When I was little my mother made my sisters and I some night gowns out of some of my dad's dress shirts. Given John's career, we have an abundance of dress shirts around here and I decided to make my princess a few dress-shirt night gowns of her own...

Please don't mind that they aren't ironed yet, I was excited okay.

Oh, and here are some pictures of my cute home.

You will notice that the porch railings are MIA. Well, it's kind of a funny story that ends with John falling off the porch onto me. Literally...I broke his fall. I am such a good wife. Anyway, the whole porch is in desperate need of a remodel and that's one of the many projects lined up for next summer.

Part of my kitchen.

The window seat in the dining room that I will one day make adorable drapes and pillows for.

This is the chandelier in the dining. I love love love it. (Not a good picture of it though)

And the built-in in the dining.

The built-in, the arched doorways, the window seat, the original floors and windows, the fireplace...I love the charm of my house. I just wish we had the money to really do what I wanted to do to it and transform it from cute and charming to simply perfect. Ah well...in all honesty it is perfect...to me anyway.

Lightning McQueen

This is Lightning....the cat. Not two weeks after we moved, we were given a kitten. A friend of a friend's barn cat had kittens and we got one. I think that it is actually a female cat but Lightning it is. I feel a little bad for this animal. Very often I look over and the two year old has the cat by 'his' head and is trying to stuff him in the potato bin. I am actually very impressed with the kitty though...he doesn't scratch. He just kind of takes it and waits for Isaac to put him down so he can make a run for it.

BTW this is my handsome little man and his goofy grin in his specks

The 4th

The 4th of July is a big event around here. John's side of the family can no longer contain the urge to set things on fire and blow them up....so it's the perfect holiday really. Every year my mother-in-law has a BBQ and a fireworks show. The party started about 4 or 5 years ago when John and I lived in KS the last time. Kathi (MIL) invited us and the rest of the fam over for a BBQ and a fireworks show. A few friends were also in attendance. She counted Saturday night and there were almost 200 people there!! That isn't even as big as it was last year I guess. Anyway, the kids looked adorable in their home-made 4th of July apparel...

A even rocked a star...

and stripes in her 'do.

We stopped at a stand to get some small firecrackers for the kids...and John...

Then on to Grandma's with the cute cousins....

Fun friends and bouncy castles....

After the food, it was time for the firecrackers....

And of course, someone had to get shot with one...

It's just good that it was not A getting shot by her own mother with a fairly dangerous firework. She still hasn't forgotten that!! (Turns out Roman Candles aren't that dangerous after all) 

After the kids had some fun and darkness fell....the real show started. It was pretty awesome. I didn't get any pictures because John had to help light things on fire, of course, and I was the pillow for the four kids on our blanket. They all watched and enjoyed, E even fell asleep. We also had a wonderful surprise from some of John's extended family. A couple Aunts and a cousin came in for the party to surprise Kathi....and us apparently. We didn't know they had made the 16 hour drive until we were almost to Manhattan that night!! It was great to see them and BTW thanks for the wonderful gifts!!

With A and J getting bigger (sad but true), I decided they were old enough for chores. So I made a chore chart. I think it turned out pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself. I am surprised at how much they don't mind doing chores. It's still fun to help out I guess and they like that they can help do the little boys' chores too. I am just crossing my fingers that the wonderful attitudes on chores can last a little bit.

Summer is here...

Nothing says summer like swimming lessons....

A and J had a great time at their lessons. They were both signed up for level one given niether had had swimming lessons before. After the first day, A was moved to level 2...she was very proud of herself. A can now swim and was thrilled to be able to jump off the diving board all by herself. J was just happy to get in the water and practice front floats and back floats.

Weddings are also commonplace in the summer. John's lifelong friend got married on June 12 (it's a good month for a wedding!). What is not so common is that Abbi lost her first tooth later that day at the reception!!

And, of course, summer wouldn't be summer without lounging in lawn chairs around the disgustingly murky baby pool!!