Home Makeover Weekend Edition

This weekend we decided to repaint our living room. It DESPERATELY needed it. And we're very happy with the way it turned out. Since the curtains were down anyway, Darrin also put trim around the windows so we no longer need to hide unfinished windows with curtains. We're not going to put them back up. Instead, we're going to get some nice blinds. I think I'll trade out the curtains that were in the living room for the ones in the dining room. We'll see how that looks. Here is one view of our living room that shows both beautifully done windows :). I'm not sure what the specks in the picture are. They didn't show up in the others I took. We had one little monkey who was thinking of every excuse he could to be up and one was tht he wanted to take some pictures of us. So there you have it :)!

Homegrown

Cheers to us...

5 Happy Years :)!

Our day.

Darrin organized a golf outing that was held today to raise money for the general athletic fund. Despite the short rain delay, it turned out really well and the day was perfect for golfing. So anyway, Carol knew he would be gone much of the day and asked us to go to Schidmore Park in Three Rivers because they have a nice little petting zoo. It's a really neat park with a lot going on. Jen and the girls followed us there as Jason was at the outing as well. I'm thankful to her for letting us borrow her two extra car seats otherwise the trip wouldn't have been possible. We ended our fun afternoon with lunch at McDonald's. I hope you have all tried their frappes. They are so good! The kids didn't nap today so they were in bed at 7:00. Darrin and I watched Yes Man which was a nice movie for BOTH of us (no crying or nightmares for me :) And now we're just procrastinating on going to bed because it's been such a nice day. So here are pictures from the park.

They're eating cookies they got from an old Amish man who had a booth at the farmer's market. This picture just makes me laugh.

Miss Annabelle's Package

Annabelle recieved a package in the mail today and in it was this....

Can you believe it!?! My friend Megan found it at Carter's and couldn't pass it up (and I'm thankful)! If any of my family are near a Carter's and want to stop in, we would love more in different sizes. I will pay you back :). The one she has is a 4. Thank you again Megan! As you can see, she LOVES it! She's already drooled all over it...well, maybe that had something to do with the gummy worm she was eating.l

Fun Filled Weekend

We hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! We sure did!

Serious about candy gathering at the parade.

Annie hung out with us at the fireworks. Bennett on the other hand was too cool for that and decided to hang with his friends instead.

Yup...I'm SO happy about Annabelle winning this fish. (I hope you can sense my sarcasm :)

Macey was kind enough to share some bites of her ginormous cotton candy...that huge thing was only $1.00.

Big Man Bubba B won the cake walk and picked out these cupcakes.

This was a very sweet and very large dog.

To end the weekend we enjoyed having dinner at the Burgess' tonight. Cooking out in the summer is so much fun! And for some reason Annabelle has preferred to go without clothes lately. We insisted she at least wear her shorts.

Just hanging out with Dad on a Sunday afternoon.

and the fun begins

There are two times in the year when Colon gets 'busy'. It's the 4th of July and Magic Week (first week in August). We get a lot of tourists from Chicago during those two times who stay in rentals or their second homes around the lake.

Tonight was the kickoff to the 4th of July weekend. There is always a flotilla boat parade around the lake which is neat to watch. This year we "borrowed" our across the street neighbor's dock for boat parade watching.

And tonight at 10:00 all the people who live around the lake will be lighting off flares they were given. I hope to sneak out to see this because I haven't before.

On tomorrow's agenda is the 11:00 parade followed by the midway activities. This includes our annual silent auction which raises money for the wrestling program. And of course the evening fireworks.

It's time for me to delete some pictures and charge the camera batteries. Happy 4th of July!!!

This was Bennett's favorite.

Meet Jackson

This is Jackson the horse who resides at Sharp's farm. The kids enjoyed a ride around the farm today courtesy of this sweet horse. Annabelle
Bennett

Bennett ready for the ride