29 June 2009

John Deere green





Dressed appropriately for the play, Buck-a-roo was entertained for hours on end in the much-appreciated A/C on Sunday afternoon with his new John Deere farm toys that he and Frank-o (napping during the photo op) received from their friends from Mississippi during our Sunday lunch gathering at Middendorf's Seafood Restaurant.










{commenting on the cute, tan feet with the freshly painted toenails accidentally not cropped out of the right side of the photo completely optional}


Thank you S, A, S Gip......we love our new tractors, trucks, horses, cows, and stable. We enjoyed seeing you all!!!!

28 June 2009

.grasshopper.

Buck-a-roo: "Mommy, come see.....look what I found, it's a grasshopper!"
Me: "I'll be there in a second...I'm almost finished clipping my coupons and I don't want them to blow away with the wind out here. Mommy's seen many grasshoppers before."
Buck-a-roo: "I'm gonna kill it Mommy!"
Me: "No, Buck-a-roo, don't kill it! Grasshoppers are good bugs that {er, hhmmmm} eat other bad bugs, like mosquitos."
Buck-a-roo: "Well, come see NOW Mommy!"
Me: { *^%#, OMG!! On second thought, let's KILL that monstrous thing} DADDY BUCK!!!!!!

Believe me when I tell you that these pictures do not do this ginormous grasshopper justice. It is fitting that (s)he sits atop the WARNING found on the child's kickboard that (s)perched himself on this morning. I promise you this creature, God's creature, was 4 inches long and 2 inches tall. And, I double-promise you that after being tortured by a 3 year old with a battery powered 4-wheeler and a 4 year old with a massive metal dump truck for 20 minutes and eventually succombing to the string of the weed eater powered by Daddy Buck, this innocent creature is now perched at the Pearly Gates now.

27 June 2009

2nd annual sunflower seed sowing

Last year, we let the boys plant sunflower seeds, probably 20 or so. Exactly 2 seeds prospered and grew into 8+ feet tall plants bearing 2-3 flowers each. The boys so loved to water them and see how tall they would grow day in and day out. This is a picture of them posing by their sunflowers just before Frank-o's 2nd birthday party last year.



I guess you can say it's become a tradition, because this year, once again, we planted sunflower seeds. We multiplied the number of seeds we planted this year, thus multiplying the plants that manifested. Not quite as tall this year (though I believe our seeds were of a different type), but our numbers were greater. This year, even more than last, it required much encouragement, "Don't step on the sunflowers, they will not grow", "Watch out! Your stepping on the baby sunflower plant", "That's enough water, your sunflower's gonna drown"; but, they've finally bloomed!


Just as the seeds grow with much tender loving care, my how these two boys have grown over the past year.
(Luke 8:5-8) 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

22 June 2009

GEAUX LSU Tigers!

Hey Fighting Tigers,

go all the way.
Hey Fighting Tigers,

win the game today!!


19 June 2009

1st full season of Tball.......CHECK!

















Trophy for Buck-a-roo.....CHECK!










Unexpected trophy for Frank-o.....CHECK!













Season was a complete success with a(n) winning record end-of-the-season party complete with large inflatable jumping obstacle courses, pizza, Capri Suns, and ice cream.....{hhmmmm} CHECK!!!

















18 June 2009

Frank-o's Funny Faces

~strong~



~sad~


~happy~


~angry~

~silly~




17 June 2009

Summer ...do's



Today, all the boys received new summer haircuts.....
Buck-a-roo....a crewcut!

Frank-o.... a mohawk!
Even one of our dogs, Remington, got his first ever grooming.....a #2 shave all over.





16 June 2009

Guess who HAD a birthday



Frank-o did!!

He turned 3 on June 7.



And, as always, he is smiling from ear to ear and doesn't care one little bit that his Momma is exactly one week and two days late posting about it.



As of today, I am unsure of his height and weight to add to this post for him to one day look back on....once again, doesn't bother him.

What did matter, was the party!!

What I do know is this.....

He is:

a real-life miracle

always smiling

isn't potty-trained and {shocker} doesn't care

eats anything tomato-based; salsa, spaghetti sauce

still drinks only soy milk

prefers Skittles over M&Ms

one of the smallest in his class

loves music

still enjoys watching Dora the Explorer

obsessed with LSU baseball
carefree regarding clothing, shoes, appearance

fascinated with his Momma's hair

likes to be held

a fantastic little brother

a fan of Doritos chips over cookies anyday

full of facial expressions

and lights up the room just by entering!!

11 June 2009

Sights of Philly

Before our super busy weekend (I know, busy weekend....shocker, right?!) kicks into high gear tomorrow afternoon, I wanted to post several pictures from my trip to Philadelphia. Not only was it my first trip away from my family since having my boys....it was also the Northernmost destination that I have traveled and I embarked on my first-ever taxi/cab ride!!


:: skyrise shot in downtown Philadelphia ::




:: if you can see past the homeless people lining the streets and the constant barrage of horns honking from speeding taxicabs up and down the streets, the streets of downtown Philly were actually quite pretty with lots of flowers and foliage ::




:: the downtown area of the City of Brotherly Love is filled with statues and sculptures like these that were directly across the street from my hotel ::



:: speaking of my hotel, here is the front of the Westin hotel on 17th street in downtown Philadelphia ::



:: I'm not certain what is housed in this beautiful building, I was fond of the architecture and the American flags leading the way to the building, so I photographed it ::



:: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), our nation's first free-standing inpatient hospital facility dedicated solely to children ::



:: this the indoor atrium area as you enter the front doors of CHOP ::




There you have it.... Wasn't tons of time of photography, as I was in class for 9+ hours for the two complete days that I was there. It was, however, a fantastic trip. I must note that from the moment I left Baton Rouge, until I touched down in Philadelphia, throughout my entire stay, and on the round trip back home, every service employee that I encountered from flight attendants, baggage claims assistants, hotel clerks, concierge, housekeeping personnel, taxicab driver, waitresses.....were enthusiastic, kind, accomodating, smiling, friendly, you get my drift. In our world today, I believe this speaks to the idea that there are still people that genuinely care for mankind and do their jobs to the best of their abilities day in and day out with a smile on their face.

This weekend's agenda includes Frank-o's birthday party (also, I neglected to post/schedule a post on his birthday that I intend to do) on Saturday morning, LSU baseball game at the College World Series is on TV Saturday at 6pm, employee crawfish boil at Daddy Buck's work on Sunday, followed by a birthday party Sunday afternoon. All of this will include a house full of guests for the weekend.