Let's go swimming...

I'm taking Hannah & Olivia to the pool today! For the past 2 weeks Rob has taken the girls to swimming lessons, while I did Art Camp and Cooking Camp. We did it in the Presbyterian church, where the nursery school (where I work) is...children came at 9 am and parents picked them up at 12 noon. Tuition was $115 per child for a week of camp (5 days). I would love to do the same thing at our small church or in my home, even.

Can you see the tiny praying mantis on Juliana's shoe? (click to see larger) Last year, we had quite a few in our backyard. I hope for lots of them again this year!
That's the bean bag toss game that the girls helped to make...I sewed the bags, and they filled them with 1/2 cup of beans, then I cut holes and we painted the cardboard!Happy Hannah wearing the pearl necklace she got from her sister and dress from Grammie and Peepaw! She had a great 8th birthday.

8:12am

Eight years ago today this sweet baby girl joined Rob and me...to make our life even more joyful!
We're having vegan cupcakes here from 2 to 4pm in our backyard to celebrate her birthday. Hannah wants to walk the tightrope (a jumprope fastened on our trampoline), paint face and make clown (poodle) balloons...so it will be like a circus!

Walgreens photo...

Juliana and Isaac...so sweet. I'm getting photos developed at Walgreens right now, buy 25 prints (19 cents per 4x6) and get 25 FREE. That's like paying 10 cents per print!

Rob held Isaac for the first time just yesterday. It was a nice way to spend Father's Day, with those we love the most.

My friend Michelle and her family came to visit Cincinnati. We had a great time together...they even came with us to church after dinner!

Below is a photo of our Art Camp group..almost everyone wore their tie-dye t-shirts on Friday! This week, we're doing Cooking Camp.

Isaac is here!

Andrea (my sister) and Walter are the proud parents of a sweet little boy, Issac. He was born at 6:28pm, weighing 6 pounds 4 ounces and is 21 inches long!

Homemade kiwi popsicles

Oh, yeah...they were good.

• Mashed up 3 kiwis with a fork
• Added about 1 tablespoon of sugar (next time I'll try honey)
• Froze for 5 hours...and then...Mmmmm!!!
  
  Day 1 at ART CAMP: we made stepping stones with cement and drew SHOES

Day 2 at ART CAMP: drawing from life (lilies), we also dyed papertowels and played with clayDay 3 at ART CAMP: we are going to tie dye t-shirts and use watercolor pencils

P.S. I always love reading the comments you leave...and the ones like my dad and mom, who look at my blog and then tell me in person! XO

Metamorphosis

At the Butterfly Show at Krohn's conservatory (featuring butterflies of India this year), there was a bin of dress-up clothes supposedly from India. I thought this looked Peruvian...still Hannah looked lovely, don't you agree? Trying to make friends with a butterfly. We saw caterpillars, big ones and tiny ones, chrysalises and cocoons (silk worms) and lots of flowers, of course! One of our favorite books is still The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Olivia proudly holds a little cream and orange butterfly.

The Snap-on guy at work had a super cool computer chair to giveaway...Rob was the lucky winner. We've been using a chair that we got about 5 years ago from the Army trash (no joke), I'm SO glad to replace it!

We got to look after a cute little 8 month old guy for a bit yesterday! The girls had fun, we showed him how to play baseball in the backyard, jumped on the trampoline together, he sat on my lap on the swing and giggled at our dog, Lusy, catching tennis balls!

Our table

Salad with greens from our garden, along with shredded beets, pine nuts and raisins (and then croutons)! Rob made sauce with the last batch of frozen tomatoes from our garden last fall to go over the pasta.Last night we had a great time at my parents house, my sister and her family were there too, we ate ice cream, the girls took turns pulling each other around in the Radio Flyer wagon, and we had fun trying to catch fireflies. Seems like they won't illuminate if they don't have enough space to fly around, or maybe you need a male and female (do they light up to attract a mate?)...so we let them go. Here's Olivia's birthday book from Shutterfly! It's really nice. They are $23 regularly for the 8x8, though. I only had to pay for shipping $8, so it was a much better price!!! Lusy keeping cool in the shade.

Stuffed eggs (with yogurt)

We love this healthier version...

12 hard-boiled eggs
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
1/2 cup yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

• Cut eggs in half lengthwise.
• Remove egg yolks and place them in a bowl.
• Mash egg yolks with fork and add mustard, vinegar and yogurt.
• I use my Pampered Chef easy-accent decorator to make them look pretty, but scoop the filling into each egg however you wish.
• Sprinkle paprika or dried dill over top of each egg, just before serving. Enjoy!
  

God in our lives

I wore this dress to church on Sunday. It's tradition in the Orthodox church to wear green on Pentecost, a reminder that God comes to renew all of creation. I sewed this dress myself and hope to make another one like it...so comfy!

While observing all of the seashells in the box, Olivia said "This is a necklace one...that's how God made it!" It had a tiny hole in it.

We had an ice cream social at church. Emma ate out of a bowl, then discovered what was in her bib!!!

Little Pet Shop cake

6 Little Pet Shop dogs adorned the top of Olivia's 6th birthday cake (contained one pound of butter, 14 eggs...mmmmm). The NEW Little Pet Shop that Olivia bought on Monday with birthday money, a skunk. Rob made rootbeer with dry ice and sasparilla extract in a 5 gallon igloo cooler. We still have some left, rather flat, the way I like it, actually.

Hannah and my dad at the birthday party in our backyard. Can you see Hannah's seashell necklace? My mom made one for each of the grandchildren, she found the shells when she and dad went on vacation to the Jersey Shore last month!

I haven't used Shutterfly in a long time (yeah, you'll see photos from Olivia's 1st birthday there), but uploaded lots of birthday photos there and created this site: http://thebaiers.shutterfly.com/ I just ordered a book from them...with all the birthday photos...they sent me an email to get a FREE one, so I just paid for the shipping!