what happened to August?

huh! Well look at that.  It appears I haven't posted anything for abut 2 months....anybody miss me?
Here's some good, some bad, and some ugly from August 2011.

Best meal: brisket that our friends labored over for two days to prepare. Added bonus: playing in their pool after dinner.
Best dessert: fresh peach pie with more friends at our house.

Best math game: counting all the Harley Davidson motorcycles as we drove around town during the big Sturgis Rally.

Funny thing that happened: AJ darted in to the kitchen and snagged my oven mitts out of the drawer and shouted over his shoulder as he ran out again, “FOR BASEBALL, MOM!” He is being raised by the most athletically challenged mom and isn't allowed to watch any TV until he is 3...where did he learn about baseball mitts??!?!?

Best mid-week camping trip: when Grammy, Papa & Quinn came with us.

Strangest thing we discovered: rubbing underarm deodorant on AJ’s mosquito bites has kept him from itching them.

Worst parenting moment: let the kids hold their giant sugar cookies which they earn from the library’s summer reading program on the way to the restaurant for dinner. Obviously they immediately wolfed them down and were too sick/full to eat real food.

Best parenting moment: reinstated the Button Bottle reward system with a new caveat, they get a button only if they obey QUICKLY!

Most changed appearance: AJ is having a growth spurt and looks taller and thinner all of the sudden. He also got his mop of hair clean cut and he looks 6 months older.

Hardest half hour on our garden: the hail storm one afternoon. This is a photo of the biggest hail stone M could find. The majority of them were marble sized, but about 10% were bouncy ball sized.
Best new skill: J is learning to “pump” on the swings.

Coolest wild animal we caught: a couple of turtles at a lake here.

Coolest captive animal we touched: a tie between the baby alligator and the albino python .

Loudest place we went: the downtown Thursday night concerts. They block off a couple of streets, set up a big stage and a bunch of vender booths. We thought the band that set itself up in Art Alley was better than the big one they had out on the street, plus there was a guy juggling all sorts of things that were on fire back there too. That’s what has transfixed the kids making it impossible to get them to look at me and smile in the photo.

Best homework assignment: AJ’s speech therapist asked him to move a dum-dum lollipop from the inside of one cheek, across his tongue and into the other cheek without using his hands 10 times a day to help strengthen his mouth muscles. He also is to try to hold onto the lollipop with just his lips and pull it out to make a popping noise.

Best togetherness: the whole family on the hammock munching carrots straight out of our garden and saying, “Eh! What’s up doc!” over and over and over again with J's contagious giggle.