Massive Picture Update

Well, I was chastised today for so many entries without pictures, so here are lots of pictures! First is today at the Dallas Arboretum. We went there for a visiting teaching visit. Notice Ben's outfit, remember we live in Texas, and the date is July 2nd! The child loves his jeans, the white snap shirt, and his cowboy clothes! He ran around for a good 2 hours dressed this way with NO complaining (at least not about his clothes :)) The kids love the pioneer houses and Annie went to milk the cow about every 3 minutes.
I just love this picture because she is being a bit silly. She would smile for the camera, but she couldn't keep her eyes on me because there is just so much to look at!
This is her jar to get the milk from the cow (she would just put a little bit of the dirt from the ground into the container).
All frontier men must be able to plow the fields!

Sweaty Ben getting water to cook with. You need to click on this picture to enlarge it and really look at his face!
Emily just loves tagging along with the other kids and following them. Ben has been GREAT lately about always letting the girls play with him. He and Annie have a blast most of the time together and will usually let Emily play "Mom and Dad" as the baby sister or the dog. She really likes to be the dog best!
Here is our fire pit. There was a bunch of grass in there and some twigs that Andy wanted to get rid of, so Saturday morning he and the kids had our first fire!!! (No, Ben is not wearing jeans, and yes, those are winter pants with a cotton lining inside of them so one would stay warm.)

Here is my growing garden. Something deceitful and mean had taken ALL of my tomatoes! One huge red one was eaten all the way through just leaving a ring for the outer edges. All the green ones at the time had teeth marks in them. I'm ready for Andy to bring out the squirrel traps! Our corn is doing great and most stalks have ears, so we'll have to wait and see what else that brings. Our squash plant is growing like crazy with TONS of flowers, but no fruit yet! Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!


Lately Ben has been a great big brother! He and Annie were sick a few weeks ago, so Grandma retaught him the primary lesson that he missed in church - about being a peacemaker. We've since had several tension-reducing moments in our house using the 'p' word! Here is his other cowboy outfit that he wore last week. However, the chaps have split down the front, so I need to figure out how to sew through leather...

Here he put Emily in the swing and pushed her. Then they did the swings together. He would jump off his swing to push her and then continue back on his swing until Emily needed him again. It was honestly the sweetest thing... what a fabulous big brother!
This was our neighborhood parade last Saturday. I am soooooo sad that I had to miss it! Andy invited the Stowells to watch with him, since they were also mom-less. This is Ben's 'best friend.' Although they look a bit too cozy for me...