Sad

We really, really, hate being apart as a family.  I don't mind Mike taking a "guy weekend" once in a while or traveling for a quick visit but I really, really hate it.  He's been taken away by work WAY more than we were expecting.  He and Emma have been on an adventure the last week.  They get in tomorrow morning.  Even Jack has been mopey.  Maybe mopey isn't the right word.  Extra screechy is the right word.  On Friday morning he was walking around with Emma's shoes.  I explained that they were too small.  He just shook his head with confused eyebrows.  Then I asked him if he wanted to go outside.  Again with the head shake.  I ask him if he wants his shoes.  "YEAA!"

"Do you want to go outside?"

headshake, "Nooooooo"

"Do you want to go for a car ride?"

"YEAHHHH!!!"

cautiously, "Do you want to go get Emma?"  He's still holding her shoes.

"YEAAA!!!!!!!"

Oops.  That won't happen for another 4 days.  It was still really sweet.  It's not as sweet now since every time we go somewhere and pull back into our driveway without Emma he's mad.  He screams, he pouts, he tries to put himself back into his car seat.  He screeches around the yard and screams when I touch him or try to comfort him or talk to him or don't talk to him...

It's kinda cute and kinda drives me insane.  But I totally understand because I feel the same way.

We're up first thing in the morning to pick them up.  So here's hoping their plane is on time because I don't think I could stand the mad screechy craziness at the airport.

The Rule

IMG_6261, originally uploaded by kidsideup.

So I went out to see how Abe and his friend were doing on the house. Before I left I said something like, "Don't fall off the roof, we're not insured yet."
Abe says, "Well you know the rule right?"
Me - "No..."
Abe - "If we fall off the roof and don't hit the ground, we're fired. If we fall off the roof and DO hit the ground, you're trespassing."

Works For Me!

Trusses!!

The person on my roof setting my trusses is not me, it's not Mike, and it's not my dad.  When you do everything yourself, it's a really beautiful thing to have work done on your house that you do not do.  I did make the guys cookies, buy the materials, coordinate the workers with SBS and keep SBS in line as to what we needed and when.

The man up on the roof of my house is my hairstylists husband.  This is when living in a small town is really, really nice.  

Happy 4th

We are NEVER in town on the 4th.  We've always been fishing, flying or boating or a combination of the above activities.

This year we were in town and even here in teeny little Wasilla, we have a 4th of July Parade.

We got there on time, which is apparently very early in Parade Time.  So Gramma chased the kids around some poor person's yard who happens to live next to Main St.

Here's Emma and Gramma.  There's a dog on one of the bikes.  If all the floats had dogs, Emma would have been thrilled.  It's funny because even Jack, in the backpack, laughs and points at every dog that goes by.  It's great.  It's cute to see him doing something that he obviously learned from his sister.

Here's a good friend of ours on her horse, her son is on the other side on his pony but we didn't get to see him at all.  I don't think Emma recognized them because there were DOGS behind them that were "so cute!"

Hope y'all had a good one!

What I'd always rather be doing

When I should have been doing something about this...

I was sewing this.

It was totally way more fun.

I love this little dress.  I made two for Emma's big trip with her daddy.  She LOVES to tie her dresses in the front so I added extra long sashes on both so she could have a big bow with long tails on the back or a big bow with tails in the front.  She loves her fancy bows. 

Being a Younger Brother of an Older Sister Strikes AGAIN

We had our neighbors over the other night.  Their daughter is the same age as Emma and their son is about a year older than Jack.  They're both products of stay at home mommies and older sisters.
Can  you tell?

The Wagon Great Granddad Made

My mom's dad and his wife just moved out of their roomy home into a smaller space.  This meant sorting through some things.  This wagon was made by my Granddad for my Grandma Beth for her gardening.  Now we're the envy of the neighborhood because our wagon is totally cooler than anyone else's wagon.

Here's Emma, very nicely pulling her brother around for a little ride.
She's even pulling him nicely up the hill.  I love the worried expression on his face.

Then she decided to let him have a ride by himself back down the hill!

Just as Gramma was taking pics.

As she said, it's amazing that this picture doesn't have a crack across the frame as the camera hit the ground.  Don't worry the camera didn't hit the ground.

Oh, and Jack survived just fine as well.