Double digits now

I cannot believe that we have celebrated Jessica turning 10. That she could possibly be that old is ridiculous!! Where did it all go? So many things that seem as though they just happened; finding out we were having a baby girl; the search for the perfect dress to bring her home in; her crazy arrival; first day of school; last day of 4th grade.And now she is 10! This list could go on and on (and on...)!!

My bright and beautiful girl.

Only she could make me crazy proud of her and just plain crazy at the same time.

Happy birthday sweet girl!

We love you!!

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My brother

Last week, we traveled out of town. While that sounds great, it really wasn't. It started with a late night phone call on the Thursday before (6/2). The sort that when the phone rings at that time you just know it can't be a good thing. And it really wasn't. My brother was on the other end. The way he said my name, you just knew it would be bad. The deep breathes that followed so that he could deliver the news; the reason he called. Our oldest brother had passed away. I had answered the phone in the loft/playroom, so as I was walking back to my bed. I practically yelled into the phone, "WHAT!?!?" Or maybe I really did. I'm not exactly sure. At that point Steve is upright asking what's wrong. It is like slow motion at that point having my brother repeat those ugly words as I curl up on my bed. This time asking in a whisper what had happened.

At that point, details were sketchy. He had been in Florida on a mission trip with his church. His youngest son on the trip also. He was only 50. He had always been an athlete. A standout football player in his younger days. At forty-eight, he joined a semi-pro team for that season. He lifted weights and ran every morning. He coached his kids in T-ball and football. He went to college in his forties and went on to become a teacher for troubled youth. He was a Christian man. A son, brother, husband, friend. A man who lived his every day and spoke every word to represent Jesus. That one day he would be Home.

His service was beautiful. His oldest son spoke such beautiful words. Even a bit of humor. But one of the many things that seemed to stick out is that he thought he would be fifty when having to stand up there to talk about his dad. I was so proud of him. I always think want to think of him as the little boy of years gone by. But he is all grown up. A Marine. A husband.  My youngest brother also spoke. Frankly, I was surprised that he would be speaking. Telling a tale or spinning some yarn is more his style. He is a storyteller for sure. He said such a lovely words. I just nodded in agreement with him. And also a laugh or two. But it wouldn't have been his words, his way, if you didn't.

Anyway. A screen printing shop in their town printed shirts in honor of my brother. The proceeds would go to the memorial fund set up in his name. On Friday, when my brother was buried, we wore our shirts.

It was pretty cool.

This is the back of the shirt.
The way he lived his life.

W. Dwayne Riley

November 1960- June 2011

Some Scouts in the House

I had been wanting to get some pictures of the kids in their scouting attire for a while now. Jess doesn't uniform; just her vest. We just improvised a bit by having the tan shorts and white shirt. Stick to the basics. I was pleased with the shots we got. Funny how he wasn't really into doing a "photoshoot," but in the end, he did so well. I really like the ones with the dog. He loves her! And I with I had Jess take her hair out of the pony. It is hard to see how long and pretty it is.

(Also, I do need better lighting so that I don't have to use the flash. I don't like the shadow.)

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Baseball and Fireworks

On the same Friday as Jessica's school party, we had tickets for the Indian's game. We had gotten the tickets through Brandon's cub scouts. Being that it was a Friday night, there would also be fireworks after the game. As a Scout special, we could have signed up to camp out on the field after the game. We didn't this time, but heard from another of our fellow den mates that it was lots of fun. A very, very late night (and early morning), but fun stuff. 

Oh, and we won! Go Indians!

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Party Boy

We had Brandon's birthday the following week due to Daddy being scheduled out of town. Surprise for us, he made it home! But oh well! We took advantage of the time to see Grandma Anne. So it was all good. For the birthday boy, we really didn't have a true theme. He had picked out a cake that had motorcycles racing. I figured that it would be really easy to go to the party place and find something with motorcycles. Not really. Instead we went with general race idea and checkered flag. The most of the usual family crew were here along with a family down the street. Their son is the same age as Brandon and rides the same bus. And have spent lots of time together playing. Our birthday boy received lots of cool stuff like pajama's (he's gotten so tall!), books, RC helicopter, nerf water gun, lego guys, and a gift certificate for mini golf. We bought him a new bike. He so badly needed one! Again, he has gotten so tall!

Opening gifts, when reading our card, I had signed it "Mommy and Daddy," but he read it as "Mom and Dad." Someone had asked what the card said; as in the words/verse inside not necessarily who it was from. Brandon said, "It says from Mommy and Daddy, but I didn't want to say that. That would be embarrassing!" This boy just cracks me up!

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Baseball and Cub Scouts

We had a baseball weekend, the 14th and 15th. Well, sort of. A friend had given us tickets for Saturday nights game. There had been chance of wet weather on and off all day. We figured that we would go ahead and head to the ball field and take our chances. So, of course, it started as we got to the gate. It drizzled on and off. Enough to keep most of the crowd at home. We did put our umbrella up, but it wasn't too bad. Just a few pictures due to the wet weather.

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We had purchased tickets for Sunday's game as a Circuit of Fun with Boy Scouts. This can pretty much be considered the game that wasn't. It wasn't just drizzily and wet. It was raining and cold. The Boyscouts were going to be "crossing over." A sort of graduation type event. We saw our den leader with his son, so we sent Brandon to wait with him. Collin's dad did the same. It was nice that the boys could be there together. The boys were going to be able to go on the field, high five some players and meet the mascot. The boys were led onto the field and immediately into the dug out. Even the players didn't want to be in the rain. So we didn't even get to see them high five anyone. Out of the dug out and cross over a bridge at homeplate and exit the field on the other side. Rowdy was on the stairs as they exited. It was pretty much over by the time we figured out where they going. Maybe we should have been at the end of the line to find out the gameplan. But I guess now we know for next time! 

Daddy had to leave to go out of town. He had come to the game just for Brandon's crossover and had to leave. It was going to be a long drive for him. The kiddos insisted on sitting in our seats. It was still raining, but wait in the rain we did. When it started to really come down and change direction, right at us, we all decided to go for cover! That lasted about 5 minutes. We were all ready to just go home. And that's just what we did. A change into warm, dry clothes and popped in a movie. Complete with popcorn.

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Cowgirl Jess

Jess got it in her head the other day that she was going to be a cowgirl. For the day at least. Here are a couple... ok, three fun pictures that her daddy took.



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Recorder Concert

The fourth grade recently had a recorder concert. They have been practicing really hard to learn all their songs. Jess and her friend Meg had also practiced many mornings before school while waiting for the bus. On the same evening, the school held an Art Fair. Each grade learned about another country and displayed their artwork outside the classrooms. Oh, and the library was open for the book fair.

I have a picture of each of their artwork and postcard. The rest are from the actual program. Jess was almost directly in front of her music teacher. Almost impossible to get her picture, but Daddy got a few. And the priceless shot of Brandon's enthusiasm.

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at the park

I had taken the kiddos to the park the other day (Saturday). Daddy had to work, so it was just the three of us. It was such a nice day out! I thought this would be a great opportunity to get some fun pictures of the kids; it was still pretty early in the afternoon and not very busy. We went to a park that we only visit occasionally. A change of scenery is nice sometimes, don't ya think? While the kids had a lot of fun running, climbing, sliding and such, I have little photographic proof of it. I kept getting some sort of CF error.

So this is what I was able to get...

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once we were back at home, I reformatted the disk and life was good again.

At Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter

Finally getting pictures from Easter Sunday spent with at Grandma and Grandpa's house with the rest of them family. Grandma had fixed us a big meal; and it was delicious. The little kids had an egg hunt downstairs. Which I missed getting any pictures of since daddy and I were hiding eggs upstairs for our big kids. And we only took a few pictures of Jess and Brandon during their hunt.

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At the Park

A couple of Sundays ago, Jess had an outing with her Girl Scouts. It was only a few hours, but we took advantage of the beautiful day and went to the park. This was one of the first really nice, sunny, Spring days that we had. The result was that everyone had the same idea!

Brandon decided to play a version of hide and seek... He wanted to go "hide" in/on the playground equipment and we would "seek" him out with the camera. It was fun trying to find him, and not too easy either! He was pretty much in constant motion. Almost all of the pictures are all from our game, so I did not add very many captions.

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