One Man's Trash

While traveling on Highway 334 today I couldn't help but notice a perfectly good air conditioner box on the side of the road. Why someone would just throw it out I will never understand. Surprisingly though, I was able to convince Bryan that we should go back and get it. We pulled over and quickly shoved the box into the back of our car while Bryan hummed the theme from 'Sanford and Son'. Then, we sped away before any of our friends happened by and noticed us picking up trash off of the side of the road. We brought it in and declared that it was Christmas in August while Bryan cut a door and two windows.
Lilly immediately made it feel like home by filling it with toys from her room.
Jack was pretty excited about the box too and mostly enjoys crawling out...

...and in the door.

This blog was brought to you by Lennox...and whoever got a new air conditioner near RL Turner on 334. Thanks.

The Fair

Well, I talked Bryan into going to the State Fair again this year. Every year it gets a little easier. This year after a very busy and stressful week, he agreed to come home a little early on Monday, the night of the free rodeo (the only free thing at the fair). Then, his work scheduled changed, he got home later than he expected, Lilly had a runny nose, Jack wouldn't take a nap, and the rodeo had been canceled. But, we stopped for gas, took out a second mortgage to pay for the fair and headed towards the fairgrounds. On the 30 minute drive from our house to the fair Bryan's phone rang about 50 times and he couldn't answer it because Jack screamed the whole way and Lilly asked a million questions about where we were planning to park our car. This was going to be a fun evening. At least it was probably the first time in history that the Indiana State Fair didn't fall on the hottest day of the year.

Besides the nice weather, that included a breeze (very rare for the fair), it wasn't very crowded and there weren't any lines.
Of course we began the evening with Lilly riding a pony.

Then, we did 'Little Hands on the Farm' and Lilly received another Pioneer Seed Company hat. I took the last one, Jack wanted this one. Please get a good look, this is the only picture of poor Jack that I took all night.

Next, we stopped by the petting zoo. Jack was quite taken with a goat and Lilly fed this baby cow some grain. She also fed a piglet. The piglet snuffed and snorted, tickling her hand for a few minutes and ate maybe two pieces of grain. The cow on the other hand only touched her for a millisecond and inhaled all of her grain before turning away without a second look.

And, the giant slide again. Only, this year the look on Lilly's face is more joy and less terror.

While I fed Jack and finished my own dinner Bryan took Lilly on the tractor train that circles the entire fairgrounds. As Lilly is the only person in the world who doesn't eat at the fair, dinner time was a perfect time for this ride. I waited and waited to get a picture of them when they came back around and this is how I found them. Lilly was not asleep, but if the train had continued on for another five feet or so she would have been.

Finally, Lilly sat on a pig and we all went home.

Lilly, Lilly Quite Contrary

At the end of last summer Lilly showed a little bit of interest in my dad's garden. By spring of this year she had her own. Papaw spent his winter months working on a picket fence complete with a gate so that Lilly could have her very own garden. Then, Papaw and Lilly went shopping so she could pick out exactly what she wanted to plant. She chose flowers, peas, flowers, corn, flowers, carrots, and more flowers.
When my dad asked me what I thought Lilly might want to plant I told him that she would probably like to grow some corn. To which he replied, "I'm not messing with corn.". Well, I was right, Lilly wanted corn. They planted two rows.
The gardeners headed up to the house to get their watering cans after planting their seeds.
Watering the seeds. This was the last time that Lilly actually did any work in "her" garden.
The gate was pretty much Lilly's favorite part of the garden at this point.
Things are starting to sprout.
Still interested in the gate, though.
The best way to get to and from the garden. What good is a garden if you can't show it off to your friends? The first pea harvest. Lilly and Papaw ate most of the peas, raw, while standing in the garden.
The first ear of corn.
Scare crow. Mostly he looks friendly, though.
Lilly and Papaw in front of the garden with every thing in bloom.
Lilly's favorite part of the garden was picking her flowers. And, when she ran out of flowers in her own garden, Papaw was happy to share the ones from his.

Thanks for the garden Papaw. I had a great time in it this summer!

Stand and Deliver

What more can I say? Jack is standing, and clearly he's pretty proud of himself.

...and some times kind of annoyed that I'm taking pictures.

...but, mostly he's just happy that he's found another way to potentially hurt himself on the brick hearth.

Headlines!

Several important and notable things have happened in the last week or so that are blog worthy. However, instead of devoting an entire blog to each event I have decided to skim through them like you would the Sunday paper and mention only the headlines. Here goes...

Jack Says "Mama".

Actaully, he says "Ma Na", but its clear what he means. This, obviously, isn't a picture of him saying, "Ma Na", but I can't really get a picture of that. He only says it when he is crying or distressed and I think it was after this bath, which Bryan gave him, that he said it for the first time. And, he looked pretty cute in his little tub anyway.

Lilly Discovers Lip Gloss.

And, she discovers that her father will do almost anything she wants. When Lilly asked Bryan about opening up the lip gloss he readily agreed. I'm sure he thought she would be the one wearing it. Unfortunately for him, she had no interest in wearing any, but she did want to put some on him. Well, actually she wanted to put a lot on him...and a tiara.

Jack Pulls Up And Stands

...on some paper towels that I haven't put away. He has been pulling up a few other times, but this was actually the first. Today, in fact Jack tried to stand while holding onto Lilly's step stool in her room, sadly, he lost his balance and bumped his cheek.

Jack Discovers The Dog's Water.

Jack LOVES the dog water. It is his new favorite toy. If I turn my back on him for even a second he is heading for the water bucket as fast as he can. And, that is surprisingly fast considering he is still dragging himself along using only his big toes, one arm and a hand. When I see him and say, "Jack NO!" He just looks at me and goes faster. I might as well have shouted, "Jack HURRY!"

Lilly And Jack Have Started To Play With Each Other

Which means they are only a short time away from fighting with each other.

Leap Of Faith-Lilly Jumps Off The Diving Board

As you know, Lilly has been taking swimming lessons since early June. At the very first lesson her instructor assured me that by the end of summer Lilly would be swimming under water and jumping off of the board. I doubted him. But, he was right on both accounts.

You had to know that I couldn't just list the headlines without a little bit of explanation to go with it.

Something to Blog About

We've had a pretty relaxing couple of weeks, as far as our social calendar is concerned. Other than the Fourth of July, we haven't done a whole lot that I can blog about. But, that doesn't mean we don't have new things to share, we just haven't had many plans...and its been great.

Like I said, we have plenty to share and the kids continue to grow, regardless of our plans. The biggest news may be that Jack is up and on the move. He has recently started sitting up on his own. It took a while and I was beginning to think he was lazy. But, he must have decided it was time because one day I sat him on his little bottom and he just stayed there...before intentionally rolling onto his belly and crawling away. By crawling, I mean dragging himself along on his tummy like a army recruit scurrying under a barbed wire fence. It may not be graceful, but he gets where he wants to go and he can get there pretty quick if he's motivated.

Here he is, taking advantage of Lilly's nap time to play with her doll house and eat some of its people.

Another blog worthy event is Lilly's swim lessons. She loves to play at the pool, but hasn't ever been a huge fan of leaving the steps. We've all tried to coax her out into the deeper water and even attempted to teach her some beginner swimming, all with not much luck. So, we decided to hire a relative stranger, Alex Masten, to come over and teach her and her friend Avery how to swim. Both girls have progressed at a rapidly and are right on target for their age. Lilly looks forward to her lesson and loves her teacher. She blows bubbles, puts her head and face under, kicks her feet, attempts some strokes and even jumps off the edge to Alex. The next step will be to use a kick board and maybe jump off the diving board to her teacher.

One day at lessons Avery showed up with the same suit on. Unlike adult women, Lilly and Avery were delighted that they had on the same swimsuit on the same day and in the same place.

Jack likes the water too, but isn't quite ready to join in the lessons. Although, I doubt we'll have any trouble getting him into the pool when its time.

July 1st..and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th

For the third year in a row Bryan's sister, Cammie, and her family, along with Bryan's parents, joined us for the fourth of July. As usual, we kept busy and had a blast. But, this year was made even more special by the fact that July 4 came on the heels of the Maynard's move from Germany back to the US and the fact that Ed was able to join us. Celebrating Independence Day with a soldier and his family brings the holiday into a whole new light and makes me appreciate that I get to spend every holiday with my family.
Every year the kids in our neighborhood put together a small parade on the morning of the fourth. And, every year we stand outside and watch it and say how much Lilly would have liked to have been in it. Well, this year we were prepared. Morgan helped Lilly design and decorate a head band to wear. Then, a few of us (not Bryan, kind of a sore subject) made tie dyed shirts to show our spirit. See, look how much fun we're having. Granddad, Lilly and Jack practicing for the parade.

Cammie and Jack. Jack misses his aunt Cammie, she was always there to change him, feed him and hold him while I did other things. It was the most liberating weekend I've had since he was born. I miss aunt Cammie too...

Third of July fireworks: because you just aren't American if you don't spend your mortgage payment on explosives.

Heading off to finally be in the neighborhood parade!

Morgan and Jack sat the parade out, but still wore their new t-shirts.

The parade. Courtney and Aiden stopped by for a visit just in time to join in on the fun.

Everyone in their new shirts.

Later, we headed down to the park for some inflatable fun and later the fireworks. Lilly loves the inflatables and didn't even need Matthew's help this year.

She was so proud to climb up all by herself and then slide down.

Lilly didn't need Matthew to help her climb up the slide, but she still took advantage of him for a shoulder ride.

I love fireworks and worried for days that I was going to have to miss them because Jack would be afraid. I even bought him some ears plugs and had an emergency exit strategy when the show started. It was all for nothing. Jack fell asleep before the fireworks started and never even flinched when they started going off. But, you can see the little green ear plug.