WHAT WAS I THINKING?

July is a busy month for us! It is the anniversary of when we bought our business, the fourth of July, JJ's birthday, Payton's birthday (my cousin), MY BIRTHDAY, and then Cannon's birthday on August 6th. I know August 6th is not July, but it takes me a while to get ready for his party and they have to be on or before his day because I have a niece born 3 days after Cannon. With all of these things going and baseball practice too, I decide I want to have at least 2 rooms decorated before Cannon's party.

The dining room has been done, except for cleaning up the baseboards, for a while. Our bedroom is where I decided to go next. So I painted the bedroom (including the ceilings) and then moved on to the bathroom. I have renamed it the THE ROOM OF H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS. It took forever to paint the stupid bathroom and the ceiling. Not to mention that we had to get an extension ladder just to reach the walls and ceiling over the bathtub. My neck and back are so bad that the chiropractor said no more painting. I agree, but I have to get the roman shades up! If only I had a handy husband!

I will post some pictures after I get the shades up!

Here are some pictures from this month.

Cannon pitching to Nathan

Payton's Birthday Party

Box feeding the hungry swimmers

J and Neil "The Life of the Party"

Hunter, Payton, and Daken swimming

Cannon NOT swimming

WooWoo cooking some dogs

Hunter, Keller and Cannon in the deer blind

Are they ready yet?

Paw with the munchkins waiting on those dogs

Cannon and Keller gave up and went to play

Payton opening her gifts

Box and Cannon

Nathan thinking?

Grandma

Keller working her way into the pool

MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Cannon giving Nathan the evil eye on the way to Box and Paw's!

Nathan swimming with Hunter and Payton after getting thrown into the pool by J and Neil!

He hid part of the snorkel in his suit

And then found it!

Grandma, J, Neil and my Dad

He might be an angel after all!

BIRTHDAYSSSSS????

Everyone remembers when you were FIVE and THREE FOURTHS years old. It seemed that the days passed so slow that you had to measure life in quarters years. After a while you start to look forward to the BIG years: 13 (becoming a teenager), 16 (getting your drivers license), 18 (I do not know why), and of course 21 (finally you can order your own beverage when out to dinner). What happens after that I do not know, but it seems that you are running to catch up with time as it flies by.

See my 21 year old boyfriend just turned 29 and has been my husband for 4 and 1/2 years, my 18 year old self is about to have my second 25th birthday and my baby is going to be 3 on August 6th and I am not ready! I want him to say "My love you Mommy" in that little voice for about 3 or 30 more years.

All that being said:

I LOVE BIRTHDAYS! THEY ARE A PARTY JUST FOR THE BIRTHDAY PERSON AND THEY COME JUST ONCE A YEAR!

As far as celebrating goes, of course, we will have a party for Cannon. He cannot decide if it should be CARS, again, or if he wants baseball. Daddy and Nana are pushing for baseball, but Cannon is really thinking about CARS. He really wants Chick Hicks on his cake, because he is the "bad guy." Crazy kid. My birthday on the other hand, will probably carry on all weekend, because I love my birthday! Yes, I know, but I have no excuses! The plans consist of a movie, The Dark Knight, and maybe dinner for J and I, on Friday night. Saturday day is still up in the air, but Saturday night there are talks of dinner and a movie for us girls (Mom, Sissy, Stephanie, and ME!)!!! Sunday is THE DAY and who knows what we will do. Usually go to my parents to eat and swim!

WE'RE TALKIN' SPORTS

The main SPORTS topic of discussion around our house this time of year is, drum roll...., BASEBALL. I mean we came up with Cannon's name after Michael Young made an awesome throw. "Wow he has a cannon for an arm. Nickie what about Cannon?" It really was that simple. After all the months we spent disagreeing on names, Cannon.
So I was saying. Baseball is what we live, breath and watch all spring, summer and early fall. Yes EARLY fall! We are Rangers fans and without THE RUSTY GREER it seems they have not gotten a lot accomplished towards the playoffs. This year they are creeping closer and closer, we are ecstatic, but another sport is sneaking into our baseball time of year.... If you guessed hockey, you don't know my family, but if you guessed football and all this Favre talk you are correct.
What is going on with The Brett Favre and The Packers? It is like they have both forgotten where they came from. Yeah, the Packers have been the Packers, but I will venture to say that 99% of all the fans that bleed packer green have their blood cells in the shape of a 4! And Favre, yeah YOU are the hall of fame quarterback, but there should not be a doubt in your mind that Green Bay is the reason you are there! You can't even win in Dallas! Good thing they did not pick you up or you might have gotten to spend a lot more time in Mississippi.
Did the organization push him to retire? Did he go back on his word? We will never know, but for these two well respected parties to be airing their dirty laundry in such a nasty ways makes me sad.
In my OPINION: He is FREAKING Brett Favre! LET HIM PLAY! He might have made a mistake, but he is the face of your franchise. No matter if he throws an interception on every single pass, YOUR FANS ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE! And you sure do not want YOUR fans to cheer for #4 in a Vikings uniform!

Just think what kids, like my nephew, will learn if you let him come back. There is always a way to rectify a bad decision and people will forgive you.

FAVRE, BACK TO THE PACK! FAVRE, BACK TO THE PACK! FAVRE, BACK TO THE PACK!

Happy Birthday JJ

So I am the only one in my house who likes to drag out the suspense of gifts, but I do not really care! I make the boys go along with me. It is the least they can do, seeing as I am the only girl in the house!

That being said, J's gift from his parents arrived from FedEx Tuesday, the day before his birthday. He knew, because his Mom told him, that we should expect it Tuesday. So when he got home from work he asked about it, but I had to inform him that I had not gotten a thing...

Fast forward to Wednesday morning at about 6:30. I woke Nathan up, yes during the summer, to help me get the present out of my truck and inside the house. (He just helped me in the back door and then went right back to bed.) I managed to get it across the house to our room and woke J up to tell him his phone had been ringing. That is when he found his gift!

That is right he IS A BRAT! His parents got him an autographed Favre jersey. He is super excited! He told me that we now ALL we need is to finish the game room... And here I thought the birthday/fathers day grill would have gotten me a little more time...

I also got myself a hair cut for J's birthday! I know, I am really thoughtful, but I love it!

Family filled Fourth

Our Independence Day Weekend was full of family and fun!

J's parents came into town for the fourth. Or really they came in because it might be a while before they can get up here, with Greg having surgery on his foot.

So we decided to kick the long weekend off the way we kick everything off, by eating! So some Don Jose's, my favorite Mexican restaurant, it was. After dinner we met up with my fam and all watched the Hach's fireworks. This time Cannon did not even stop to watch the fireworks, he was way too busy playing with Hunter and the really cool flashlights my Mom brought... Cannon and Hunter playing make the Capri Sun straw fly at the fireworks!

Friday, J finally got his father's day gift, which I decided was also his birthday present! The only problem was that when we went to Lowe's the grill he wanted was not put together. Of course J is not going to put it together and the guy said it was a no go for having it ready on the Fourth... We could not decide, but the guy caved and J got his grill. Dinner was wonderful! Steaks, shrimp, corn, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and I even made "the best chocolate cake ever!" After that we just waddled down the street to watch fireworks with the neighbors.

The rest of the weekend was just relaxing and eating! The two things I do best! The boys (J, Papa, and Nathan) did build a pitching mound on Sunday, it only took them 3 or 4 trips to Lowe's to get it right. After all that hard work J got a sty and decided to take MY MOM's advice and put a potato on it. As of Wednesday he STILL has the sty.