Summer Catch Up

These are pictures from my phone.  I need to get in the habit of posting them on time.  What am I saying - I need to post anything, something, everything on time!!!  HA HA

7-19 - Cormac's rattlesnake

This day was also exciting for many reasons.  First, the rattlesnake in the driveway.  Second, Cormac had to jump into the buggy as he was getting away from a crazy momma cow. Third, Blase and I were having our own adventure with another crazy momma cow who decided the highway was her favorite place to hang out.  Exciting!

 7-19 - my sweet girls!

 7-25 the grocery unloading crew

They were hard workers and were rewarded with pizza.

7-30 - Karen the Cleaning Fairy (in costume)

This was at the request of one of my Facebook friends.  Gotta love peer pressure.  ;-)

 8-2 - what cutie pies

8-2 - We watched a wicked storm roll by just barely to the west and north. 

 8-13 - The lovely Mrs. NO and her sons came down for a quick trip to drop off one of her boys to the boys' camp that Blase and Stephen attended for twelve days.  It was a blast to have them visit us.  The last morning Joseph made us the yummiest breakfast.  THANKS!

 Later that day I was the mighty snake hunter.  Ok, so this is actually really funny in so many ways.  First off - who knew we would have a little snake in our house.  The kids kept saying they saw one, but didn't know where it went.  I ended up seeing it and, due to past experiences with a snake in the house (that might require a blog post and therapy), I ended up watching where it went.  It had made a nice getaway into a small hole in the side of the trim.  (How many more are in there?  Probably none?)  So I asked for someone to bring me a pair of pliers.  First Loman brought me a wire cutters, but quickly found the right pair of pliers for the job.  See, this could have been its own post I think! Anyway, I'm getting ready to grab the snake - and Loman says, "Don't get blood on the floor."  Seriously kid!  Then I line up again - and Loman says, "Don't let it bite you."  At this point I'm about ready to glare at him.  I'm freaked out a little as it is and having him make a comment just as I'm getting ready to catch the little bugger was just enough to send me over the edge. So finally I am pumped up enough I can try to get the snake.  I decided the worst thing that would happen would be that it went pop when I crunched its head.  So, wait for it.....wait for it.....BOOM!!  Caught it!  Screamed (kind of in excitement of having caught it and kind of in fright of having caught it) really, really loud, which in turn made Loman scream really loud.  Then he starts running down the hallway and all the way up the back stairs to the living room, screaming the whole way.  Come to find out he thought I was chasing him.  I wasn't.  Didn't even think of it...not even for a moment.  Then I carried it outside and took that picture.  Dad came at that moment and killed it for us.  Phew...survived my mighty snake hunter bucket list item.

 8-15 - Do you see the V in the light.  Prettiest sunset (was facing east) I've seen in a long time.

 8-19 - Brech and I, and the twins, stopped by the cemetery on the anniversary of Mark's death.  We left roses for the boys. I can still call them "the boys" because that's what they will always be to me. In fact, all my brothers are considered "the boys".  Red rose for Mark...

 and white rose for Blase.

 8-21 - twinnies saying goodbye to their daddy.  

As hard as it was this summer in many, many areas of our lives, the hardest part was watching the twins say goodbye to their daddy once a week.  They had seen him maybe two days at most during the week and it was killing them to see him leave.

 Kiara went as far as she could on the sidewalk to wave goodbye.

They sure love their daddy.

 Later that night Brigid was comforting Kiara while they slept. Kiara was always so sad after Darren left.  It would take a night or two before they would sleep well.  There times I would be up four or five times a night.  Long...long nights.

8-29 - Oh so happy to see Daddy!!

He had to leave that afternoon.  It was painful for all of us.

 8-29 - That evening the kids and I went down to the Mark Park and said a rosary at Grandma's Grotto.  Kiara, who is so sad when Darren leaves (notice a trend?) was a handful and grumpy during the rosary.  She redeemed herself by hugging the statue of Mary and telling Mary goodnight.

This is the motto of our lives right now.

If I write a book about our lives - that will be the subtitle.

9-9 - I'll end this post with a happy memory.  The twins are sad when Daddy left, but equally as happy when he came back.  They sure love their Daddy.