Back to Nebraska

Jake had a long weekend due to the 4th of July holiday, so we decided to head back to Nebraska and spend some time with the family. We enjoyed just hanging out . . . Mason had fun stomping around in Grandpa's work boots . . .
Logan caught fireflies for the first time, and then put them into a container without holes in the lid, so they didn't last too long . . .
Aunt Rita had fun shooting the boys with a water gun. The funny thing was I think the boys liked it more than she did . . .
Jake was trying to smoke some wasps out of this old tree. We thought it looked like the tree was smoking! Such a bad habit to pick up, must be why the tree looks older than it is. HaHa. . .And when it was time to go home, of course the boys didn't want to leave. In fact, when we told them we were going to Nana and Grandpa's house they were annoyed that we were going with them. Logan said, "Can't you guys go to Washington or something?" (The last time Jake and I went to Washington, we left the boys with my parents, and they had a blast). So here are some pics of Mason hiding so that he can stay behind . . .

The New Chief!

Jake was voted the administrative chief for the 2008-2009 residency year. He is finally in his forth and final year! With the title comes a little bit of a pay raise, and most importantly, since he makes the schedule, he gets to pick his vacation first! He also recently completed his senior research project "Culdoscopy: Foundation for natural orifice surgery, past present and future." [accepted for publication January 2008]. We are so proud of him! Here is a pic of Columbia Regional Hospital where he works . . .

and a pic of the CRH staff. Jake is in the second row, first one on the left . . .

Playdate with the Andersons

We are so sad to see the Andersons move! Heather is such a great friend and the boys love playing with her two little kids! Hannah and Neil came over to play one last time on June 24th while their parents finished packing up their things. We are really going to miss them!

Neil had a great time playing with all of our boy themed toys . .

but poor Hannah had to watch CARS instead of Cinderella . . .

and dress up in football gear instead of as a princess . . .

Logan's 1st Game

Logan started t-ball last week in the Douglass League on the "Look Out" team. He is loving every minute of it. And Mason wishes he could join in (he is actually bigger than some of the members on Logi's team, no surprise there). This league doesn't keep score, and everyone gets a turn to bat. It's more about teaching the fundamentals and having fun. It is so funny to watch all of these beginners. It usually takes a few swings for the batter to connect with the ball, and once he/she has hit it, it takes even longer for the fielding team to even notice. (Luckily all of the coaches stand on the field with the players to help them pay attention and to give instructions.) After one of the fielders finally retrieves the ball, they throw it to a first baseman who is looking out in the stands trying to find their parents! Its very entertaining to watch.
Logan is a great batter, he almost always hits it out into the grass, although he has a ways to go when it comes to fielding. Last night he actually sat down and was drawing in the dirt! Of course, I didn't have my camera with me then. The funny thing was, he really didn't look too out of place as his teammate next to him was trying to see how high he could throw his own mitt into the air and catch it. Fortunately, no one hit a ball their way! Anyways, here are some pics from last week's game:

Logan batting

In the dugout

Logan playing Short Stop (they change positions every time)

Logan and his coach, Miss Amanda

Cute Wall Art

Okay, so my friend sells vinyl art and had this really cute picture of her angelic little girls all dressed up and walking hand in hand with they saying "Lead me guide me, walk beside me." I thought that it was just the cutest thing ever and of course wanted to copy her. Well, trying to get my boys to walk hand in hand without fighting, running, or dragging the other one proved to be quite difficult. I tried to get a shot of this for about a year with the best one turning out like this . . . Then the other day after I dressed them up and bribed them with ice cream. I asked them to walk slowly to the fence and back while holding hands. They really wanted that ice cream and so here is what I got . . .

Then I went to Walmart's online photo center and had them blow it up in black and white, ordered the vinyl lettering from Sarah B. and here is how it turned out . . .

Happy Father’s Day!

Now I know that there will be others that may feel that I am biased in some way; however, I am being completely objective when I say that I have the very best Dad and also the very best husband! (And that my boys have the very best Grandpa and Daddy!) :) Thank you to both my Dad and to Jake for being such wonderful examples of service and patience and for having such a great sense of humor! The boys and I love you guys and appreciate all that you do!!!

Some pics of the boys with their Grandpa!

Christmas 2004

On the farm, feeding the cows 2006

Camping 2007

Jake with his Father's Day gifts - Cinderella Man movie and "Daddy's Can" made by the boys for him to put all of his things (i.e. pager, name tag, pens, paper, etc. in after work since he always forgets where he puts them)!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

So my children were supposed to be working on an art project. However, when it got too quiet I thought I had better go check on them. Much to my dismay, I found that Mason had decided to move on from cutting paper to cutting hair. I had just buzzed their hair a day or so ago, perhaps that was the inspiration for the trim??? First, Mason worked on his own hair . . .

Then he decided to turn the scissors on his brother. Logan, of course, had no problems with this and agreed to the cut . . .

I'm not sure what Logan was thinking, I would never trust my hair with someone that looked like this . . .

Fishing Excursion

Vacation time is a perfect time to go Bass fishing and June is a killer month to go after some lunkers. So I went down to Arrow-Head Lake with a buddy of mine, Chris Haubner. I rigged myself up on a medium action rod just for extra kicks. We probably caught close to 20 or more Largemouth ranging from 2 to 5 lbs. The ol' buzzbait was smoking at the crack of dawn, but as the temperature rose we slowed it down with some spinner baits, spoons, and chompers. I've never fished chompers before, but Chris swears by them and they seemed to be the most productive. I had a great time trying out chompers and slaying some big lazy Bass. I'll have to head to Bass Pro and buy myself an assortment.

I brought a few home to show the boys (Logan, Mason, and Blake - Logan's friend) Mason was scared to put his fingers in the mouth and pick up the Bass. Ofcourse, I didn't help the situation any and would make growling noises when he would get his fingers near the mouth.

Mason still isn't quite sure about holding the fish, but he has no problem eating them!

Here is a picture of Logan and I with some of the larger ones. Logan helped me clean them and get them ready for supper. All in all, any day fishing beats the best day at work.

Camping in Missouri?

Since we went to Bass Pro and bought a Columbia tent, we had to set up our tent in the yard and test it against the elements of Missouri!

Mason was suppose to be in time-out, but found himself too curious and was wondering what the heck was going on outside in the yard; "Hey, what you guys doing?"

So to get a better look, he strapped on his goggles, stood on his window ledge, and laughed hystericaly at the idea of tent in our back yard; "Wait a minute, this isn't camping!"

Well anyways, back to the story of our tent. Our tent held up in the wind, it held up to the rain, and it even held up to the boys. However, we could not hold up to the humidity and heat. Camping in Missouri during the summer time? Bad idea . . . . We finally called it quits around 10pm and decided to head inside to enjoy the AC and fall asleep.