Our Smokey Mountain Home

We love the views from our deck. One of my favorite is on hot steamy mornings when the fog is rising from the creek down below. I like to think of it as our personal Smokey Mountains.
I have other pictures but Blogger doesn't seem to like them this evening. This seems to happen frequently which is why I haven't blogged as much...I don't like to add hassles to my day.

If Blogger cooperates later you'll see pictures of our latest trip to the Cincinnati zoo - this time with Brad. It was his first time to our zoo.

What a Lady

We were at the library this afternoon when I noticed some food on Sadie's shirt. When I went to brush it off, it landed on my finger. It was then that I noticed that it wasn't food, it was...a booger. - Gross.

I looked sternly at Sadie and asked "What is this doing on your shirt?"

Trying to right a wrong, Sadie sheepishly picked up said grossness and stuck it back in her nose - well, almost. I stopped her before she lodged it in there so we could dispose of it properly.

What a lady.

Leftover Watermelon?

Do you have any watermelon leftover from the holiday weekend? Here is a lovely drink the kiddos and I tested out today. Yum Yum!

Watermelon Slush
4 cups frozen, diced watermelon
1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup white sugar (or less depending on watermelon)

Mix all ingredients in a blender, adding water to reach desired consistency.
Enjoy!

8:30 AM

Last night as I was putting Noelle to bed she said she was going to try to sleep in today. I thought that was a great idea! So what were the girls doing at 8:30 this morning? ....

...not sleeping

I sent Sadie out to water plants and things got a little out of hand. I had a whole list of reasons to stop them: 1) It's not even hot yet 2) your wasting water 3) you have your clothes on 4) it's only 8:30.

And then my non-practical side spoke up and said "They're having fun and it's not hurting anything." So my girls are onto their second set of clothes for the day and I'm celebrating my non-practicality.

Catching Up

The last 3 weeks have been full of fun and activities. I could have written a lot about each thing but there simply hasn't been time. Sooo, here are some pictures to highlight what's been going on with us.

First off, Noelle had her ballet/tap dance recital at the beginning of June. It's hard to resist a handful of 5-6 year-olds in tutus.

Here she is after the performance with her teacher, Ms. Leah

Then the girls and I flew to VA to spend some time traveling around to visit friends and family. Our first stop was to meet my new niece - Maysyn Sauder.

Then we spent the day with a college buddy and her 2 girls (and soon-to-arrive boy). There was a local dairy farm that was having a special event, so we spent the afternoon there. The girls held a baby chick, crawled through a straw tunnel, took a wagon ride, sampled chocolate milk, played on the playground, saw lots of farm animals and...
...got to milk a "cow".
After our farm experience, we headed back to my hometown, Winchester, VA, for some sophisticated fun. Brad joined us and we got to celebrate "Great Judy's" (Brad's aunt)70th birthday at a fabulous restaurant along with other family and friends. Here she is with her grandson, Zach. She doesn't look 70, does she?

Then our family traveled to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for the annual Sauder Week at the Beach. Since my younger brother and wife just had a baby, it was just by older brother with his wife and 3 kids, my parents and us. We had fabulous weather and were able to get in the ocean everyday, at least once. We had a great time riding bikes, taking walks, building/digging in the sand, splashing in the waves, watching HGTV, riding rides, visiting with one another and eating lots of fattening food.

One of the sand creations with Brad, brother Dustin, Noelle, Kalysta and Payton

Here's all of us (who were at the beach)

the 4 girl cousins watching a movie before bed. The 3 older girls slept together 1 night.

Everyone had SUCH a good time. Soon after we got home Noelle made her feelings be known with a sign in her window.

(I wish I were with my cousins)