Are you serious ????

Our New Friend

Two weeks ago, Brooke and I spotted a little baby deer in the backyard. "Where's its Mommy?" Brooke asked "He wants his mommy." Then almost as if on cue, the Mommy trotted into view from behind the shed. Brooke seemed relieved as they walked off together, "to snuggle" she said. I'm skeptical about the snuggling part but they did walk off together none the less. If you look really close in the picture below you can see the baby just to the left of the tree trunk and the Mommy to the left of the picnic table in front of the hammock. It was tough they came late that evening.


Last Friday afternoon as I returned to my desk with an ice cold Coke, I saw the baby out the window. Alone this time he, she , "the deer" was hanging out under the apple tree eating away. Now most of you know that seeing deer under the apple tree in August is NOT that uncommon, however it has been some time since we have seen one this small. It is also unusual to see them in the middle of the day. I was able to get some nice shots, gotta love that telephoto feature. The deer stayed almost an hour and has returned several times since then, always alone. Paul and I choose to pretend we don't know what that probably means......



Paul is contemplating using a lasso to catch the cutie and make him a part of our family. He thinks it would be fun for Brooke to take it to daycare for "show and tell". He has about as good a chance of capturing that deer and making it tame as he does getting a goat for a pet. Not in my lifetime!!!!

Saturday by the Pool

We are fortunate enough to have a swimming pool but the summer has been sort of hectic with a new baby and the weather hasn't been that great so we have not spent too much time by the pool hanging out. Once August hit so did the hazy, hot and humid weather, we were able to sneak in a few hours by the pool last Saturday. With sunscreen and baby monitor in tow, off we went.

Brooke is fascinated by water and loved playing on the steps.



Brooke tries out the new seal float.


Storm got in on the action too and swam a few laps.


When we told Brooke we had to go in for a nap her response was that she would rest by the pool. She laid right down on the concrete and covered up with her towel.

Yellow Miracles

As many of you know, we have a flower garden in front of the house. On the advice of the Nursery Staff we planted marigolds since the deer supposedly do not like the scent. I have to admit that I bought my beautiful bright yellow, healthy marigolds at Walmart. I am happy to say (and I am knocking on wood as I type) that the deer have not touched my garden where I planted these hardy, yellow blossoms. It has been very hot and humid here so I am happy to go outside after returning from my daycare pick up run and let Brooke play in the sandbox and water the flowers. Today she was busy with her task and was watering her favorite marigold --- again.

"What plant are you watering now, Brooke?" I inquired.

"The yellow miracle, Mom" She proudly replied.

Perhaps she's wiser than I give her credit for.

Brooke Picks Blueberries - Live Footage

This is the video of our first blueberry picking adventure. You can see how fast she gets distracted from the task by Storm and the clover. Pay attention to when her Daddy accidently drops an unripe "pink" berry into her container. She promptly plucks it out and throws it on the ground. Apparently she has no patience for imperfection.

Kristen's 3 Month Photo Shoot

Kristen received a GORGEOUS handmade quilt from my boss, Sherry. The ducks and colors are just perfect so we used it for a background for some of the pictures.



Kristen looks GREAT in purple so we used this dress that was Brooke's for some more traditional shots.

They never cease to amaze me!

There really isn't a day that goes by where at some point I am not awed by the gift of our girls. Kristen will smile when she hears a familiar voice or catches a glance of a familiar face, I just melt!



Brooke is so smart and doesn't forget a thing. She constantly amazes us when she recalls something we said, we did, or a family outing. A few weeks ago I was watching a recorded episode of Dinner Impossible from the Food Network - cool show. If you are not familiar with it it's where the chef is given a challenging mission and what seems like impossible time constraints, etc. This particular episode was to feed a bunch of NBA fans and the mission was delivered by "someone" from the NBA management (read that as I can't remember his name) and Wayman Tisdale a retired player. At the end of the episode when the credits started to roll, there was a dedication to Tisdale. At the beginning of the episode he was clearly alive and seemed well. I was curious as to what had happened to the well spoken and spirited former player. This is when you have to LOVE the Internet. You go to Google and you type in his name and you have a wealth of info. It seems that Mr. Tisdale was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and after losing part of his leg to the disease in 2008, he finally lost his fight in May 2009. I watched a video clip from the ESPN website and Brooke walked in as it was playing. She wanted to sit on my lap and watch too. You could almost see her mind working, trying to process what she was watching. I simplified and said that the man was sick and it made him fall. He got hurt so he lost part of his leg. "The man was hurt, Mommy?" she asked as though she was getting this straight in her mind. Then I told her that the Dr's couldn't make him better and that he was in Heaven now with her Grampa Joe. "Heaven, with Grampa and Jesus???" she asked. I smiled when I confirmed her conclusion. Then we moved on to the next thing and I figured my teachable moment had passed.
This morning before she left for school I was at my computer trying to start the day. She strolls in and asks "Mommy, can I watch the movie about the man who got hurt?" At first I was at a loss - what the heck was she talking about? Then I realized, she wanted to watch the clip about Wayman again. Maybe my teachable moment made more of an impression than I realized.

They never ceases to amaze me!

To view the Wayman Tisdale clip click here