S'mores

I was craving s'mores the other day so we decided to make some on the stove. They were so yummy and now they're Abbi's favorite! And maybe my favorite too!











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First Red Tomato

We were all very excited this morning because Abbi found our first red tomato of the season! We have been waiting for these things since April so it was a pretty big deal! Abbi was able to spot it. It was right at her level and she was very proud. She wanted to eat it right there like an apple, but I told her she had to wait till we washed and cut it. Then her and Jack both had a slice and decided they don't like tomatoes! Oh well. They like tomato soup though so at least they won't go to waste!



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Strawberry Jam

We decided to make strawberry jam today since strawberry season is almost over and our freezer is almost out of jam! We bought a flat of strawberries from our favorite strawberry stand and went to work. After 18 jars of jam we still had a half a flat of strawberries left! It's messy business but it was so worth it. The jam is delicious!

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Bird House Continued

Remember the bird house Abbi painted? Here it is filled up with bird food and hung on the tree in our backyard. We've been watching it all day. No takers yet, but we will keep watching!

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Little Art-ists!

My kids have been really into water colors lately. A messy business, but well worth the mess. So far Abbi has made one painting for each member of her extended family and then some! It really must be over 40 paintings. We probably killed a whole tree. But she loves it. Buddy mostly likes to paint outside in the nude either on himself or the ground.











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Our Garden

We have a few new additions to our backyard food supply. We planted a cherry tree, nectarine tree, plum tree and a mandarin tree. We already have mandarins and nectarines! We had plums but they all shriveled up and fell off. :(
We planted our usual tomato plants and they are huge as always.
Among our old standbys we have peaches and pears that are looking beautiful. We have grape vines that are huge but don't produce any grapes. And we have our blueberry bushes that produced exactly 6 blueberries! Abbi ate 5 of those. She said they were really good. I'll have to take her word for it!






Abbi picking peaches at 7 am!


Pears


Mandarins


Grape vines (no grapes)


Nectarine


Tomato

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Hide n go seek

This was Abbi's hiding spot for our game of hide n go seek:



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Wacky Tacky Weekend!

We are getting new carpet! Which is great! But we decided to tear out our fireplace before the new carpet goes in. Turns out that's a lot of work! Who knew?






Dirty Boys!

I really can't complain. My only assignment was to keep the kids out of the house. That is harder than it sounds. My kids don't like to shop so it's not like I could just run errands or go to the mall. Plus it is 105 degrees today so I was not going to the park!
We thought we'd go to Wacky Tacky. It's like a huge McDonalds playground indoors. The kids really liked it and it was only $5 so I really liked it.

Abbi told me she wanted to have her birthday party there, but we will see!


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A Visit From Grandma Raine!

My mom was nice enough to come out and watch our kids while we had our little get away. She is such a fun grandma! She did so many fun things with the kids! I was so grateful that they were able to spend that time with her.

I'm pretty sure she took them on a picnic to the park every day.

My favorite part of this picture is that their sandwiches are cut into triangles. I don't know why but my mom has always cut her sandwiches in triangles and I've always cut mine in squares. Isn't that odd? Triangles sandwiches remind me of my childhood.

I think Buddy did get a little sad and started looking for Mommy and Daddy out the window.

And gourmet breakfast too! Fruit, oatmeal and cinnamon rolls! Spoiled? They weren't too happy to see the cereal come back out when I got home.

Buddy holding the baseball grandma got him

My mom taught them how to play T-Ball. They love it now. They even made bases out of washcloths and had a grand time running the bases! Buddy couldn't quite lift the bat and had to hold the fat end to keep it up.

Abbi hitting her pink ball (backwards)

Sticker Time!

My Mom took them to Fairytale Town in Sacramento. They love that place. I took my mom and the kids when Jack was only a few weeks old. I'm glad she remembered it. We haven't been there forever!

Grandma said Jack kept calling the giant's toes "fingers"

"Roar!"

Apparently Jack fell in love with this Turtle and wouldn't leave it's side or stop kissing it! Typical Jack!

Yum!

My mom had to leave before Abbi's ballet recital, but she got to see her dress rehearsal the day before.

Princess Abbi

I was so glad my mom got to spend time with the kids. They still talk about Grandma Raine and all the fun things she did with them and how they miss her. One day my mom took out the trash and Abbi told her, "Wow Grandma, you know how to do everything!" She is right, grandmas always know how to do everything. Hopefully some day I can be promoted to grandma and know everything!