Day 207 - Sunday, July 26, 2009

Day 207 - Sunday, July 26, 2009 –

Today was the Shellnut Family Reunion at Green Acres Park in Hazel Park. Here is (most of) the Bennie Shellnut Family, which accounted for 13 of the 70+ people that attended.

Day 206 - Saturday, July 25, 2009

Day 206 - Saturday, July 25, 2009 –
After begging Kevin to take him fishing this morning, Kev finally relented. As it ended up Owen caught a huge bass while fishing from the shore. He cast out the line, hooked the fish, reeled him in, (Kev took him off the hook), then he let him go. Yes, he's still in his pajamas!

Day 205 - Friday, July 24, 2009

Day 205 - Friday, July 24, 2009 –

Kev downs an LBL at home on the deck after a frustrating night of softball where the umpire cost us the second game of the night. This is a good way to cool off, both literally and figuratively.

Day 204 - Thursday, July 23, 2009

Day 204 - Thursday, July 23, 2009 –
Tonight we had dinner at the OX Bar & Grill on its second day open. A guy in the restaurant, celebrating his birthday, gave a wad of one dollar bills to Liam so that he could play Golden Tee while we waited for our food (the kitchen was backed up). We took the boys to Meijer afterwards to spend their remaining $2 on new Hot Wheels. Can you ever have enough Hot Wheels?

Day 203 - Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Day 203 - Wednesday, July 22, 2009 –

This is what we come home with when we go to BW3's on Wednesdays, which is "kids' night". This happens to be an octopus. But we've had balloon balls, swords, football helmets, and various other animals. The boys love it!

Day 202 - Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Day 202 - Tuesday, July 21, 2009 –
When I got home from work today, Owen dragged me to the basement to show me this train set that he had put together, ALL BY HIMSELF!! He was so proud of it.

Day 201 - Monday, July 20, 2009

Day 201 - Monday, July 20, 2009 –

Liam & Owen play on our neighbor, Alex's play set, along with Alex's sister and their buddy, Nathan.

Day 200 - Sunday, July 19, 2009

Day 200 - Sunday, July 19, 2009 –

Aunt Mary and Uncle Doug are visiting from Florida and came over for dinner. There was lots of picture taking on the deck. With my camera, Shawn’s camera, Aunt Mary’s camera. It’s always so, so good to see them.

Day 199 - Saturday, July 18, 2009

Day 199 - Saturday, July 18, 2009 –

Today we met the Parsons for dinner at BW3’s on the spur of the moment. Catie likes to take her own self portraits, so I asked her to take a self portrait of herself and Owen. I just had to laugh at how cute this picture turned out.

Day 198 - Friday, July 17, 2009

Day 198 - Friday, July 17, 2009 –

Sometimes all a kid needs is a bucket of Legos and his imagination. Liam proudly displays his race car.

Day 197 - Thursday, July 16, 2009 –

Day 197 - Thursday, July 16, 2009 –

This summer we’ve been drinking a lot of this. I call it Recession Wine. Whatever you call it, it’s yummy and goes well with a BBQ riblet dinner (with our newly discovered Cattleman’s BBQ sauce that the entire family absolutely loves).

Day 196 - Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Day 196 - Wednesday, July 15, 2009 –

Jordyn came home from her hair appointment at Di’s today with this super cute new hair cut. And, bonus! She LOVED it. I can remember getting my hair done when I was 13 and I cried uncontrollably because I HATED it. I’m so glad she likes it.

Day 195 - Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Day 195 - Tuesday, July 14, 2009 –

Jordyn and Kayla (along with several of their friends and all of the other teens in Oxford) went to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on its opening day. Such a thrill.

Day 194 - Monday, July 13, 2009

Day 194 - Monday, July 13, 2009 –

While we were on vacation, Owen saw his four year old cousin, Allison riding a two-wheeler at Grandma’s house on “bike day”. He mentioned to us several times that he wanted Dad to take his training wheels off when we got home from vacation. So, first thing Monday morning, he asked Kevin to take them off. Kevin took off the training wheels, went to put them in the garage, and when he returned to the driveway, there was Owen, riding his two-wheeler.

Day 193 - Sunday, July 12, 2009

Day 193 - Sunday, July 12, 2009 –
Day Six, and the final day of our family vacation was spent wave running. Owen loved the wave runner and kept telling me to do donuts and that it should really be called a wave jumper. This kid is a thrill seeker like his momma. Look out.

Day 192 - Saturday, July 11, 2009 –

Day 192 - Saturday, July 11, 2009 –

Day Five of our family vacation took us to White Cloud for Kevin's softball tournament, which is conveniently a half hour away from the cottage. We spent most of the day on the lake with Kevin's sister, Amy's family and brother, Pat's family. Here are Carol and Don with only a fraction of all the grandkids.

Day 191 - Friday, July 10, 2009 –

Day 191 - Friday, July 10, 2009 –
Day Four of our family vacation took us to Big Star Lake after a day at the Meijer Gardens. We stayed at Kevin's brother Don's cottage with Kevin's parents Don and Carol. This part of our trip wasn't "planned", so it was a nice surprise.

Day 190 - Thursday, July 9, 2009

Day 190 - Thursday, July 9, 2009 –

Day Three of our family vacation took us to Grand Haven. This is a picture of us all touching the base of the lighthouse.

Day 189 - Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Day 189 - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 –
Day Two of our family vacation took us to Grand Rapids. A family portrait on the boardwalk along the Grand River. (photo credit - tripod)

Day 188 - Tuesday, July 7, 2009 –

Day 188 - Tuesday, July 7, 2009 –

Day One of our family vacation took us to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek where we all got to feed the giraffes, which was definitely the highlight. Look at the curled tongue taking the biscuit out of my hand! (photo credit - Jordyn)

Day 187 - Monday, July 6, 2009

Day 187 - Monday, July 6, 2009 –
Jordyn, who is also not a myth, kicks back in the Parsons' parents' pool. Yes, two days in a row. I tell you what, if I was a SAHM, we'd be joining Traci and her kids at the pool all summer long. BTW - Jordyn has THE cutest bathing suit this summer.

Day 186 - Sunday, July 5, 2009

Day 186 - Sunday, July 5, 2009 –

The Parsons' parents' pool is not a myth. It exists. We were there. We invaded it this afternoon and stayed until the sun set. Owen is definitely a fish and stayed in the pool almost all day. Liam comes and goes. Pool, ride bikes with Max, pool, go off to the golf course woods, pool again. Here he is jumping in for the 300th time.

Day 185 - Saturday, July 4, 2009

Day 185 - Saturday, July 4, 2009 –
Today we celebrated the 4th of July with a couple of our close friends and their families. This is the crew of kids (Katrina, Owen, Michael, Katelyn, Liam, Carson, & Spencer) right before we started the sparkler mayhem, followed by the fireworks show.

Day 184 - Friday, July 3, 2009 –

Day 184 - Friday, July 3, 2009 –

Today we were invited out onto my cousin Deb, and her husband, Captain John's boat on Lake St. Clair and to the holiday BBQ at MacRay Marina. Wow! What a gorgeous boat and a great time, even if the fish weren't biting.

Day 183 - Thursday, July 2, 2009

Day 183 - Thursday, July 2, 2009 –
I had heard SO many great things about the movie Up! and how everyone should see it, that I decided we would make that our evening activity. Here are Liam, Mitchell, and Owen sucking down their Slurpees before the show.

Day 182 - Wednesday, July 1, 2009 –

Day 182 - Wednesday, July 1, 2009 –
Gotta love it when your five year old orders steak from the kids’ menu when you’re at a steak restaurant. Somehow, I think Longhorn Steakhouse’s specialty is indeed steak, instead of macaroni and cheese. Ya do me proud, Owen.

Day 181 - Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Day 181 - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 –
Another fun night out with my girls - Heidi, Aimee, Lori, & Andrea. Heidi invited us to her house where her husband, Brad, made us some absolutely delicious food...gouda fondue, grilled shrimp with feta, onions, and capers, and tenderloin medallions with blue cheese. The food was almost as delish as these dishes.

Day 180 - Monday, June 29, 2009

Day 180 - Monday, June 29, 2009 –
Despite the unexpected cold weather we had a nice evening watching Jake play baseball, even though he didn’t pitch like he normally does. He did a fine job at first base and had a single.

Day 179 - Sunday, June 28, 2009

Day 179 - Sunday, June 28, 2009 –
Today we celebrated Father’s Day at our house with my dad and my siblings’ families. I love it when we all get together.

Day 178 - Saturday, June 27, 2009

Day 178 - Saturday, June 27, 2009 –
I’m a good wife, just so you know. Kevin wanted to play in all of these softball tournaments this summer, to see how he liked tournament ball. Even though I was having a perfectly splendid day sunning myself at the lake today, I had planned to bring the boys up to watch a game or two before heading over to my friend’s annual summer party. As I was getting ready, Kevin called to say that one of their girls had gotten hurt and could I come and replace her and how soon could I be there? I raced to get my softball gear on, got to the tourney, and discovered we had at LEAST another four games ahead of us to play. There went my hopes of attending the summer party. But I made the best of it and smiled through it. (photo credit – Owen)

Day 177 - Friday, June 26, 2009

Day 177 - Friday, June 26, 2009 –
Jordyn and one of her BFFE’s, Shelby, take the paddle boat for a spin.

Day 176 - Thursday, June 25, 2009

Day 176 - Thursday, June 25, 2009 –
This is what a teenage girls’ nightstand looks like. And this phone, this Rumor, which is rarely out of her hands, was the source of much consternation today. How do you protect your child from the ills of the world without alienating her from you? Trust. Faith. Guidance. Open Dialogue. I’m lucky she’s a good kid. I hope she knows that I really do know that.

Day 175 - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Day 175 - Wednesday, June 24, 2009 –
We celebrated this brown-eyed cutie’s birthday today with dinner and a dip in the hot tub at the Petoskey’s. Happy 7th Birthday, Carson!

Day 174 - Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Day 174 - Tuesday, June 23, 2009 –
Liam’s best bud, Mitchell, came over to swim today, and look who had matching swimsuits!

Day 173 - Monday, June 22, 2009 –

Day 173 - Monday, June 22, 2009 –
Owen checked one of his goals off “the list” one day after we had created it. His big personal goal for the summer was to catch a frog. When Kevin went out to fish on the paddle boat, he called up to Owen to let him know that there was a frog by where we park the paddle boat. Owen ran down with a bucket and scooped that frog right up. He was ELATED!! He brought it up to the patio and when it escaped and jumped down the hill he went chasing after it with gleeful shrieks. Right before the frog reached the lake, the frog jumped up into the air and directly into Owen’s bucket. O caught him again!

Day 172 - Sunday, June 21, 2009

Day 172 - Sunday, June 21, 2009 –
Today was Father's Day and Kevin wanted to spend it doing pretty much nothing. Chilling at the house, fishing, just us. We gave him a new cooler with wheels, an outdoor clock, a fishing lure, and a lot of space for him to just do his thing with out us in his hair. It really was a perfect day.

Day 171 - Saturday, June 20, 2009

Day 171 - Saturday, June 20, 2009 –
I’m so lucky to be married to this guy. The night before Father’s Day, he “let” me go on a ladies’ pub crawl in Oxford, with the stipulation that I not be a train wreck the next day. He and Joel hung out with the boys at our beach and made their own fun while Amy and I were out on the town. Of course, I had to snap a quick pic before I left, and to my delight, Kev is actually smiling!

Day 170 - Friday, June 19, 2009

Day 170 - Friday, June 19, 2009 –

The boys made a fort today under the same baby grand piano that I made forts under when I was a kid. I used to spend hours playing under that piano. The boys used the blankets I bought in Mexico when I was 18 and a quilt that my Grandma Calloway made for me as a gift before she died.

Day 169 - Thursday, June 18, 2009

Day 169 - Thursday, June 18, 2009 –

Today was Liam’s second playoff game. The 5th place D~Backs went up against the 3rd place Marlins. It was the closest Coach Pitch game I have ever watched and it was very intense. We’d score, they’d score, we’d score, they’d score, we’d get them out 1-2-3, they’d get us out 1-2-3. Ultimately, the home team won in the bottom of the last inning. Unfortunately, the home team was the Marlins and Liam’s D~Backs season came to an end. Grandma Bonnie came to watch, along with Aunt Shawn, Bella, and Jacob. Even though we lost, it was a great way to end the season.

Day 168 - Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Day 168 - Wednesday, June 17, 2009 –
Yes, there are two chairs in the playroom, but sometimes it's more fun to share a chair with your brother.