First Day of School

Joseph goes to preschool!!

He's a happy camper too!!

This is the fake picture...

ahhh...now there's the Jessica I know and love!

Oh Anna...

Anna: "When I was taking a bath tonight I was in the tub trying to think of things to make me mad just so I can see if the aroma therapy soap (anti-stress) really worked."

Mom: "So did it??"

Anna: "Yea, I feel so relaxed now and I know it's time for me to go to bed and I'm not even mad about it!"

Help...I'm Addicted to Recycling!!

Since our field trip to the Recycling Center earlier this summer, our family decided it was time for us to start recycling. We are a family of six and produce a LOT of trash. It was time to start being responsible and do our part for the environment!! Ha...I can make this commitment since we are through with diapers!! So here it is...OUR RECYCLABLES!! I thought we'd have a ton more but this is a little over a months worth
...not too overwhelming.

I have to say everyone is doing their part by putting the recycling in the proper containers and NOT leaving it lay on the counter!! :) I have to control myself...I have a hard time throwing my trash away when I'm out and about
...I kinda want to bring it home and recycle it!!

All In A Days Work!!

Our first time planting corn and we were quite pleased with the turnout!

Joseph wanted to sword fight with them.

Our bounty!

Aww...shucks!

Ready for the freezer...15 bags!

Wow...a lot of work for the day...I'm whipped! :)

Family Camp Fun!!

Family Camp is a blast for us. Fairmount Campgrounds holds a special place in our hearts since we started attending there as children....but that's a whole other blog!! As a family we started spending the week there when we bought our cabin back in '97. It is a great way to end our summer break. There is something for everyone to enjoy! Our friend Keetha paid tribute to our wonderful camp in her blog. Check it out here and here if you wanna! Here's a few shots of our week! :)

Jess, Payge and Lauren
We didn't see much of these girls as they were too busy socializing.

Kadyn Falk with his little black eye. Oh, that camp playground!! :)

Cail Bowlin blowing her flute

Tony Bye and his best buddy!

Amy Bye enjoying the ribs!! They were delicious!!

Avery Bowlin liked them too!

Josh and his new rib cooker. Man, that was some good eatin'!! :)
We shared ribs with everyone who walked by the cabin!!

They had awesome face painters at the Kid's Carnival!
Anna sparkled and glittered for days!

Micah Beal and Joseph went for a scarier look!!

Just a close-up view of my sweet little boy!! :)

it figures

The other day as I was rolling up my Jeep window I heard a "snap" and the window stop going up. Not too much of a big deal because I was able to push it the rest of the way up and tape it. It looked really silly but I kept dry. I was enjoying the nice cool weather, pulled my tape off and wedged a green pine scented tree air freshener in the window to keep it from going all the way down. I enjoyed driving about town with my window most of the way down. But it happened, the window went down all the way, I couldn't pull it up. So I get out the tools and go to work. Turns out I need a window regulator...to the tune of 200+ dollars. Great! So into the garage it goes waiting on the big lotto to hit this weekend.




The Jeep sits in the garage, in pieces waiting on a part. I start driving the Grand Prix. No a/c! so windows must go down. The first day, with the Jeep in the garage and me driving the Grand Prix, guess what? Yep the window goes down and doesn't go back up. We have lots of rain forecast this week. So the tools come out, I rip the door apart, bad window motor. 80 bucks. Great.


I took the broken motor off, pushed the window back up into the upright position and put the motor back on to keep the window up. I replaced the speaker, the clear-keep-fresh/keep-the-wind noise out-sheet of plastic that is held on by some nasty gluey black stuff. Note: all the bolts holding all that stuff together are nicely, tightly placed inside the door where fat fingers have a hard time getting to. So I'll be driving around without the inside door panel for a while. Come on lotto! Question, has anyone ever won the lotto without buying a ticket? Maybe I'll be the first!

Summer Stuff...

Our weekend get-a-way to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary!!

...hmmm...lovin' my honey!! :)

Our little chipmunk friend who lives around our back porch!
At halloween he lives in our jack-o-lanterns!! :)

Mississinewa class of '86 mini reunion.
Thanks to facebook we were able to work out this mini reunion.
Good times....

....at my favorite restaurant in the Marion area...BWW!!! :) Man my mouth is watering just thinking about it...I seriously could eat there EVERY day!!! :)

Fireworks at our house! Our friends are "really into" buying and setting off fireworks...and we got to benefit from their love of pyrotechnics. They used our backyard to put on an awesome show...so awesome we didn't even head into town the next day to watch the "real" ones! I seriously didn't know the common person could buy fireworks this big!!

We invited a small crowd over and it was a Par-tay!!! :)

Waiting on the show to start. Jake and Diane were "really" waiting on the show to start...she went into labor that night (see pic of baby down below)!

Our corn was definitely knee high by the 4th of July...and then some!!

Anna spent a week at Junior Bible Camp...her first year! She LOVED it!

Our girls and their counselors.

Little Sam the "firecracker baby". He was born July 4th.

Joseph checking out g-pa's monster truck!

A little putt putt action

Guess Nate can't look mean and intimidating?!?!

Watching our pizza being made...gotta love the Pizza King!! :)

I wanted to add this close up picture of one of those yucky tomato worms.
Pretty cool camouflage this little thing has!!

How Dare They...

While we were on vacation...these little buggers were having a vacation of their own...
on our tomato plants!!

They didn't do too much damage...but they could have!!!

Cradle School Fun

This lucky horse was getting a mani/pedi

I couldn't figure out why Joseph wouldn't go near the horses in their stalls...

until I got down to his level. YIKES!!! Guess I'd be scared too! :)

He preferred the "dogs" at Black Dog Farms

Jonesboro Park

Josephs' nature collage

Anna joined us for this trip

Gas City Park

Crafts with Daddy

Isn't this hilarious...bad hair cut or what??

This trip had more impact on me than any of them. I decided, we as a family, will start recycling. It makes me ashamed to admit that we haven't done it...until now. I put the idea out there, knowing that it would take more than just me to make this work, and they were excited. So we have been collecting instead of trashing our recyclables. It's kinda fun! The trash doesn't need emptied near as often (wes frowns on that $$$). We Holland's produce ALOT of trash...so here's to helping the environment one cereal box at a time!! :)

Who knew recycling can be kinda pretty...crushed plastic.
This is still at the recycling center...not at our house.
We don't produce THAT much trash!

Curiosity...could be dangerous...but wasn't.