Blueberry pickin'

We woke up to cooler temperatures today and so we decided to go pick blueberries. My helper was a champ--she was spotting the little blue berries like nobody's business! My clumsy hands kept picking and dropping them, but her's held on tight and expertly dropped them into the bucket. Last year when we went, she wasn't nearly as discerning and many a green berry made it into our stash. Not this year. She would exclaim "Ohh! Look at this beauty." or "How's this one for blue?" or "I bet this one tastes super sweet!"

Look how serious she is!


As the time passed, she started to flag and began to find more interest in "examining" the berries. I should be more exact--she was having fun scooping them out of her basket into mine and then back again. Transferring is a good early childhood skill, isn't it?!



I had deliberately held off on letting her eat any because I knew once she started, she wouldn't want to quit. Boy, was I right! She had gotten rather quite and had gone off to a different bush...when I turned around, she was hiding among the leaves, poking the blueberries with a branch and sucking out the insides before she popped them into her mouth (an unusual strategy I'd say, but it was obviously working for her!). Quiet as a mouse she was. When I asked her about it, she said "I'm just having some tasters", which is what we say when we go to C*stco and they are handing out goodies to try. Ha ha ha :)

A mouthful of blueberries!


When I had filled up the bucket (8 lbs!) and it was time to go, I couldn't get her to leave--she was like a kid in a candy store. "More, more, more!" she kept saying. I guess, all in all, blueberries aren't a bad vice to indulge in, right?!

Summer-y Saturday

We went to a party celebrating J's cousin and her new husband's marriage. It was very summer-y and soooo hot, but it was great being able to welcome the new guy into the family!

My First Dollhouse

The other weekend we were out running errands and decided to stop at a garage sale. We came across the F*scher Pr*ce "My First Dollhouse" for sale at the unbelievable price of $5.00!! Once I got home, I realized that not only was it in perfect condition but included were also all of the "additional" pieces as well.



The dollhouse comes with a Caucasian family, but of course, our family doesn't really look like this, now does it. Further browsing on-line led me to the knowledge that if you contact F*scher Pr*ce and give them the UPC code, they will mail you (FREE OF CHARGE!!) either an Asian or Hispanic family. Score! As an FYI, in the store, you can also purchase the dollhouse with an African-American family.




I know Christmas is still 6 months away, but perhaps you might want to give Santa a little heads-up, hmmm?

Just wanted to pass along this great deal to others who might not be aware!

CSA Week 2

This week was more like what I had expected with the CSA. Still a good bounty though. In our stash we got: pea pods, onions, garlic scamps, kohlrabi, kale, cabbage, red leaf lettuce, zucchini and oregano. We still have kohlrabi left over from last week...and J's the only one who generally eats it. Hmmmm--I'd better buck up and start learning to like it!

Marveling at the size of the pea pod...


before she took a chomp!


**Can you tell we're trying to grow out some bangs...ugh!

***Check back tomorrow, because I have a GREAT deal for those in the adoption community :)

A stop on the farm

On our way driving down and back from Florida, we always stop to stay at my Nana's house. One of my aunts also lives in the same small town, and owns and runs a small nursery/shop selling "Kentucky Pride" items. They use to be dairy farmers but have since left that business, but continue to use the farm. There are always quite a number of animals around--calves, goats, rabbits, pot bellied pigs, chickens and of course cats. Very picturesque!

On the day we went up there, it was HOT HOT HOT. The Noodle's head started sweating the minute we left the air conditioning. By the end, she was a wet mess. I guess you can't be on a farm and not get a little sweaty and dirty :)



Her reaction walking past the pot bellied pigs--maybe she's not such a farm girl!

Three and a half

Today the Noodle is three and a half. I can't believe it! Where is the time going? Aghhhh!

In order to document, her favorite food is still rice, she loves to eat most fruits and some veggies, she enjoys singing "Paw-paw patch" and "This train is bound for glory", she can ride a scooter as well as a bike with training wheels, she still is a girly-girl who loves jewelery, dresses and fancy shoes but is also fascinated by "Ka-Chow" aka Lightening McQueen, Thomas the Tank Engine and various 'dozers, dump trucks and other earth moving equipment, she knows and will say our entire grace/blessing, but rarely will she do it upon request, she consistently will walk up the stairs alternating feet but inconsistently comes down that way, her favorite place to be is anywhere we are--often causing us to exclaim that "you're under foot!", she loves to help us complete tasks (work on the car, home improvement, cook/bake, laundry, etc.), she usually drinks from a straw or a cup and can use a toddler knife (dull that it is) to cut her pancakes/waffles or other "softer" food, she continues to love books and will sit to be read to or will "read" to herself for long periods of time, she is terrified of thunder storms and will literally shake while one is going on and want to be held for the duration, when she dances, she wiggles her arms (like she's blocking) and shimmers her hips, her head sweats SO MUCH--most days when she wakes up from her nap, there is a big sweat ring on her pillow and her entire head is wet; the rest of her body doesn't seem to sweat that much though, she has a rather fierce sweet tooth (just like her mama!), she loves to spin around and around until she falls down...and then gets right back up and starts all over again and finally, she never stops being a joy and a blessing to us, every minute of every day!

Don't worry, this was a posed shot...she put her helmet on when she started riding!


Being a "goofy-ball" as she likes to say!


These 2 provided hours of entertainment on the drive down to Florida.


Doin' her signature dance move (as well as sweating up a storm!)


Helping plant the Mother's day gifts


See what I mean about being "under foot"?!


Assisting with the message center Daddy was working on


Ring around the rosie

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday, since Lolly is down visiting Nana, her sisters and best friend from childhood, Papa came along and went to the train track with us. We had such a fun time riding the rails and having a picnic. It was a real blessing to be able to spend Father's Day with both the fathers/grandfathers! Hope yours was a treat!

Strawberry pickin' time

Yesterday morning, the Noodle and I headed out to pick strawberries. It was warm, but since it was early and there was a nice breeze, it wasn't too bad. After we had picked 2 buckets, the Noodle said "let's go get more", so off we went to pick more. The farm had a deal that if you picked 4, then you got the 5th one free. As you can imagine, we are now swimming in berries--but they taste delicious!

Afterward we stopped and had some frozen custard made with fresh strawberries. I don't think she could quite believe we were eating ice cream at 11:30 in the morning. The novelty of it!





Don't worry, we split it!

What I've been busy making--

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

Once the calendar page flipped over to June, I knew that the CSA would be starting soon. Yesterday was it was. We weren't sure what to expect so early in the season, since where we live they are still harvesting "cool" weather vegetables (think greens), but we weren't disappointed! Lettuce, spinach, beets, kale, thyme, garlic scamps, kohlrabi, onions and the jackpot--strawberries. Obviously the Noodle couldn't let those plump, juicy berries sit there without sampling one or two. No doubt about it--'local' trumps 'trucked in' berries any day. Delicious!

We're suppose to be heading into a heat-wave tomorrow, but if it is not too hot, the Noodle and I are going to try and pick some of our own strawberries. Yum :)

***On a different note, we had the Noodle's 1 year appointment with the Cleft Clinic team this morning and everything looks great. We don't have to go back for another year (although we ARE going to go back in 6 months to touch base, but just with Speech) because her ears look great, the hearing test came back normal and PTL it looks as though the fistula has closed on it's own. This is a major blessing because while it wasn't causing any problems, it was still a small opening/weak spot in the roof of her mouth. Her surgeon initially had indicated that it was unlikely that it would close on its own but today he said that he couldn't really even see it! Thanks to the Great Healer!!

Wordless Wednesday

Thank you!

We had a special visitor yesterday, J's aunt from California. She has stopped by before on previous visits to the Midwest and we always have fun. Yesterday was no exception. She brought the Noodle the CUTEST necklace from Stella and Dot. Not only was the necklace divine, but the box it came in was just as great! I particularly like the the diamante ball...hmmmmm, perhaps you'll be seeing it sometime on me?! Aunt C always knows what the girls (both little and big) like--jewelery, fancy shoes and great clothes! Thanks for the great visit :)

***Sorry the necklace doesn't show up better...when bling calls, you better answer, no matter what you're wearing!

Vacation part 2

We didn't know what we would find when we got down to the beach last week. Oil slicks? Tar balls? Sick wildlife? Shuttered establishments? Thankfully, it was still "business as usual" down on the Gulf. Later on in the week, we did see all kinds of large trucks (bulldozers, etc.) busy at work. They were bringing in new sand and pouring it over the older sand--perhaps so that if the oil washes up, they will be able to skim off the top layers and still have the beautiful sugar sand beneath? No doubt they will continue to prepare and pray.

Both the Noodle and J were excited to see and look at the trucks. Me, not so much :)


The sand was even more squishy since they laid down an extra layers.


On a different note, the attempt to get a family photo can be...challenging...to say the least. Of course, when we want the Noodle to cooperate, she's much more interested in:

sprinkling sand


perfecting the art of the limp noodle


spinning around until she falls down dizzy


But, eventually, we managed to get some cute ones--