The Blankets Made it to Haiti!!!

Here is news of our blanket project--direct from Haiti! A volunteer named Gina Epifino contacted me last week to let me know she had found 3 boxes of blankets in the warehouse at the hospital. Here is her story in her own words.

"I am a PT that was volunteering at Medishare in the pediatric unit last week. I developed a fever and couldn't treat patients one day so they sent me to the warehouse to get supplies. I was on the hunt for blankets when I came across your box. It brought me to tears, right then and there. When you see the pics of the warehouse (it was packed with thousands of boxes with absolutely no order or organization), you will really see what a miracle it was that I found your blankets. It was an absolute wonder to find your message in that box of blankets! Haiti can be a very sad place, and even something as small as your note could absolutely make an entire day change for all the volunteers who saw it. This was my second trip, I was at the tents in April. This trip was much different. Feel free to share the pictures above, these are all of your blankets."

Pretty Posies

My flowers are blooming this week! I'm a little proud of them because these were all started from seed earlier this year. My bed sports lobelia and pansies this year.

First Lake Trip of the Summer

We went to the lake with the Dickey clan last weekend and had a great time. We visited with old friends and enjoyed relaxing, sailing, and kayaking.

Juliana trying out big brother's fins!

The boys were brave enough this year to try the kayaks by themselves. They loved it! Here is Peter taking Juliana for a little ride.

They paddled all over the lake (close to the shore) and thoroughly enjoyed their new-found freedom!

Juliana's First Tea Party

Juliana attended her first tea party last Saturday. She was enthralled!

They started the tea with a light lunch. The boys were invited because the hostess, Grace, really wanted to include them in something. (Frankly, the boys were happy to make their exit after the lunch. They had used up their capacity for using their best table manners and best behavior!)

All the girls dressed up in their princess or fairy finest!

Juliana trying out her cousin's boa! I love her facial expression!

Juliana was at least 2 years younger than any of the other girls. She did well, but you could see the developmental differences quite clearly. Hostess of the tea was Grace, 3rd from the left.

As you can see, all the girls loved using real tea cups and eating cute food!

Butterfly cookies, hear-shaped peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches,
and fish crackers were on the menu!

My little princess drinking her grown up tea! We made a fruit-flavored herb tea with plenty of sweetener to make it little girl friendly! All in all, a perfect little girl tea party!

Hannah's Favorite Pics

Just a few pictures from Hannah of moments she has captured with the kids!

Peter was escorting his sister across the pasture like a gentleman to make sure the cow didn't "get" her!

Little Mother

Juliana loves to do whatever I am doing. The other day we washed her doll clothes and blankets with the other laundry. She watched over every detail and helped. Here are pictures of her hanging up the dolly sleepers!

New Chicken Tractor!

We finally finished our new chicken tractor a couple of weeks ago. A chicken tractor is a portable coop/pen that can be moved around. This provides fresh pasture for the flock and eliminates the need to clean out the coop! The chickens also help to keep the grass in the orchard mowed! (I would like to post pictures of the finished product, but we need to get the design copyrighted first. We hope to offer the plans through our PVC fittings business. In the past, people have stolen our free plans and then resold them on ebay. We don't want that to happen with the chicken tractor.) So hopefully sometime I can post the pictures. If you really want to know what it looks like--come by for a visit!

Me helping to assemble the coop. The whole structure is made from PVC pipe and specialized fittings. It has a mechanical wheel system as well, which is easy enough for our kids to use!

Moving the hens to their new home!

The kids spend hours playing out with the chickens. The pen is tall enough for them to stand up inside. Juliana would spend all day out there holding and cuddling the hens if I let her! It helps keep the flock very tame.

Best $1 I Spend all Year!

Two buckets of sand at the local gravel yard cost $1

Endless hours of entertainment and fun for my kids!

Every spring we refill the sandbox and I always think it is the best way to spend a Dollar all year!

Juliana's New Hobby

Making food for the hummingbirds! We have four feeders and so many hummers that we refill them quite often. They help keep the mosquito population under control.

Juliana loves to refill the feeders. She is very careful about stirring the sugar into the water.

Here she is telling me how yummy the food will be for the hummingbirds!

This is a very serious job!

Visiting with Friends

Last week, we had a special visit from an old friend of mine, whom I haven't seen in at least 15 years! We grew up two blocks from each other and spent a lot of time together. Jennene now resides in Hawaii where her husband is stationed with the U.S. Navy. We enjoyed catching up a little and meeting each other's children. We never got a picture of the two of us together--we were too busy capturing the children.

It rained most of the time Jennene and Emma were here, but we managed to sneak in a quick trip to the Empire Mine.

The kids tried to imagine what it would be like going down the mine shaft!

They had a real blacksmith working in the shop. He showed us how he made things out of metal and gave the kids small rings made from nails. You can see one on the base of the anvil.

Emma and Juliana

The rose gardens are in bloom right now--absolutely amazing. They are the old varieties that still have their beautiful rose smell. I never get tired of seeing the gardens at Empire Mine.

Since it was raining, we took the kids bowling. It was entertaining to say the least!

Peter had a full body style of hurling the ball down the alley.

And Juliana had her own style since 6 lb. is the lightest ball they had! But she insisted she wanted to do it herself!