Catchin' up in June with ya!

We're going to do some catching up here! Buckle your seats in and hold on 'cause here we go!!!!

About the middle of June.. the 17th to be exact, Lakey and I thought it would be a great idea to take Jules to a local strawberry patch and pick some strawberries. She loves being outside, the attention of her Aunt and Mommy and she'll get to make a mess without anyone telling her 'no no baby girl'. Great idea right?

NOT!.. She hated it! The wind was extremely active that day.. her bonnet kept flopping over and covering her face. So much so that I finally just folded the top flap under and she looked.. well.. take a look at the photo below and place your descriptive word here.....



She despised the rows and rows of strawberries. Actually plopped herself down right smack in the middle of one, didn't like the way it felt and began to cry. I thought if I just helped her up and showed her we could pick the strawberries at random she'd love it. Nope. Not gonna have a darn thing to do with it Mom. Zero, zip, nada.

Lakey and I eventually developed a system where we took turns holding her while the other picked strawberries. To be honest, our timing was rotten. We arrived shortly before her morning nap and by the time we were done it was lunchtime. Add to that the high winds and a somewhat warm day, it was a bad recipe to mix. Here's to thinking positively for next year!!!

That said, the following Sunday was Father's Day and Dad had a wonderful barbeque at his place. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come up from Kansas and Jack, Sarah and her fiancee Matt were also able to make it(Diane had made the long journey to the other side of Iowa to see her Dad that same weekend). Ben and Kameron were there along with Jason, myself and I. He he.. did you catch that one?


After the big meal and giving of the Father's Day gifts, Julia gave her Grandpa's and her Daddy handmade(and framed mind you) paintings! Jason and Grandpa Jack took Julia off to the Children's Museum for a little bit of playtime!

She was curious about the other kids but... was not ok about them approaching her. Gets a little fiesty about that my baby girl does! This little boy had no idea the battleground he was encroaching upon when he went after that chair!


She got to dress up as a Husker footballer.. poor thing doesn't have a hope of escaping the fever!

Played in the water tank, dressed up as a queen.. errr well, I actually think it was King garb but since she's a girl.. we'll say Queen!


Jason also got a shot of her dressed up as as firegirl with Grandpa and as I'm typing this.. I've realized, this is Jason's 2nd Fathers' Day and yet again, I ended up without a photo of him and her together. Such a sad thought. I'm going to have to do some more searching.. I cannot of had missed out again.. could of I? Grrrrrrrr...


Our month went quickly. She had her first dental exam on the 3rd and handled it like a champ!

My brother Ben rescued a litter of kittens around this same time and they will eventually be moving to live with us in a few weeks.

Poor Riley, she's so lonely after Jake's passing but Jason's afraid she will never forgive us for bringing Cleo and Bandit into our home. Send us your well wishes please! We need all the good chi we can get!!

Lets see, our basement flooded towards the end of the month and we had to not only suck out all the water but then clean the carpets, dry it out and literally put our basement back together after destroying it in our attempts to save our furniture and things from the flood. Mind you, this was a good thing. It lit a fire under my bottom and I'm out of the decorating rut and back into the game! Yea Ha!


I finally got a photo of Julia and her buddy/twin, Drake, at daycare. Unfortunately when I said cheese they interpretered it as CRY.. I happened to get it on video too. It's hysterical! They are so alike it's almost eerie!


I also caught a photo of her with her other buddy, Drew. They at least graced me with happy faces!

She's been making good use of her baby pool that Uncle Biens gave her! She's in there at least a few times each week! I wish I could say swimming but there'a a lot of drinking of the declicious, nutritious water followed by a few unladylike belches!

She's also fond of tossing all her toys out, getting out, tossing them in and then getting back in. That, or, balancing a leg on each side of the edge and riding it like a pony! She has a blast needless to say!

That said.. here's just a few fun shots of our girl in action!


*Yo, wanna play ball?


*Extreme Julie close up!


*Upside down Julie!


*I'm so darn cute you can't resist me can you? Let's play ball!


*Seriously? You're not going to play ball with me? I think you broke my heart...


Ok, I'll give you a break here! Our last big hurrah for the month was to drive up and see my brother Ben and spend a day with him. Julia had a blast! She was able to pet a few of his cats, splash her little chubby legs in his Koi pond... which I might add are as BIG as she is!!!

She nearly went in a few times to play! Good thing Uncle Biens had a good hold on her or we would have been Julie fishing!!!


Here she is just walking along with him. She loves being with her Uncle Biens! She gets such a kick out of how he interacts with her! I think he makes her feel like the sun is hers and it shines only for her!

*Ben had just walked away to show us some of his flowers and I snapped this photo of her. So precious! She toddled off right after him as soon as the shutter clicked!

Alright, this is my grand finale' photo. If you've stuck with me this far, thank you and bless you! Hopefully, you'll get a kick out of this one! This my family and friends, is the beginnings of what is now known as 'The Mean Mug'. I'm not sure where it came from or why it's here but it is and it's hilarious! This photo is just the beginnings of her perfecting the most fantastical treat she has brought to us yet today!


She no longer greets friends and strangers with smiles.. it's with a Mean Mug! A bunching of the eyes, puckering of the lips, tilting down of the head and a horrifically adorable frown to boot.. it's well, her mean mug. Unfortunately for us, she had perfected this look by the time we got her 1 year photos taken. Also unfortunately for us, she did not warm up to our photographer and we got a lot of mean mug shots. A. Lot. Needless to say, we got a pretty good laugh out of them once the frantic search for a smile was given up and we resolved to the hilarity of the Mean Mugs presence!

Whew! I'm tired.. how about you? Thank you for sticking with me and reading the whole way through! Hope it was entertaining enough to give you a few chuckles to carry you through the day!

Love, ang

P.S. In case you missed it, I added a few posts earlier this week! If you're eyes aren't buggin out yet, feel free to check out her birthday photos!