Saturday, June 30, 2007

Picture of the Day


'This strawberry doesn't have a top, I'd better eat it!'

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Love is...



Baking a bunny cake for your little sister's birthday



A few weeks before Sylvia's birthday,Tara started asking her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. Sylvia first decided on a kittycat cake, but later changed her mind to a bunny cake.



Tara made the cake all by herself, no help from anyone. It is nice to have kids who can do things like this and are willing to do it for a beloved sibling. Sylvia was beyond thrilled with her bunny cake.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Melting!

Today, we were melting. The temps were up to 93 °F / 34 °C which might not sound hot to Texas folks, but is pretty darned hot for us.



So I let myself be persuaded to go to our local swimming pool. Jane has learned how to do a handstand in the water.



Although she told me to put a caption on 'Oh no!!! She is falling! She is going to bonk her head and drown!!!!!! Oh no!!!! ... ... Just kidding.' Look at the picture again and pretend that's the caption.



It was soooooooooo good to hang out in the cool water.



The girls had lots of fun jumping in, over and over.



Later on the day we went strawberry picking, which I might post about if I were organized. Organizational skills doesn't seem to be my biggest virtue though.



And we ate ice cream. Strawberries and ice cream, how can life get any better?

Monday, June 25, 2007

Strawberries

We went strawberry picking.



There was an amazing number of strawberries to be picked, they were everywhere.



The weather was perfect. It rained on the way there. It rained afterwards, but we were picking in wonderfully sunny weather.



Nice to be outside on a sunny day.



I was happily surprised with the many rows ready to pick, there was no trouble finding strawberries at all.



I ended up with a few more than I had planned on, but they got eaten pretty fast anyway. The girls made freezer jam out of a bunch of them, it can be eaten tomorrow. They were very excited about that.



Maybe we'll go another time this week, depends on how organized I am :p Tonight, Kate and Erik both aren't feeling well, so I guess it also depends on how fast they recover. Today, we went to swimming pool for first time, which was fun and nice place to be on 31 C day.

Best Friends

Friday, June 22, 2007

A Rare Sighting

EMPTY laundry baskets! As in, ALL my clean laundry had been folded. Doesn't happen very often ^^ I had some friends over, and I actually folded and chatted and got laundry done. Some day I'll be organized! (Don't hold your breath)



And yes, indeed they are full again, and I have laundry in dryer and more dirty laundry to do now. But this pic is proof that I did catch up to our laundry, for a whole of 42 seconds.

Picture of the Day

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sunday, June 17, 2007

The Mystery of the Potted Plant

Today, after go club, a mysterious thing happened. We came back to the car, and to my utter surprise, there was a flowery plant in it. A very nice one too.



I have NO idea how this made its way into my car, and who did this. I have one person I can ask, but I don't think it was him. Sending a thank you - thought, to whomever put this plant in my car. I still can't believe it mysteriously showed up!

This made me realize that I'd better start locking my car before zucchini season starts!

It also made me realize that , unlike other people, I am not worried at all about people stealing things from my car. Heck, I would even welcome it!
The current issue seems to be the opposite, people leaving things in it!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Rain



Showing that rain doesn't have to be an excuse for staying indoors. Much fun can be had with umbrellas and friends.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Target Practice



Photographer, beware!

Love Thursday



I am very blessed.



Happy Love Thursday!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Birthday Present

Too tired to post a long, sentimental post today, so just showing off one of Tara's birthday presents.



Some day, I'll catch up with all the birthday posts I have missed lately.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Sister Love



Catching your little sister when she comes down the slide.



Sylvia was a bit scared of the slide, but it got a lot easier when her big sister was around to help her.

Much love between those sisters, and much love to my sisters and brothers. Happy Love Thursday!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Rite of Passage

For years, my girls have been asking about getting their ears pierced. For the same amount of time, I have been saying 'When you are 13 years old' as my standard reply. This was mostly an arbitrary chosen number, figuring that by then, they would be old enough to take care of their ears after the piercing.

About a week ago, Tara started talking about it again. She really has been doing very well, maturing a lot in her behavior and projects she undertakes. I felt that if she wanted ear rings, she would be old enough to take responsibility for them.



My sister volunteered to take her, and pretended to be her mother. Both Tara and sis decided that there was no reason to let the piercing people know otherwise. So Tara got many 'I am sure your mom is proud of you, how well you are doing' and they both would smile :)

It went very well, and she looks very cute.

I am wondering at myself how the heck I got old enough to have a daughter who is maturing so fast, in addition to two teenage sons! Only 15 more years and ALL my kids will be grownups... Time flies like bananas!

Iris

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this beautiful iris in my front yard.



We just had had a big thunder storm. The air had that nice, refreshed feeling to it, and the sun was doing her best to dry everything as fast as possible. I love spring!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Bird Identification Challenge

Yesterday, we had a visiting bird which I didn't recognize. Which tells a lot more about my lousy memory than about the rareness value of the bird.



In an earlier life, I would have grabbed my bird book and looked up what kind of bird it was. Heck, I am pretty sure that I must have looked up this particular kind of bird before.

But in my current life, I have NO idea where my bird book is, nor did I have the time or energy to actually look for it and figure out the bird. My uneducated guess is some female finch.

My reader's challenge for the day is finding out what kind of bird it is. If you get it right, you will win a trip to Paris, a HD tv, a bird book, a honorable mention in one of my next blog posts. I am sure you all are eager to rise to the challenge!

Oh... Well, I could hope.



Showing the bird with a grey squirrel for size comparison. If it helps, we are in New England.

Whatever it was, it was a cute bird and I enjoyed seeing it.

And yes, I do realize that posting about this bird, and downloading all the pics, and making up the challenge, is actually more work than looking up the darned bird, but I never claimed to be a very logical person.

Quote of the Day

Today, Tara is going to get her ears pierced. Sylvia is totally grossed out about the whole thing. Her last reason not to do it 'Tara, you already have holes in your nose, so why do you need holes in your ears?'



Sylvia has claimed that she is NOT going to have her ears pierced. I know she will make her uncle happy, since he doesn't like the idea either ^^

Now she is saying 'Tara, I do not WANT you to!'

My Monkey

Monday, June 04, 2007

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Just Pictures

Because I am too tired to write a non-rambling post.







Thank you, sister, for making those pics of the girls.