I'm trying a new, bigger size for my photos. Hopefully, you can see the detail a little better this way.

Heck yeah! Lawson knows where we're going... He's ready to be a Virginia boy!

Come on, Mom, we need to get packed. Virginia is waiting!

This will be my last post from Kansas. I'll be shutting off the computer tomorrow, since the truck arrives early Tuesday morning, and won't be back on the blog until we're in our new place. I'll still try to check my email, though. Talk to y'all again soon!

We had such a nice time last night! The weather was gorgeous, we had great food and we enjoyed good company. We brought bubbles and blew them for Lawson. It was his first time to play in them and he was fascinated!

He's just started this new quirk.... he lifts his hands up for the "so big" game. He does it all the time now. He doesn't really do it on cue, but we're working on it. Silly boy...

We got some sparklers to show off for Lawson. He wasn't real sure what to make of them. He didn't cry, but he had that worried look on his face the whole time.... We decided not to venture into town for the big fireworks show. Last year, the booming was so loud, Lawson about jumped out of my uterus - I figured he wouldn't like them much better out of the womb.... But, we wound up being able to see them from Tracie and Sean's backyard. We got the flash without the bang. Lawson loved it!!!

It's been ages since we took a picture of all three of us. Not the best, but it'll do...

Happy Fourth of July! We're heading over to Tracie and Sean's house in a bit for dinner and goodbyes. They leave for a vacation this weekend and will be back after we leave. I hate goodbyes.... I'll be sure to get pictures up.

The packing is going well - we've made a lot of progress today. I can't believe the movers will be here Tuesday!!!!! Yikes! A week from today, I fly to VA. Yikes, again! Talk to me Monday night, but so far, things seem to be running on schedule. We still have several things left to pack, but we still have a few days. Lawson continues to be fascinated by the process. Here's more of my little helper:

Warning - rant ahead.... Brad and I reached a very difficult decision this week....we're going to give up our cat, Stitch. Most of you are aware of the havoc wreaked by this cat over the last 3 years. The first two years were great, but in the spring of 2005, she started peeing in the house (outside of her litter box). She has continued this habit in our new home, ruining both carpet and hardwood floors. She's been checked by a vet and there's no medical reason for her to do this - it's all mental. She peed in (and thus destroyed) my nice luggage and has chewed through/knocked over enough of our stuff to make us totally fed up. Since Lawson has gotten mobile, Stitch has gotten worse. It's not new, it's just more. So, we decided we would try to find a place for her before we moved since we have no interest in having her ruin a third home of ours.

Trouble is, we don't want her to be euthanized. We tried a variety of places that are no-kill shelters, but their waiting lists are miles long and it would be months before they could take her. One place had 300 cats waiting... So, today we took her to the Kansas City Humane Society. Yeah, these were the rudest ladies I've come across in a long time. Let me preface this by saying - I love animals. I adore having pets and I think animals should be treated kindly. But I also believe animals are not equal to humans. When the lady behind the counter asked why I was giving her up, I decided not to go into the long history of her bad behavior (thinking she'd have a better chance to get in) and just said she wasn't getting along with our baby. The lady behind the desk said "Well, you had the cat first." Um, yes. Yes, I did. I'm sorry, would you prefer I give my baby up for adoption since the cat was in the house first? Can you believe it? She seemed genuinely perturbed when I said that given the choice, I'd pick the human. It just irritates me that she made a vicious judgement about me based on so little information. I've had this cat for 5 years - we got her from my sister-in-law and met her when her little eyes weren't even open yet. I didn't make this decision lightly.

Anyway, they wouldn't take Stitch b/c they already had too many cats. Our last option is the local animal shelter. They'll take her, but I'm sure she'll be killed within the week. It's so hard to give her up knowing that's what's going to happen to her, but we cannot afford to keep replacing all the stuff she's ruined. :(

On a lighter note, here are some pics of Lawson playing in the yard the other day. Oh, and he finally cut his 5th tooth yesterday! Yay!

We had a massive hail storm about 8:00 this morning. The sky was so dark - it seemed like it was 5am instead of 8am. It only lasted 10-15 minutes, but I've never seen/heard hail that bad - it sounded like my house was going to collapse around me! The hail was only about marble-sized, but the sheer volume was unbelievable! It was crashing into the windows and the side of the house so loudly. The velocity at which it fell from the sky caused it to bounce of the ground and ricochet up to hit even more windows. For example, hail bounced off our deck and hit Lawson's bedroom window (about 10-12 feet to the side)! Lawson was a little scared and the cats were completely flipping out. Yikes! Fortunately, we don't have any damage, it was just interesting to watch/hear. If you click on the images, you'll get an up-close view and can see the detail a bit better.


Here's my deck, covered in hail stones:

The stones came flying down the rain gutters, causing some nice pile-ups: