So things have been crazy busy with our family, hence the reason that we've gone over a month without a blog post. Who knew that the summer would be so jam packed with a never ending list of "to dos," work assignments, playdates and rained out events.
It's because of the latter that I'm able to sit down and go through all of our photos and do these posts. When life hands you lemons and all of that, I guess, you make lemonade. Right?
So, here is an update of what we've been up to since moving into the new house through photos.
Abby has taken a break from gymnastics and will resume weekly classes in the fall.
The above photos were from a day when we went to the park and then did a little shopping for the new house at Target.
The turtle
This little guy showed up in our yard for some reason. We don't live near water, but he was just hanging out in our yard, so Jax got to have a turtle for a pet (for about two minutes).
We've also seen an abundance of ducks in our neighborhood. Could it have something to do with monsoon season? I heard today that Illinois set a record for most recorded rainfall in the month of June. Way to win the suckiest award possible, Illinois.
Great job.
Last week we got a call from my dad asking if we could come check something out... it ended up being a 25 pound catfish that he landed in the Mississippi River. That thing was absolutely huge and crazy heavy. After these photos, we released him back into the water and he thankfully swam away.
Since then, Jackson is obsessed with the idea of fishing.
*Note - he is only obsessed with the idea of fishing. We tried to take him on his first fishing excursion the morning of Father's day and he wanted no part of it. More to come on that later.
Bestie weekend
Jen came into town to see the new place and hang out for a weekend and we had some much needed girl time. We did a little shopping, eating and catching up. The photo of her wearing the red shirt was at Exotic Thai. She was looking for her phone in her purse and couldn't find it, so she started disassembling everything and alas, after emptying
pretty much everything out of her bag, she found it.
It was absolutley hilarious.
This photo makes me laugh so I'm putting it up for my own humor value.
Don't dare Jen to try on a dress from the girls section in Target.
Not only will she try it on, but she'll rock it. Like a hurricane.
Yardwork
We've been working our butts off on the new landscaping and Jax is all too willing to help.
He loves raking (yes, it's upside down and on the concrete, but he's got the right idea)
And last, but definitely not least, the two mowers that he loves to help out with.
(and yes, he typically mows the driveway... )
A day at the Botanical Center
Jax and I went to the Botanical Center for a mommy/Jax date and had a blast.
Even if it rained on us, we stayed the course and made a boat out of plates, popsicle sticks & tape and set it free to coast down the river.
Girl time
Abby loves girl time and even more, she loves having her nails done.
We tried this new idea we saw on pinterest of painting a makeup sponge and then dabbing the color on her nails that way and it was a huge success. Here she is sporting a pink and blue ombre effect.
Picnic with Papa
Since Matt is gone most Saturdays throughout the summer, that is designated mommy/Jax day.
Papa joined in this afternoon for a picnic at Scott County Park. Jax had a ton of equipment to play with, but chose to play in the sand of a volleyball court. Typical Jax.
I found my first four leaf clover, ever.
I thought it might be hinting that our rain spell was drying up, but then we got rained out on the tail end of our picnic, so there went that idea out the window.
I thought it might be hinting that our rain spell was drying up, but then we got rained out on the tail end of our picnic, so there went that idea out the window.
Abby is really into art and chalk drawing is her specialty.
Check out her colorful turtle and dolpin!
Papa & Miniature Papa
Since we have a studio in the house, it's easy to set up a photo that looks pretty awesome.
Enter this photo op with Papa that I snapped for Father's day.
See the resemblance?
Milltown
This post seems like the longest and most random post ever, but I'll continue.
I didn't want to do a ton of posts that just had one photo with a sentence explanation, so here we go.
There's a pretty cool coffee shop located on River Drive in Moline near the new Western Illinois University Campus called Milltown. They asked if I would put some art on the walls of the place and so I took a couple of weeks to get images of local Quad Cities landmarks and then printed them on 2'x3' metals and voila - new artwork.
Shameless plug:
All of these prints are available for purchase in different sizes if anyone is interested.
Jax and his girlfriend
My friend Anna and I have been friends since we were five years old.
She has two girls (ages almost 6&4)
Macy is the youngest and loves Jackson and the feeling is definitely mutual on his part.
Never does this kid walk at a park, but when Macy took his hand to lead him down a trail, he was in heaven. The whole way home, he said "I hold hands wif Macy."
Adorable.
Two random shots-
#1 - our interior doors being sprayed in the garage
#2 - Jax & Abby at a rummage sale with me, getting new "treasures"
Matt's birthday
For Matt's birthday, we celebrated with a couple of meals with the parents, but his real gift was redoing the entire front landscape of the house. I mentioned it in a post previously, but this is seriously how we spent the afternoon of his birthday. That morning he had to film a local Catholic School's graduation, so whatever he wanted to do, we were going to go along with it.
Jax didn't want his photo taken, but we wanted to get one for the scrapbook, so here are the two that we captured. As Matt says, it may not be the best image ever, but it is real life.
Last but not least was one of the coolest things I've ever had the opportunity to do.
The Saturday night of Father's Day weekend I was supposed to take photos of Bret Michaels (formerly of the band Poison or as seen on the Celebrity Apprentice).
It was rainy and gross all day/night and the forecast called for 100% rain during the outdoor show.
Boo.
What happened was pretty miraculous in that it only rained the first ten minutes we were there and then the last few minutes of the show. I scored some pretty awesome images and can't wait to get approval from Bret & his manager Pete to post some more.
Let me go on record to say that he was one of the nicest guys ever.
He was skateboarding with some local teens and taking selfies with passerbys.
He brought his youngest daughter on tour with him and she got on stage and sang the last song of the night with him.
Bret - you are awesome!
Well that's it for the Bishops, except our Father's Day weekend, which is up next.
Stay tuned!
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