getting caught up . . .

When I last left off, Tom was gone racing in Spokane . . . he got home on Sunday and Grace wanted to go outside and look at the corn. and pick some "doodleberries" . . .

The next few days are a little bit of a blur, because I think I was the sickest I have ever been in my entire life. I spent our whole anniversary day sleeping and sweating and ended up having a breast infection and strep throat. The strep put us in quarantine for two days . . . and luckily, the horse-pill-antibiotics had me feeling better lickety-split.

We were back at the doctor for Grace and Vince that Wednesday . . . I wanted to make sure Grace didn't have strep (turns out it is very un-common for kids under 3 to get it) so she was fine but poor, poor, Vince . . . his neck fats had turned "angry" on him and he ended up with two kinds of cream to clear it up. No really . . . the doctor peeled the rolls of fat away around his neck and said, "Ohhhhhhhhhh, that looks angry." Someday, when you have a neck Vince and it can get some air, I promise your neck won't be so angry.

Grace does this every time we go to the doctor . . . One night during that week, Grace would not settle down for the night and kept making Tom chase her around the house. He finally took her outside and I think he said they made five or six laps around the house. Then I looked outside and saw this . . . That Thursday we spur-of-the-moment decided to go down to "Jake's mudhole" at the river with Jen and the boys . . . Happy, happy, kids . . . Our set-up . . . Shade is a hard thing to come by, so this is where Vince ended up after I got too hot holding him . . . Hope the blogger-police don't get me for this one . . .That night, some ducks wandered into our yard and Grace had so much fun following them around and feeding them . . . oh, and chasing them . . . Friday afternoon, we went and saw Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth at the Bellingham Public Library . . . they have a free kids "concert" every Friday during the summer.

Can you tell Grace LOVED it?Making a cow sign . . . Cowboy Buck tried to lasso Grace, but she was NOT impressed . . . Our Zoopie . . . the kids LOVE when she comes along on our adventures.

And then I did something, that if you know me, will SHOCK you. I had a really brave Mom moment . . . after the concert, Jen and the boys had some errands to run, but Grace still wanted to play, so I took her to Elizabeth Park in Bellingham, all by MYSELF. Seriously . . . I don't go to new places by myself. But I took one for the team and Grace had a blast playing. I even ended up chatting with a lady for quite a while who was a speech therapist in the Meridian School District. Saturday was Nathan and Brenna's BEAUTIFUL wedding . . . we LOVE it when the Larson boys get married because we get to have ALL our Jones and Larson peeps there.

The weather was a bit of a bummer, but it didn't matter . . .

Had to get a picture . . . Grace and Max holding hands instead of biting, pinching or pulling each other's hair.

And I know the real reason for weddings . . . the love and commitment and all that, but I really LOVE the dancing.

And the cake. And just as an FYI . . . if you are getting married or know someone who is getting married, YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG is a MUST play. My all-time-favorite-wedding-dance song. Gets everyone jumping and fist-pumping like you wouldn't believe . . . even my Mom and Dad. :)

Tuesday we ate lunch at Donald's and then headed to Bender to play . . .

Proof that Vince is along for our adventures . . .

I know . . . her hair is starting to look like a mullet. But I CAN'T cut it.

Tuesday night we had a really fun shower at Auntie Beck's for Maria . . . everyone wore an apron and told the story of where it came from. Mom won a prize because her apron was the only one with LEGS. HA!

My apron story is: Grace got a play kitchen for Christmas and I thought it would be fun to get her an apron too . . . when I was looking online, I found these Mother-Daughter coordinating ones and thought they were too cute.

I'm ALMOST caught up . . . only a few more adventures to tell about for the week to bring us current. Looking forward to some Birch Bay shopping today, packing tomorrow and then spending a GLORIOUS week out at the Villa. Yep- we're staying a full week . . . Sunday to Sunday, no looking back. Tom will be here holding down the fort and coming out whenever he can. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.