First tomato harvest

Hard rain this afternoon forced us to pick some earlier than planned, lest they split on the vine overnight.

Water balloon fun

 

John enjoyed playing with water balloons with his friend, James, even if he had a hard time (at first) getting his balloon out of the red solo cup.

Team Mitchell, June 2013

Our first formal family portrait. We're mostly all smiling (John!), but I still prefer the outdoor/documentary style family photo to the posed formal picture in front of a screen. This one was taken for the church directory.

Watching the Cardinals...

...with Granddaddy. Exciting game, huh John?

Tomato Sauce Saturday

Cow Appreciation Day at CFA

Or, as Team Mitchell calls it, "How much is your dignity worth?" Dress like a cow when you go to Chick-Fil-A today, and you get a free meal. It was fun to dress the boys (see below), but Ned and I opted to pay for our meals.

Lunch during tile demolition

David's not a fan of the air hammer used to break up the tile we're having repaired, so we moved lunch to the real dining room and gave him his noise-canceling headphones.

Second Lunch

While Mama was on the phone taking a work call, John grabbed the placemat from David's spot at the table and crashed his leftover lunch to the floor. David had eaten less than half his dirty rice, so John helped himself to the scattered seconds. As David says, "What a mess!"

Shiner

 He's happy...

 but not amused by too many photos.

Can't turn your back on this guy, because he'll fall down while he's standing up and face plant on the driveway.

Don't let the smiles fool you

There were many tears when Gram left this morning, especially from David, who woke after she'd hit the highway. Mary Beth and Ned anticipate crying all week; she was such a great help!

DAM loves Gram!

And she loves him right back!

Vicksburg Fireworks

John's first reaction was one of shock at the noise.

But he started to enjoy the fireworks more when Gram covered his ears.

And then a Vicksburg fog (a ghost from the Civil War?) surrounded Mary Beth & David.

Vicksburg Grand Illumination

July 4 marks 150 years (the sesquicentennial, for those who like the term) since Vicksburg fell. The military park had candles on July 3, seen here at the Illinois monument. We drove through the park with the kids a bit later. It was beautiful, but there were only so many candles that John could see before he decided he wanted to scream.

John loves Big Daddy and popsicles

Wrestling and reading

Sunday at the Splash Park

Peanut butter crackers

after his bath. Not Mama's smartest move!

Whew!

Being cute for the family is exhausting!

Meeting Cousin Logan

Mary Beth and John both enjoyed getting to meet sweet little Logan Bendele. David did too, of course, we just didn't manage to catch it on camera.

Full house in Vicksburg

Saturday, in the park...

This past weekend, while Mary Beth was with the SFA in Richmond, Ned and the boys ventured down the hill to the neighborhood park. There they made friends with a little girl named Cora and had fun exploring the park. Everything was great until John made a dash for the street, and David took advantage of his dad chasing John to ride the Radio Flyer to glory down the hill. His stunt resulted in an overturned wagon, an "injured" David, and a worried Ned. In the third photo, David has clearly recovered and is headed back for more, while John is recovering from his own tumble down the same hill that he took while his hapless father tended to his daredevil brother. Whew! To top it all off, three minutes later John got into a fire ant bed and so the battered Mitchell trio finally called it a day. Mama got home yesterday afternoon, and not a minute too soon!

Waiting for tomatoes

Our hillside garden is looking good, but the tomatoes are taking their sweet time ripening up. The Juliets will apparently be the first to be pickable, but some of the others have finally started to show some color this weekend as well.

Sandbox!

The big news this week, aside from M.A.'s visit, was the new (er...used, actually) sandbox that we procured for the boys. A good cleaning and $7 worth of sand later, it was an instant hit with both of them.

Can it be!?!

Happy 60th birthday, Daddy/Big Daddy!

David & John, May 2013

Images courtesy of Frick Frack Foto. Capes courtesy of our friend, Sophie Munger. Boys are ours.

Happy Father's Day!

Park fun

Climbing the rock on flip flops was not MB's favorite activity, but he scooted up there while she was chasing John.

Flashback: long drive from GA

We let the boys handle driving duty for a bit last weekend. John at the wheel, David navigating with the iPhone.

Flashback: bird bath fun

In Big Daddy's backyard.

John loves Fr. Marvelous!

Team Mitchell at the beach!