Sunflowers

We planted sunflowers in our garden for the first time this year... almost by accident.  I meant to buy smaller flowers for a different area in our yard, but accidently grabbed these six-foot tall beauties.  

No matter, we planted them anyway, and they've done well.  The dark red/burnt orange color is so pretty,

and Penny is thankful for all the bees they attract, which help the vegetables grow too!  Guess we've found a new regular item for our garden.

The real deal

Our kids love checking out large machinery - what kid doesn't??

Well, the other weekend, they got to help use a real tractor for the first time!

Mr. Ben was doing some work at the youth house, so Penny went over to help, and the kids went over to watch.

Before long watching turned into "helping," and the kids were so excited.

Look at that pose Cole is giving - like he's just conquered the world with the tractor!

Thanks, Ben, for providing my kids with a special opportunity.

Photo shoot

We have a big frame on our wall with 9 spots for photos - different sizes and orientations included.  I filled the frame for the first and last time over 5 years ago!  It includes pictures of Penny, Laine, and me, and that's it.  Needless to say, we are way overdue for some new pictures on our wall!

A friend and I met at the park and starting taking pictures of the kids.  They are ornery little things, and don't love smiling for strangers, so we had to keep this photo shoot very low profile and fun.

We took over 360 pictures (!!), and managed to find the 9 photos that I needed.

A few individual shots of each kid,

This was the only group shot we got - a bit goofy, but it shows their personalities.

Cole in particular was not in the mood to be in a picture with his sisters.  We tricked him on this one!

We moved to the playground and got some better pictures that way.

I think almost every good picture of Cole includes him holding a ball - it's guaranteed to produce a smile.

The girls enjoyed playing on this rolling slide thing - gave us some nice pictures too!

Back to School!

The girls completed their first week of school - Laine is in first grade, and Mead is in junior kindergarten.

Laine is so excited to be staying all day for the first time this year.

And Mead goes every afternoon, so she and Cole have some time together in the morning.

Cole didn't want to be left out of the pictures on the way to school.  He misses his sisters while they're gone, but he also naps, so by the time he wakes up they're home!

Mead and Mary are in class again together this year - such a fun friendship.

Creation Station

One of the places we visited this summer is Creation Station at the Museum of Transportation.

I took Mead and Cole one morning while Laine was at art camp, and they had a blast!

They were both in train heaven.

We also went to Grant's Farm that week, always a fun adventure.

They love carousels, despite the look on Cole's face.

A little of this and that

What have we been up to lately?

Cole and Campbell were surprised to see this giant cow sitting in the church parking lot one day.  It was being pulled across the country, headed to a county fair in Montana, and it stopped here to be passed off to the next driver.

We started potty training Cole this week.  Not instant success, but we're slowly making progress.

Our garden is going gangbusters!  Tons of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, and bell peppers.  Yum!

St. Louis Zoo

The kids love going to the zoo, and the fact that it is free means that we can go fairly regularly!

We have a few favorite spots we like to visit, like the children's zoo area.  This is a new fish tank filled with jelly fish - they look so cool reflecting the light.

On our most recent visit we bumped into friends...

And got to enjoy a train ride together!