Meet Poonee

Last week, the hottest week of the summer, we decided to tackle staining our deck.  Thankfully in the evenings we get shade on that side of the house and there certainly wasn't any rain, so it was a fairly successful event and the deck looks so much better.  Here are some photos!

The portion on the right is what our deck looked like.  The left side is after a good power wash.

This is the final product!  It took a lot longer than we expected, but worth the effort!

While staining the deck one evening, we found a baby praying mantis.  We have been talking about bugs this summer and reading books on bugs, so the decision was made to catch and keep the baby praying mantis as a pet.  A bug cage and a cricket keeper with live crickets are now a part of the decor in our home:)  A second praying mantis was found and Jacob named the small one Neenee and the large one Poonee.  Now I had read online that praying mantis insects have no shame in eating each other, so I knew we were at risk of this occuring....and sure enough the next morning while we were eating breakfast, Poonee cornered Neenee and had a tasty meal!  Survival of the fittest at work.  Since then, Poonee has eaten several crickets and shed his skin once.  Here's Poonee!

Our Newest Addition

Well, Mitch took his motorcycle class and loved it!  The four of us spent all day Saturday in the Harley Davidson store on the Southside of Indy.  Originally we were not supposed to have Jacob and Ryan with us, but it turned out to be a great way to spend Father's Day weekend.  We were all together supporting Mitch in his new adventure and that was better than any card.  Sometimes actions speak louder than words.  Anyway, after hours of paperwork and picking out gear and spending...some money here is what arrived at our house Monday...

Jacob thinks the motorcycle is super cool.  Ryan wants to push the buttons!

This is a video of Mitch on his first ride.  I believe his words when he arrived back were, "That was awesome!"  He is really having a blast riding!  Not the greatest video, but you get the point.

Jacob Quotes

"So guys, what do you think about picking up lunch?"

When he says things that sound like he should be 30, not 3, we can't help but laugh.  We try to keep the laughter on the inside, but it's almost impossible.

Jacob Quotes

"Hey Mommy!  Ryan thinks it's funny when I hit him in the head!"

Oh boy...here we go!  I walked in on Jacob throwing a ball at Ryan.  Since Ryan was laughing, Jacob assumed that meant it was okay.  Yikes!  Needless to say, we have had multiple discussions recently about how fragile Ryan's neck still is and that under no circumstances is it okay to hit him or anyone else in the head.  I think I am going to have more stories to tell like this...

A Little Catch Up

In late May I traveled with my grandma, dad, and mom to St. Louis to witness my sister, Bethany and brother-in-law, Andrew graduate from St. Louis University.  Bethany graduated from the Doisy College of Health Sciences with a masters degree in Occupational Therapy.  Andrew graduated from the John Cook School of Business with a Master of Business Administration.  It was great to spend some time in St. Louis with family.  I missed my boys, but came back refreshed.  Congratulations Bethany and Andrew!  We are super proud.  God has amazing things in store for you both!  Yay for no more tests and homework...ha!

"Yay Aunt Bethany and Uncle Andrew!"



We also celebrated several birthdays while in St. Louis (my mom, Andrew's mom, and Andrew).  The cake was more for the moms!  Isn't it cute?



Following my trip to St. Louis, we were invited to a last minute Memorial Day weekend trip to a houseboat on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky.  We packed up Mitch's truck to the brim with everything from bedding to swimsuits to food to sunscreen and headed down.  We spent two days and one night with several of Mitch's family members.  The boys LOVED it!  Jacob was super excited that we got to actually sleep on the houseboat.  We could have done without the truck ride down (we discovered that Jacob gets car sick...twice), but otherwise had a wonderful time!  The water was FREEZING, but the air was hot so it worked.  We jumped in several times to cool off, which didn't take long.  At first Jacob didn't want to stay in, but after a little while he was having so much fun we had to force him out when his lips were shaking.  It's always great to spend time with Mitch's family.  Thanks for the invite!!

Ryan's first boat ride!  It was in the evening and he slept the whole time, but I'm sure he enjoyed it:)

Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob!

We celebrated Jacob's 3rd birthday yesterday!  He is typically a very animated child, so you can only imagine how excited and well hyper he was yesterday, but we loved it!  He was certainly the life of his party with grandmas and grandpas of various generations surrounding him with love and of course presents:)  Jacob's excitement for life and all things big or small is something that I just treasure about him.  A lollipop gets the same excited reaction as does a new bike.  He just loves life to the fullest and I could learn some things from him.  I pray that somehow he will hold on to the simple joys of life and treasure each moment of each day always.  I also pray that his simple joy would rub off on me and others around him.


We love you Jacob and Happy Birthday!

A Whirlwind Tour

I (Mitch) had the opportunity to travel to England for business at the beginning of March. This was my second time to make this trip, but the first one was all work and no play. This time I stayed a couple of extra days at the end of the trip to tour London with three of my coworkers. After we were done working on Friday, we took about a three hour train ride from Preston (northwest England) to London. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday on a whirlwind tour of London. "Whirlwind tour" sounds kind of random and chaotic. Our tour was far from this. As you can imagine, a trip planned by 4 engineers was very systematic. All of our destinations were mapped out and organized to optimize our time. We were tired at the end of each day, but it was worth it.

For those of you that know me well, you are probably aware that I'm not the most adventurous person when it comes to eating. Well...I got brave and tried some black pudding. Doesn't sound too bad right? It is also called blood sausage. I won't describe it here. You can google it on your own.

Here are just a few of the many pictures I took on the trip. I hope you enjoy looking at them.






Preston Train Station



Tower Bridge





Westminster Abbey



Buckingham Palace (Changing of the Guard Ceremony)



Parliament & Big Ben



Tower of London



St. Paul's Cathedral



Windsor Castle



Windsor Castle



Guard at Windsor Castle