Good Neighbors

I love my neighbors. Last night they invited us over to roast marshmallows over their new fire-pit. Glad I had green peppers for dinner instead of the Little Ceasers everyone else had. So I had 3 marshmallows. Yummy! I probably gained 2lbs. from eating them...That's okay...I love you Traci!

Strawberry Fields

It was a perfect day for strawberry picking. And my girls did so good! They each filled a box and hardly ate any while we were picking. And let me tell you...they are the sweetest, juiciest, yummiest strawberries I have ever had! De-lish!

Full Day

Yes, the girls and I had just that...a full day. It started out with a little play at the new and fully awesome park at Pottawatomie. We then hopped on our bikes and rode around the campus at IUSB. They've got an awesome bridge over the road/river that the girls loved. Then we got home and I took a nap for about 30 min.'s and then babysat for a couple of cuties for about 2 1/2 hours. During that time we went for a walk around our unusually large block and played at Hums park for about 1/2 hour. Then when Daddy got home we went to play Putt-Putt for the first time. Grace got a hole in one! Then to my friend Carrie's friend Libby's house. Yikes! Did that all make sense? Oh, and I just walked the dog...again.
No pictures today :(

Up

Great movie! I want to adopt Russell...and Carl. And Doug. And Kevin.

Fernwood

My friend Carrie has talked about Fernwood many time in the years that I've known her. She and her husband were married there. I've seen the pictures. But I did not know. I did not know the beauty of this place. I am so glad we went. I love you Carrie!

Don't forget you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This awesome sight was the first of many that thrilled us all. The little black dots are this frogs eggs. There were hundreds of them.

This poor guy thinks he's hiding from us. So cute!

My beautiful girls.

I don't have any idea what this was but it was so beautiful. All the leaves on this bush were turning this lovely pink color.

So pretty...

This was definitely the highlight of the day. All of the kids went running into this beautiful gazebo and came to a halting stop. Tucked away, right at their feet was this precious baby deer. They all were able to get a really good look at her before she just jumped up and took off for her mommy. Amazing.

I love the looks on the girls faces here...

The whole gang...

Wow...

What a birthday I've had. Last night we had my mom and dad and brother over for pizza. The girls showered me with home-made gifts...poems copied from Shel Silverstein, beautifully colored pictures of apartment buildings, about 10 different matching bracelet/necklace sets made from plastic beads and rubberish string. But above all, my favorite gift was the one Grace wrapped up for me. It was wrapped up in Christmas paper and then folded inside a picture of us that she drew: 2 tic tacs and a penny. That was so precious to me I could barely stand it.

So the girls have been wanting to get their ears pierced for a few months now. And we didn't have a problem with it so we decided that today after Emily's sewing lessons we would take the girls. I woke up this morning with a mild headache but I took some Motrin and a nap before we went. We got to Claires and here's what happened: Emily was nervous and talked my ear off all morning and the whole way there. She finally stopped when she hopped up into the chair. She handled it so well. I was very proud of her.

Grace was not nervous. She is the braver of the two. She hopped up there and ...

my poor baby cried!!! Oh that dear sweet child. They hurt her little ears!! Yes, I know we were going there so they could poke holes through them but..my baby cried!!

Well, all the excitement (not to mention seeing my babies get holes poked through their ears) got my headache going full blast.

So, I got home and went right to bed. Which was devastating because I had plans to go out with my dear friend and neighbor Traci. We had tickets ($20 tickets) to go see my hero, Dr. Laura in a live broadcast at a local theatre. So, that was a bummer. And of course now, at 10:00 at night I feel great. UGHHhhhh...

I Love This Man

Weko Beach

Well, yesterday was a groundhog day for us. After church Mark and I decided to take the kids up to Silver Beach to fly kites. Of course we got lost. Not lost exactly, just couldn't find St. Joe. But as we traveled up Red Arrow Highway we came across Weko Beach and decided to go there instead. My folks have hosted quite a few fully awesome cookouts up there so we knew it was a good beach so we went in. And I am so glad we did. It was perfect. And as much as I love Silver Beach...I think I like Weko more.

Now, two years ago when we went up in April to do this it was FREEZING!! So of course yesterday I made the girls wear long pants and long sleeve shirts and I packed hats and jackets. Hee Hee. What a goof! It was sooooo beautiful. The air was the perfect temperature. It was a bit cloudy and great wind for flying kites. We had such a great day.