fishing!

Last Saturday (May 31st) we spent a glorious evening with 2 other families, the Browns and the Carlsons. We cooked out at the Carlson's house. They have an amazing property with a big pond for fishing. Caden had a great time with Brock (Brown) and Jeb and Maggie (Carlson). The kids played and we all went fishing. The biggest highlight of the evening was catching a huge snapping turtle. We had lots of fun with fabulous friends! A perfect summer evening! Thanks for having us, Carlsons!! :)

Maggie, Brock, & Jeb swimming

huge snapping turtle from the pond at the Carlson's

Doug kissing his catch

Caden with his "big" catch! He thought this was the mommy fish.

fire!

I'm going to only post about the fire tonight. It's late and I'm getting tired.

On Sunday, May 18 about 10 p.m. the apartments across the street from us caught fire. It was horrific as far as I'm concered! I HATE fire! I'm so afraid I can hardly light a match or start the grill and am so grateful for my candle warmer so that I no longer have to come near an open flame. The fire was intense and a woman was forced to jump from the 2nd story balcony to escape. Her fiance re-entered the apartment for an unknown reason and lost his life in the devasting fire.

My dear husband sat with the woman until paramedics took her to Newton Medical for treatment. He is so calm and collected in times of crisis. I on the other hand was a total wreck! I tripped in our driveway running back to check on Caden and scraped by ankle pretty badly. It's still healing nearly 3 weeks later. Our front yard was blocked off with crime scene tape and our house smelled like a campfire for a few days. Doug was interviewd last week by the fire chief and ATF, a PI, and an attorney have all been out to investigate and photograph the damage for various reasons. A flower memorial was erected in the yard under the balcony where the woman jumped and just this week the number of gawkers driving down our dead-end street has dropped off. Caden, thankfully, slept throught the entire event, even though he sleeps under a window facing the street where the lights and sirens of the police cars and fire trucks couldn't be missed. I really am thankful he was able to sleep through it all because I know he would have been so scared and had nightmares. It would have taken Doug and me a long time to explain everything to him so he could understand. The next morning he was more interested in the crime scene tape than the damage from the fire. Now everytime we go outside he points across the street and says, "Look it's not white anymore cause it burned." Innocence, such a blessing!

If you are curious and would like to read more about the fire, check out the links below:

Newton Kansan article

Kake News article #1

Kake News article #2

fire, fishing, friends, flying, and finally finishing!

That's alliteration for you! It's also a teaser about what I will post about tomorrow in a long catch-up post. I'd post more now, but a hot shower and the fabulous book, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult are calling my name, plus it's about to storm I think and I want to be off the computer if and when it hits. Good night!

I'm in love with . . .

the little man who sleeps in the next bedroom; who tonight kissed each of my 10 fingertips and both palms before batting his impossibly long, dark eyelashes which frame his gold-flecked emerald eyes at me and gently asked me to 'nuggle him. I'm 100% completely and totally smitten! He's cute; he's smart; he's funny; he's gentle with me, but still a tough man; he's practically perfect! Now if he would only decide to ditch the diapers . . . this mommy would die a happy woman! :)