A Duct Tape Festival -- Who knew?

There's a town in Avon, OH that has an annual Heritage Duct Tape Festival! Who knew? They even have a web site, www.avonducttapefestival.com. Could this be a future summer vacation destination?

It's a Boy and Nora's Braids!

I'm so excited! Derrek and Samantha are having a boy! We just found out today, and I'm really happy that we'll have a baby boy in the family.

On another note... I was just fixing Elizabeth's hair, and when I finished Nora sat herself down in front of me and announced that she would like four braids and some new barrettes in HER hair. The results are hilarious. Here they are...

My Little Worker

Ruby just loves to help -- and she doesn't mind working hard. Tony was out in the garden taking down the corn (which raccoons had finished off), and Ruby wanted to help him. He was cutting off stalks, so she started carrying them to a big pile for him. Our girl was hot, sweaty, and dusty, but she didn't even mind. She just kept going. At some point, while Ruby was working away, Nora said, "Daddy I'm helping you by staying out of the way." Nora and Elizabeth were looking on without much interest in doing any work. I had to take a couple pictures when I noticed Ruby was even wearing her apron. She's our little sweetheart.

One Week!

One week from today my two biggest girls are starting kindergarten! They're very excited, and it will be good for them to have some more structure to their days. Two great things about homeschooling: school doesn't mean the end to time outdoors and enjoying the great weather we've been having, and I don't have to go shopping for new school clothes!

I'm a little concerned that some portions of the kindergarten curriculum I decided on are not going to be challenging enough for them, but if that's the case we'll just supplement with additional lessons. I'm sure Elizabeth will also get a lot out of working through some of the simpler kindergarten lessons. I love this curriculum -- it is Christian-based plus the lessons encompass a world view! What could be better?

Nora is 5!

Today, Nora celebrated her 5th birthday. Sometimes I just can't believe that it has been almost two years since this beautiful, amazing child became my daughter. Happy birthday, Nora Lynn!

Budding chefs?

For the past couple of weeks, the girls have been asking me for aprons. They have several books where the characters are wearing aprons, plus they notice that a number of princesses in their movies have aprons on at some time or another (usually BEFORE the handsome prince comes to sweep them off their feet). So, today after swimming lessons we took a trip to the fabric store. Here's the result. They're so happy!

Summer Time

It feels soooooo good to have my beautiful Summer Rae here! I love watching my granddaughter playing with my daughters. I hadn't seen her for about three weeks, and that's just too long! She's spending the night tonight (and maybe the next night too), so I'm sure I'll have lots of great pictures and stories. A few minutes ago she looked at me with a big smile and said, "I like to be here!" Well, Summer, Grandma likes for you to be here too!

Camping and Fishing

We're home from our weekend of camping and fishing! The girls had such a great time camping with their big brother, Chris. We had perfect weather with sunny, warm days and cool nights. We went swimming, boating (and tubing), fishing, and just generally had a great time. The looks on the girls' faces -- and their squeals of delight -- were priceless when they each had their first turn riding the tube. Chris, Ashley, and Tony caught several trout, and we had fun sitting around the campfire and eating smores too. Here are a few pictures!

Another Fun Camping Weekend Coming Up

It has been a super busy week. We spent Tuesday evening picking up or new (well, new to us) pop-up camper, and then spent Wednesday and today getting it all ready to go -- new tires, fixing lights, cleaning, etc. Chris and his girlfriend, Ashley, arrived yesterday, and tomorrow morning we're leaving for a camping trip! We're going to Roaring River and Tablerock Lake. We will be home Monday, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of great stories to tell and pictures to post.

My Dad

This morning I took the girls to watch my dad play in a softball tournament. They loved watching him, and I am so proud of my dad! How many people my age have a dad who is still playing softball? And he's good!

I'm the kittens' grandma?

Nora is so funny with our new kittens. We've had them for a few weeks, and the new has not worn off. She just adores them. So....I was just upstairs doing something, and as I came back down I saw Nora holding Sunny, wrapped in a baby blanket, and saying to him, "Don't worry, Grandma will be right back. Here comes your grandma." So now I'm grandma to two kittens?

July 4th Party

We had a great 4th, and we didn't even spend money on fireworks! We went to a party at a friend's house a couple of miles down the road. The girls had a blast!

We Love Camping

We had another great camping adventure! We had planned to camp for three nights, but we cut it short and came home today. With it being July 4th weekend, the crowd was a little rowdy. Last night was very, very noisy with some yahoo running a generator next to us (guess he couldn't get an electric spot for his RV so he just brought along the generator), fireworks, and parties with loud music until 3:00 in the morning. Plus it rained both nights, and the first night there was so much lightning that we had to get the girls out of the tent at 4:00 a.m. and sit in the truck. Regardless of all that, we still had lots of fun! Here are a few pics.

The last picture is Nora beating a bigger kid in the "life jacket relay race" put on by the park ranger. She's something else!