Sarah's Farm

My dad and sister bought this house that was a foreclosure. It's on five acres, has a pond with fish in it, a couple of out buildings, fruit trees, a garden plot, and years memory-making potential.

Early in our visit we started making trips to the farm to fish, pick fruit, check out Papa's progress on the remodel, and party. It's kind of a dreamland.

In this photograph we have my sister dragging her best boy and Deisha around the pond in the wagon. Love it!

My dad was really excited about taking the kids fishing, almost as excited as the kids were. They were hysterical. Because of the sheer numbers, the kids had to take turns with the poles. No one in their right mind has enough poles to go around for my bunch. Poor Tre; every time he got a turn with a pole, he spent most of his turn trying to unsnag his hook from the trees and the rocks.

Here's the crew from my vantage point. From left to right we have Kennedy, Micah, Jasmine, Sarah, my dad, and Leila and Deish in the wagon. It was so much fun!!!

This was my vantage point in the shade, far and away from the risk of Tre's flying fishing hooks.

This is my fancy-lady sista in her overalls. I love her. She's my fave.

We had a heck of a time with the bait. My dad thought we could find worms in the ground, but we didn't have much luck. As a matter of fact I think Micah brought over a grub worm and that was about the extent of their findings. Can you fish with those? I don't know. I assume my dad knows everything and I don't really question his methods.

Jon spent a lot of time right there helping with hooks and snags and standing guard in case anything jumped out of the water onto a line. He's super-duper. We like him very much.

Trebo. He makes me laugh.

I can't remember what they were doing here... I pretty much stayed in the shade close to the water. I love the country, but you can't take the city out of the girl, you know?

Here's our spot. The cars were close behind where I eventually moved to. Deisha was having a good time for about an hour. After that we moved to the comfort of our truck with music and windows that close. She likes it in there because it gives her the illusion of freedom.

My dolly, Lolly. She's just this cute in real life.

SISTA! WHAT'R DJOU DOING RIGHT NOW, OKAY!?

Sis loves fishing. I mean she lives for it. The sun, the worms, the-- fishing... she loves every minute of it. Can't you see how much she is loving it? xoxo

Segue

On the way to my mom's we stopped at my T.R and Mel's house for dinner and some hanging out in Kansas City with the cousins.

I should have known my brother's house would be immaculate and perfectly organized. He was the kid that organized his cassette tapes in alphabetical order and checked them every night to see if I "borrowed" any of them without asking. I usually did.

He also had the coolest toys for the kids! Their garage was too short to park their truck in, so it made for another indoor playroom. This little pop-up tent/playhouse was in there. He found it blowing down the road so he hopped out and snatched it. Now my kids are in it with his. And boy did they love it!
I love this picture; we could be triplets! This is my cousin Erica. She, Aunt Cindy, and Uncle Greg came too, but I was so taken by their company that I didn't have the mind to snap more pictures. It was kind of an emotional night for me besides, with leaving Richmond and everything... booooooohooooohoooo... waaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! I'm still sad!!!

This was a precious moment that I did manage to capture. Uncle Greg was always the funtime uncle that I adored who could do no wrong. Deisha must have sensed that because she went straight to his arms, and I don't think he could have been any more tickled about it. I love that! It really stinks that I didn't get a picture of Aunt Cindy, I really am sorry. I need a picture of you for my collection, so could you send one my way? Email would be great. Please and thank you very very much!!! xoxo

A Party, A Party

He's eccentric, but in some things, he's pretty low-maintenance; like this party, for example. For Tre's seventh birthday, he asked for a day out with me and Dale full of shopping and eating out and alone time aka playing his DS in the backseat while Dale and I talked in the front on the way to Santa Maria. We did that on Wednesday.

So before I started painting the dining room on Saturday, the day of his birthday, I baked a cake and stuck it in the oven to hide it from the constant flow of traffic in and out of the house.

The deal was, if Tre got his room cleaned, he could invite his friends over for cake; he didn't get it cleaned up. All day I was making threats about how he'd have to only share his cake with us and his friends would be disappointed which was a moderate amount of leverage since they were all outside waiting for most of the day.

He did go back and spend about five minutes piling stuff into neater piles so it wasn't spread all over the room, but it definitely wasn't clean and I wasn't happy about it. It was his birthday DAY, however, and I'm kind of a sucker for birthdays so I decided to feed them cake anyway. Besides, once word got out that we had a cake we were willing to share, kids started showing up and they weren't leaving until they got cake. Seriously, they started coming at 8:30 and I gave them all the boot around 5:00 that night when I started dishing up dinner. So when I got the mess cleaned up from the paint, and Dale got home, we lit a candle because my birthday supply box is depleted, sang Happy Birthday, cut the cake, and sent them to the courtyard to party.

It wasn't fancy, but he loved it. And I love him. Happy Birthday, Wild Nut! You're awesome!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRE!!!!

Tre's seven today. I can't wait to show you pictures of the party, but with all the pandemonium of this fantastic celebration, I won't be able to get them loaded until a later date. Sooooo.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIDDO! This Momma loves you more than you'll ever know!!!

Country Cousins

This is breaking my heart because going through all these pictures because it was so much fun in the beginning and now I'm starting to feel sad, like I'm reliving the good-byes. I miss you guys so much. This was the last day we spent in Richmond, some of the cousins came over to party with us one last time.

I told you, he's a lovey baby! Even Jasmine was smitten. **note on living room. I can guarantee that this living room has not looked like this since that day. We really bring a whirlwind everywhere we go.

sniff.

I hate to play favorites, and really I'm not, I just... he just... I mean, he does the army crawl! It's priceless!
I cut my hair when I went to my moms. It looks a lot better, but it's a lot shorter. I miss it. I miss my hair. My life hasn't been the same since I cut it. boohoohoo. I'm getting emotional; I must be really tired. Better get in my jammies and snuggle in for the night. And why shouldn't I? It's already 5:47!
Hey wait! MORE PICTURES! Jade...
Ronin, Liam, Tre, Lol, Angie, Micah...
Lol got a haircut too. Hers was not a mistake. It looks SO much better. Tre and Noah...
... and Micah and Dawson. Where are all the girls??? Oh! They must have been in the basement playing Barbies. Everybody has a friend. It's the way it should be.

Shanda!!!

There were so many people I wanted to see while we were gone that I shoud have made a list; and while I was with the people that we did manage to see, I should have tied my camera to my wrist. I'm kind of forgetful, in case you didn't already know this about me. If I didn't see you, I apologize.

I have good intentions, but my follow-through... I'm not a finisher. I did, however, manage to see Shanda, my long lost friend.

She is just as adorable as I remember her being. Now she's married and living a happy life in a town not too far from my in-laws, which made seeing her while we were there just perfect. The kids were thrilled to see her too. After we spent the morning together, she said, "Now, I'm gonna need A LOT of hugs!" not realizing what she was signing up for. So my little overachievers lined up and took turns giving her hugs. When they would finish hugging her, they'd run to the end of the line for another turn. All of them did this, even Kennedy. It was the funniest thing! Until five minutes passed and they were the only one that weren't tired of the game. I cut it off and hugged her good-bye and she went on her merry way. It was so great to see you Shanda! You, by the way, were the initial motivating factor for my daily blogging. And thanks to you, my facebook addiction is a thing of the past. xoxo!

Random Photos of Mawmaw's House

Breakfast on Saturdays is kind of like Sunday dinner at the Suttons' house. They make fried eggs, biscuits and bacon gravy, fried potatoes, sausage, bacon, and sometimes pancakes. It's an impressive spread that we get pretty revved up about.

We bought this keyboard from Musician's Friend, a music warehouse that a few members of the family work for. They sell damaged instruments for discount on top of discount prices. This little gem ended up costing us $35 because it was missing some software and an instruction manual. The kids had fun messing around with the demos and playing Zelda theme songs on it. Kennedy is turning out to be kind of a prodigy with all kinds of music. We'll see where she lands after some instruction, should be interesting.

This is Michael, April's son, and my nephew. He wasn't around much so I didn't get many pictures of him, so I was glad when I found this one. He's a junior in college and the sweetest guy, I just adore him. It's hard to believe he's 20. Whenever I see pictures of him I flashback to the early days when he was just learning to read and he'd climb up on the couch next to me and read me his books. Now he's a man; it's so weird.

Yesterday the kids asked me if they were supposed to call her Aunt April or just April. I think they are having a hard time figuring out where she fits on the timeline. She's older than Dale, but is WAY more fun than either of us, so she seems younger than me.


I LOVE THIS LADY~!!! She's nuts; you never know what's gonna come out of her mouth and we love her that way. She's some-kinda-crazy.

We did a lot of shopping and we found this cute baby at Kohls wearing the same dress as Leila so we stuck her in the cart and brought her home with us. She was just too cute to pass up! Just kidding. It's Deisha. We bought the matching dresses at Kohls, not her.

These boys are best best best best best best pals. Forever. I mean, they were in this picture, and on other occasions. Not all the time, but sometimes.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

I'm kind of a drag about stuff that I used to love. I swore it would never happen to me, but I grew up and had a whole bunch of kids and whenever I have a baby, I drag my feet about stuff that I should get excited about; stuff like being outside and swimming and walking in the woods. Stuff that kids love. And I always have a baby. Thank goodness for single, energetic aunts that know how to have fun.

After the guilt of not being awesome passed I was reminded of why I drag my feet. April and Dana took the kids to Wal-Mart to pick out some fun stuff to beat the heat. They passed on my idea to cover the hill in trash bags and make a monster slide down it, they passed on the $9 slip and slide, and they went with a pool for the big kids, a pool for the babies, and the super-duper-slideintothesharksmouth-awesome-slip-and-slide. They debated about the best placement for the set-up because of septic tank issues, and decided this side of the yard would be best.

Kennedy and April spent an hour in 100 degree heat pouring water into a tiny hole in the shark to anchor it so that the wind wouldn't blow it away. When it was almost full, Michael asked if they had a funnel somewhere. Turns out they did.
After everything was set up and the pools were full, the big announcement came that we were set-up on the wrong side of the house, and because of that, we wouldn't be able to empty and refill the pool. It would cause too much drainage around the tank. **sigh** I'm pretty sure April was about at the end of her rope at this point. That's when Kennedy came in and and said there was a hole in the shark head. **snort**

We decided to party anyway and the aunts and cousins came over decked out for some fun in the sun.
Mawmaw made coffee and dragged out the lawn chairs,

the kids all bathed in sunblock, and dressed up in their new suits,

and just when we thought nothing else could go wrong, Ronin jumped in the pool and threw up. In the pool.

My kids were freaking out. The grown ups scooped as much as they could but we knew we couldn't refill the pool so I'm pretty sure they only emptied a small part of the water so that they could still utilize the pool after all that work. They felt bad, but my kids were freaked and wouldn't get back in. We just had to laugh.

And I'll tell you why April's awesome, because she went in and got out the water balloons and kept the party going. I guess I'm glad we don't have a lot of warm days here because I'd have sent the kids to bed and curled up with some Ben and Jerry's way back when they found a hole in the shark.