Grammy Bryant Stopped by.

Grammy Bryant came over before she went to Florida to be with Jessica (Lee's sister). She just had a baby boy a few weeks ago? (what day is it?) Jessica also has 2 girls Natalie and Ashtin. Anyhow, I take care of Janean when Patty goes someplace like Florida. The last time I took care of Janean, we had just moved into the house, it was Christmas night, and Derick and Whitney were getting married. That was for 5-6 days, Janean will be with us for 8 days this time.

Janean is pretty good when she is here. I got a picture of her at the dinner table. Janean is #2 in the line of 9 kids. Lee is #1, and plays up the big brother part. He picks on Janean and "eggs" her on-especially at the dinner table. It's close to IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent picture of her, but I did.

I've been trying to keep her busy with outings here and there. I took her to get her bangs trimmed-that was an adventure in itself.

Lee, eating his favorite summertime thing-cherries. Acting all innocent, like nothing's going on . A few seconds before, he got Janean to snort like a pig, and she drank a tall glass of water all at once. He usually says "breathe Janean, BREATHE!".

1st Day of Summer Break-Downtown Seattle!

My friend Aimee drove over last week from far, far, away (Walla Walla) to Seattle with her kids Jess and Connor. She got her hair done that morning and I took the kids and ventured out to D-Town Seattle for 3 hours. It had been a while since we had seen them and they really grew up this past year (Aimee was saying the same thing about Mac and Mason). We were heading our way to Gameworks, but it was closed until 11:00-noon. So we went to the Convention Center, and a couple of Malls.

Jess is now taller than Mac (they are 7 months apart, he being older). Mac has always been so much bigger than her. Hanging out with them is like being with cousins. For some reason, it doesn't look like she is taller than he is.

This is the 4 of them, in front of some artwork inside the Convention Center. This was a poem that was printed on license plates. It was cooler in person.

This is LUSH, a really cool bath potions store at Westlake Mall in D-Town. This is a sampling of thier soaps. They also had lotion in a bar form (like bar soap) that you apply on your skin and it melts slowly and lotions you. Jess and I LOVED this store...the boys, not so much. So they stayed outside the door until we were done.

Jess looking at the "bath bomb/fountain" things. I had to buy some things there, and Lee saw the LUSH bag and said "You didn't go to LUSH did you?" Hello!! There is a bag there on the kitchen counter! The company he works for built that store, and Lee had to go there to finish some stuff there before it opened a year or so ago. I was shocked he even knew about it.

The kids, running through the big fountain across the street from Westlake. They got a little wet.

The Boys....before we went into the Mall where "nothing interested them".

A piece of art, that was made out of old wooden floor boards. I was looking at it and thought to myself that Lee could make that in less than an hour. This was at the Convention Center...I liked it and is something that I would hang on my wall in my house.

We ventured to the Waterfront (we walked there from 6th Ave). We waited after Aimee was done with her hair appointment. I'm so glad I waited. We ate at Ivars on the Pier, and then took the never ending stairs up to Pike Place Market. I had to take a pick of the crabs. I love crab. We had a great day with our friends, and wish we had more time with them. We wore the kids out, which was good. What a great way to start out our summer vacation!

Catching Up!

I honestly can't believe a month has flown by......and I'm behind on my blogging. The honest truth-it takes a while to download/upload pics for the blog. My patience isn't what it used to be a year ago. When I started blogging I thought this was a good way for our family members (mostly aunts and uncles that live on the east coast) to keep track of us. And...my Dad likes to read this blog too. My goal: to get my Dad blogging by the end of the summer. If I can convince him to get on facebook, I can get him blogging. I think it will be a challenge, but one that I'm willing to take on.

Some of my time was spending with Mac....getting him to do his homework. His grades were sliding...and I found this out through Skyward, a website the school uses to post grades. He has developed "test anxiety", something I really struggled with when I was his age, something my Dad and I think my Mom struggled with when they were in School (over 40 something years ago). I have never shared my test anxiety issues with Mac in fear that he would use it as an excuse to slack off. We will be working and addressing this issue over the summer. He's become a great kid. He is going to be busy working on Merit Badges for Scouts, Boy Scout Camp, other family camping trips, and Football that starts in August.

This is just random....Lee made this arched doorway-in our Family Room. It was still pretty cold outside and he couldn't make it in the garage. It's custom made, out of Fir. There is a piece of "art glass" that is being custom made for this-he's not making the glass of course. He did this for a client on Whidbey Island at a beach house. Pretty darn cool. Now if only I can get him to work on our house. Actually, that will be soon enough. We are discussing plans for our main floor. I use the word "discuss" loosely. I will just say...he has a VERY strong opinion of my Kitchen, and is arguing why I need more counter space. And I ask him- "why do you need a 2 car garage full of tools and stuff"? I would actually like to tear a big wall down. This topic-is another post all of it's own. Lee is done remodeling a bank and is now working regular hours. It really sucked that he was working at night. It's really nice to have him home in the evenings now.

Mr. Mason....my now 1st grader. He made it out of Kindergarten alive. Now we have to talk about going to school all day. This makes me a little nervous of course. I get concerned about if he's going to eat there or not. He will eat lunch at school, I just don't know if he's going to eat 1/2 a sandwich and then throw EVERYTHING else away. Mason is going to take swimming lessons this summer. We had some really nice hot weather earlier this month, and he voluntarily puts on sunscreen. And wears his hat. He doesn't want to get sunburned. He loves to be outside. LOVES IT.

This is my Dad with Mason. This was taken on June 11th, on my birthday. I share my birthday with his lovely wife, Audrey. She is my step-mom, and I really hate using the term "step" because it sounds so ugly. She's my other mom. Anyways, we went out to lunch together with her daughter Teresa and oldest granddaughter, Alexandra. I don't have any pics of the lunch (forgot my camera)-and, she doesn't like her picture posted all over the internet (sounds familar). My Dad was sweet enough to babysit Mason so I could go out to lunch with just the girls (thanks Dad!). Mason was really excited that Papa was going to babysit him. Just before I took this picture Mason told Papa "Now, look straight at the camera Papa", and my Dad told him "well if it's a good picture, maybe she will put it on her blog". So...here it is. And...this is why my Dad needs to start a blog. I really enjoy living fairly close to my Dad (about 20 minutes away). I think he likes it too, especially when I come over with freshly baked cookies.