our friends were over to visit this morning.  

we were starting to get a little stir crazy, 

and the sun was shining SO... we decided to head outside.

after tromping through the field, 

a few rounds on the swing,

and kicks of the ball, 

jace convinced me to let them drive

... the gator.

jace took his usual seat in the driving position (such a "guy")

and they were off... all four of them!

they attempted a tour of the beanfield... 

after being high-centered on a ridge,

they opted to stay on the beaten path

such a nice day for a drive

turning them loose... watch out pedestrians!

now it's her turn.  a little driving lesson from jace before she takes off.

(i LOVE how he has his arm around her... they look like an old married couple) 

ok.  here's where it got interesting!

i'm telling you... i was laughing so hard that i was

crying by the time this was over!

and for the record...

i LOVE this little girl like she is my own!

love her to pieces...

i'm sure she'll be a wonderful driver...

someday.  ;)

miss. elli asked to drive.

jace argued for a bit...

and then gave in and let her.

after driving over a camping chair 

skillfully driving under the monkey bars

and then...

driving through her mom's landscaping,

(where she said, "oops!  mommy's flowers!")

...she ended up in the following predicament

i'm pretty sure she's "gunning" it here

the first time, jace said, "that's ok elli, try it like this"

(and backed her out and turned the wheel) the second time... neither of them were very gracious!

(a little too much like adults?)

a little more driving

 

and then a stop for "pinecone pizza"

for the love of blogging

this morning in church one of our pastors was talking about the need to be educated and intellectual.  he pointed out that a lot of people don't spend enough time reading.  like a good wife, i nudged my husband to make sure he was paying attention.  ;)  he HATES to read (well, except for the cabela's catalogue).  he smiled at me and whispered, "oh, cause you do lot of reading?"  ha!  i quickly responded (on a piece of paper, i'd hate to distract anyone!)... i read plenty... lots of blogs!  he laughed and wrote, blogs=junk


i can totally see why he thinks that (not that he really cares either way).  but there are days when i feel and act gloomy and bummed because i think my life pales in comparison to someone else's life.  or that i've failed in another area because someone seems to have it whipped and i'm not even sure where to start.  is it just me, do other's feel that way?

anywho... i'm not up for writing a long elaborate post but happened to run across this lady's post tonight and it seemed to hit the nail on the head. i love what she has to say!

so... i thought that maybe the 5 girls who read my blog... might take something positive away from it.  enjoy!

and maybe... just maybe... i'll actually get a BOOK out and read.  eh, maybe not.  ;)

a taco picnic

i'm in a mood this week.  just ask my hubby.  a "don't talk to me, slow motion, grumpy about most things, discontented, feelin' like a failure and way frumpy" mood.  for dumb.  i started this post earlier this afternoon and was unable to finish because of two boys who REFUSED to take a nap (which now includes an 18 month old crawling out of his crib... help us all!).  we DO nap time in this house... we ALL do... even mom takes a rest now and then (more often "now" than "then").  AND since my quiet time was rudely interrupted... my mood has gone from kinda irritated to well... flat out torked off!  anywho... now that i've calmed down a bit and the boys are quietly playing tractors and dinosaurs, listening to little einstein's classical music, and eating rice cakes,  i'll try to finish my post.

i've been wanting some fall picts of the boys and what i REALLY wanted was one... just ONE... picture of the two of them together.  seems like those are the hardest pictures for me to get.  they usually have funny smiles, tongues hangin' out, one of them isn't looking or is out of focus.  out of 100 shots there are times where i can't find even one that i love enough to print.  any tips?

when scott came home i told him i wanted to head out and get a few picts of the boys.  he asked if we were going before or after dinner.  "um... dinner?  oh ya, we might need to eat, well, goodness, who's in charge of that anyway?"  so... after running around crazy like for 15 minutes, we took dinner with us.  such an odd combination of events... but... i accomplished my goal!  here are our fall sunset pictures topped off with a taco picnic (i know, whatever works right?!?).