pretend it hasn't been a month...

so i ask for comments and then i disappear. what can i say? i was overwhelmed by all of the kind messages.

okay, really, i've been overwhelmed by life. where to begin...

we had a very nice father's day which was unfortunately only documented by these two pictures. (the camera batteries were dead before church and madeleine was asleep after church and then we were just too busy). the adorable men's shirt card was made by madeleine and miss arminda. inside was a super cute picture of madeleine.

the time between father's day and our vacation(s) just sort of went "poof!"

we had a WONDERFUL time in arkansas with my parents. madeleine loves her Ampa and Andma - the "gr" is either superfluous or too difficult to pronounce.

my hometown made me proud with a truly wonderful and impressive fireworks display. (strange that it was on the 3rd instead of the 4th, though...) it was madeleine's first firework show and she was, as usual, not scared at all. we explained that they were firecrackers (probably should have called them fireworks) and she shouted "crackers! crackers!" throughout the show and well after the show was over.

dad and i went to a local fireworks stand and bought quite a bit on the 4th due to the 50% off sale. i had forgotten how great the fireworks are in the south. in virginia, we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel with the available fireworks. you spend a fortune and they're basically little fountains that go a few feet in the air.

in arkansas, however, for $25 we got a box of timed, 42 shot fireworks that are guaranteed to go at least 200 feet in the air. i am not exaggerating when i say that our personal firework show was pretty much what the town firework show was when i was growing up except the town show was about 10 minutes longer. brett and i are addicted.

here are a few pics from our trip to arkansas.

madeleine's birthday gift from grandma and grandpa - radio flyer tricycle. m's favorite part? the trunk! she's such a little packrat.