she plays wipeout on the drums

kate. she's a funny one. she definitely keeps us on our toes.
last month when we were preparing for our trip to pittsburgh, i was packing a few toys for the kids. for jacob it was easy- a truck, some legos, some tractors. for kate- i had no clue. at that moment i realized, kate doesn't ever play with just one toy. she's into everything, anything, and nothing. she plays with whatever. most of the time, for her, playing is getting into things she's not supposed to. :)

last night we sat down to dinner as the skies darkened. the storm had just begun and the tv was screaming it's tornado emergency sounds. so we picked up our plates and headed to the basement. jesse and i were pretty calm, so we continued to eat, hoping our non-panic would help the kids to be not so scared. jacob asked a billion questions with fear in his voice. "can't we just get some tape for the roof and tape it down so the boiling storm doesn't blow it off?"
kate just sat there frozen with her hands over her face. we headed back upstairs after the warning was over and parked the kids back at the table with their food. kate continued to sit there like this:

she ate her entire dinner, fed to her by dad, with her hands still on her eyes- hiding from the thunder and lightning. :)

and here's our other little ladies (and gentleman) getting bigger every day!

friends

i am so thankful for the friends that God has put in our lives here in Kentucky. being away from family is tough, especially with little children (who drain you of all energy and sanity at times). i am especially thankful that we have been blessed with the friendship of the Nordine family. they are our "kentucky family". the ones we call when we need a date night, when i need a child-less trip to the grocery store, when we're celebrating a holiday, when we need some company, or when we have nothing better to do.
today was one such day. we made the most of the sunny afternoon and spent some time in the pool, running through the sprinkler, and looking for crickets.

our outside time ended abruptly as a storm rolled in, bringing along some crazy winds and hail. storms are much more fun with friends!


side note: i asked the kids to get their own jammies tonight, which is rare, and they actually obeyed. i was just as shocked that kate actually picked out a top and a bottom and not 2 bottoms or 2 tops. :) here is what they picked:

a saturday evening before the rain

we were spoiled this week with straight days of sunshine and temperatures in the 80s. on saturday it finally rained again and cooled down. we were able to squeeze in some outside time in the cool evening just before the big rain.

jesse's been itchin to cook a fish over the fire. so he had some trout.


jacob and jesse dug in the garden looking for worms to feed to lucky duck.


kate posed for the camera with her "afraid of the thunder" face, as the storm started rolling in.


lucky duck awaited his worms.


jackson barked at the thunder for 15 minutes straight. i took a picture, but deleted it because he looked like a scary dog, and we all know he's not!

i worked on a little painting project. we got some new cheap bathroom rugs, that when we brought them home, didn't match like we wanted. so i painted the mirrors in the bathroom to tie in the colors. i think it turned out alright.

he's 4

that's right. on thursday my firstborn turned 4.

jacob
is creative
is sweet
is innovative
is sensitive
is handsome
is clever
is interested in all things mechanical
loves all tractors
is loving
is smart
is a good sleeper
loves puppies (particularly his red spotted puppy and his big brown puppy)


it was fun to spend a day celebrating my sweet boy, taking a break from the same-old stuff, doing things that are special to him. he started out his birthday with a donut date with dad. the rest of the morning we stayed in the comfort of the air-conditioned house (80+ degree temps, almost record-breaking for this time of year) and just played. during lunch i said to jacob "what do you think if mom didn't work today during rest time and instead i just play with you?" his face lit up. "just me?!!" (this was my highlight of the day!).
so after kate went down for nap we filled up the pool and splashed around, we searched for bugs to put in his new bug box, we played cars on the porch (which i found out i am not so good at), and took a tiny nap in the sun.
after his requested birthday dinner of hot dogs, we had some special visitors. the kids' babysitter brought 3 of her 5-week-old bassett hound puppies for the kids to play with. they were a-dor-able. much to jacob's dismay, we did not keep any of them.


after the puppies left, jacob helped dad get started on the chicken coop. kate decided it was a resting area for her.


he also put himself to work mowing the lawn. very serious about it, you can tell.

we are so thankful for modern technology which allowed several of our family members to wish jacob a happy birthday via skype. here is jacob showing grandpa dennis his new harmonica, and grandpa dennis showing jacob his harmonica skilz.

we love you jacob! happy 4th birthday!

to the person who stole the hairdryer out of my car

dear thief,

i feel silly even writing those words because it just sounds absurd to me that someone would steal something like a brand new hairdryer out of a person's car. i hadn't even used it yet. it was still in the box. it was also still in the bag from the store my husband purchased it from. and the receipt was in there too, so now you know how much he paid for it.

how did you even know what it was before you opened my car door? i know, i know. i did have it in plain sight, there on the floor of the front of my car. it was probably so tempting to you (well, obviously).

maybe you stole it because you heard i was having an ungrateful heart about it being a brand name i had never heard of. i really just wanted to spend the money on buying a brand name hairdryer that i knew (like the one that lasted me 8 great years!). but i was convicted of my bad attitude and i was thankfully taking it home to use it sometime this week (especially today, when i went to use it and noticed it was missing).

i wonder if you stole it because you were needing a mother's day present for your mom? in that case, i hope your mom enjoys it. i know i would have.

sincerely,
cydney