august randomness - part 1

i chuckle at these two - lisa & jordaan.

they are inseperable.

they spent as much time together as possible. 

mosy often at our place.

my kids claim i'm dreamy and that i'm in love with love -

and its true, i am. especially young love.

there's something just so sweet about it.

and these two are pretty sweet -

as are all the 'couples' within my little family. 

i know they get tired of my need to take pictures of everything

and to document everything.

but i keep telling them that someday they're going to be soo glad that

they have all these pictures to add to their memories of their dating years.

sadly, wayne and i have probably only about a dozen pictures of us

during our dating years - and i find that sad.

so im on a mission to make that very different for each of my kids.

so far, so good! 

***

we were all sitting at the table together one afternoon

and the two of them picked up their phones and started reading and texting -

i grabbed my camera and snapped a pic of them.

no reason, i just thought it was cute that they were both smiling and sharing

with each other what was on their screens...

on another day jordaan stopped over for a quick visit with lisa

before she headed off to work.

she was already dressed in her work outfit - and he put her work visor on his head.

when they saw me aiming the camera their way they both started making faces at me!

but thats okay - i like silly faces, too!

and i was there, stalking them through the kitchen window like the paparazzi, as they walked out to his pick-up a few minutes later

(he was bringing her to work that day - anything to spend more time together, ya know!)

they started out holding hands, then he grabbed her to tickle her, then she spun around to grab him back and all the while i could hear their laughter through the open window

as i snapped pics of them.

i pray they always have that playfulness about them. 

on another day marissa, emma and i found ourselves home alone, just the three of us, which is rare.

they are always asking to dig out my wedding dress so they can look at it.

and on that day i told them they could.

they were sooo happy and couldnt wait to try it on and play around a bit.

i was kinda sad at how yellowed it had gotten.

and, dare i say, just how ugly it was.

ha, what was i thinking thirty three years ago when i chose it?!!

i know it was the style - but it just ain't cool.

on another day, toward the end of august,  the three youngest kids

came down with sore throats and headaches.

not really the flu, but just feeling icky and wore out.

we declared a few of those days as PJ days and movie days.

they layed on the couches with blankets and did nothing but rest and watch TV.

a few days later they bounced back - and summer, as the knew it, continued.

chickens!  and pigs!

thats what we raised this summer.

but our chickens are stupid and have done nothing but eat and still have not laid any eggs.

our pigs have been butchered and are in the freezer.

they were big and fat and ugly.

the kids sometimes went into the chicken coop and tried catching them -

james enjoyed going out with the big kids to feed them and give them scraps

- and of course chasing them around a little bit was always exciting. 

first day of school.

ugh!

where did summer go? as usual it didnt seem long enough.

laura started her second year at the local community college

and lisa started her junior year as a part-time student at the local high school.

and laura is our 'chalkboard artist' and almost every morning we find a new message or fancy drawing on the chalkboard from her. 

i started taking pictures of most of the messages

or drawings she leaves for us. 

she's such a hoot!