BLUE RIBBON ZUCCHINI BABY!

would you look at this thing? no, this picture doesn't really do it justice. let's see...

yep. check that sucker out. hallie took to rocking it like a baby.

and burping it.

all the while sporting some serious post-bath-didn't-dried-before-she-brushed-it hair.

this thing is a beast. a beast, i say! i can't decide what to do with it. bread? relish? fritters?

maybe put it to sleep with a bottle and a pat on the rump?

SUMMER VACAY.

packed and ready. three bags full of...i have no idea.

don't know, don't care.

 i told her to make sure she had six pairs of underwear and her swimming suits.

the rest is up to her.

we are headed to the lake of the ozarks after a brief stop at the farm for some horse-back riding and dinner with some fam. love my fam.

have a happy fourth!

NO MORE TBALL OR SWIM LESSONS. NOW SUMMER CAN START.

see also: eating on the front porch.

hallie's tball wrapped up last week and boy howdy was it hot. my mom and her hubby drove in from missouri to watch the game. it was sooooo hot and they stuck it out - even moved into the sun because they couldn't see well from the shade! yikes.

i  got to play helper-coach on the field since dave was gone. it was fun, but it was more fun hitting up the frozen penguin after for some fro-yo :) yum.

we also had one last swim lesson this last week and we are done now until august. yippee!

let the summer laziness begin!

I GET FRIDAYS OFF AND WE EAT FOOD ON THE PORCH.

like literally, on the porch.

i'm serious.

we get fridays off in the summer and it has saved my soul.

there is nothing better than waking up on saturday and realizing you still have two full days of weekend. i'm grateful that TPTB recognized what a beautiful thing that is and lets us do it summer after summer.

i am so tired this morning i can barely type. my goal was to put more words and less pictures or whatever today and that won't happen unless i keep rambling.

sarah, i know you're reading and you must know that i miss you terribly. will you come for a visit? because i don't think i can come to chicago now (sad face). don't hate me.

coffee.

ASHLAND COMMUNITY DAYS CELEBRATION THING OR BBQ?

i am honestly not sure what it's called. but we went and rode ponies and listened to  music and bought friendship bracelets.

and then hallie complained about being freezing cold the whole way home - and was burning up with fever later that night. awesome.

THE PLAGUE AKA STREP.

oh my good-night-NURSE. what a weekend.

what a weekend. sick kids are the worst!

henry ran a high fever wednesday, so i hightailed him to prompt care. he had an ear infection and strep throat. who knew a one-year-old could get strep throat? well, now we know.

and here's a little tip about henry. he hates medicine. he also won't drink from a sippy cup and won't really drink anything other than milk, period.

unfortunately, i had to give him a large dose of antibiotics each morning, plus motrin AND tylenol to try to get his fever down. it was the most frustrating thing i have ever done. and i mean that. to not be able to make your child feel better because he WON'T TAKE THE MEDICINE HE NEEDS is THE most frustrating thing in the entire world. i may or may not have cried once when he puked his tylenol back up the third time.

he was miserable and it was awful, but it's better now. we have discovered the key to the universe.

baby einstein.

no joke, this was our life saver. henry doesn't watch tv - doesn't seem to care one lick about it. but baby einstein, ho ho! you put that on and wheeeee, the best distraction ever. loves it.

now, if baby einstein could cure his constipation i would love it forever and ever, amen.

oh yeah, and then hallie got strep too.

poor baby had high, high fevers that we couldn't get to go down without a cool bath. she was a trouper. she is a very good patient, but i forgot to have her augmentin flavored, so there's that. not a good move, apparently it tastes like vomit.

anyway, stay away from the mason household. we are breeding bacteria 'round here. good times.

OH!

OH!

OH!

guess who took his first steps yesterday????????????

this guy!

STUD. MUFFIN.

GIRL, YOU MAKE MY SPEAKERS GO BOOM BOOM.

i really hate that one lyric of the song. but i looooove that song. and the "you got your hands up, you're rockin' in my truck. you've got the radio on, you're singing every song." you know that one? it's soooo good.

anyway, i got to see luke bryan perform at the sangamon county fair and he was fantastic.

and then hallie and i went back on saturday night to see josh turner and it was cancelled due to weather. suck-o. but, we still rode some rides with dave, see the opener (casey james) and hung out on the bus. good times.

it's nice when dave is doing fairs like this, close to home. we get to hang out with him and see some fun shows backstage too.

this is not dave, but pretend that it is. it's jeremy.



because this is what all of dave's pictures look like.



casey james

secrets.

SCIENCE CAMP.

we signed hallie up for science camp this summer - day time, five days, easy.

and thank goodness we did because she loved it.

i got to go to the "inventor's showcase" on the last day and see what she had been working on all week. it was pretty stinkin' cool.

okay, let me explain the pictures a bit. the first is of "magnetropolois" a city that they created by the up-cycled items we sent on their first day. it was huge. this was just hallie's little piece of the city.

then there is a tape man she made and stuck on the wall.

and then she kept holding up "c for camp, mom!" which then got closer and closer to her ear, so then it looks like she can't hear me.

there's the back, which is a robot...so then she started DOING the robot and i lost it - laughed so, so hard. and then they made this balloon bursting machine...that actually worked.

it was awesome.

MAH GARDEN. YEAH BUDDY.

sweet corn, zucchini, cucumber, basil and a beast of a sunflower.



zucchini (with a blossom!)



Cukes!

my teeny tomatoes. remind me next year to buy them bigger. i bought the smallest and won't have tomatoes until sometime next year.



lettuce! romaine! remind me to plant lettuce every summer for the rest of my life. also, who needs lettuce?



again, the beast. hallie brought home a planted seed from kindergarten and this is what is has become. holy smokes.

it was a slooooow start for my garden this year. i planted late and the soil was already so warm, so things like my FOUR ROWS OF SPINACH never even came up. my tomatoes took forever to grow, my bell peppers are still...working on it. and last minute i decided to plant sweet corn.

but things are finally, FINALLY looking good. except for my strawberries, and what is up with that? i think i am going to transplant them back into rows (they are currently willy nilly) to make for easier weeding and also will straw the crap out of them this winter.

note for next year: lettuce, yes. plant spinach early. sweet corn, yes. peppers, no. tomatoes, cherry only and buy bigger plants. zukes and cukes, yes.