Whose feet are these?

I thought this would be a cool pic to show the different size feet we have. Left is Grace. Middle is me. Right is Drew.

What I discovered is that Grace's foot looks the same size as mine but is actually one size bigger. Drew's foot is giant! And you can see the turf toe he is battling.

My foot looks pretty good for being 44 years old and running on it for the last 25 years!

Bieber B-day

Everytime one of Gracie's friends from her soccer team has a birthday, Justine Bieber shows up at their house.

Today is Kayla's birthday and after soccer camp today, all the girls will be going to her house for a swim party and be greeted by Bieber!

Bieber is saying that Shooter (Kayla's nickname) is his favorite "Fusionnista" (Fusion is the name of thier soccer team)! And he is holding a Fusion flag.

Hilarious! I highly suspect that Bieber will be swimming today!

Lake time

The kids each brought a buddy to the cabin this weekend and I brought my buddy, Tina. (Jim was working) We spent 2 full days out on the boat - about 6 hours each day!

It was incredibly relaxing. We fished, swam, ate and laughed!

Murman - the misnomer

This weekend was a trip to the Lake.

Although Murray did a practice swim session last week in a swimming pool, no one felt confident he could actually swim in the middle of a lake. So we strapped a men's extra large life vest on him and shoved him off!

At first he was in full panic mode. But by the second day, he jumped in by himself (still with the life vest on) to cool himself off, catch a ball or just visit the rest of us in the water.

Fran II

Fran the Second is looking really good!

Grandpa Tom

My Dad was in the hospital for 2 days this week with pneumonia. He got really sick really fast. But luckily, he got better pretty quickly too. He was released today and just needs to lay low and rest.

Thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts - it all helped!

Turf Toe

One week of football and Drew aleady has turf toe. These pics don't do it justice. He has it on both big toes but the right one is worse. The toes are all bruised and swollen. Turf toe is a sprained toe joint caused by a fast acceleration followed by a quick stop and changing directions. The only thing that helps is rest.

It may be a long football season.

Football

So....Drew started playing football this summer. He goes to camp for 2 hours everyday. So far, he loves it...except that his toes hurt and are all bruised and his legs hurt from conditioning. OH! And he has exercise induced asthma.

But he still loves it and talks all about it all day.

Your inner squirrel

We always call Gracie a squirrel because she is unfocused and jumpy. She is always flitting around doing creative stuff....and leaving a trail of destruction.

Today, her good friend, Bug, came over. Bug is a very controlled, deep thinking kid.

But when she hangs out with Grace, her "inner squirrel" is unleashed!

Today they spent hours making giant water balloons and putting them in buckets and coolers. When they ran out of space, they blew up a swimming pool and put them in there! At one point, I sneaked out and put ice cubes in the pool! Al I heard was, "HEY, who put ice cubes in the pool...." and then I heard nothing else about it.

Great fun! If only everyone could release their own "inner squirrel", once in a while.... The world would be a better place!

Stroke, Breath, Stroke, Breath

Murry learning how to swim yesterday. Doesn't look like he really liked it, but it's good to know he will not be sinking to the bottom of the lake this weekend!

Two for One!

Kayla and Drew BOTH passed!

We have a driver!

Drew passed his written driving test to get his permit! Now he has to do 2 hours with an instructor and 50 hours with us. Then when he turns 16, he can take the driving test. I would guess he will be there on his 16th bday to take the test!

And then....my life will become easier!

Happy Ebelskever

This is my bday gift this year: a new, non-stick ebelskiver pan (Danish pancakes). Jim's mom is Danish and taught me how to make them and the kids LOVE them. Used it this morning and it great!

Wipe your mouth

What is "TNDC" without our own napkins?


Thursday Nite Dinner Club now has its own branded napkins, saying:

Eat
Drink
Act Silly

Happy birthday to me!

The birthday gift that I gave my friend Renee, showed

up on my porch yesterday on my birthday. It is worst re-gifting EVER!

I wonder who is next?

Beach Day

Marty with the dogs within 2 inches of him! It was better than when he was sleeping and Murray dug sand onto him. I saw it happen but was already laughing so hard that I could not warn him.



The girls having sand crab races!


Jeremy and Drew did this cool sand turtle. It was fun to watch people check it out when they walked by.

6 foot 2 and a half and growing....

Oh Lordy....I think Drew is growing again!

I noticed last week that his face was getting a little chubby and that is the first sign. He "bulks up". Then, for the last few days, he can not get enough sleep. He wanted to go to bed last nite at 8 pm but managed to stay up til 9. And he took one nap yesterday and two today. That is his total pattern for storing food and energy for a growth spurt.

He is going camping for a few days this week with a friend and I fully expect him to be taller when he gets home.

Ahi goes to the beach

Ahi was so funny at the beach this weekend. I am not convinced she really likes it but is happy to be with us nonetheless! We brought her a little tent because sometimes she gets to hot at the beach and we need to build her shelter. It was not very hot yesterday so she was really using the tent for warmth!

While we were packing up to leave, she was watching from the back of the seat. I love the way her leg is hanging straight down!

Chairs or Beds!

We got new chairs today and they come with a little cooler on the side. We decided it was a perfect Ahi bed.

Artsy Fartsy

Every once in a while I get a little creative. This is my latest attempt. I took the bark from a Sugar Pine at my favorite place in the world (Cherry Lake) and glued it together to make this heart wall hanging. The bark is super cool and looks like jigsaw puzzle pieces. At first it was dorky looking and every one gave me a thumbs down....but I kept working on it and now it looks great.

And it means something to me:

It is nature - which I love and appreciate!
It came from my favorite place in the world!
It is a heart....which means love!

Champions

Here is a pic from the weekend soccer tourney which Drew's team won!!!!

Friends

Grace and some of her friends from soccer. What a wonderful group of girls! No mean girls, no cattiness, no backstabbing, no drama.... Just a bunch of girls who like each other and want to play soccer and have fun! We are lucky!

Frick and Frack

Drew and Kayla are taking a drivers ed together. This is a pic of them leaving this morning. My favorite part is Kayla is responsible for bringing lunch for both of them. They both eat like truck drivers so I imagine little Kayla hauling a huge bag of food everyday!

Addiction

I have a new food addiction....black bean burgers. My brother turned me onto the black bean burgers from Costco - Morningstar Chipotle Black Bean Burgers - and they are DELICIOUS!

Today I found some spicy ranch and added that as a topping! Lunch today was a black bean burger on foccacia bread with lettuce, havarti cheese, avocado and spicy ranch dressing. YUM! I should have taken a pic but I was too excited to eat it.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Drew's team won the tournament they were in this weekend! They played four games and only let one goal in during all those games. And they scored a total of 8 goals. They deserved to win this one - they played great.

And after the big win, we came home and had a chicken dinner!

PS - Gracie's tourney was cancelled because of the rain, so stay tuned for when it is rescheduled.

SF Giants

We went to the SF Giants vs Colorado Rockies game yesterday and had a great time. It was a really fun adventure.

Naughty dog!

Yesterday, Tina came over to pick up Murray and let the girlies out to go to the bathroom (we were gone). This is a pic I got on my phone that said...."guess who doesn't want to go pee". She is such a naughtly butt!



Look at that sweet face!

TNDC - Burger edition

Last nite, Thursday Nite Dinner Club was a burger edition and it was stellar! Delicious burgers, sweet potato fries and corn on the cob!!

But imagine our surprise when we looked at Marty's burger and it was the size of Texas! Seriously, Marty? Does one middle age man need a burger that big?

As Tina said, "I sure will miss him when he has his heart attack!"

Next week, TNDC might need to be "Diet Edition".

oh no!

Francis is not going to make it after being stepped on by a giant labrador foot! I need to start over with a new plant.