the countdown begins....

11 days........................fourth of july

16 days.......................cow appreciation day

114 days......................halloween

time to get those costumes ready y'all!!!

summer work begins

community yard sale today!! we've known about if for two weeks. prepared nothing. i'm using the excuse of "we had vacation bible school all week...." blah. blah. blah. "it's too much work." yeah, yeah, yeah. but zach. now, there's an optimistic thinker for ya.

zach comes home from work on friday asking the kids if they want to put out a lemonade stand in the morning. eager replies from both the littlest optimists. "yeah!", "yay!", "what's a lemonade stand?" they cheer. a little explanation and the preparation begins. davis buys the lemons. allison buys the cups. daddy helps put together the beverage dispenser and mixes the lemonade. mommy helps with the sign.

its friday night. i'm thinking, "do they really know how early shoppers start arriving for a 7 am yard sale?" i think, "not."

its saturday a.m. 6:30 to be exact. and i lie in bed listening to the traffic accumulating on the street. "davis, you ready to get up and start your lemonade stand? it's morning time."

davis replies " its time to sleep, mom."

a few minutes later, davis goes in to wake up zach. the family is up and working on our last minute yard sale venture. one product only. fresh lemonade. chick-fil-a style.

not even out of their pajamas, davis and allison reel in their first sales and customers. not even an hour later, the stand is vacated. workers leave due to exhausted job motivation. cartoons are on. tummies are rumbling. after counting our profits ($20 in just over an hour), and getting dressed, we go out to put some of our money back into the system by shopping the street.

(a hair past 7 a.m.....okay, we're here. where is everybody?)

two hours later, davis wants to put out the lemonade stand again. his parents aren't really up for it. but he shows enough entrepreneurial spirit to convince his mom. obviously, i need to trust his natural business instincts. he grew his business by two more employees and turned a 102% return on investment.

all the kids learned a little work, friendly smile, cheerful waves, strong negotiation, please and thank yous......a successful business makes. not bad for a couple hours on saturday morning.

and it all started with a simple seed from the dad. happy father's day to our own optimistic, supportive, no. 1 venture capitalist!

rise & shine! waiting on our 1st customers:

dad serenades for bigger tips. darby's tail knocks down business sign greeting customers. allison jumps up & down from excitement and not knowing what to do. davis would give it all away for free. customers are on the honor system - drop your money in, take your change, pay however much you want. i can't even describe it to you appropriately:

workers hunger strike:

davis & kayla give it another go:

the company grows:

if allison doesn't drink all the product first:

hair today, gone tomorrow.

pass the tissues please. the time for davis' summer cut has come. i know it will feel better on him, but it still breaks a mama's heart to see those gorgeous locks fall.

how did davis answer when asked how he wanted his hair cut?:

"like my dad."

more tissues please.

allison shares with darby WAY too much.

to serve, protect and party

it wasn't hard to convince davis to have his party at the fire station this year. he was on board at the first mention of it. and he asked almost daily and weekly if it was time for his party yet. and i was just as excited about the theme to base all the decorations around.... easy peasy!

first came an adorable invitation. then came juice labels and cupcake picks, polka-dot dalmatian dip (thank you, kerri.) add red, yellow and firetruck favor boxes, a presentation from REAL firemen, pizza and your party is a blast! (ha.ha. pun intended.) oh, i promise those cupcakes looked much cuter without the finger pokes and icing swipes through them.

the firemen were so good to us. they let us bring in some ride-on toys for the kids to ride around the entire station and all the bays as if they were racing to put out the fire. and once the lil' firefighters expended a good deal of energy, they showed the kids what firemen will look and sound like in all their gear for a real fire. this can be scary for kids in a scary fire. they even let all the kids get their picture taken driving the truck. we couldn't have asked for a more perfect party. but what made it most fun of all were all the good friends & family who made it so special.

rowan to the rescue!

girls raised in the south? cute, brave and fearless: vivien & madison

here's what the siren sounds like kids.

davis feels the need for speed and a real fire helmet to fit his noggin.

she will be the perfect price is right spokesmodel one day.

all our new junior firefighters.

and of course no party is complete without some sort of party pooper. this award goes to the birthday boy himself for jamming his toes under a door as the party was breaking up. better my kid than someone else's!

toenails might fall off eventually. but all the damaged toes will remain intact!

we have the best dog-walker! she and her brother used to ring our bell and ask to take rio & darby for walks and to play when we first moved here. only later, did i learn they were trying to convince their parents they could take care of a dog to get their own. so it was only fair that when we received a new, individually, full-colored business flyer in our mailbox that i inquire more about our neighbor's start-up business. the flyer alone was worth the $2.00 weekly rate she was charging. and we had some back-debt to pay for all those years of free service.

so now, darby has a date twice a week for a 30 minute walk. she is also taking certification courses for being a Safe Sitter at our local hospital. i was never certified. i'm still not. but i have been waiting for this girl to reach baby-sitting age for four years now. and i'm so excited it's here. allison got to be her first trial run at sitting while her parents chaperoned. allison has been asking to go back ever since.

call me if you need a dog-walker or sitter. i will give you her number and sing more of her praises. i'll even let you try to talk to allison and darby if you want to. so impressed with our young friend. she came up with her new venture and business card all on her own.

4 years ago today we brought you home from the hospital. for a moment we thought we might have to return you to take care of 3 banged-up toes.

but you came out of your coma (nap) in your usual easy-going way and let us know you would rather suffer through the pain than chance a shot from a doctor or hospital.

thanks for 4 very, fun years of making us laugh and smile. teaching us to look at things in new ways. and for just being. so. darn. cute.

we love you, xoxo.