And They're off!

For the past few summers Sawyer has had the opportunity and privilege to tag along with my mother on her epic summer road trips to see family. They pack up my mom's rental cars fresh off the Hertz parking lot full of trail mix and bottled water and ride off into the sunset for a few weeks. From Omaha to Wisconsin to Michigan and Chicago~They have a blast!

They started their trip last Saturday morning, so we spent the evening before doing laundry, folding little 'Toy Story' underwear, making sure we packed all the right books, games and stuffed animals. As always we wrote little notes for Sawyer to open everyday while he's gone. It was nice that Bill and our friend Ben helped me out :)

We got them all packed up and ready to go in the wee hours of the rainy morning. They are having a great time so far, probably visiting very playground in the mid west! It's nice that we are able to see each other on the itouch although I can barely keep him on long enough to hear what he's been up to. The first couple of days that he's gone, I am able to get quite a bit done but now after the kids leave at five thirty, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself!

Let's Build A Deck

There is a new tool man in town baby!

Sawyer was all ready to go out and fix the world! He had all his tools on, pant legs rolled up (dorky, but apparently helps you work better...) and his protective eye wear!

He started out by fixing Daddy's 'wheels' because they needed it. Then he headed out to the backyard to help with the building of our new deck. Then he got bored, came in for some dinner, a bath and headed back out to check on the progress.

We had a small deck off of our kitchen that wasn't all that we had hoped for because it wasn't that big and didn't have stairs down to the backyard. Pain. So, Bill, his best friend Ben and Steve tackled their new project: Bill & Carrie's new deck.

Phoebi took her job of overseer very seriously.

After tearing down the old deck and clearing away all the bits and pieces, they rented a huge auger (I think that's what they called it....it was either that or a logger....I'm going to stick with auger.). They dug hue holes for the posts and filled them with concrete. Sawyer helped Ben to carry the 80 lb bags of cement from here to there. They also threw in an old tape measure and a coin for good luck down one of the holes and drowned it in the cement. And of course, Phoebi is keeping her watchful eye on what's going on..

Apparently the tool belt we gave bill for Father's Day was a lot more fun to wear than his normal belt with his tools shoved in. But I'm not sure if you've got the proper steel toed foot wear there Sawyer.....not sure if you're safe to be on the job sight in your jammies and flip flops...

Then it was time for good night hugs*

Yes You Can.

There are a lot of things that Bill and I want for our kids. Things to embrace, things to avoid, things to strive for. One of those things is to always do your best and never be a quitter. You don't have to be the best at everything, but we want you to try as hard as you can and not give up because you think it's too hard. Sawyer is a quitter. Yup, I said it. From freaking out about trying new foods, to riding his bike, to letting the dentist look in his mouth, there are things that seem just too hard and Sawyer's plan of action thus far has been: It's too hard, I can't do it. I know he's four and some of you are probably thinking, "He's only FOUR!" but habits and mind sets that start early, root and run deep, could develop into a lifelong pattern. A pattern of quitting is not going to fly in this family :)

We took the kids to the park last week because it was gorgeous out. Little did we know this would end up being one of those memories that Bill, Sawyer and I will have forever. The monkey bars have always been this looming piece of equipment that lures him over every trip to the park. They are high and scary but the big kids do it and he wants to swing along those bars so badly, it's written all over his face. But every time he tries to make it across, he swings onto the first wrung, freaks out, drops down and that's that. Bill and I realized that there had to be a point when we pushed him to get over this quitters hump. Friday was that day.

Over the next forty five minutes there were tears, wailing sobs, snotty nose wipes, dramatic flopping down into the sand, drink breaks, pep talks and dozens of, "I can't do it! It's too hard!" It wasn't too hard. It really wasn't. I don't want you to think we were asking him to do something that was really too hard. We were asking him to try and not give up. Believe that he could do it. We must have hoisted him up onto that thing over fifty times. Now, I consider myself to be more patient than Bill normally. But that day, Bill get's the shiny-gold-Daddy-of-the-year award. He was such a calm, encouraging constant motivator for Sawyer.

All the way across one time. That's all we wanted. We knew he was capable of doing it. Sawyer needed to stop saying I can't and just do it. Guess what? He did it. All the way across! The tear stained face and a little blister on his hand was nothing in compassion to the strut in his step and the puff in his chest. He was proud. It wasn't the success at the playground that happened that day, it was a seed of

'I can' that was planted in the heart of a little boy that will hopefully take root and grow with him.

Good Job, Buddy. Good job*

26

Happy Birthday To ME!

It was my Birthday a few days ago and my mom helped the kids throw me a 'surprise' brithday party after we got back from Sawyer's eye doctor apt.! They had cupcakes and pink lemonade, balloons and party favors! It was really cute* Thanks mom :)

After work, we met up with Bill's family at my favorite restaurant, Bonefish for dinner! It was SO good! We went there last year too. I just can't help it! It is always so yummy! If you haven't gone yet, go right now. And get the Bang Bang Shrimp.

It was a really exhausting dinner-Sawyer and Bill had to crash for a bit :)

We went over to Steve and Kathy's house for gifts and dessert~I got some really nice things and Kathy made this wonderful peach cobbler dessert that was to die for!

Sawyer had picked out a huge set of colored sharpie markers for me-he knows me SO well! I LOVED THEM! Thank you Sawyer! And he wrapped them all by himself :)

and of course we needed just a few games of Angry Birds......Thanks everyone for an awesome Birthday and for thinking of me! Love you guys*

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Late Father's Day Everyone!

Bill isn't a breakfast-in-bed sort of a guy, so we just skipped that on Sunday morning. I know! Who doesn't like breakfast in bed?! Whatever....anyway, we went to

church and had a great sermon on...you guessed it-Being a good Dad!

After church, Bill and Steve went out to spend the afternoon playing eighteen holes of golf together. Apparently it was pretty neck in neck till the very end when Steve beat Bill by one....highly exciting.

Meanwhile my mom, Sawyer and I went out to lunch and then ran around picking up some last minute gifts for Bill. Bill's parents hosted a Father's Day dinner at their house that evening!

They had different kinds of lasagna (one traditional, one beef veggie and one roasted asparagus......wow.....so good!) We also had some wonderful garlic bread from Grandpa Rick and Grandma Joan, a Cesar Salad and a great Moscato wine from uncle Jeff and Aunt Lynn. It was great to also

have some cousins-Tyler and Cameron there

too, along with Alex's girlfriend Jessica!

After dinner we lounged around in the backyard....tossing around a football and a Frisbee. Tyler was kind enough to indulge Sawyer by hoisting him way up into a tree to check out a robin's nest.

It was empty.

The it was time for gifts! Everyone loves gifts! We had a few scattered birthdays that hadn't been celebrated by everyone yet, so we tied

up those loose ends and then it was on to the Dads!

Of course all the Dads loved Sawyer's pop-top cans full of goodies! He was very excited about showing everyone what was inside!

Sawyer, Phoebi and I got Bill a new

tool belt (his next big project is

tearing down our old deck and building a new one.),

a new Starbucks travel mug (32 oz.! Good grief....),

a book on meat (Yeah-you heard me. Meat.), and a gift card to Taco Bell (which was probably the favorite item!). We gave Steve this golf practice

thingy...I'm really not sure what in the world it is....I'm sure it's marvelous though :) We finished up the evening with pieces of Jell-O cake the size of cobblestones from Aunt Lynn! They were HUGE pieces of cake! It's bikini season Lynn.....you aren't doing us any favors :)

It was delicious as always and the perfect way to end a perfect Father's Day! Happy Father's Day Bill! We love you so much!

~Love Carrie, Sawyer and Phoebi

What a Day!

Last Saturday was a pretty full day! Our church put on an event called "Dad & Me" in honor of Father's Day. Kids and their Dads came to have breakfast and build a car! Now Sawyer has been looking forward to this for WEEKS! Every Sunday when we would pick him up from his class he would remind us, "Remember to sign me and Daddy up for 'Dad and Me'!" So, bright and early on Saturday morning they were off for a morning of fun. They went around to different stations to assemble their 'car' and then they made a little wooden one too.

Sawyer was super excited because he got to HAMMER and use MARKERS!....wow! They got their picture taken and made into a magnet as a keep sake of the day. I'm pretty sure that Sawyer was expecting to make a real car, because when he came home, he said. "We only made this pretend car." They both had a wonderful time and got a head start to Father's Day!

The next exciting part of the day was when we got to go and pick up Nana Jane from the airport! After a long flight up from Brazil, she finally arrived to spend time with us!

Later in the day Bill spent some time over at his friend Chad's house playing boring boy-games and then somehow we ended up with ten people over for dinner all of a sudden! Since it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants sorta thing, we didn't end up eating till about nine o'clock......and what evening get-together is complete without a few people (Scott, Melody, Ashton and Ben) eating a few Bhut Jalokia peppers (3rd hottest peppers in the world)? That's some good entertainment right there I tell ya'!

We also made a quick run out to 'Red Mango' for a late-night frozen yogurt treat! If you haven't been there yet, stop what you are doing, get in your car and go right now. Now. It's D-lish.

Why can't we ever take a normal photo without morons in the background?

(We love you guys anyways.)

Pop-Tops for Top-Pops

In preparation of Father's Day, the kids and I got our craft on! I stole this idea off of another blog bcause I thought it was so cute and easy for the kids and I to do. Well, I take the easy part back.

We took large pineapple cans that had pop-top lids, opened the can from the bottom, drained everything out, washed them thoroughly, filled them with 'man snacks', and glued them back shut! We took some fun paper and glued it to the outside of the cans and added a few ribbons and a tag!

This project that I thought was going to be super easy ended up taking hours....we have a HUGE container full of pineapple slices that we are trying to eat our way through...remember it's not a sprint, it's a marathon guys....eat more pineapple! I had tons of little battle wounds from cutting myself on the sharp edges of the cans and as we were hot-gluing our finishing touches on, the kids decided that playing Mr. Wolf downstairs sounded like a lot more fun that helping me. So guess who got to finish? You got it.

BUT.....They turned out SO cute! The kids were super proud of them and the dad's really enjoyed them. Sawyer made a couple extra for Papa Steve, Uncle Jeff and Grandpa Rick.