Zimmy's birthday & Other happenings/visitors at the lake...whereelse?

 Look at this sweetness?  Apparently growing hair can be rather tiring.

 Nate is kinda sweet too...at least most of the time

 Ditto for the middle'un

 Zimm's 29th and some change birthday. Someone got him this hideous landscape flag.  We thought we'd spiff up his hot rod with a winged helmet though!

 Zimm and his buddy Troy

 Bryson in the winged helmet.  Look how happy he is to be a Wolverine!

 Nate...going

 ...going...

 ....gone!  What a difference a summer makes!

 Bathing boat beauty Miss T

 This is evidence that non-motorized water sports are not a thing of the past!  Nate and Zack are pulling Molly behind the kayak.  And, they even have Tessa as a spotter!  What great water safety skills!

 Is that a wake I see?

 Yup.  We let them make a loop around the lake.

 The ladies hanging out...and smotherin' the babe.

 Mia sighs and thinks, "This is unfamiliar? Whoa! I can breathe!  I don't have dirty little hands pulling me in multiple directions. Peace." 

 Puff visits the lake.

Much better place for the delicate babe to be...in the arms of the ADULT!  Shewsh.

Crockett Drive Annual Picnic

In the handful of years we've been going to the lake we have yet to make it to the annual lake picnic.  My mother, of course, has always wanted all of us to go.  But, somehow, we've always had good enough excuses.  This year we had no good excuses and went...a few of us grumbling more than others.  We all managed to have a good time. There was good food and lots of games for the kids and adults! Our family walked away with a hoolahoop champion and a coupla balloon tossing champions!

It was a Hawaiian themed event.  Above the kids got leis and were listening to the directions for one of the events. Nate and Tessa with Molly and Zack in the background.

 Nate and Zack Balloon Tossing with some of the neighbor kids

 Troy and Bubba were the adult balloon tossing champions

 Kendall was a hoolahooping marvel!

 Hhhmmm? This is inappropriate.

 Mia hanging out with the baby whisperer, Boz.

Mia.  Getting chubby.  Looking annoyed. Pry because I've accessorized her again. And/Or because it's nine hundred gajillion degrees outside.

Lemonade Stand!

 Our neighbors have what they advertise as an "estate sale" a couple times each summer.  It's definitely "just a garage sale."  Apparently using the fancy term "estate sale" lures in a better crowd.  Anyways, the kids are always asking if and when we can have a garage sale.  I always answer, "maybe some other time" but I really mean, "Never!"  I have let them set up a garage sale of their own before but Nate got quite disgruntled only 20 minutes after he put up his sign at the end of our drive and no one had come to purchase his goods. And, I was admittedly relieved that no one actually came!  While I support the idea of recycling and reusing, this was a good lesson in garage sales are a lot of work for little profit!  We happened to be home and in town on one of the days our neighbors were having one of their sales.  And, lucky for the kids, I was on board for a lemonade stand.  So, we called our buddy Allie and asked her to come help us host because she lives in a traditional neighborhood in the city, has some experience in lemonade stands and we needed her to bring the lemonade!  Seriously.  Allie's mom, Naomi, only had fancy PINK raspberry Crystal Light Lemonade and it sold like hot cakes.  That is, for a "country lane" lemonade stand.

 The kids were bonkers and pretty good sales folks too. They worked diligently on signs and set up.  They used their mini jeep and tractor to haul all the items out to the driveway split.  I did realize after a couple of sales though that Nate was advertising $1 per glass!  We had to have a little talk about appropriate pricing and marketing and more or less taking whatever people want to give to you and your cause.

 Each kiddo walked away with a few dollars each and they were thrilled!

Absolute Rule of Thumb: ALWAYS stop at a Lemonade stand.  Even if it means scraping sticky pennies out of your ashtray or trading for a piece of gum.  The disappointment of a few cars not stopping or acknowledging their efforts was so disheartening!

A visit from Levi

Mia's had her new friend Levi over for a play date.  Levi is looking as handsome as ever.  Less orange but still is a little cranky by his mom and big sister's report.  He was super chill hanging out with Mia though!

2 months

 Miss Mia is 2 months!  Where has the time gone?  And, finally, look closely.  She's getting some hair coming back!  I am feeling compelled to accessorize her a little as she clearly resembles her older brother the most.  I mean, look at that hairline?! Another widow's peak in the family.  You can thank the Baughmans for that one, kids.  The look on her face here though is "Seriously, mom?  A flower?  Really? You're killin' me."

The Bigs still love Mia to pieces.  I thought the novelty of her would wear off pretty quickly and that hasn't been the case AT ALL!  I have no idea what is smeared on the side of Tessa's face in this picture.  Those obnoxious feathers are courtesy of Aunt Amy.  Of course, her girls got subtle long streaky ones and she let Tessa pick out bright blue and red fuzzy ones that stick up off the top of her head!

 Nate hangin' with his sister after her 2mos check up.

She took her shots like a champ!

 Mia is weighing in at a hefty 10lbs!

Big Sister Practice

 Paige getting some Big Sis practice with her cousin Mia.  She is still mourning a little that Baby Dean is a boy.  She has agreed that she will love him all the same...even if she can't dress him in pink tutus!

 And, let's face it.  Who doesn't love a snuggle-y sleepy baby napping on your chest?

Dog Days of August in Naptown

So far August has proven to have mostly dog days of summer.  While in Napoleon we headed over to Cyndi's new house for a casual luncheon and a dunk in the pond with her kids and the Mowerys too.  It has been so hot and dry it was actually painful to walk across Cyndi's crispy brown lawn!  I was disappointed when Cyndi and Roach announced on my arrival that they were both dieting.  Whoa!  Buzz kill.  That left me sipping on a cold one all by myself with my newborn baby in tow and the bigs running around like maniacs.  Wasn't planning on getting hammered, mind you.  I am somewhat responsible and we were the supervising adults by a large body of water in which you could not see the bottom.  But, "diet" is something very, very annoying to hear about when you're postpartum and still looking and feeling more like you're still about 5 months pregnant or that you should cut back on the Bud-heavy.  If you know what I mean?!  And, diet should never include booze deprivation, if you ask me.  Even though they were 'saving their calories' they were still good company.  We got some good gossip in and the kids got cooled off and tired out!  Always a pleasure with these ladies. And, even though we may go awhile without seeing or talking with each other it always seems like it was just yesterday.  Good and easy friends are always a blessing!

Oh Goodness! Is that Jack Mowery in a MICHIGAN chair!!  How is he so lucky to sit in a such a throne?!

Jack Mowery and Nate on the dock.  Jack was giving Cyndi and I palpitations with his head-bobbing swimming.  His mother kept reassuring us that he was fine.  But he sure did look like he was sinking a coupla times!

The ladies on the raft...Layla, Tessa, Aubrey and Avery.

 Miss T looking pretty serious with her tube

 Miss Layla and Mia

 Aubrey, Tessa, Layla, Avery and Nate (Jack wanted nothing to do with a picture at the time!)

 I think one of the kids mentioned that they didn't have anything to do.  Seriously? Surrounded by a bunch of other kids in a big yard with a pond.  Nothing to do, huh?  So, what better thing to suggest than burning off more energy.  I've learned that kids will do nearly anything if you tell them you're going to time them.  I sent them running around the pond and would yell our random numbers as if I had really been timing them with my watch!

 

Nate trying to catch his breath.  He got smoked by Aubrey and was a pretty good sport about it!

 

Avery has a Michael-Jordan-esque flair while running