Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bees and Flowers

About a month ago, the three and I found an active honey bee hive during our daily walk. The bees are always buzzing in and out. Every time we walk or ride by, we stop and watch for a minute, saying hello and good-bye to the honey bees.
The children really love watching them and talking about them. They are always asking to go see the honey bees and the broke tree (a tree that fell during a recent thunderstorm).
The summertime flowers have been very beautiful. I admire people who know their birds; I'd love to know all the birds that fly in and out of my world. Flowers are just as amazing and even less people can tell you what various wildflowers are. Here are a few we've been enjoying on our walks this summer.


The flower below has been growing most of the summer. One day when we passed it, Lucia wanted to stop and look at the "purple feather."

These flowers below are some of my favorites. I learned from our friend Alyson when she came to visit that they are called hat pins. These flowers have long stems with no leaves at all. The flower is a bit like the center of a daisy, only shaped more like a miniature marshmallow. And, they are always white. They are very interesting and, though unadorned, beautiful.


Here are the lily pads that grow in the cattle pond. They make for a pretty picture.


We hope your summer has been filled with pretty flowers and sweet honey. Thank you for checking in with us.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Traders

Elliott loves his tractor magazines, so he was very excited when the local fire chief, our family friend, sent him this fire trader magazine. I think he was growing a little tired of buckets and loaders and tire tread percentages. He has spent time with his new magazine learning about various safety equipment.

H and I can frequently be heard reading--with feeling--things like: "2002 JD 8320 3637 hours, 4 valves, front fenders, quick hitch, just $112,000" or "1999 Reynolds 17C, 17 yard scraper, good bucket, field ready, only $17,000." It is lots of fun to make the information sound captivating. But, Elliott, and Lucia too, love to sit and look at the traders. Elliott some times looks like he is studying them.




Monday, July 20, 2009

Unloading the Phone

In an effort to "catch up," I am going to include all our recent phone photos in a single post.

As I was making supper one night, I checked on the children and found that Lucia was getting her teddy bears ready for a meal. She put them in the highchair and then wanted them to have the tray.

One of the things we Really, Really have to work on are our mealtime manners. While it pains me to tell you, throwing food, feet on the table, et al., are issues we deal with frequently. We'll keep working on them. H and I got away for an afternoon with friends recently. We went to an old, beautiful theatre to see Gone with the Wind. (If you haven't seen it lately, watch it from start to finish today.) Afterward we ate supper and then went to the mecca of fattening foods. A great afternoon.
Here is another example of working on mealtime manners: Lu bathing in her spaghetti.
This is our water table. It is meant to e splashed in, not swam in. Needless to say, it is warm where we live.
Here is a picture of Mazie, our nurturer, putting her supper plate to bed: "Night, Night."
Here is Elliott, driving his fork around his chair like it is a truck.
Here are the babes trying (maybe succeeding?) drinking water from the dog bowl.
The children enjoyed making Rice Krispie treats with Grancy.
We love stickers. Sometimes even sticking them to paper.
Now that I have finished the post, perhaps I should have done a post about our struggles with mealtime manners. That's one thing about writing for the blog, some things cannot be ignored.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Rest of the Beach Photos

Here are the remainder of our beach trip photos. We had a great time and can't wait to go back.

Elliott taking a nap in a big bed. He did great. Once finished, he got up on his own and came out to the family room. Our big little guy.
Enjoying watermelon.

Bee with her three.
Mazie in her new New Balance.


On our drive home we picked up pizza...
...and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Papa's Family

This is the second year that we spent time at the beach with Papa Glenn's family over the fourth of July. We really enjoy our time with them. They are all so fun and easy to be around. Our babes really enjoy being with their cousin CC. He is very laid back and has beautiful blue eyes.
We hope they will come visit us in the country. If that doesn't work out, we'll see you next Fourth.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Mama Kate's Spa Day

During our respite at the Gulf, I was pampered by Miss Mazie with a quasi-pedicure. She kept me cool and tended to my sandy toes. It was enjoyable and relaxing and kept her busy for some time.



New Favorites

The children got to enjoy two new experiences at the beach. One was the blimp. They thought it was a very cool airplane. The other, which completely took the cake, maybe of the entire trip, was the fireworks that one of the big hotels set off. Oh my goodness. They loved them and talked about them for days. They were much prettier than the photo below suggests.