We celebrated Independence Day in an truly cranky mood. I kept reminding myself (over and over and over again!) that the first day back is rough for everyone. I have stuff to do, the kids have to entertain themselves with no doting relatives around, and Alan has to adjust to a houseful of noise again! It was also well over 90 degrees. Trust me, we were cranky! However, we made it out to a local 4th of July celebration where the kids discovered the dunk tank. Lex and Eve both did an awesome job throwing the balls in front of a cheering crowd of people and Eve got angry because I wouldn’t let her sit on the dunk tank platform! Lex was fascinated though and we spent a lot of time watching. Then we had dinner, Eve got her face painted, Lex played some kiddie games and won a cheap plastic gun (that somehow found it’s way to the garbage already!) and we made our way to the fireworks field. The kids ran around and made friends, playing frisbee and racing with other kids. It was fun. Then the fireworks finally started and the kids were THRILLED!! Eve yelled (seriously yelled!) “Look at that one mom! Mom, look at that one!!” It was funny, and fun. The day ended on a much higher note than it began, thankfully!

Lex racing with a kid who told us his name and then said everyone called him Avatar :) Eve insisted he was a she. It was funny.

We returned home to find fully ripe black raspberries in the backyard. The kids jumped out of the car and headed straight for the berries.

And what do we do with fresh berries (besides eating them by the handful!)… make pie, of course! Alan and Lex’s idea actually. Very delicious!

Pie and cookies made from the leftover pie crust.

We made an attempt at using the timer feature on my camera, with hilarious results. Hilarious to those of us who were there anyway. Here is the best one. Should I post all 20 of them?

Alan was home and Lex was protesting... under the bed I believe... but the rest of us made it! :)

We had a rockin’ trip to the country this week. Lots of family, cake, birds, butterflies, and zoo animals! I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

We went to a cool butterfly observatory where birds and butterflies were free to roam.

Eve tried hard to get a butterfly to land on her, but no luck.

Pretty butterfly

Lots of time spent jumping on Joyce (and whomever else would sit still long enough)

At the playground

She's so cool!

Eve, trying on the 3D glasses in prepartion for Toy Story 3.

Big hugs with Uncle Barney

At the movie.

Still not quite big enough for theater chairs. :)

Rosy, showing off the cake 'she' made! She did the beginning (idea) and end (candles) at least!

Happy Birthday Mema!!!! (Lex endured the birthday song for maybe the third time in his life!)

Eve ate cake and politely asked Lex to share his ice cream as well. He's such a sweet boy.

The birthday girl in her new hat. Happy Birthday!

Eve in the hat.

At the zoo

Close up at the zoo

The kids liked this bench!

Mix it up a bit and put Eve in the middle

Quick snack break with Uncle Barney

Penguins

Tired Eve is lucky to have such a great grandpa!

Funny girls

The Roses

Before we got in the car for the long drive home, we took a walk up the road to check out a hay baler. We were hoping to see it in action, but it was lunch time.

Eve, about five minutes after we got in the car. Two minutes later she was out.

Golden raspberry fingers…

He was so excited!

Eve was a little more hesitant.

All gone! (except the rest on the plate!)

… and black raspberries!

Not quite ripe yet, but so promising. The kids actually eat them as they ripen, so there will never be a photo of them all ripe :)

They make me smile.

We have been busy(ish) these past few days.  Busy at home anyway.  I’m organizing a yard sale next month (breaking out of my comfort zone here, more on that later… maybe) and yesterday the kids and I went door to door up our street and the next distributing flyers asking if anyone else wants to take advantage of the advertising and signage we’ll be doing anyway.  There will be three (maybe four) families at my house and then another family around the corner, so it would be cool to get one or two other houses and we could call it a neighborhood yard sale :)

After a rainy morning the kids were thrilled to get their bikes and hit the road.  Lex, my silly son, who is too shy (or just weird) to knock on Parrish’s door, ran up to every house on the street and ran the door bells.  I had trouble keeping them together though.  Lex wanted to ride ahead and ring the bells, and Eve wanted to stop and smell everyone’s flowers, and touch all the garden gnomes and fake garden frogs.  After making it up and down both streets the kids were hot and tired and ready to go in for dinner.  It was great!

When we got home Lex decided to draw a picture of himself riding his bike while he waited for dinner. I LOVE it!!

Today was an odd day. The skies were dark and gloomy and the kids decided we needed to go outside at 7:30am. Hmm… ok. So we went out, got soaking wet feet, did some tree climbing and weeding, and came in for snack two hours later. From there the kids decided to go their own ways. Lex sat at the table and did workbooks and Eve ended up in her room playing with her dollhouse. I kept asking if they wanted me to play or be involved and they did not… so I cleaned. Dusted, swept and even mopped!! Crazy, I know. I was leary of how naps and afternoon would go, but Eve fell asleep (easily!) and Lex took a great quiet time. This afternoon we made a giant train track all through the living room, played for awhile, then went to the produce market. On the way we noticed a new grocery store open, so we stopped there as well. Fun, right?! :) While we were in the store the weather changed from bright and sunny to torrential downpour. And I mean torrential!! We got soaked getting back to the car… then two minutes later it was over :) At home we went for a rainbow walk with the umbrellas. A great time to bring the camera!

We found the rainbow pretty quickly :)

I wish you could see the rainbow better in this picture.

I love them!

We broke out the hose today, finally, to water the veggies, flowers, and kids. Of course a wet time was had by all.

Like our new trellis for the peas? I hope they climb tall.

Eve followed Lex around trying to put her head into the water.

Eve filled her "little tin pail" from the hose and then followed Lex around watering the same things he did. They were so cute, and helpful!

Watering the trees? Or just fun with the hose!

Eve tried a fresh radish at the neighbor's house. She licked it for awhile, then finally took a bite and declared it "yucky."

Lex looked at the schedule this morning and said, “Oh, it’s 9:30, we should be doing arts and crafts. I think we should paint!” So paint we did. :) He made a nice painting of a house and a kid and a tree and slide, while she made a nice painting of a mud puddle! They both had a blast.

I was looking at the schedule when I hung it up and felt a little bad that it was so “reader” oriented. I used to have a daily schedule on the wall that involved many pages with pictures of clocks and food and playgrounds. Remember that? I can’t find a post on the blog to link to, but it doesn’t matter. I think that kind of thing helped Lex with his reading and now I feel bad that Eve isn’t getting the same thing. Sigh. This schedule was driven more by my needs for a set exercise and cleaning time though. Maybe I’ll make a version for her as well. Hmmm….