Simple Things

This week's Simple Thing is: 

A Seat! 

HA! My babies (including the furry one) all found some great seats this past week LOL 

Andy and the Dragonfly

A few days ago, the weather decided to give us a break one evening. Not much of a break, but good enough. We headed to the backyard after our after-dinner walk. I saw a few clouds that looked like thunderheads and said that it was going to rain (only that didn't happened until today...grrr). Then, this random dragonfly shows up. I remember mom telling me when I was little that when dragonflies start hanging out rather close it was going to rain. Anyway, still...not a drop.

Well, this dragonfly shows up and lands on one of our chairs. Jason and I show Andrew and he, of course, starts to shoo it away. We told him that dragonflies are nice and kinda cool. The dragonfly decides to land on Andrew's car and, well, he didn't like that so much... He starts shooing the thing again and we said, "Andrew, he doesn't like that. Be nice." The dragonfly gets all up in Andrew's face now and lands on his hand!

It was so cute! Andrew was all excited about the dragonfly and just love it! I was so glad I had my phone with me. Sometimes I leave it in the house, but yay! We just couldn't believe Andrew had a dragonfly land on him! That's never happened to either of us (that we can remember anyway!). Very cool!

I LOVE THAT I GOT THESE PICTURES! 

**linking up with**

The MOB Society

Summertime Fun! {Brendan}

Last week, my brother, Brendan, came for a visit. He's one of my 5 brothers. We kind of started this tradition 2 summers ago where any brother going into high school and up could come up for a visit. The first summer we did this, it was Christopher's turn. Last summer got a little crazy...it was supposed to be Brendan's turn, but I just had Alex back in April. Anyway, I was so excited to have Brendan come stay with us for a week. We had a lot of fun!

A walk after dinner :) Andrew is learning how to keep hold of Max on our walks. 

 A game of Catan :) Brendan whooped us the first game. Another night, Jason took over the winnings. If you haven't played this game yet, you should definitely try it.

Fun board, right?

We had a day at the Zoo where this guy finally decided to make an appearance. Every time we go this one is always sleeping in a ball somewhere way up high. Brendan said he brings out the wilderness. LOL

Watching the wild dogs watching the little humans HA!

Drummin' time

Playing in the termite mound

Waiting to feed the giraffes!

Willow (I think, anyway. This one was the shortest) waiting patiently. 

Such a big boy!

Had some help from his Uncle Brendan :)

Playing dress up one night before bed

My assistant chef :D

Cutting up the potatoes into wedges for dinner.

 There was a lot of playing going on, too! 

 And afternoon story times...

 And a lot more playing. 

It was a great week! I miss him a bunch. We got to catch up on all sorts of stuff. I got to play big sister again (when you don't live at home it is kinda hard to do) and give some words of wisdom (lol) and a lot of teasing! I know the little guys miss Brendan, too. But!! Christopher is coming next week for a visit. So, yay! 

Weekend Visit to Augusta

Two weekends ago, we made a quick visit to Augusta to see Jason's family. Here are some pictures from our time there :)

 Andy and Alex playing in Nana & Papa's new backyard. They loved how they could look down onto the golf course and cheer on the golfers playing. Though, I don't know how much the players enjoyed that LOL 

 Heading into downtown Augusta to the Riverwalk

 Taking in the beauty of the Savannah River :) 

 This was Andrew's highlight of the Riverwalk! He was so excited about the train bridge, then even more excited when he got to see a train go over it! He pointed out which ones were the freight cars and the tanker cars. Such a smart little guy!

 Pictures of "Augusta's Last Stern Wheeler"

 There was a great little playground overlooking the river. 

 Alex and I walked up a bit further after he got tired. He was excited to see the train bridge so close up. I was hoping for another train, but no luck. It probably would have been pretty loud.

 Enjoying a drink by the river :)

 I got some of the BEST fried green tomatoes EVER! These two ladies had their booth set up with their own recipe that had a bit of kick to it. It was so good! And that lemonade? Whenever I am at one of these farmers markets, I always get a lemonade to find out which one might be the best. And this guy has to win. Fresh squeezed right in front of you AND he had a story to tell about it, too. How the recipe had been in his family for years and all. It was great :)

 Relaxing with Papa

 Playing cars

Looking for birds, watching joggers, etc. It was such a sweet little moment that I was able to capture.

Menu Plan

Here's a look ahead at this week's meals. To see some of these recipes, click here to see my Menu Plan Board on Pinterest.

Wordless Wednesday

A Day in the Life of 5 Years of Marriage

On the 7th, Jason and I celebrated our 5th anniversary!! I must tell you that it is not how we imagined, however. While we were on our honeymoon, we just LOVED Puerto Vallarta so much that I had said we should come back and celebrate on our 5th anniversary. Well, a dog and 2 kids later, things sort of changed. But it was still a wonderful day!

Good morning! Coffee for 2! YES!! I've turned Jason to the "dark side" ha! He is a semi-coffee drinker! He only likes the Golden French Toast by Green Mountain. He tried a cup I had one day and finished it off for me LOL

We headed to the library bright and early with the boys. I actually got to grab some great books for ME! And search for some books for the boys. Jason found some that he wanted, too. Score at the library! :) By the way - finished Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews and WOW! Great book! Not what you expect for a summer read. It was great!

Anniversary dinner at Sumo Japanese Steak House where Andy insisted he use chopsticks like his mama :) Love it!

Time for bed! Alec and Andy both have their babies ready.

Reading a bit while the pie thaws a bit :)

Dessert! YAY! Which, by the way, was from our neighbors! She had given us some peaches, too. I made a blueberry-peach cobbler with those. I'll share that recipe soon! 

It was a wonderful day! We celebrated it with our little family and could not have been happier! We have a picture in our living room of Jason and I on our wedding day that the boys loved to hold. We told them that it was the day that we got married. Andrew and Alex smiled. Andrew told me I looked like a "pincess" So, sweet. I still feel like a princess. I have everything that I could have asked for - a wonderful husband and 2 sweet, perfect little boys. And, of course, the best little schnauzer in the world ;)

Happy Anniversary, Jason! I love you so much and I can't wait to see what happens in the next 5 years. XOXO