And the Winner is...

Our Little Mikey!! After 1000 votes, our name won first prize by a landslide vote of over 280 votes. Would that mean we had 281 votes? Anywho, thanks to everyone who voted for our name, "Mike Byson." This is a pic of our little guy. He is the oldest of the new babies of the year.

We headed out to the park for the day and had a blast flying kites,

taking pics of all the buffalo - this one's giving me the stink eye....,

playing with the over sized basket and soccer balls,

and posing for the ever popular "We don't want to have my picture taken, but my mom is making us, anyway" shot.


They announced all the winning names. Here's me trying to explain in a VERY squeaky mega phone how we chose the name.

Perri "liberated" one of our prizes very quickly.

Mom and Peepa all came to join in the fun.

We even made the NEWS:

And the PAPER!

Thanks to everyone who voted for our baby!! We had a wonderful time - Wish you could have been there!!

More 4th Fabulousness!

I love the 4th of July for so many reasons. I am grateful for a beautiful and diverse country where pride for our nation is still prominent and where people willingly give their lives to keep it safe and free. The 4th is a great reminder of that!

I also love the 4th because it is a GREAT reason to to get the family together and have a party! We folks on the Perry side believe ANY holiday is a good reason to have a party.

There is also another reason I love the 4th, though. Technically, it really has nothing to do with my country's independence or it's birthday.

Oh, yes. That is a work of art, ladies and gentlemen. A work of art that only goes on display the 4th day of July every year. Here's some more eye candy fer ya...

My dear, sweet Hubby goes through a 2 day ritual preparing these babies just for me (OK - AND the family). He loves me I tell ya. And the sad thing is, he doesn't even like ribs and doesn't eat them. He cooks them for me because I ADORE them. His are THE BEST I have EVER tasted and I am way picky about baby-back ribs. Wish you could have smelled them on the grill. So divine! Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmm. He has a God-given gift with pork.

The kids splashed around in the pool for awhile while daddy worked his magic.

Daylor decided he was too big for the pool and hung out with the adults for the better part of the day. (Why does he have to look so big?!?!? I have to say I am struggling with the fact that he will be 10 month after next. I'm not near old enough to have a 10 year old and he's not near old enough to be 10! )

Here is some of the other spread we had. We had so much to eat and it was so good! Notice those gorg. tomatoes compliments of my garden.

And everyone knows you can't celebrate the 4th without some of this:

My sweet, 93 year old Peepa enjoying a big plate of yumminess:

Mom always tops of the occasion with my Meema's homemade ice cream recipe. A perfect way to end the perfect day!

God Bless America!

I ♥ Faces - Hats

This week's theme at I ♥ Faces is hats. I am submitting a kid and adult entry this time around.

My adult entry is of my favorite people in the world, my 93 year old grandfather, "Peepa." Here, he is showing off his newest and 8th great-grandchildren who happens to be named after him. As you can tell by his amazing smile, he adores his great-grand babies!

My kids entry is of my daughter, Perri. We started taking pictures while wearing the hat, but it quickly got on her nerves, so she took it off and began to twirl it in front of her. I love the way this turned out! It is probably one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken! Thanks to I ♥ Faces for the inspiration!

If you want to be totally impressed by some very talented photographers make your way on over to I ♥ Faces for the hat festivities!