Eight is Great!

Haley has always said she would like to have a sleep-over party for her 8th birthday, and that she did! She invited some close friends and planned lots of fun "spa" activities. Her favorite, by far, was making soap. The dinner menu featured her favorite foods: ribeye steak, "mayonaise noodles" and even artichoke. The girls had so much fun crashing out in the toy room. Happy Birthday, my not-so-little girl!

The Outer Banks

The kids loved the Atlantic! Bigger waves than the Gulf and warmer water than the Pacific. Haley caught some waves on her boogie board that carried her into shore, all the while she was laughing her head off! Jenna's getting so grown up, she loved the adventure of the waves, too! What a great few days we had at the beach. The Outer Banks are beautiful...we drove quite a bit south and the dunes, vegetation, and beach views were something else. Not to mention the lighthouses. We all learned a bit about the Wright Brothers...Kitty Hawk offered good winds for take-offs and soft sand for crashes. :) We were on dunes so big, you would think you were in the middle of a desert, not along the seashore. Yet another place to consider when we are ready to buy our own beach house!

Colonial Williamsburg

What a great day! The girls were so cute in their colonial costumes...Jenna's bonnet was adorable, and of course Haley needed to wear a boy's hat with her dress. Outfitted as such, they were asked to do special errands around town: collecting a letter from the Post Office; delivering a message to the printer; and, best of all, planting turnips in the garden! We learned about many crafts, from basketweaving, to blacksmithing, to book-binding. Haley knows all she needs to know to make a gun...she asked the most questions at the gunsmith's shop! They even enjoyed colonial fare, corn chowder, stew, and salted ham and biscuits. The most fun was playing on the town green...the hoop and stick was their favorite!

Pickles, anyone?

Can you believe I used to babysit for these little girls? I'm talking about the women, not the kids! They are all grown up now with their own families. It was so great to see them again and to meet their husbands and beautiful children!

from the tiniest seed...

I am getting so hopeful that I may actually EAT a tomato off of this plant. I have not been able to grow a thing since moving south. So discouraging. I say that I've been growing children instead, but still feel frustrated that anything I have planted just dies. The soil, heat, and humidity are just so hard to work around (at least for me.) But JUST LOOK AT THIS TOMATO PLANT! And the amazing thing is it's beginnings: I was slicing a tomato, a beautiful, perfectly ripe tomato at lunchtime. It looked a little strange inside, a little green. What were those little green curls near the seeds?? SPROUTS! We chopped the tomato up and put it in a tiny pot. Three little plants came up, so a bigger pot. One kept breaking off, but we just stuck it back in the dirt. It survived...all three plants did! Another bigger pot! Now that pot's not big enough, but it's too late to transpant again. We water everyday, have picked some big green caterpillars off it, and just leave it in the same spot on the deck. The sun must be perfect there; I am afraid to move it. And we're keeping our fingers crossed that after all this time and TLC we'll really have tomaotes to eat. I am getting hungry just thinking about it!