girls campout

We had not been camping in several years...not since NiNi was 2 and it was over 100 degrees.  The time before that there was practically a tornado (ok I am exaggerating, but it was very stormy and windy).  So not a lot of positive camping experiences in my adult life.  I do however have fond memories of camping with my dad when I was little.    My cousin singing and playing his guitar until late, playing with dirt and bugs and fire.  And my dad made these cool parachute things out of newspaper that, when lit, floated up in the air like a Chinese lantern.  Which I guess I why I keep coming back for more punishment, hoping to make more memories like these.  Initially, we had planned to camp with NiNi's girl scout troup, but it ended up being a mother/daughter thing with my sister, my dear friend Sara, and another little girl from the troop.  It was a delightful couple of days...hiking, horseback riding, cooking over the campfire, and temps in the 70's.  It did rain the last night which soaked everything in sight, but I guess it's not camping if things go too perfectly.

 

the Beggs ladies

sweetheart tree
 

beginning of the hike

 

end of the hike

improvising...none of us brought a sharp knife

 

sweetest juiciest watermelon ever

 

Mad DIY skills

It took a weeks vacation for me to drum up a few "small" DIY projects.  It's no big secret that I am the handy one in the family.  Chris is by no means embarrassed by this nor does he feel it in any way deducts man card point.  So we have a nice partnership...I provide cheap labor and he is happy to bank roll the entire operation.   The only problem is I do tend to be a little over ambitious  at times.  Installing a back splash was by far the biggest project I've tackled and I was so afraid of it turning out looking botched. I watched the internet videos at least 10 times and the tile guy at Lowes gave me a nice little pep talk as I filled my cart with $300 worth of tile.  How kind of him.  It still took me 2 days of looking at the wall before I could bring myself to slap on the first tile with my sweaty little palms.  It did get easier...

Before

after

I wish I would have taken a "before" picture of the bathroom, but think 1980's gold vanity lights.  I replaced the fixture with this one, painted the walls blue and switched out the mirror.  Ever seen the youtube video "dumb ways to die"?  Well, "do your own electrical work" is on the list and darn it if that wasn't running through my head the entire time.  But I was happy to learn that for about 8 bucks you can buy something called a voltage detector.  It blinks red when it comes near any live wires....and he is now my new best friend. As is my brother-in-law who came over to check my wiring.

My kids are tired of being neglected so pretty sure I am done with projects for awhile:)

4th of July

Ethan reading texts and hanging with the big boys

Meagan and Mallory passing out candy in the Noblesville parade

Grandma and grandpa driving the truck

my new favorite shot of him...looks like such a big guy
 

Hair cut

Every time Ethan starts looking like a shaggy dog we go see Kim, his "personal stylist" and also our very good friend.  This day he sat by himself for the entire cut in under 4 suckers. We measure lots of things in "suckers" these days.

 

 

bone graft

We got back from vacation on Saturday and headed to the hospital on Monday.  We had been anticipating NiNi's bone graft all year and were happy to be getting it behind us. This is the procedure where they take bone from her hip and graft it into her alveolar ridge (gum line) where the cleft was.   We had heard a few horror stories about pain (especially from the hip) and recovery time, so I had my mother-in-law come for 2 days and rearranged work schedules.  First night in the hospital was rough but we went home the next morning and by Thursday she was hobbling up and down the stairs!  By Saturday she was still having visitors but was not looking the part of "poor invalid child in pain." We were so pleased with how smoothly things went.  The incision on her hip was about 2 inches long and was closed with only steri strips and dissolvable stiches in her mouth.  Now her permanent teeth can come down and then braces after that.  An unexpected bonus is that her nose looks more symmetrical.  I noticed it right away but thought it may be just the swelling.  Then the surgeon told us how much even a little bone missing from your mouth can change the look of things.  They also closed the floor of her nose which had the effect of moving the nostril up a bit.  This may be her last cleft related procedure which is very exciting:) 

waiting...

 

Right before the Versed that we love so dearly.  She was starting to get pretty sad and nervous and SO hungry...surgery was not until 1pm

Day 4...she did not want her picture taken but you can see the swelling around her nose and top lip

Later that day playing outside a little

Beach vacation

 Our second trip to the beach in 6 months....I could get used to this.  Although Florida in mid-June was a little hot.  Even NiNi, who never burns, got sun poisioning.  Bad momma for not reapplying the sun screen.  We got a little VRBO with my sister and her family.  Her teens brought friends, so we had 8 kids who all managed to get along.  Ethan enjoyed the attention of numerous teenage girls who he kissed and touched their hair.  Lord help us when that boy turns 16.

Ethan with part of his harem

Mayah's balloon release

June 10th is Mayah's birthday...she would have been 8.  The kids really love writing her messages...