Lightening Strike

We had a storm come through about 9:00PM Tuesday night.  Hail, wind, and of course, lightening.  Neither Brian and I heard anything, but he happened to look outside around 11:00 and saw half of our tree lying on the ground. He thought it was the wind that took it down.

The next morning upon further inspection he discovered it was lightening that hit it, as you could see the black burn marks.

It bothered him to have this laying in our yard, so he took the afternoon off, bought a chainsaw and broke up that large limb.  We had a guy come by yesterday to give us some advice on it, and said the tree is too unstable and needs to come down.  He actually said it was too large of a tree (or will be too large of a tree) to even have so close to a house. 

So I am actually looking forward to it coming down as I think you'll see our house a lot better. While it did provide for a lot of nice shade on hot afternoons, this is our first big outside change since we bought the house. Onward and upward!

Her Words... Part II

Brenley has an imagination, and I LOVE it. I'm not sure where most of her ideas come from, but this is one that I have to share.

The best time to listen to her is in the car. Sometimes she really gets on a roll, and she did this morning. Not sure if it was the cloudy foggy weather that prompted her, but she has become fascinated with a sticker book of hers. She calls it her Valentine's sticker book, even though it has nothing to do with Valentine's Day.

So we were on our way to school. She has her sticker book for Show and Share and she asks me who got the book for her.

Me: Well, it was probably either your Grandma or your Mommy.

Brenley: No, I got it from God. God gave it to me at a yard sale.

Me: What? When did you go to God's yard sale?

Brenley: Well, you see, Jesus was having a yard sale, and God bought this for me at his yard sale. God lives in heaven, and heaven is in our hearts, and he knew I would loooovvveee this sticker book, so he bought it from Jesus at the yard sale. I love yard sales and I love God.

Me: Tearing up at this point, and thinking 1) I've NEVER taken her to a yard sale so I have no idea where that came from and 2) We may not be active weekly church participants, but for someone so small, she sure has God in her heart. And finally I reply, I think you're right baby.  That must have been where it came from.

I mean, what else can you say to that precious girl?

Here are some pictures I took with Instagram - an app on my phone - during Sunday's baseball game. I love how they turned out.  Beautiful girl.

Her words

No pictures for this post. Just something I want to remember when she is sixteen and screaming at me for being so "out of touch" with reality.

My bestest little girl.... I put her to bed each night usually after reading her a book. Then she always asks...can I come to your bed and snuggle, even though we have spent the last 10 minutes snuggling in her bed. And sometimes I let her, and sometimes I don't - just depending on time.  Last night, I didn't. So the usual ritual is that she gets mad, kicks her covers off her, and I shut the door and leave.  Sometimes she stays in there, and sometimes she doesn't.

Last night, she didn't. She came toddling into my room about 10 minutes later. "Mommy, I haven't got to snuggle with you in forever. Can I please, pretty please, tonight?" Seriously? I cannot say no to that. Not sure who could.

She climbs in our bed and is so happy. The grin on her face in infectious.  She looks over at me (I am reading a book), and she says....and this is the part I want to remember forever..... "Mommy, I love you more than the world that God made, and I love you more than Disney Jr. (her fav TV show of the moment).  So Mommy smiled back really big and told her that I loved her more.  Ugh. If she only knew........love that girl.

1st Football Game of the Season

Beau played his first official football game as a 4th Grade Maize Black team member. It was a sunny day, little warm for my football weather liking, but beautiful day, nonetheless.

I am proud of Beau for working hard and getting the starting Center position. He did a really good job today.  The Maize Black team lost 12-6, but it was a hard fought, and I think now it is obvious what they need to be working on.

Tomorrow we start Fall Baseball, but in the meantime, I got some good shots of #31. Love his little sausage fingers..... my one handed lefty snapper.....

Family Run

To round off our very uneventful Labor Day weekend, the kids and Dad went on a run. Beau's football coach wanted to make sure the boys ran some this weekend, so Beau had gotten out with his Dad another time as well. He hates running. He must get that from me. And Mom told Brenley it was time to unplug (no TV or iPad), so she decided to go with them tonight. Kinda cute, huh?

Our Labor Day weekend was just a quiet one. I've been sick with a sinus infection so Brian and the kids have been good to entertain themselves while Mom slept or laid down. We enjoyed football on TV Saturday night, and we've caught up on reading and just enjoying the house!

So bring on Fall! We are ready for it!

Dress up

Playing a little dress up this fine Labor Day morning! Yellow is her color!

Brenley in the kitchen

Brenley really seems to be enjoying her new play area downstairs, but took it to a whole new level this weekend when she wanted to play restaurant.  She kept asking to play and I kept putting her off until after I finished X, or after I finished Y, until I could put her off no longer.

She told me she needed to have some time to get ready, so when she was ready for me she hollered at me to come downstairs. I immediately yelled back at Brian to come down and be a part of this.

She had organized all of her Melissa and Doug food on the back of the downstairs kitchen counter (which had been in her bedroom upstairs), she brought her step stool down from her bathroom, and she had put her apron on herself.

Beau, Brian and I all sat at the bar and she took our order, and then she went to the other side to prepare our food. When she was ready, she served us, we ate, and then she cleaned up our dishes. We managed to snake some cash out of her cash register to pay her, and she was delighted at her success. It was totally awesome.  I love this girl's imagination and she did this one all by herself. Sweet girl.

The cook and waitress, Brenley May!