if help, let it be God's hearty help. That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and He'll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything--encores to the end of time! 1 Peter 4:7-11 (Msg)

Some more inspiration from the blogging world, gave me the idea for this project.




Rusty even helped me get into the mood. Theme dressing at its best. 1) cut pieces of wood with none other than my dad's radial arm saw and painted them white, 2) put the stickers on it, 3) spray painted the whole thing black, 4) took stickers off and sanded the whole thing down with fine sandpaper. Now all I need is step 5) which is hanging it up in our room.

One of the Many Things

Mowing the lawn is one of the many things that Todd does for us. I am very thankful for that. Especially today, since it is hot, it takes him about 4-6 hours to do, we have an enormous lawn (some of you may remember this is where our wedding reception was), and he completely threw his back out last week. But yet he still does it!