Now, this is my kind of Shark Week!

 

 

We Kidd and Justus love shark week!!

 

As long as the sharks look like this, I can get behind it too.

 

Us lately...

Just to bring you up to speed...

I've been traveling for work for the last three weeks (see post on Philadelphia).  So, things have been hectic and I've been a terrible blogger.  But, what else is new?!

This is me. 

 

We no longer own this home.  We are having mixed emotions about it.  It was a great home with great neighbors, but we were ready for something that was more suited to our needs.  We bought a lot a year ago with big plans to sell this home, and rent while we built a new home.  We are just at a different place than we were a year ago, but we still executed the plan...at least as to the selling and renting part.  How could we not?  It's such a seller's market right now. 

Stay tuned for details on the rest. 

 

Justus tested for his next belt level.

 

 ..and got it!  A new Tiger Yellow Belt.

 This one had a 4th of July Parade at her school.  Last year she cried, so this was an improvement.  But, there were no smiles...

 

4th of July!!  Happy Birthday, America!  The kids were, at various points in the day, all decked out in red, white, and blue, but of course I didn't get pictures of that.  I did get, what they would tell you was the best part of the day.  Pool pics!!

 Lunch time!

 

I didn't get any good ones of J in the pool.  He had on his snorkle gear and his face was always in the water.  I couldn't help post this sweet happy face though.  They wore themselves out!!

We are adjusting to the rent house and look forward to what the rest of the summer holds for us.  We are sure it will be quite an adventure, especially if June was any indication...  We hope everyone is having a great summer too!

A family portrait

Yes.  One does exist.  Finally! It is fair to say we have not had a "real" family picture taken since Delaney joined us, oh, 22 months ago.  Now, thanks to the ever-amazing Sarah Giles of Butterfly Chaser Photography, we exist, in photo, as a family unit.  YAY!!

Traditional

Less Traditional. 

Thank you Pinterest (and Sarah for doing the awesome work to make this Pinterest wish come true). 

And, I can't even tell you the last time we got a good picture of the two of us, but I am loving the ones Sarah got.  Note to self--more pictures with husband.  Make him smile first.

 These two-- My heart.  Personified.

This face! (she's saying "oh no!")

The sass!
 (And thanks to the equally sassy Emmy King for loaning this seriously adorable outfit and baubles!!)

 

Superhero turned Kindergartener.

He's just so handsome.  I melt.  Of course, I suppose I'm a bit biased.

Since I'm usually the one with the camera, I'm particularly excited about getting pictures of me with each kiddo! 

You can tell it's summer by the way the humidity just wreaked havoc on our hair!

 People see me with Delaney and say "Oh, she looks just like you..." 

Until they see these two together.

Best Friends! 

 Thanks for cruising through my short brag book.  Trust me--it was short.  We got over 100 glorious photos.  I picked a tiny few to share.  I am so thankful to Sarah, as always, for capturing this stage of our family life. I continue to be in awe of how much I love the pictures we get back (because each shoot feels like a whirlwind of clothes changes and silly faces for the perfect smile). 

We will truly cherish these!

Last summer weekend, then Kindergarten Bound

On the last official summer weekend, we got to go to Waco for a cousin's wedding!  We decided to make a stop at the Cameron Park Zoo in the afternoon since the wedding wasn't until evening.  Kidd hurt his back, so I had to single-parent the adventure.  Note to self:  Keep the husband around, even if only to assist with child management. 

Sorry the picture is so far away, but I was trying to get the whole sign in.  It's one or the other, right?

For being a fairly small zoo, we saw ALL kinds of great animals and creatures---fish, bears, monkeys, alligators, birds, bison....the list is endless. We did skip the giraffes and elephants to go to the Splash Pad.  I'm pretty sure it was their favorite part of the trip!

Then it was time to get ready for the wedding.  Aren't they the cutest?! I'm not biased, or anything. The picture below on the right is from the photo booth at the wedding.  My cousin, OJ, his holding up the kids so they can peek through.  Isn't that a fun idea?!

So, Monday was the big day.  Kindergarten!  Never have I seen a kid so excited about going to school (and probably never will again). 

These two are sure going to miss seeing each other on the playground and around school for the next few years! (and mommy is going to miss one drop off stop...)

With all the hustle and bustle of everyone arriving at the same time, Mrs. Kellen was wonderfully organized with things for the kids to do when they got to school on Monday, so there was no confusion.

In his seat and ready to learn!!

 

 The sweetest Kindergarten teacher ever, Mrs. Kellen! 

This pic is from Meet the Teacher night, which I did NOT make.

And this little gem is courtesy of Miss Sarah Giles of Butterfly Chaser Photography!  We took pics in June, and she made this and posted it to my Facebook page the night before Kindergarten started. I LOVE it and can't wait to see the rest of our pics from that shoot!  Of course, I will share when we get them...

Day 4 of Kinder and he is loving it!  Today was the first day I had to drop him off and wasn't allowed to walk him in (his rule, not the school's).  Nobody told me that would be harder than the first day!!  He was just mad that I insisted on dropping him off at the building rather than across the street so he could do the cross walk.  He did great, and we may explore the crosswalk option next week.  He's got plenty of time for that, since he'll be at this school for five years. 

We are so proud of him, and love hearing his daily adventures in Kindergarten.  May he always be so willing to share his daily experience in the evening when we get home (with some pointed questions).  I hope he continues to have such a love of learning, that school is always enjoyable to him.  I know it probably won't be, but I think this year is off to a great start and we can just hope for the best!

For the love of genealogy

You know how I'm adopted, right?  Well, between that and the fact that my dad and both of his wives have been only children, I have been fairly...uninterested, shall we say, in genealogy.  As a concept, I find it interesting, but as it applied to me--not so much.  First of all, no matter the genealogy of the families to which I belong (speaking not biologically), it's still not my blood lineage, and I'll never know my blood lineage (nor do I care to, frankly).  Secondly, as a small family unit with no aunts or uncles or first cousins, we haven't spent a lot of time with extended family.  I have never been to a Barger family reunion.  I wouldn't even know where to go were there to be one.  I've never blamed anyone for this, nor been particularly disappointed in this, it just is what it is. 

Having said that, my grandmother (Julie's mom) was VERY into genealogy and was very close with her family.  Her rather large family.  She kept boxes of family tree charts and information.  To say it was a hobby is probably definitely an understatement.  I have always known this and, as a result, got to spend as much time as she could make possible with (or hearing about) the wonderful people in this family.  Despite Julie passing away when I was young, Mimi always made sure I got to spend time with my cousins and knew what all they were up to as often as she could.  It was important to her for me to know them and know their history--my history too because this was my family, as well.  I now realize the magnitude of the effort she made to connect me (in my heart and mind) to this amazing group of people who welcomed my brother and I, just as if we were blood kin.  To her and to them, it made no difference that we were adopted.

The Nelson family reunion is held every other summer.  When I started going to camp, I often had to miss the reunions due to the conflict of timing of the two.  I know this bothered Mimi because it was the only time (aside from weddings and funerals) we had to see just about everyone in the same place at the same time.  When I finally got old enough and could either get away from camp for a day or wasn't at camp anymore, Mimi was no longer able to attend the reunions, due to her health and eventually her passing.  I went anyway because I wanted to know them and I knew it was important to her.  It was overwhelming at first after so many years away to be reintroduced to the names and faces I had known my whole life, mostly through pictures and stories.  Everyone embraced me as though I had never once missed.

This past weekend, we joined together once again for good times!  I really must get better about my picture taking--I either only take pictures of my own children (like I don't have enough of those pics) or I completely forget to pull my camera out at all.  Here are a few snapshots I did manage to get:

Family Water Volleyball game

Tom holding an old Diamond N (family brand) brand that was found on the family place years ago, and passing it on to the next generation at the family meeting.

Delaney had a great time getting to know a lot of cousins--

(from top) Al and Sarah, Leta and Rachel, and Caroline

**Please disregard the fact that my children are in a bar on a Saturday night.  It's a family friendly bar.  I swear.**

There was karaoke Saturday night, in honor of James William's birthday!  His sweet fiance, Jenny, played along (all the while wondering what she's getting herself into, I'm sure).

Henri, Julia, and Caroline doing some serious karaoke!

Justus putting a halt to his shuffleboard game to dance and clap for Scott's karaoke performance.  For more Nelson karaoke entertainment, see Sarah's You Tube video.  Awesome.

The long goodbye:  Everyone says goodbye at Sunday morning breakfast, but it takes about an hour or more, just to make your way around the room to say goodbye, and take pictures.

The Boedekers, Starks, and Meltons

Ian, OJ, and Amy

Henri and Julia

Kidd and Al

Wonderful cousins:  Caroline, Ian, Sarah, Melissa, James William, Frank, Julia, Amy, and Rachel. 

UInfortunately, also missing a few who already had left.

Julia and James Nelson in the foreground of the long goodbye.

  Justus and Delaney with cousin, Madeleine. 

  

It is always such a pleasure to get together with this crazy, fun family, whom we admire so much!!  I love that our kids are getting to experience this family time and know their cousins.  I hope that as they grow, their generation of Nelson cousins will enjoy these weekends as much as we do, and that they will take an interest in their heritage because there are some pretty amazing folks that we are lucky enough to call family! 

So, thank you to my Mimi for her persistence in fostering my knowledge of and relationship with some of the best people I know.