This is the way.....

that Parker plays the outfield. Do you think he can catch a ball with his feet? P-Diddy has a mean throw and great batting arm.......but his out fielding skills, ahem, yes, need some work. To give Parker some credit, the ball wasn't in action at the moment this picture was taken. But still, focus Parker, focus!

*FIRE WORKS*

We enjoyed fireworks a couple of times this summer. Our neighborhood also had a couple of

firework nights.

Dyl Pickle wasn't especially fond of these neighborhood firework fiestas. Too loud for his little ears!

This summer brought quite a bit of roasting experiments over an open fire. Before fireworks on July 4th, we joined our neighbors around their fire pit and roasted different flavored marshmallows (strawberry is pretty tasty!), starbursts, and pickles.

Yes, I did say pickles! I personally didn't brave the pickles, but Parker was a big fan. Dyl also braved the pickle (after all he does love pickles). After this smorgasbord of roasted treasures, Dyl came to me with his hand on his tummy. "Mom, my tummy button hurts". What little 3 year old tummy wouldn't after such an eclectic sampling of roasted treats? I asked Dyl if he wanted to go home. With his hand still on his belly he nods his head up and down. I turn to set down my roasting stick and.......eck! Dylan's little tummy exploded onto our neighbor's driveway. There was, however, actually something humorous about this situation. The husband is completely horrified of throw-up (when they have kids I hope this changes, for his sake). As the other men are analyzing the expelled contents, he quickly got up to get the hose to wash off the driveway. I, of course, didn't make him clean it up. I let him keep his distance. Now that Dyl's tummy felt better, he decided to stay for the rest of the campfire fun.

This is Rocky.

Isn't he such a cute little thing! If you are thinking, "What?! Jamie got a dog?" You are simply mistaking. We have dog sat this cute little guy a couple of times for a friend. After he has pooped and peed on my carpet, I'm happy for him to return home. In all honesty, he is kind of fun to have around. The kids love him and it's always a good experience for them to have to take care of the not-so-fun parts of having a dog. The second time we had Rocky, I finally got smart and restricted him to the kitchen. Am I ready for a dog now? The answer is still no. Sorry Rob and kids!

Splish, Splash!

In our 8 years spent in Colorado, we always had free access to our community pool, our friend's community pool, and our friend's private pool. So you can imagine our pool side withdrawals this summer. Our teensy pool wasn't nearly as good as the real thing. Nonetheless, the kids still had a great time playing in the water.

It's true! Even Daddy couldn't resist the water fun!