4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July! Shaun had bike duty from noon to 9pm that night. The parade started at 1pm and then we went to the Brooker's house to cool off in their pool and cookout. The boys had a blast on a waterslide they had set up. Here are a few pics from the day...

Shaun working hard (...he really did work hard not long after this pic was taken)...


Great-Grandpa on Engine 3














Video of Garrett going down the slip'n slide


One more video...

Mission Supermom : FAIL

Tried to be a super-mom today. Dragged 5 hot sweaty kids to target for a new sprinkler and small blow up pool. Got home all excited to find out the nozzle is missing from our blower-up-thingy (air compressor might be it's real name)...and the sprinkler "sprinkles" all the way to INTO the neighbor's house/car.

Mission Super-mom : FAIL.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the 90 heat and high humidity of summer. I do. Especially when neither your car or your house has AC.

A hard day of work (and play!!)...

The work day begins...I cast on a few stitches and thought to myself...what a hard life this is...




After lunch...


One more before we left...


and a few scenery pics...










and my favorite pic of the day...Garrett dancing on a smooshed sand castle...

My favorite view...

A Durango full of boys.
Blessed beyond our wildest dreams.

Beach Night with the Riley's

We bought a State Park season pass and are getting our money's worth out of it. Having two beatiful beaches near by helps. We've visited Reid twice so far...here is a few pics from our second visit.

Declan






Garrett and Shaun




Ben


Billy


Logan


Logan, Billy and Ben


4 of the 5...

Recent Knits...

Here are a few of the projects I've finished while I was slacking on the blogging end....

Scrappy "Mosaic Moon" Scrappy shorts for a friend...


Spring Rainbow Soaker


Custom Soaker


Storybook Ending Soaker




Sour Berries Soaker (dyed by me) and Woodland In Spring Soaker

Trying...

I'm trying to get back into the blogging groove. So much is going on it's hard to get on here to blog about it all but I'm making it a priority to try. This is such an exciting time in our lives and I really want to have this blog to look back on.

For starters...today was the last day of school for Logan and Billy. Logan is now an official 6th grader...Billy's a 2nd grader. They both had great report cards to share with us and each got an award at the end of the semester. Logan got the Strong Effort award...Billy the Care and Concern award.

My business is flourishing. I'm starting to get more custom orders then I can handle which is a nice change. Stocking at Bitty Fluff has also been going well. A huge thank you to my customers. And a special shout out to the repeat buyers. To see a familiar name in the "buyer" section makes my day.

Speaking of fourihing business...I'm starting to get serious with my wool dying adventure. I placed an order for tags so I can start selling my dyed wools.

Sadly this post was started 6/17....and I'm just now able to get back to finish it and post it.

I also will have another huge update hopefully soon. Gotta get a few pieces of paper filed first and then I can spill the beans.

Brothers

Worm Watching

Today they watched a worm in a similar manner as they watched the BWD....

I owe the BWD babysitting money.....

Updates on the Riley Boys

We're doing well!! So grateful to have our health and each other. Being a family of seven is amazing and exhausting.

Declan Finn (Deckie) is doing wonderful! He's four months old and weighs in at 18lbs. He's quickly outgrowing his 6-9 month outfits and fitting well in the 12 month ones. His strength and joyfulness makes my heart melt. Watching his brothers with him is soooo sweet. They love him so much and accepted him into our family without hesitation. Although he's only been with us for four months...it seems like he's always been a part of our family.

Garrett is such a funny guy!! His personality shows more every day. He's been moved into the spare bedroom and will be sharing a room with Declan as soon as we figure out what to do with the rest of the junk in there.

Ben is FOUR!! But if you ask him...he's 7. Our wonderful neighbor has a nicer word for him than "trouble maker/finder" so I'll use that to describe him. Precocious. Ben is precocious. And fully potty trained!! *WOOHOO!!!!*

Billy is loving first grade. He is still Logan's shadow despite now being roommates with Ben. When we asked him if Ben sharing a room with him would be ok he announced "I'm going to be sharing a room with my worst enemy?!?!". Despite that announcement it has gone smoothly. I bought him some bright green sheets (his favorite color) and we will be doing his side of the room in Star Wars.

Logan is amazing! His big heart continues to melt mine. His deepening voice makes me feel old. He now has his own bedroom for the first time in seven years and so far he loves it. Although his goal was peace and quiet...his room has become the hangout. If Garrett goes missing...he can be found hanging out with Logie.

It happened again!!!

Just living life gets in the way of blogging.
I'll be back with a round of updates later today.
<3

The Rump Shaker starring Billy

MOV05756, originally uploaded by Laurel Love.

Billy's teacher video taped this of him during music class.
He dances just like his mama...always shaking his groove thang. <3

Finn - 2 months 2 weeks 4 days

Ben's on two wheels....

Mama & Finn

Knitting Update - Week of 3/14

Got a bit of knitting done, not bad for such a sucky week.

Owl Love You Sack - 75% done, hope to finish this up asap...not sure why it's taking me so long
Ellyll soaker for Bitty Fluff - done
Gaia II soaker for Bitty Fluff - went with a scrappy soaker instead
Mosiac Moon Scrappy soaker for Bitty Fluff - done
Item for Fundraiser 1 - soaker casting on today
Bunny Hat - casting on after Fundraiser 1 item
Laurel Love Cocoon - 10% done
Woodland in Spring Hat for Finn
Woodland Tale Sweater for Finn
Copper Patina Soaker Finn
Double Chocolate Lollipop Soaker for Finn
Guppy Longies for Finn
Blanket for Shaun
Dragons Lair shorties for Garrett
Mosaic Moon Cestari Srappy shorties for Garrett
Woodland In Spring shorties for Garrett
Woodland In Spring shorties for Finn

Mosiac Moon Scrappy soaker for Bitty Fluff




Ellyll soaker for Bitty Fluff


Owl Love You Sack preview