Kate loves her Baby

Katherine discovered baby dolls just before her birthday and loved on them quite a bit. I was so happy to capture how she mothers the baby dolls in her own sweet baby way! 

School's Out, Summer is Here!

The school year wrapped up for us on June 8. We are all enjoying some free time and tackling some fun projects. The weather has warmed up considerably this week, so it feels like summer has really arrived!


Josh worked on his backhoe last week. One evening, I caught Katherine "helping".

It is much more fun to wash Mama's van with squirt guns!

 

Baby doll picnic on the deck

Juliana working on a new fashion statement. She loves to dress up in plastic bags of all things!

Peter with his latest lego creations. The vehicle on the left had just about every kind of wheel, wing, gun, rocket, and accessory you could imagine. It is like the swiss army knife of lego vehicles!

Katherine found the two bracelets and the purse while we were cleaning the girls' room. She dressed herself up and happily paraded around the house making girly sounds to herself. I think the girls are going to have fun dressing up in a very short time!

Making fresh noodles is one of my kids favorite things. Unfortunately, it makes a huge mess. It finally donned on me to make the noodles outdoors so we could just hose the mess off the deck. They all had a lovely time and I was delighted to not have flour in every crevice of the kitchen!

And the noodles turned out great! Peter is hanging them on a rack to dry.

Esther and David's Wedding

The big event for June (so far) was the celebration of Josh's sister, Esther's, marriage to David Kopp on June 2. Enjoy a glimpse of our part in their special day!


My contribution to the wedding--ringbearer vests. Not pictured are the ties and bow ties that went with the vests.
They all looked so handsome!

3 cousins
Nathan, Peter, and Luke
(This was the cleanest we saw them all day!)

Juliana was one of 7 flower girls

The girls loved how their dresses poofed out around them!

Joe, Esther, David, Sue
(My in-laws with the bride and groom)

The Rameys with all their children and grandchildren

Nathan walked the junior bridesmaid (his cousin Helena) down the aisle. He was such a darling gentleman, but don't tell him I said that--he did it because he was asked to!!

Did flower girls ever have more fun?

And the small ones who didn't walk themselves down the aisle. Peter is pulling the wagon and you can't see him in this picure.

Mr. and Mrs. David Kopp!

Juliana watching the bridal party as they go back up the aisle
She soaked in every detail of the day!

Trying to figure out how this dancing thing works

You should have seen her face light up when her daddy asked her for a dance!

Katherine wasn't so sure, but it was past her bedtime!

 

Katherine's First Birthday!

Katherine turned 1 on April 28. She celebrated with a good case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. She looks a little miserable in some of the pictures and that is because she is. Unfortunately, there was not another day to reschedule her birthday party on, so we just kept it brief.


Tradition of birthday child getting to lick the beaters from the cake. She wasn't sure what to think at first, but then she loved it.

Her very own baby! No more stealing Sister's!

 

 

Katherine loves rubber duckies, so I made her a duck cake

 

Yum!

A Kid's Life!

Just a few random pictures of life for our children


Katherine adores wagon rides and Juliana loves to give them. I love Juliana's outfit combination, too!

What happens when someone leaves a blue crayon within Kate's reach!

Nice trout from a spring fishing derby! (It tasted delicious, by the way.)

Silly face

How to tame your baby sister and teach her tricks!

Juliana's idea of the perfect way to watch a movie!

Gardening Season is Here

These pictures were taken in my greenhouse on May 17. Almost a month later and they seem out of date! My greenhouse was full of fresh new life this spring and we enjoyed it very much!


Snow peas

My geraniums overwinter in the greenhouse so they don't freeze

First tomato blossoms!

Nathan's Squash plants just emerging

These are giant pumpkins in the making

And our greenhouse just before we took most of the plants out. The flowering plants moved to the deck and all the small potted vegetables were transplated to the garden. The aloes will move out soon too--hopefully to new homes since I have far more than I need. This spring we harvested a nice crop of lettuce and greens. The tomatoes are setting fruit beautifully and hopefully will ripen quite a bit before the garden. Just this week my greenhouse squash set their first fruits. I can't wait for that fresh, tender squash to start coming into the kitchen!

Early Spring Camping

We had promised the kids a camping trip this spring before fire season kicked into high gear. We set a date and prepared. And . . . it snowed the day we were supposed to leave! We decided to try anyway since the roads were clear. When we arrived there was snow on the ground!

 

This is the next morning after about 1/2 the snow had already melted. Fortunately, we stayed warm overnight with the heater inside our trailer. Very nice!

 

Some beauitful waterfalls--big and small--because of the snow melting

 

 

Love this one! We jumped puddles and snowdrifts the entire hike!

Fortunately, everyone brought at least two pair of shoes so we had dry ones back at camp!

 

 

Katherine loved sweeping the trailer floor!

Her first marshmallow! (I think she liked it!)

 

Okay, so posing for a picture wasn't her idea of fun

Juliana, on the other hand, loves to pose!

How Nathan spent at least 1/2 his time camping.
It turned out to be a delightful weekend of relaxing for our family. We played games, slept, hiked, cooked, and ate. No one else braved the campground until Sunday! Wish we could get away a little more often.