Oh, it Hurts!

Eric commented that I haven't been posting much, to which I replied, "it's torture."  :)  The sun is sucking my will to live, just kidding.  I have no real excuse, except a bunch of half-hearted ones that make one pretty decent one.  Nothing of note to post.  So, that's when you dig deep and find the thoughtful things hidden in the everyday.

Eric's grandma Marks passed away a couple weeks ago.  Her name is Vivian and she had a lot of spunk.  Eric's dad had been coming up every week from Columbus to spend 3 days with her out on her farm in Lyons, OH.  It was great to see Roger each week.  I know everyone's sad to not have her here, but she was wanting to go.  It's hard to be left behind.
The funeral was nice, from what I heard in the basement.  Avery was having a loud, happy time and so we went downstairs in the church and found some toys.  I need to memorize the family tree so when I get to leave my body behind, I'll know who these great people are. ( I have no plans for this anytime soon.)

2) We are loving summer here!  Swimming, the Y, gardening, not having to have Zach in school, and making plans.  Ohio is beautiful right now.  My lilies and hydrangeas are blooming.  I've said it before, but I'm so lucky to have inherited this yard!  We ate our first summer dinner out on the screened in porch the other night.  The mosquitoes are dying down, mostly, and evenings are nice outside.   We have a huge pile of sticks we need to burn, and that means roasting marshmallows and making smores!

3) Zachery says, "Hi everyone!  It's Zachery."

4) Tomorrow we are driving to Pennsylvania!  I'm extremely happy about this.  (I'm sad to miss the Maumee fireworks on the river, but..)  We're going to my brother's place to spend the holiday with his family.  Thanks for inviting us!  I just so wanted to get out of town and (have Eric around a lot more :) ).  Joce and Steve are always having a good time over there.  The highlight will the their annual Fourth of July parade, hosted by them!  How cool is that?  Pics later.  Tchau.

My buddies and Me

We recently trekked out to get a nice picture of us to give Eric for Father's Day.  It's so hard to get little kids to look and smile and keep their hands down. :)  It's a labor of love.  Here are some highlights:

"Zach, how old are you?"  - 5

She got a lot of good pictures of Zach.  I love this one!

However, Avery wasn't too happy and we got a lot of this.  Out of 250 pictures, I think she smiled 3 times. :)

This is funny, the epitome of being a mother of younger children.  We're all thinking different things.

Thank you Leisy!  Avery has the "Not another picture" look. :)

Eric is a great dad and the kids know it.  We're all so glad when Daddy comes home! 

Blowing

Yesterday, as our family was heading into someone's back yard, we saw a guy by the sidewalk smoking.  Zachery said, and not to us, but loudly to the man, "What are you blowing on?", then, "how do you blow that?".  Then to us, "Hey Mommy, Daddy, what is he doing?".  It was funny, except the man was apologizing.  We just laughed and I apologized to the man.  I told Zach, "That's smoking.  Um, don't do it."