Photos from Aunt Jill ...

Aunt Jill emailed over some photos of boys and the rest of the family. Some of these are from the annual summer bible school week, others are just around the house ...

Hangin' out ...

... Rodney and I haven't been up to too much lately. We're going out a bit, but trying to keep expenses down, of course. Rodney's been playing a lot of softball lately and his team is doing very well. He hopes it continues - they need to stay in the top four of about 16 teams to go to the playoffs. As for me, I am keeping my free time busy by playing bingo. I've been pretty lucky so far, winning some money here and there. Rodney asked to come with me on Friday. Here is what Rodney playing bingo looks like:


I have also been decorating a lamp for charity. Creative Escape, the national scrapbooking event that I taught at in Arizona last year asked me if I wouldn't mind decorating a "dowdy lamp" that they sent me and then send it back to them. CE participants can then bid on the lamps and the money goes to a couple of charities. Here is how my lamp turned out. It's a little too pink for my taste, but pink and green are CE's signature colors.

Grandma Peggy and the boys arrived in St. Louis Friday afternoon, and were picked up by Aunt Jill at the airport. Then it was the 2-hour drive to Pike County! Aunt Jill took these pictures of the boys and their second cousins: Kara, Laurn, Hannah and Drew. It looks like they are already having fun!










There are always kittens at Grandma Peggy's in the summertime...

The boys' last night in California...

Apparently the Grandmas tuckered the boys out. Here's how they looked Thursday night ...

Will-vis

Grandma Nancy and Aunt Gina finished their parts of Will's Halloween Elvis costume. He tried it on for a photo opp and loves it. It will come home with him after the summer and then I have to add the bling to the eagle designs.


The belt buckle






The side of the pant leg ...

An evening of R&R in Mobile...

... Rodney surprised me with a brief trip to Mobile for the 4th of July. The highlight of our excursion was Wintzell's Oyster House, a local restaurant that has been in downtown Mobile since 1936. Famous for its oysters and its strips of written advice on its walls, it seemed to be a popular hangout for locals as well as tourists. The restaurant has branched out to a half dozen locations around Alabama, but it was definitely fun to eat where it had all started.


Rodney with his 16 oysters before he ate them ...


... and after.