10K and Camping in Tyler

The beautiful
park where the race is held.



































Watching for Dad.

























There he is; Matt ran a 10K in 38:23.














Nathan loved to hold the dog and then let her go.















We camped on Friday night and then went to the Tyler 10K the next morning. We have done this the last three years with the Kratz family. It has been a fun tradtion that we all enjoy. Nathan loved to play with the other kids and really like to tease and rough house with Christine (almost 12 years old). Jared loved the dog, but couldn't quite get the guts to go pet her. He would just stand really close to her and marvel at her beauty, since we have no pets.

Nathan looks exhausted in this picture.

What a great idea mom: to bring their buckets, shovels, and dump trucks.

This is the screen shelter that we slept in. It is nice not to have to take a tent down with needing to get to the race by 8AM. Nathan kept saying that he wanted to go home and sleep in his bed. I love camping, but I can definitely say that I know why not to many moms like to camp. I don't even know if I got any sleep that night. Jared was teething and ran a fever all night. Some of the night I had to just sit up and hold him, so that he would sleep. It was good times, and hopefully next year Jared will sleep better. Nathan did awesome and slept through the entire night.

Mr. Nathan

Skinny dipping in the pool in March.

Already learning how to shave.

Jare Bear

He found the bottle in the trash. This picture is so unsual because he is never still. I never get him to lay down especially when I change his diaper.





















Yummy yummy ice cream. Do you want a bite?





















Swimming in March. It is the boys sand box, but it quickly emptys and then Nathan filled it with water.

This could be one of my all time photos of Jare Bear. He is already for church looking handsome and grown up. I cannot believe that he is 15 months old.

My Beloved Garden

I have cucumbers, tomoato, peas, green beans, volunteer pumpkins, green peppers and basil in the green planters. The cucumbers, peas, green beans and volunteer pumpkins I grew from seed.














In the bigger raised bed it is mainly strawberries that are left over from last years awful heat. It was completely filled with strawberries. I have one volunteer lettuce. Then I planted spinach, carrots, peas, and one pepper plant. I had to try and plant some corn even though I am sure it won't grow big enough to produce ears. It is Nathan's favorite. It is about 4-5 inches tall right now. The boys had so much fun helping me with moving the dirt into the planters, planting, and watering. It was so much fun. It brought back many good memories of being home and helping my family garden. I always looked forward to that time of year. I am just trying to learn what seasons to plant things here and how to keep the bugs away. Gardening has brought me much joy.


















Green beans
and peas.










Raised bed.

School Projects

We built a fire truck out of diaper boxes. Both the boys love fire trucks and are quite talented in making the sound of its siren.

Nathan also really likes volcanoes, so we decided to do paper mache. He wasn't really interested in helping much with the paper mache because he is like his daddy and doesn't like to get his hands dirty. When I was putting on the last few strips, he decided to help. I thought he did a fantastic job of painting and erupting it. It was his idea to put on his safety glasses, which I thought was cute. He is very smart and creative. Both boys always seem to amaze me. Jared likes to eat the finger paint more than actually painting with it.

We bought a birdhouse kit from Wal-Mart and put it together. He was so excited to paint he could hardly wait. He's my little artist.

Boys Must Be Boys

Nathan under his bike fixing it with Jared's "help"






















I think he looks so grown up sitting
at the big boy table.




























Splish Splash they are taking a bath.