in the swing of things

we ended the summer with a bang.

one last trip to the beach.

a rainy beach. but a beach regardless, right?

growing up without this sandy and salty playground has made me that much more appreciative of it. with our littles now footing around on the edge of the earth. i ask them to dig their toes in, close their eyes and breathe it in. never take for granted. not for one day, one minute. keep this moment close, i'll tell them.

i really can't complain though... maybe i didn't have this salty water to play in as a kid, but i had one hell of a wide open pasture. and in the grand scheme of things...whether you have sand or dirt, we're all trying to make our dreams come true under the same wide open sky.

first time I've been with these two at the beach...mama and kevin you're next!

can we just pause and reflect on these beautiful blue skies? the brightest blue i've ever seen...and heard...

this storm will pass
the sky will shine brighter
more than before
and all will be well 

kids will be kids- the pool will always be the best playground of all...

as soon as the sand was dusted off our feet we landed ourselves into the back to school hustle. backpacks, glue sticks, crayola boxes (they are making a killing, right?!), kleenex and hand sanitizer. yep, think they're ready.

Caleb: 5th grade
Katelynn: 1st grade

A little behind on the weekly photo dump:

Stay tuned as next week Mark and I will be starting back to school too. Yes, you heard right. The entire Hain four are going to be in school. All we need to do is get Lainey in some puppy classes and we'll have ourselves a fun year.

We also wanted to say a big thank you for all of the anniversary well-wishes! We had a nice day celebrating 11 great years! Here's to many, many more.

Everyone have a great week!

thoughts about lately

I'm always on the back and forth about what's blog-post worthy and what's not. The fine line that is do people really care about that? I guess that's what is so great about blogs. It really doesn't matter. The pulitzer prize isn't hanging on the horizon. It's just us. And that's why I'm here in the first place. So I'll lean on the side of over-share rather than the ghost town blog.

Because, why not?

You can always choose to ignore me. I'll be sad for a while, but I'll be true to myself in the process. In life we have to make this decision over and over again. It's part of fighting for who we are only to realize we've been there all along.

On with the over-sharing...


This past week we've been reluctantly involved with the puppy diarrhea drama. What started out as a "she probably just ate some bad snails" quickly became a recap of newborn hours with 2 am wake up calls and all.

We got her to the vet and she's on some meds now...ready for a quick recovery. She's a typical kid though in that she doesn't act sick. This video will prove it. We've found Lainey is a light chaser.

Last weekend my best friend, Sasha, got married in a quiet elopement. I say this because I have to do some bragging since I set her up with her new husband, our friend Josh. Congratulations you two! We are very happy for you and wish you all the best!

photo credit: Josh Sullard

On to the sweets...
I've been on this pie kick lately. It all started...well I've always liked pie. And since I'm trying my hardest to get Mark into pies, I've been really wanting to learn how to bake one. Or two. Or you get the picture. When we went back to Kansas this past spring my mama decided it was time to teach me how to make her infamous pie crust. With much practice and some experimenting I think I've got it down. On Friday I brought into work a peach pie from some Georgia peaches I bought at a roadside stand.

Definitely a 'made from scratch' pie. I must admit....it was pretty darn good. Think I'll keep "experimenting" ....you know, I've got to keep perfecting it, right?

Last night, after work, we took the kids to Dairy Queen for late night ice cream. I think this should be a tradition. A wonderful way to end the weekend. And we had some good timing, it being National Ice Cream Day and all.

We hope everyone had a great weekend! 

a very important birthday

This blog turned 5 years old today. 

Kind of hard to believe how far we've come since I first started logging photos and memories into this little corner of the vast virtual world. Through the years I've had many visions of what I wanted to make this open journal and keepsake. And I've tried and failed at many things. But I guess what keeps me coming back to this is how much I enjoy clicking through past blog posts and seeing where we've been and where we are going. I've never been one for scrapbooking. But give me a camera and a key board and watch out. 

Now it's time for the important part. A huge, gigantic hug for all of our readers. Whether you're family, friends, acquaintances or strangers. Thank you for taking the time to put this blog on your radar. I'm sure I've probably disappointed you at some point with lack of intriguing posts or fuzzy pictures. I'll do my best to get better at both. But I'd like to extend a very appreciative thanks for being invested. For spending your precious time here. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I keep track of the stats page from time to time. And each read, each comment or "like" gives me more motivation to keep this going. Thank you for that. I can't tell you how much I enjoy hearing about people reading this blog. It's the silly, egotistcal writer in me that thrives on that feedback. So, thank you.

I'm going to keep trying to make this blog what my changing vision wants it to be. But in the end, stories and pictures are what we're about here. And of course the "little things" that life is all about. 

Let's get out the streamers and balloons and have ourselves a party. Toasting to another wonderful 5 years and beyond. 

4th in pictures...

Little words can describe how much fun we had with family this past week. So I guess I'll need to let the pictures do the talking. All I can say is when you watch your kids laugh louder, play longer, sleep harder your know little memory makers are going into overtime. And in this land of childhood I feel that calls for a parade and victory dance. With silly string. Just sayin' :)

We hope everyone is enjoying this summer. And like our kids say, "good thing we didn't get our independence in the winter."

summering

I know, I've been leaving a gaping wide hole in your lives lately with my absent posts. Am I right? I knew it ;-)

Life has been a little...busy. We've been on housebreaking and noise patrol, not to mention the new puppy! I'm on a roll. Don't stop reading...promise I'm done.

Seriously though, we've been enjoying summer. The way we should...

If it's not sand and surf, let it be a twisting plot and sweet tea. Summer heat reminds us to slow down and savor the cool treat in life.

Enjoy it all.

Now, a little treat for you...