My post from Saturday 8-11-07We are so very lucky to have such a sweet neighbor lady. Not only is Linda a grandma but she is also a retired kindergarten teacher...makes for the perfect dog-kid sitter. I snapped this photo of Linda, Rowdy, Paige and Megan before we left for our little overnight get away. The kids and dog were so excited to get to have a sleepover across the street. It is easier to leave when you know everyone is happy and safe.

Happy Anniversary to me and Mike...11 years today! This swallowtail came and landed on my hydrangea's this morning. There were two of them dancing around when Paige saw them and this one stayed long enough for me to grab the camera.

This is my post for Thursday 8-09-2007
Megan with Cody her chocolate lab "Webkinz", Paige with Daisey her beagle "Webkinz" and Brittney with "George" her monkey "Webkinz". They were up early and all dressed up to go see the Children's Theater production of "Disney's Aristocats. It was a very cute show and they all loved the mouse. The music was lots of fun and it was worth getting up early to see...early to these kids is 7:15 because we had to be downtown by 9:45. I told them in two weeks this will be an everyday thing...getting up for school!

Marguerite, Marge, Mom, Aunt Marge, Grandma, Great Grandma and Keeper of the Garden she is all that and more to so many. The photo below was taken in June 2003.Happy 91st Birthday to my Grandma Marguerite Esther Baker Reil Souza. I am so lucky to have this amazing woman for my Grandma. She has taught me so much about how to grow flowers, bake pies, write letters and how to enjoy life. I brag about her adventures all the time. In her lifetime she has driven from California to Alaska all by herself, she has taught me and my sister how to hunt and fish. I have lots of great memories with my grandma, playing cards (which always led to fits of laughter), taking her to the Columbus zoo, Amerifloral 92 ( a huge flower and plant show in Columbus OH). My grandma is my inspiration and I just hope she knows how much I love her and miss her.
Grandma and Brandi 6/2003
Great Grandma, Brandi, Paige (5), and Megan (2) June 2003
Paige (7) and Megan (almost 4) with Great Grandma June 2005.
Megan brought Great Grandma flowers from Bill Peck's pasture. 6-2005
Paige, Great Grandma, Brandi and Megan sharing a laugh over Megan's scrap book. June 2005.
Paige Marguerite (7) and Great Grandma June 2005.
Great Grandma, Megan Leanna (almost 4) and Brandi. June 2005

This is my post for Tuesday 8/05/2007Last night I caught this scene with the camera. Rowdy and Rebel both sitting on the back of the sofa together. This was not a posed shot Rebel is always laying on the back of the sofa like a cat, I think he does it so he won't miss any of the action in the family room or the kitchen, since the sofa sort of divides those two areas. Well for some reason Rowdy decided he'd get up there too. After the photo shoot I picked Rowdy up and put him back onto a safer perch, we don't need the 11 year old dog falling and breaking a bone or something. Silly old dogs!

My post for Monday August 6, 2007
Happy Birthday Mom a.k.a. Grandma, Barb. Bart! I love this picture of Mike's mom with Brandon...love those smiles :)

My post for Sunday 8/05//2007We have had Rebel for almost 10 months now and Rowdy is finally coming around and not growling at him when Rebel wants to play. Miracle of miracles, here are our two boy dogs playing a little tug of war...Rowdy almost always wins....go old dog!

My post for Saturday Aug.4,2007


I snapped this picture of Megan when she went across the street to say good bye to her dad, he was helping Linda do some yard work. Megan was all dressed up to go to her best friend, Cameron's birthday party at Build A Bear.

This is my post for Friday August 03,2007I think these impatiens are the only ones enjoying all this heat and humidity that we have been having the past few days. We are all wilting but the impatiens not so much they are busting with blooms!

This is my post for Thursday 8-02-07Wednesday on my way to work I dropped Paige off at her best friend Brittany's house to have dinner and play for a few hours. I picked them both up on the way home and Brittany spent the night at our house. I took the girls to the pool yesterday...I managed to get this picture when they were all standing in line at the bottom of the water slide.

This is my post for 8-01-07Little girls in sun dresses.....it must be summer time!

This will be my post for 7-31-07
Happy Anniversary Carolee and Dad. Hope you both had a wonderful day.

This will be my post for 7-30-07
Rowdy relaxing on his blanket...it's a dogs life!

R is for Rebel Relaxing on the sofa!

This will be my post for Sat. 7/28/07More silly water slide pictures. These are from Friday July 27,2007. They had their last swim lesson and then I let them stay at the pool for another hour and 15 minutes. By the way Megan can now do a forward somersault. She went to the pool yesterday with Mike and he had her jumping off his knees. Then he would have her tuck and tumble. He finally told her to go try it by herself in the shallow water and she got it.
After I got off work yesterday I picked Paige up from a sleep over at Brittney's and then took her to the pool since Mike and Megan were still there. So we got to see Megan do her somersaults. She was so cute and so proud to show Paige that she could do it!

Last night after dinner I took the girls up to the park while Mike was at home on a conference call. Thought I would get them out of the house to burn off some energy and give Mike some quiet . We stayed at the park for an hour or so then stopped at Handel's for ice cream. We even brought Mike home a cone.

We had some much needed rain last night. It started around 3 a.m. a nice soaking rain. Our trees and flowers will be thrilled, and maybe our grass will green up!

The rain stopped in time for swim lessons. The kids had so much fun that they wanted to stay after class and practice. So I let them stay for an extra 45 minutes. They had the pool all to themselves too.

Paige has moved up from a level 4 to level 5 today and she is so proud. She is also proud of the fact that she has mastered the forward somersault.


Megan's swim instructor was impressed with how much Megan's backward streamlines have improved.. Being silly on the slide!
Megan kicking off from the wall going into her back streamline position.
Paige doing a forward somersault...she even did two in a row!


Summer smiles! Can't you just smell the chlorine ?

After another fun morning of swim lessons...it was much warmer today and the sun was out the girls got cleaned up and after lunch we went to take Joe Boxer out for Aunt Deb.

Joe is too cute, when we went out to the sun room he went straight for his doggy treat jar. We made him wait until we came back from the walk for his treats. I think the girls enjoy giving him his treats as much as he enjoys getting them.
Look at Bud and Deb's BIG sunflower and then look again and notice the bungee cords holding it up on the rain gutters. Too funny!

This is my post for Tuesday 7/24/07The pool was a little chilly yesterday! Can you see Paige standing on her tip toes to keep her tummy out of the water. Brrrr it was overcast and chilly( at 10:30 a.m. ). I even wrapped their beach towels around my shoulders and legs while I was watching. They never complained and did their lessons happily. Paige is proud of the fact that she has won all of the breath holding competitions in her class. Those big cheeks come in handy...ha ha. The sun finally came out after we were home. It did sprinkle a little around 6 p.m. just in time for me to grill the chicken.