LATE TUESDAY

O.K., It's late
Jeff's in bed and has been sleeping a lot today so I thought I'd get on here and ramble on a little. Unfortunately I just spent a half an hour doing this and then when I went to publish my post I got an error, so now you will most likely get the condensed version. Who am I fooling... I'll carry on as always and repeat everything and add some most likely. Anyway, Jeff is having some issues with his back. First he smashed his thumb on the boat battery the other day (have you ever lifted one of those things, they are HEAVY!!!) The nail turned black instantly and I'm sure it will fall off soon. Then a couple days later he took Zoe and her friend out fishing on the river and the battery went dead and he had to row all the way back. He said he was sitting in an awkward position because of all the stuff in the boat and he thought he'd pulled a muscle in his back. He's pretty much been out of commission for days. He went to his trusty chiropractor a couple days ago who told him "Yeah, buddy, you're all out of wack", and then he "Wacked" him back into place. Now the pain is shooting down his thighs. So he finally went to the doctor today who did a bunch of tests on him and came to the conclusion that it is NOT a nerve damage or anything horrible like that. It is probably just a muscle strain in his back. Now he's on muscle relaxers which have kept him pretty sleepy and a little loopy all evening but will help his muscles to relax enough to heal, hopefully before our camping trip in a few days!

Layout Done
Here's my new niece Ashlin and my eight year old niece Ashlyn. Yep, that's right, same name. My brother and sister in law didn't know that Jeff's sister's kid had the same name!!! We don't mind though, Ashlyn/Ashlin is a beautiful name, and BIG Ashlyn thinks it's pretty cool that there's another like her! We got the two families together for dinner while we were down this month and Jeff took this picture of the three of us. I don't care too much for the photo of myself so just look at the two cute little girls, O.K.! I did a lot of touching up to this photo as well. We were in a crazy restaurant (Do I even have to say it...Chucky Cheese!) with low lighting and some balding man sitting right behind Ashlyn. Can't even tell can you? I also used my new little "Sparkle Swirls" that I made yesterday. They printed out quite nicely too.

Complete Credits to this Layout Here

Mother-Son Project
It was about time I sit down with Max this summer and work on a project with him. He is so into creating and crafting things, especially if it involves some kind of play afterwards. Zoe would much rather read a book lately, but Max needs that constant interaction and loves to pretend and use his imagination. All that good kid stuff. I'll never forget the time he brought me a stack of paper plates and a stapler and asked me to help him construct a T.V. Later that day he was laying on his floor watching a "show" like it was really playing. Even days later that T.V. became a microwave and he popped me up some popcorn! So when he asked me "Can't we make something" today I knew just what to do. I pulled out this month's issue of Family Fun Magazine (if you don't get this one and you have kids, you don't know what you're missing) and waaaala! We made a boat! Here's the on-line instructions if you are interested in trying it out, right HERE! It was quite an involved activity. This boat works just like a real sailboat, has all the moving parts. We learned about the stern, the mast, the bow, the sheet, the transom, you name it. Plus Max drew a picture on the sail of a boy who sees a shooting star and says "Woe", and wrote "Woe" on the sail. Hence the name of the boat, "Shooting Star". Here he is blowing it across the kiddie pool out back.

Out Back
In all this heat our yard has taken a toll, as it usually does by this time of year. Everything is overgrown or past it's prime and I've ripped out half of the perennials already, but this one corner of the back yard is still so beautiful right now. I love everything that is blooming there. We have Hollyhock, Feverfew, Yarrow, Purple Coneflowers and Phlox. The hummingbirds have been hanging out there lately and ignoring my feeders. Today I looked out the kitchen window and saw this enormous bumble bee buzzing around. I grabbed the camera and went out to get a few shots. He was HUGE, and his legs were so loaded down with pollen that he hovered in the air and barely flew. He kept coming after me (I think because he was camera shy) buy he was so slow I could easily dodge him. Keep in mind that these Hollyhock blooms are palm sized. Have a good one, goodnight!