Kevin and Alison

Happy Birthday Uncle Bill! The last two years, we've been with Bill on his birthday: This year, our family vacation isn't at the end of June, so we don't get to wish him Happy Birthday in person. So, Bill: It's the next best thing - a blog post ;) We hope you have a great day! Bill and Chloe (on her birthday) Bill and Chloe (in September) Supporting the Key Club on Memorial Day You are a great encourager, funny, and one smart guy ~ Love You! Bill ~ always a scientist

A while back, I posted about Kevin putting in two raised-bed gardens in our back yard. I thought I'd update on the progress of our vegetables. If I were like Heather , I'd have a special name for this (Like "The Home List") but....Gardening will have to do :) I'll be posting soon about another "Home List" type thing I've done this summer. Here are our plants: Lettuce Tomatoes Broccoli Peas (they grow fast and these three pictures show how the flower turns into the pod) Carrots We also have Zucchini (because we all know how much Kevin loves it!), Peppers, and Cucumber; but my pictures of those didn't turn out so great because I took them at dusk last night. We had a salad last night with the lettuce and peas from the garden....it was great! :) And, most of you come for pictures of Chloe....So, here is the most recent! Miss "Too Cool" Chloe and Kevin Catching up on some reading Splashing in cool water Happy as can be!

That's the high for today - 88 degrees. What do you do when it's that hot? I dream of having air conditioning. This afternoon I made a "water play area" in the backyard for Chloe. I also participated: It's amazing how a bucket of ice-cold water can make 88 degrees feel a bit cooler :) I think Chloe had a good time too:

Over the weekend we had lots of birthdays in our family: Grandma S.' birthday ~ although you can't see her face in this picture, I love that Chloe is smiling at her. It just shows you how much Chloe loves her! Mimi's birthday ~ in this picture, I think Mimi was singing a song, or something, and Chloe was loving every minute of it :) Mommom's 80th birthday was on Monday, but on Sunday we had a family get together to celebrate this momentous number! My uncle deep fried a turkey (for those of you who have never had this, you are really missing out! It's great!). Here is the before: Going into the fryer: After! Look at that delicious bird! Here are all the girls (Michelle, Laura, Mommom, Chloe, Alison, Grandma B.) Chloe had a great time! Here she is hanging out with her Aunts: Grandpa B. was showing her how the pinwheel works: She was a happy girl all afternoon! We are thankful for all these wonderful women that Chloe has in her life ~ great examples of Christian w

Chloe's fever did in fact turn out to be roseola. After three days of running a high temperature, she developed a rash and now she's back to normal. Here are three pictures, taken three days in a row, of Chloe: Wednesday Thursday Friday By Saturday the rash was pretty much gone, except a few little red bumps on her arms. We are thankful that she wasn't in any pain ~ it looks worse than it was (evidenced by her smiles!).

Happy Father's Day to Kevin! You are a wonderful dad ~ the perfect one for Chloe! She loves you and I do too! Also, Happy Father's Day to our Dads ~ you both make terrific grandfathers! (These pictures are from a while ago, but the best ones of the Dads ;) ) We love you!

It feels like Summertime is officially here - with the nice weather we've been having, and our weekend activities - even if it doesn't start until next week. Friday included one of Chloe's favorite activities: Watching Dad cut the grass! Saturday we went to a local State park and had a cookout with some friends of Kevin's from work. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, watermelon - all "cookout classics". We also visited a scrapbooking store on our way back - tons of fun for me! Kevin entertained Chloe going up and down each aisle. She might be a future scrapbooker! Since we had so much fun on Saturday, we went to another picnic on Sunday! This time we enjoyed pulled pork bbq with some church friends. With so much fun happening on the weekend, Chloe waited until Monday to come down with a fever. After her temperature rose to 102.4 on Monday afternoon the doctor told me to come in so we could get her checked out. He couldn't find anything wrong,

Baby Chloe is getting closer and closer to being Toddler Chloe. She likes to be on the move - either in the stroller, 'walking' with someone, rolling, scooting....It's getting harder to get a good picture of her ~ but usually I can get a good one eventually :) She is curious about new people and places ~ usually giving new faces a very serious look before flashing a smile and waving hello. She charms people everywhere we go ~ I think it's made me more friendly too! :) Chloe loves to be outside watching cars go by, pointing at birds, waving to anything that moves. She likes the grass now and tries to pluck blades out of the ground. She also likes to dig around in the dirt for rocks, and we're learning (slowly) that rocks are not for eating. She has a stubborn streak but is still sensitive to a stern "no". We've come a long way in high-chair manners and not eating books :) She claps when she really likes something or when we clap for her. She wi