Sunburn

After spending the day at the pool...usually we're there for shorter periods...we got a sunburn. I went to the store and bought some 110 SPF! I'd never seen it that high. It really works well.



This is my niece who is just 1...she really loves the water.

P.S. We do not have internet at home any longer, but we can walk to the library and that's where I am right now...

Yarn along...harvesting.

I'm working on several projects right now...sewing a long bench cushion for a friend, always working on aprons, and instead of crocheting, I've been balling up some yarn, getting it ready to use! Ginny's yarn along is especially sweet this week...she's reading the Bible.I hope to finish that green piece into a sweet capelet like this one below from Lands' End Canvas, it's on sale for $19.99 right now, but they only have the small size left:Last night I finished reading Anthem a novella by Ayn Rand. It was excellent because it points out that individuality and freedom are essential to joy in life...one cannot live under authority or a government that is extremely controlling. I hope to get her book Atlas Shrugged to read next.
A Carolina wren family is living outside our backdoor. I had a basket in one of the shelves and noticed that there was a lot of brown stuff in it...and birds back and forth...sure enough, 3 little chicks have hatched. The mother and father both seem very careful, I'm sure she wasn't happy with me having a look. I made sure not to touch anything...

This was yesterday's harvest...
I know you're wondering what's in the blue sand pail...

Remembering today in 1918

Today is the 17th of July, 93 years ago exactly (in 1918) the Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and their children and their servents were killed by the Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, Russia. In our church, we have canonized them, they are saints, since they held onto their faith strongly and prayed until the end. They an example to us, our salvation is more important than anything else!
Our church was full today...thankfully it was air conditioned (thanks to Demetrios), because with all the people and candles burning, it could've been really hot!Playing duck-duck-goose in the yard after church.My nephew, Isaac, who turned 2 exactly a month ago, June 17, while we were still out of town. I love his little amber necklace.
Here are my girls and nieces with their new friend, James. It was Emma's 4th birthday yesterday, so they brought pink lion cupcakes to church to share...lions are her favorite animal.We went to Graeter's at 8pm to get a cone ($2.50 usually, but $1.41 in honor of their 141st anniversary) and, boy, was it crowded! But worth it. My parents came, too. My dad didn't have a good day yesterday, and missed church, but thankfully he had a pretty good day today. Tomorrow is actually their 35th wedding anniversary!!!

Yarn along...summertime!

I crocheted a purple cat and kitten...just need to find my embroidery needle and sew a face and buttons on...here is the blog with the "yarn along": http://www.gsheller.com/Our first sunflower blossom!
I took this picture of our garden 2 weeks ago...we've been eating lettuce out of it, onions, green beans, peas and red potatoes. We've been finding quite a few praying mantis in our garden. It seems they are just as curious about us as we are them, turning their triangular head and looking right at us...This is what our garden looks like now...a bit wild and overgrown. I just pulled out some beets and Rob got 3 nice cucumbers! I plucked off 10 squash blossoms (on the right) and stuffed them with herbed goat cheese yesterday. Yum. Growing them is easy, and you'll get great squash, too...someplaces, you can buy them! I am looking forward to our tomatoes...there are lots of green ones right now. Hopefully soon! What's growing in your yard?Oh, and here's a video of the hula-hoopers. Even I enjoy hula-hooping.

Happy summer...

We just went to Graeter's and got some mango and watermelon sorbet. Scrumptious for sure!!! They have a coloring contest going on until July 31, 2011. Right now, Hannah & Olivia are working on theirs...last year, Olivia won 3rd place in her age group! When you turn them in you get a free red scoop.
I'm wondering what that means...was it a typo? do they mean you get strawberry or raspberry (something reddish) or is it literally a scooper that is red? We'll let you know soon...
Wednesday we got to make big bubbles with a friend! It was so much fun. Here is how you can make them: http://theenchantedtree.blogspot.com/2010/08/giant-bubbles.html
Look at this pretty skirt! Lotta is an amazing, yet simple designer. I admire her work. There's a tutorial there...so you can make your own! I am thinking that design would be pretty on an apron, too.

Thinking about my dad...

(Olivia made Peepaw a bracelet)

May 9, 2011 my dad (the girls call him Peepaw) went in to the hospital for 10 days to have surgery (a port inserted into his small intestine so that he can receive medication via pump) and for the doctors and nurses involved in this study to monitor his Parkinson's disease. My mom was allowed to stay the night with him, too, which was nice! Unfortunately, his dyskinesia has gotten worse & it's hard for him to enunciate clearly and loudly, so we have difficulty in understanding him, but we are hopeful that things will improve. I see the look of love in his eyes and my mom just sitting next to him just holding his hand. He will go into the hospital August 1, 2011 for 5 days and that will be the "end" of the 3 month double-blind study portion. I wrote about that in May.

I just read "Faces of Parkinson's" which is really helpful...there are so many struggling with the same thing:

• Rick Schwartz wrote "No one I know wants to have Parkinson’s, including me. But sooner or later, life will put real challenges in front of all of us. When I think about the nine years since my diagnosis, I find that they’ve been some of the best of my life."

• Mary Anne Ostrenga wrote "The surprising thing about having Parkinson’s disease and asking for help is that almost everyone says yes."

• 39 year old Dave Dorsey wrote "Sharing my story is therapeutic; I only hope others might benefit from my experience."

And for those of you wanting to know what you can do to help someone. Here is an inspiring article written by Jim Forest who had kidney failure...

America the beautiful!

I've been scrapbooking photos from our trip across America (someone placed an oval sticker over this pedestrian sign):I'm really looking forward to this weekend...my husband has a 3-day weekend. He really deserves it. He only had Sunday off last week...and it was Hannah's 10th birthday, as well as his grandmother's 101th birthday.
Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that 6 years ago Rob was in Iraq...this photo below was taken by one of the women took at the airport the day he left to go back. Every soldier was given 2 weeks R & R to come home mid-deployment. Thank you to all of those soldiers to help assure our independence and freedom!
I just read this book A Long Walk to Water (found in the juvenile fiction section at our local library) and highly recommend it! My 10 year old daughter actually read it before me... It takes place in Sudan, one of the countries where there seems to be constant wars. The life of Salva Dut is amazing, and his mission to help get clean water for the people of Africa.
There are so many things I take for granted, living here in America...like living with freedom to do what we wish and drinking clean water!

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Have a wonderful Independence Day!!!