Randomness - Is this a real word?

Nate has created his own new super hero.
Introducing:

TOOL MAN

He's ready at a moments notice to fix anything you need fixed.

Ready, Set, REPAIR!

Who knew all I needed to fix anything was a Superman cape, Spiderman gloves, ear muffs, a fully loaded plastic tool belt & a screw gun with plastic drill bits. This guy is the bomb! Summer vacation has been a blast so far & we're just getting started!



Dan came rushing in the other day and asked for the camera & then came back & asked how to take a detailed close up shot - this is what he brought back. I had never seen a red dragonfly before. It was such a vibrant red - truly amazing!
Today I am grateful (in all honesty) that the day is over & the kids are on their way to bed. I'm tired. It's been a busy week & it's not even half over yet. It wasn't a bad day just a busy one - stick a fork in it - it's done!

Our little weed - drum roll please!

Kassie seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. Her first birthday is just around the corner. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year! Time surely does fly. Some of her new accomplishments in pictures:

One of her newest favorite foods is potatoes & gravy - we don't have it often but she makes the most of it when she gets them.

Well at least she cleans up cute.

It appears we have, yet another, climber in our midst. Kassie has gotten really good at climbing on the couch (not so good at getting back down yet), but her favorite places to climb are in the fridge & the dishwasher when they are open- oh good grief!
Kassie is still not the best sleeper, she fights it constantly! I caught her fighting it again the other day & just had to grab the camera - too funny.


Last but not least... she's starting to walk. Only a few wobbly steps but steps none the less.



I am grateful for Kassie plain & simple. Grateful for the love & pure joy she has brought into our home, our family just wouldn't be the same without her.

Ka BOOM

Well it wouldn't be the 4th of July for us if it didn't involve some sort of fireworks. We've been to some of the best/biggest fireworks shows in the U.S. but we have just as much fun lighting off our own. Living where we do has great advantages for firework lovers - all sorts of goodies are legal here & if you like living on the edge you can go to the Indian Reservations and get the big stuff. We don't do this - we have plenty of fun with the legal ones! 4th of July sounded a bit like a war zone (as you will see/hear in the videos) and we did our fair share of adding to the festivities. We put Kassie to bed before all the fun started & amazingly she slept through every bit of it! A good time was had by all. A small sample of our celebration is below in video. We lit off fireworks for well over 90 minutes, probably closer to 2 hours. No one was hurt and only a small patch of grass caught on fire (thanks to a fountain that tipped over while going off) - a quick stomp & it was out - hardly worth mentioning. Once again Dan was able to release his inner pyro for the night. He seems to have passed his love for explosives to Nate for sure & possibly even Abbie. We really did have a lot of fun!

Abbie wasn't so sure about the Roman Candles


Nate loved them - like father like son.


Dan has come up with a way to light one thing & have it set off more than one shell/firework - he got it up to 8 this year (some of them were double shots on top of that) but the camera got confused on what I was trying to focus on - this is the best video I got - it was a "triple shot".



Part of our "Grand Finale"


I am grateful for fun safe times as a family. It's not always easy to find time to play and have fun together, but when we can pull it off we really do have a great time together !