overheard

In the middle of a particularly difficult day where Mama was reeeaaaaally tired because a certain 14 month old decided he needed to wake up every hour and a half for the third night in a row, and a certain 2 1/2 year old decided to be extra ornery, Charlotte said to me "Maybe you can go outside and be happy with the trees".-too precious.

ballet

 

Nope-not ballet for Charlotte. Ballet for Mama-and thank goodness. I have started this week taking ballet class Tuesday and Thursday evenings. It feels so good to move again even though by the end of the jump sequence I am pretty sure I was only jumping about 1 cm off the floor :) Boy am I sore, but loving it. It has been entirely too long and I am entirely too excited.

the park-new to me

I have recently rediscovered our city park. Instead of going and just playing in the playground, we pack a picnic, bring a ball, sit in the grass, and play in the stream. It has been divine, and I feel like I have found my favorite new space to be with the family.
The kids are wild about horses and there is a horse pasture adjacent to our park. When the horses are sweet enough to oblige, we add petting the horses to our list of prak activities.

 

 

 

shoes!

 

This photo collage is from our trip to Gainesville, FL. Charlottle loves taking pictures of shoes and had to capture everyone's in the room. Not sure why I am the only one not wearing shoes. I love that in most photos you can see her shoes peeking into the shot too.

grant and leah's wedding

CONGRATULATIONS GRANT AND LEAH!!!!!!!!

Hang in there this is one long slideshow for one very important day. What a beautiful weekend. Grant and Leah did a great job with all the planning and preparation. What a special event. In addition to seeing my brother get married, I also go to see Willie. He seems happier than ever, and happier than when he was out here! Check it out, he and my brother had on matching ties :) What fun to see my family and get to meet all of Leah's family. Best wishes to you both-I love you!!!

overheard

Both kids are having big language leaps. Charlotte is stringing more words together. She told me last night when Timothy hurt himself I didn't do anything. Timothy did it to himself. hmmmmmmm-suspect. I have also heard her say things like I'm playing games with my brother. She also still has a big imagination where tigers are present, she is sometimes a panda bear and the other day she told me she was painting a sea urchin. Pretty cool stuff.

Timothy is saying and signing a ton more too. He signs: water, eat, more, baby, fish, milk, papa, mama, grandpa, grandma, chicken, and many more. Some new one syllable words: eat, that, mine (must be a second kid thing), truck, neigh. He does have some two syllable words too: baby, backpack, grandpa. Also this morning he very clearly said to his sister that mine. We will see how many words stick around. Pretty fun.

dose of reality

 

Reid's mother is in Africa visiting the some of the beneficiaries of the African Medical Mission that she is director of. Here, in her words, is a "day in the life" at the preschool:

"Today was spent in the preschool and I have to say how really impressed I was with what is happening for the 52 kids that were there today....The day always starts with prayers and song. They then line up and head to the classroom. This morning a group from Canada had knitted hats for the kids and all were wearing colors and caps...They sing they dance, they talked about weather, they worked on colors, numbers and sounds....Had a bathroom break - only in preschool are there toilets....at there homes they use the open space.....after that they divided the group into two parts - younger and older - the older ones had a lesson about writing their names and A apple a - practice......after finishing their papers. They had free time and I watched the girls go to a kitchen center and put the babies in blankets on their back- just like MOM. They boys were playing with blocks building some amazing structure. One group was in the books, another doing peg board colors, puzzles and tanagrams.....I was amazed at what they could do and how happy they were...Then a big story about Goldilocks as they acted it out...By this time day was over...they all went to the porch and awaited lunch of potato soup and bread....Hungry children although I did see the dogs and pigs enjoying the left overs that were dropped or sweep onto the land... Jenny was finishing the clinic - today they had a Canadian grandmother helping in clinic and it was more adult concerns....Had an office meeting with Mary and Jenny and we will be working on some more grants for tomorrow from South African Gold groups...Days are already going so quickly - I am taking pictures and look forward to sharing....Love to all, Carla"

tumbling

 

 

 

Charlotte has attended tumbling class the last 2 weeks ----and it has been, well.......entertaining :)

new projects

 

 

 

I admit the pictures are not the best, but will have to do in my busy week. I have recently finished 2 projects that have been in the works. The first, Timothy's bumper pad with Owl's-soooo darn cute if I do say so. The second, my pillow covers for the couch-finally a new fresh look. So satisfying to cross things off my list and have beautiful pieces to enjoy.

new arrivals

 

 

nope not another baby *sigh of relief* but our new hens joining our old hens-hopefully everyone will get along. And our new goldfish, intended to keep our beta fish, Bo, company-but well Bo didn't make the transition too well and needed to take a little vacation to the Popogie River via our toilet :)

green river lakes

 

 

 

 

what a slice of heaven!! I have a few select pictures before my camera got rained on and quit for the weekend (but Margie and Gary took some wonderful photos that I can share later). It was absolutely gorgeous and our camping weekend was all I expected it to be and full of
cranky, tired, hungry, cold kids
blissful, happy, energetic kids
rain
amazing views
mosquitoes
big diggers (Timothy falling on his face)
fishing with Charlotte
kids piled in bed with mama and papa
mid-day naps
meals of fresh trout and garden veggies
and of course smores

harvest

 

 

It is wonderful to return home to a garden full of goodies. Charlotte is once again my little potato digger, and between the bountiful garden and the freezer full of game meat I didn't have to go to the grocery for a couple of days! Delicious.

timothy

Timothy seems to be sprouting lately. He is so curious and full of the world around him. He is a little flirt -as long as he has the safety of a home base (a parent). He loves to tease anybody with anything he thinks you want.
He is loving books-of any kind.
If you ask him for a hug and he is in the mood he will run towards you, arms outstretched saying mmma, mmma, mmma for a big kiss too.
And he is becoming full of words and sounds, here is a short list of words: mama, papa, bird, more, dog, cat, up, hi, bye, boo. He can also tell you what the sounds that about 10 different animals make: tiger (hmm wonder where he learned that one), sheep, cow, horse, chicken, dog, cat-I am forgetting some. When we sing Old McDonald or Old McFarmer he sings along with ee-i-ee-i-oo.
Charlotte, Reid and I are having lots of fun with him :)

 

saturday hike

I having been wanting to get out with the kids on hike more. Finally, in Charlotte's words we did it! A great family picnic and hike. The weather has been amazing-a mild summer so far-only 80 degrees on August 1- unheard of here.

 

 

 

 

florida trip

here are some picture highlights :) Please forgive all the slideshows-they seem to be the easiest way to show our full vacation.

the butterfly farm

family all around

at the beach

coming home