Heart Pillows

I got the idea to make these pillows from this book. When Les travels the girls miss him and always want to sleep with something that reminds them of him. Usually they argue over who gets to sleep with his watch and they have even slept with his deodorant. (Yes, I know this is weird) The girls choose their own fabric and each one has a pocket on one side. Inside the pocket Les leaves the girls a note. Also, inside along with stuffing I scattered dried lavender. They were a huge hit. They loved their special notes, the smell of the lavender, and cuddling the pillows at bed time.

Butterfly Party

My sweet baby August ( I know 5yr olds are not babies but I'm still dealing with that) has been planning her birthday party for a LONG time. When I say planning I mean she has talked about it on a daily basis. What she will wear, who will come, where she will sit, what her cake will look like, what we will do, etc. etc. etc. We went with her love of butterflies for our theme. We did "crazy hair" for everyone. I am a big fan of crazy hair. I was excited that Ely was cool with a couple feathers and a bug in his hair. The kids worked on a butterfly tissue paper craft that ended with a stained glass effect. Cake and presents to follow and we had ourselves a party. I thought the day was wonderful and I hope it was everything my five year old was dreaming of.

The Lake

I spontaneously decided on a Monday morning to take the kids to visit Val and Gene at their lake house. They loved playing in the rock garden and "cooked" us all kinds of food. We also went for a boat ride. They went swimming in the lake with Val for the first time.
We have been making this trip since Sky was a baby. I have always been uncomfortable with my babies being on a boat in the middle of a huge lake before they are strong swimmers. I have also had night mares about them in the murky water. I think I have made a little progress in the last seven years though. It is one of those times when you don't want to instill fear or stand in the way of their adventures but it is so hard to tell your mama bear voice to be quiet and quit worrying. I'm working on it.

July 4th 2010

Backyard Camp Out

June 26th in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation's "camp out day" we hosted a camp out in our backyard. We were not expecting many neighbors to be there but we were determined to give it a try despite the hot weather and the mosquitoes. We consider it a success! We had a good number of neighbors come by to hang out and even a few campers. I'll admit Jude and I slept indoors but I'll also use his age as my excuse. Les and the girls slept in our neighbor's tent. We also had two girls from the neighborhood camp out and they were so excited. They called Les at 2:00am from their cell phone to say they were scared and thought there was a raccoon outside their tent. Good times and who knows... maybe it will become an annual event.

Sprinkler Fun

Love

Today the kids were playing downstairs and I was at the computer in the same room. My camera was right next to me and I took these two pictures. I love them. These are the moments I want to remember.

Five....Really?

Happy Birthday Sweet August Olivia. Thank you for showing me how to live in the moment. You do it really well!