It's amazing how fast the week goes by when I feel better. Some photos to remember the past week.
I suggested to Dave about 2 months ago that we go buy our produce at the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. We went the next week and have been every week after that. It's nice to meet the people who actually harvest the food and support our local growers. I'm sold. Both sides of the family are hooked also. We see all 3 Gramma's at the market, and have a wonderful time sampling all the delicious produce and munching on kettle corn. Here's just a little taste of the beautiful fruit and veggies we feast on every week, plus a splurge on my favorite flower.







Jess and Toby peeling their own cucumbers. They are small, stubby and delicious. The cukes and the kids. heehee.











Silly Coop. This boy is going to have the healthiest prostate in the family. :) He eats baby tomatoes like candy- chipmunk style as you can see. We bought a bag of "baby 'matoes" as Coop calls them and he ate half the bag in one sitting.
















Sometimes the kids surprise me with how much trouble they can get into while still being so quiet. Every afternoon we have 'quiet time' for a couple hours while Logan naps and the rest of us have some down time. This afternoon J and TJ couldn't resist coming out to show me their handy work. This is Toby in 3 layers of shorts and at least 6 shirts. Jessie is ready to go boating or save drowning toddlers from the bathtub. Their room is a disaster amidst all this dress up and yet I thought they were both laying down. They certainly keep me on my toes- the sneaky little goobers.

Welcome home Dan!

Little brother Dan came home last weekend from his service in Africa.
our entire family went to the air field to welcome him home.
Mom and I made a scribbly sign in the truck on the way there.
while we waited in the hanger the kids ran around and the adults talked
we munched on fresh kettle corn bought at the farmers market that morning
the planes came in right in front of the hanger where we were watching
they were loud!







it was quite a show
after some pictures, Dan gave us a tour of the plane
Toby's favorite part was uncle Dan giving him some Oreos from his stash on the plane
Jessie's favorite part was waving the 2 big flags Grammy let her use and watching the planes come in
Logan loved waving to Mom down below from the window up in the cockpit
Lauren is happy that her man is finally home
Dan is happy to be out of the heat
I am thankful for his service and for ALL those who serve in our Armed Forces!
THANK YOU!
It was a great follow up to the 4th of July week

noise pollution

You know that ear-splitting sound that a balloon makes when you pinch the top together and let the air out? My kids love to do that....until I can't take it anymore. Now the bird imitates it perfectly. He won't shut up!

Just one more reminder of all the noise in our house during the day. And an 'I told you so' from Dave who says I am way too sensitive to it all.

officially hot!

Growing up in Utah, I am accustomed to "small town" 4th of July celebrations complete with parades, picnics, fireworks, even a sunrise flag raising. Most of the cities here in the Bay Area are pathetic when it comes to 4th of July celebrations. Our city has just recently started a parade, but fireworks are illegal so there's not much to stick in town for.

So we've been having a nice mild summer until yesterday. It was HOT! We spent the 4th at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom up in Vallejo with Aunt Tori. The heat almost sucked the life out of us because by around 5:30 we were draggin'. Our friends Tom and Jen came up for a few hours too. Thanks guys, for driving all the way up only to roast with us for awhile. The kids loved seeing Shouka the killer whale and going on all the rides, especially the water rides. We stayed for the fireworks show and didn't get home until midnight. It was well worth it!

Clean room, no more candy

Yesterday was an action-packed and momentous day!

First off, the kids finally learned how to clean their room without Mom or Dads help. I've got bins for every kind of toy, a home for all their books, shoes, clothes, etc, and yet they still draw a blank when faced with the task of putting everything away. It took the little crazies 2 1/2 hours to get going, buy they really did it all by themselves. (Of course, it helped that we were going to see Ratatouille that afternoon IF they finished cleaning up.) They even hung up all the clothes that go in the closet which was a job usually saved for Mom. Now if they would only learn to put their clothes in the right spot after they come off their bodies. All in good time, I suppose.


SO, "Rata-tooty" as Logan calls it was very good. We went to a matinée with a bunch of family and took up an entire long row. I love sitting in movies listening to little kids laugh and giggle. It made the movie that much more fun. Pixar did a fabulous job on Ratatouille. It was a little slow for our 2 year-old but I expected that. Lots of great story and animation that we really enjoyed. Toby turns to me about 3/4 of the way through the movie and says, 'This is so fun!" We don't get to the movies often and the kids really enjoyed it, especially the popcorn and candy part. Candy is something that makes a rare appearance in our house, and I ate WAY too much at the movie. The stabbing headache afterwards told me so.