The joys of summer

 This is what I love about summer - relaxing, enjoying the boys and doing things spur of the moment.  Last night Jay's friend, K., came over for Yes another paddle boat ride.  My in-laws must be thrilled because they bought us that paddle boat years ago and we are finally using it.

Here's a picture of Jay, his friend, Reece and Nick in their "man cave" in the woods.  They built a fire and roasted hot dogs - totally on the spur of the moment.  I love being able to say Yes to these things.  

It's all good

 As June comes to an end I have to say wow what a great summer we've had so far.  We really haven't even done anything that exciting but it's been the first summer we've had since I started working from home 3 summers ago that things just fell into place.  It's true what they say - the 3rd time really is the charm.  First off our schedule this year is leaps and bounds better.  I tried to improve on it every summer and again this summer I finally got it right.  There are still some things I will improve upon next summer but things have fallen into place much better this go around.  Jay has been involved in several camps, all of which he has really enjoyed.  As you can see from the picture above the boys and I cleaned the paddle boat and boy have we used it!  Mike isn't working like a maniac (like last summer).  Things are much less stressful this summer and I'm enjoying it.

Nick loves to paint!  Right now his project is making posters for his 4 wheeler for the 4th of July parade.  He's been a painting wizard lately!!

TN Girls Weekend

 This weekend I tagged along with Jenny to TN.  Faith had been in TN with Jenny's parents since Memorial day so Jenny and I packed our bags and headed out late Thursday afternoon for the 8.5 hour drive.  The picture above is of the trail we hiked.  We hiked 4.5 miles with Jenny's dad, Wayne.  Wayne is 67 and he smoked Jenny and I on the trail.

 Jenny and I.  I have to say this past weekend was the most relaxed I have felt in years.  I feel guilty writing that since my husband and children weren't along but it truly was.  I would stay up late, sleep in late and when I got up the morning I'd make myself a cup of coffee and head to the front porch swing.  Jenny's parents are so very hospitable.  Turns out they have head guests coming and going, except for four days, since the first of March.

 Jenny and her dad, Wayne.  You can't tell it because Jenny has her sunglasses on but they look just alike.

                                                          The best 40 year old hiker I know!

 Here is the waterfall we hiked to.  It was beautiful and so calming.  We all sat on a lot to admire it.

 The bat cave - kid you not.  When you were standing in front of the grates it felt like air conditioning coming up from the cave.

Thank you, Jenny!  You said I was doing you the favor by keeping you company on the long drive but you actually did me the favor.  I am refreshed, relaxed and ready to start my week.  You are truly the greatest friend anyone could ask for.  Here's to our new choca's!  Ha!

Fun times with 2nd cousins

 My cousin Cora came to visit yesterday and the kids really enjoyed it.  I posted the picture above of Lauren and Mike because I hope one day we can laugh about it but right now it's not so funny.  Lauren and Luke are afraid of Copper.  This is Mike trying to talk to Lauren and show her that Copper wouldn't hurt a fly.  She sees a bug and gets so nervous she pees!  Lauren and Luke may never learn to love Copper but I hope they grow to tolerate her.

2nd cousins, Kylee and Jay.  We have really enjoyed the paddle boat lately and the kids sure did last night.

Carter and Nick.  They were quite the duo.  They are only a year apart in age and love the same things: water, four wheeling and the outdoors.

                               The four ya-hoos!  I just love summer and seeing my kids outside playing.

Until next year, Cora.  We sure enjoyed seeing you and your kids and spending time with you!!

Happy Father's Day

We had such a nice Father's Day.  We went to church and then went to Kim's for a cook out.  The sun came out and we enjoyed our time together as a family. This little guy was all smiles!

                                                        Me and my sweet nephew, Luke.

 The dads.  John (my father in law), Mike and the boys.  What a crew.  Thanks Mike for being such a wonderful husband and father.  We appreciate you always being our Mr. Fix It.

                              The rest of the crew.  My brother in law, Craig with his dad, Glenn.

Church camp, round 2

Today Nick had all day church camp!  He loved it.  I took this picture of him after he got home.  His shirt says "God is Good."  And what you can't see from this picture is the blue of his shirt makes his eyes a piercing blue color - just beautiful!  Nick is dog tired these days.  He's had a lot going on.  He was a bear this morning to get out of bed so I was a little worried about camp today but he loved it!  I knew it would turn out okay when we showed up and Nick noticed his entire small group was all boys and his group leader was a male......Nick's response, "Sweet, my group is all boys."  And he was off, not even a wave goodbye.

No name blog

 Don't you just love my title today?  Ha!  This blog post is a random one.  The boys and I started cleaning up the paddle boat last night.  It's been "out of commission" for years - mostly because we didn't have a good way to transport it to the lake.  Now we have the four wheeler and we want to start using it again.  You can imagine how disgusting it was cleaning it after years of not being used.  Jay found a slug and threw it on me.....Oh the joys of boys!  I freaked out which Jay said was priceless.  We shared a few good laughs and I realized we really do know how to laugh at ourselves.  Nick joked several times we were the three bozo's cleaning a boat and we really were - tripping over each other, laughing, spraying each other with the hose.  But hey, we got the job done!

This week I had the pleasure of taking these four boys to basketball camp.  They made me laugh everyday and I so enjoyed them!  I pray these boys keep their ties as friends as they enter middle school.

I try

My mom and I often joke that on our headstones we want them to say........"I tried."  And boy did we!  Last night I was taking a walk with Nick when he started telling me about all the talents he, his dad and Jay all have.  When it became clear that he wasn't going to name one of my many talents (snicker, snicker) I asked Nick if I had any talents.  His response was, "Well sure mom you have talents."  I asked him what they were.  There was a long pause while Nick pondered my question.  Every second that went by I was wondering if it was really that hard for my 7 year old to think of a talent his mother had.  Finally Nick announced, "Mom, your talent is you are really good at trying!"  Truly this amounts a lot in my book.  When I have finished this long journey of parenting (is it really ever finished?) if my boys can say to each other that I gave it my all and I tried then I will be pleased with myself because really none of us are perfect.  In all honesty if they could say I loved Jesus, loved their father and loved them then by golly I will call this parenting journey a success!
On another note Jay asked me why I have "a whole bunch of parenting" books on my bookshelf - including books entitled, "Real Boys and Raising Boys."  Jay and his 11 year old self asked me, "Why do you have all these book about boys?"  Seriously Jay, really!  Then he proceeds to say to me (and I quote), "I don't know why you read all these mom books.  You are already a good mom and by reading all these books you are wasting about 10% of your time when you could be doing something else."  I just love the pre-teen years!  They are so "fun."  But gosh darnit I'll keeping trying.

Our busy day

 Today was one of those days that I went from sun up to sun down - literally.  I started my day at 4:30.  I worked for a good two hours then got Nick ready for basketball camp - hence the picture above.  Nick and Jay have basketball camp this week, just at different times which makes it a little more challenging but we got the job done.  Both boys really enjoyed the camp.  Nick spent the rest of his day with Aunt Mimi and Jay with his friend, Aaron.  Both boys are sun kissed tonight and sleepy - a good sign that the day was full and fun.

Mike was busy too (as usual).  He and the boys carried Jay's very heavy bed to his room and got it all set up.  Isn't it awesome?  I love it and so does Jay.  The only problem........Copper can't jump up on the bed without help.

Jay being Jay

 I hit publish on my last blog and forgot to include these pictures - Duh.  These pics made me laugh so I wanted to include them.

The official start of summer......for the Siebert boys anyway

 Today we went out on the boat with Mike's parents.  For my boys this is the official start of summer for them.  Next on their list - going RVing.  I feel like it rained the entire month of May.  Today was the first nice Saturday in weeks, kid you not.  We took full advantage of it and enjoyed the water and the boat.  I took the picture above of Jay and his grandma as he is almost her height now - crazy!

                                                              Jay driving the boat.

                                                               Nick and grandpa.

 Nick finally decided this was the summer he would tube.  Every summer he declines and says, "Maybe next summer," which is odd because Nick is fearless.  He'll try just about anything.  Nick tubed today and he loved it.  We couldn't get him out of the tube.  Go figure.

For Jay's 11th birthday in January Mike and I got him a water board.  Even this old momma tried it and it's hard.  I never had a chance to get out of the water on that thing but Jay tried it and he almost had it but not quite.  We both decided we would watch some you tube videos on how to water board.

Welcome home Jay

 Jay returned from church camp last night and boy did he have fun!  He talked and talked about it - so much so that Jenny commented it was the most she had ever heard Jay talk.  Ha.  Of course Mike and I joked that now he probably won't talk for a week.  Jay said he loved everything about it.  His only complaint was he wished activities and camp itself was longer.  He said the beds were uncomfortable too.  I would say if those were his only two complaints then church camp was officially a success!  I was so pleased because Jay met some boys and yes, even learned some things about the bible - Mission accomplished.  Of note, however, is when we picked Jay up last night he commented that I didn't pack his toothbrush or soap which of course I did.  Jay probably looked once (and not very well I might add) and thought they weren't there so yes friends the boy didn't brush his teeth for 3 days!  He showered but never used soap.  Oh boy!  Needless to say his teeth got a good brushing last night and his body got a good washing!

Jay, Curtis and one of their camp leaders.  I'm still beaming today knowing how much fun Jay had.  He met new friends, hung out with Curtis and started his journey with God.

Wedding and Graduation parties

 What a whirlwind weekend we had but I welcomed it after the very rainy and very long weekend we had last weekend.  Nothing changed this weekend in terms of the rain.........it has been raining here constantly.  My mom read somewhere that they think this will be the wettest spring on record - ever!  Anyway, we had Katie Meyer's wedding last night.  Don't we look like quite a crew?  Check out Jay's face above.

 I love this picture.  Aunt Mimi is trying to have a serious conversation with her nephew and Nick is just staring off the other way.  Poor Mimi.

                                                Now he's showing Aunt Mimi some love!

 We had two graduation parties this weekend - Maggie and Garrett's.  I've known Garrett since he was in elementary school - hard to believe he's graduated high school and is heading to college in the fall.  Nick made paintings for Maggie and Garrett.  He painted like VanGough on Memorial Day.  It rained buckets (surprise, surprise) that day so Nick painted!  It was sweet.

 Jay headed off to church camp today.  He was excited and so ready for a little independence.  I was elated he was going.  I was forced to go to church camp when I was about Jay's age and I was so angry with my mom but it was one of the (many) best things she ever did for me.  I loved church camp and church camp was where I truly started my walk with Jesus.  Of course I am praying Jay's experience mirrors mine.

 Another added bonus of Jay going to church camp........separation of brothers!  The boys fighting had reached a whole new level the last few days.  The separation for a few days will be good for both of them.

                                                         And here's Nick just being Nick.

 I know I sound like a broken record in my blog when I say we are so blessed to have the Ausili's as our dear friends.  Jay and Curtis were headed off to church camp together!  Aren't they the cutest?

                                                             Nick and his girl Jenny.

Nick and Miss Christy (she is Garrett's mom.  This was taken at Garrett's party).  As little as 5 years ago Christy was the be all and end all in Nick's world.  She was his day care provider until he was 3 and she was wonderful.  We miss her.