Hmmm...I don't know why these pictures are turning out so blurry. I hope they aren't this distorted when I post. We just got back from the FL state Strawberry Festival in the heart of downtown plant city. woopee! It is already summer here for those of you in cooler climes. I am sunburned from the 2 hours we were out today and I was sure that our kids were going to have heat stroke. I remember this story a few years back about this woman who was arrested at the fair because her children were the color of overripe strawberries by the end of the day. Child neglect was the charge. That was my fear today. During the pig racing, the bike tricks, the obnoxious puppet show, the miles of vendors keeping cardiologists working(aka: funnel cakes, turkey legs, polish sausage) all I could think about was the magnifying glass that I(and my snow-white children) felt trapped under. Smoking little helpless ants. Besides all that, I dropped my shortcake so that it splattered( as only a bowl mostly full of whip cream can) all over the ground. Trey was not happy about this...oh no...the heat, exhaustion, etc had danced on his nerves too long at this point.
Needless to say, there are no pictures on here of our day. It was too hot and bright to think about it. I did put a recent one of Abe trying to get on the bike (I hope you can see the sheer determination on his face). He's converted it into a walker. Notice that Trey's shoes are a little too big for him (by 16 years or so), but he doesn't seem to mind.


I don't know what Trey was so happy about in this picture because I was not around (Mike took the picture). Speaking of Trey being happy, Trey has actually started to tell us what his feelings are (or Vegas' or Abe's or mommy's). So far, he's got "happy" and "sad" down. "Trey happy? yeah, trey happy." "Trey sad?"(complete with pooched lip and depressed voice). We'll see if this turns into a good thing or not. When I didn't immediately read a book he brought to me the other day, he said, "Trey sad?" Oh, brother! Although, I'll take that over whining or a tantrum any day!

yeah, we don't buy into the brand names or anything

Spiderman, blues clues, backyardigans...they got us early! Abe is surrounded in this picture!

Here are some new pictures of random tolbert house sightings. Notice the difference in Abe's hair in this top picture and the picture of him standing out in the yard. He is no longer "that poor mullet head kid" with strangers thinking "why don't they cut that kid's hair?". I just couldn't do it for the longest time. His hair is so soft and baby fine and I was afraid that the course adult hair would overtake. I must say, it was difficult to watch. It's grown out a bit. Our kids end up looking like marines-in-training for a while when we cut their hair because we aren't very good at the "fade" aspect. Oh well, maybe they won't be mad at us later when all their baby pictures are embarrassing.
In another picture, Mike is hoisting Trey up into the tree...nothing like having a taste of something you won't get to do all the time but will constantly ask for. Also, there is a lovely picture with all of us squeezing on this poor squashed batman couch learning our colors. I look like I'm the one most interested in relearning them.

It's finally friday, thankfully. The weekend(however fast it might fly) will be here in a few hours and our family will get to hang out! Yips! Time to get the bambinos up and have oatie-oatmilk.