You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast

We are celebrating Father's Day with a relaxing weekend filled with lots of love....

the boys had to try out The Claw after seeing Toy Story 3 Friday nite....we took one spikey ball home this time.

This is one of my favorites.....a local fall festival when they were 2 1/2 years old (Jack L, Harry R)

This is what they looked like tonite....that chair is getting a little tight, but they still managed to fall asleep....here's how Dean looked helping 3-month-old Harry get to sleep back in '04 :wub:

Thank you, sweet man, for all that you do to help them on the road to good, strong men. I am proud to call you all my own and can't wait to share all the rest of this journey with you.

Here are the slew of posts (92 and counting) I labeled daddy pix

Happy Father's Day to you and all the other great daddies out there!

Trace Adkins' You're Gonna Miss This

I thank my lucky stars

Jack: We're the luckiest people in the world!

Yeah, he was just reacting with great glee that there was a new Rescue Heroes episode being
taped, but he was right - a really lovely relaxing day at the beginning of summer is hard to beat!

I've been going thru old blog posts, trying to clean up some of the labels, and it makes my heart smile to see the life we've been given and what we're making of it so far....lucky, indeed!

JB's Lucky Stars

For a job well done

We are truly blessed - our town has a beautiful ceremony every year to give thanks to the soldiers who have given all to our country. We've gone every year since we learned about it, and the boys call it 'the soldiers'....the speaker this year talked about the true meaning of our pledge and the family members who have so selflessly shared their soldiers, important reminders all.
Our deepest thanx - we have close friends sending their men to Afghanistan in the next weeks, and our prayers are with you all.

Dean snapped this picture of Harry and I recovering from all the fun we had this weekend ;-)

Trace Adkins' Arlington

I Love Everybody, especially you

Have I mentioned that they are a *little* enthusiastic? Lately the enthusiasm has been a lot more consistent than the drama, for which I am thankful.

This has been a long week, and Dean's been gone, and the days always drag ... tomorrow is the end, tho, and it's Field Day!

This morning was all snuggly and somehow we made it out the door with pleasant voices. Maybe it was Harry making us laugh when he told Jack "You're being so loud it disturbs the ENTIRE United State of America, EVEN Hawaii and Alaska!"

It's nice to get reminders of how lucky we are - a friend at the bus stop mentioned that she loves to watch them get on the bus because their feet just fly in an excited bounding thing. This morning, I was watching them and their friends happily greet Mrs. G and thinking about how lucky I was when I heard Alan Jackson's Sissy's Song and my heart squeezed a few tears.

Thanx to Sarah for being a wonderful hostess today and sharing her whole family with us - we're going to have a great adventure soon :-) Thanx to Christina and Brayden for sharing a great mid-morning. Did I mention that I'm one lucky mommy?

Happy week-ending everyone!

Lyle Lovett

Free money, free money, free money, free

We've been busily working to make some free money for the boys' school - we accept any and all donations :hint:

Clipping Programs - the boys will cut and paste

Box Tops for Education
Cut out the “box tops” logo from participating products. If you can bring them to school in bags of 50 or on collection sheets of 10, 25 or 50, it’s a big help. Also, please watch the expiration dates. SIGN UP ONLINE at the Box Tops website to receive their newsletter to support our school & we get points.
Campbell’s - Labels for Education
Cut out the UPC and the Labels for Education logo. They NO LONGER accept just the front part of the label. Check their website for a list of products, including Pepperidge Farm. Use collection sheets if you wish. Campbell’s awards points so the school can select free items from their product catalog.
Tyson Foods – Project A+

Cut out the entire top section of frozen food bags or the entire side of frozen food boxes. The little black A+ is not sufficient. Tyson’s offers 24 cents for every label.

Valued Customer Cards - register online

Link your store cards to their school online. Contact me if you want the details or aren't sure how to do this. These are great opportunities for their school and SO EASY!! You may need to re-register every year so if you signed up last year, check again this year.

Food Lion – Shop and Share Program
Register your Food Lion MVP card in their Shop and Share program and each time you shop at Food Lion and use your MVP card, a portion of your entire purchase is donated to the school!

Kroger – elabels for Education

Register your Kroger Plus card on this website and they keep track of all Campbell products that you buy and give points for them in addition to the points when you turn in the UPC. That’s double points!

Kroger – Plus Card for Education

Register your Kroger Plus card on this website. It’s just like the Food Lion except we get points, not cash.

Target – Take Charge of Education Program

If you have a Target credit card, you can select the boys' school as a recipient of the money earned on your purchases.

AmeriGas - School Days Receipt
Save your AmeriGas propane receipts and try to collect from local businesses and households. We send them in at the end of school year and get ½ cent per gallon.

Subway – School Rewards
When you make a purchase using a SUBWAY Card linked to our school, we earn a portion of it. We have cards available upon request and you can load them online or at the store. Great gift idea!

Patti Smith's Free Money

**UPDATE** Just the boxtops portion earned our school almost $450, so it really does add up! Thanx for all the people who help :-)

Tell me boy, now does that sound like you?

The boys have finally finished all their thank you's, and Jack cracked me up last nite with this one....he said "Mommy, you're all ACTIONED UP" huh? He said I was mad because he punched Harry.....*look* at those eyebrows ;-)

10CC's Action Man In A Motown Suit

boy-scootin' boogie

The boys are thoroughly enjoying their new scooters - thank you, Grandma and Papa S!

Brooks & Dunn's Boot-scootin' boogie

Christmas was a friend of mine

Tuesday, the boys went elfin' with some friends they have had since they were about 1 1/2...yikes, we've missed these boys!

Clubhouse party - Harry (on ground), Spencer, Samuel, Jack and Joey
Enjoying their 'old school' playground

Making a fun shrinky-dink project - thank you, Mrs. Carol, for the awesome craft!

Hard to believe he used to avoid art, eh?

All those big packages...shrunk

Harry modeling the final product

Get ready...

Get set...smile!

Let the ripping begin!

And the final present goes to...Joey :-)

Lots of happy receivers

Ta da! Jack thanx Grayson for his first-ever Star Wars figurine!

Oh, yeah, Harry dug the Glow Color explosion - thank you, Patrick! He's thankful, but worried about you and hopes you feel better after surgery! They enjoyed checking each others' toys out, too

Harry's gift box was a big hit....reindeer games, anyone?

The most famous reindeer of all....Darius :-)

Seriously enjoying their gifts at home that nite

Harry signing his first glow art creation....

....and showing it to Daddy

Thank you, friends, it really was a great time!

Fay Lovsky

And WE thank you

As we unpack boxes, we're finding things we forgot, putting them to new use, and generally loving our new home (which Jack insists Harry stop calling 'the new house' "It's our HOME now!"). We put this chalk board in the kitchen and decided to write each other notes, starting with this one for Daddy:

We all wrote a line, starting with Harry, then Jack, then me

Ah, the seriousness of a siggy these days

Harry putting his John Hancock, tho we didn't leave him much room

proud, much?

Now I'm glad I took a picture of the completed note, since Harry decided erasing it to write something else was a better idea than waiting for Daddy to see it ;-)

We love you, babe, and thank you for all you do to make our lives so wonderful!

ZZ Top's I Thank You

So you'll have to mind the mess

This is what November looks like at the new place:

Library-to-be
Eventually, a dining room

Kitchen and Family RoomEIK will hopefully be filled with Dozen Roses tomorrow

Our bedroom is set to be painted by the amazing Mr. Jay later this week

Who knows what we're going to do with this hot mess

the rest of our room - yikes, that's a lot of high ceiling work!

Dean's office/guest room - it was also bright red a few days ago

the boys' bathroomwill wait for a while, but cool boards are on the way

the laundry room is our current dumping ground

the boys' room - beds and books, what else do they need?!

Their playroom in transition from all pink to all-boy!

I hope to tackle the yard when it's warmer and plant the lovely new things, keep clearing the weeds and spruce the outside a bit.

Thanx to all the friends who have stopped by to see the before's and share your good wishes and kind gifts - we can't wait to make it ours!

No Doubt's Under Construction