Art meets Home Ec

The other day Rachel and I wanted to help my mom pick green beans. After we were done with that, we took them inside, washed them, and then started cutting the green beans so my mom could can them. We had a great time together and had lots of fun spelling with our green beans!

A Homemade Water Park

What do you get when you add, one swingset, one hose, one inflatable pool, and a handful of hot kids. It equals an instant water slide with lots of fun!



It works great!!!

A Day at the Park

Want to know a fabulous exercise? Running up and down eight flights of steep steps- three times! Whew. That was definitely the highlight of my day. :)



When you finally get to the top of the Tower, I think you are amply rewarded by the panoramic views form all sides.






One last stop: the memorial garden at the base of the Tower. How nice it is to sit and relax and catch your breath after all those stairs!

The Vegetables of our Labors

This year our family planted a garden... add a couple raised beds, some huge overgrown tomatoes, peppers, and corn, and you get our garden. Yep.
When we first planted our plants, everything was in neat, cute little rows, and everything was contained inside of the raised beds. People who walked by would often stop to admire our yard, complimenting Dad and Mom on "How nice it all looked!" I thought it was nice too.


Until everything decided to grow up.



Above are our pumpkins and corn. Our pumpkins were supposed to grow on the ground around the corn, but as you can see, they're almost half as tall as the corn!



What does all of this garden produce translate into? Canning. Of course.
I'm off work today so Mom's going to have me help with canning some more green beans and beets. Fun!!!

At the Zoo...

you can pet sharks,


view sun-bathing seals,




watch majestic polar bears,



see donkeys plod around and around in their pen (this is possibly my favorite picture; so cute!),


and, ladies and gentlemen, see the... *drum roll, please* ... rare Komodo Dragon!!!


Watch as the chimps comb through eachothers' fur. Why take a shower when you have so many friends to keep you nice and clean???



Gaze thirstily at the lush waterfall in the elephant exhibit. Lucky elephants!


The lucky exhibit occupants. I love baby elaphants- don't you?


You know what I discovered? I like going to the zoo!

*Sigh*

After hugging and kissing six little peoples goodbye, the girl climbed out of the van only to hug one more person. Her mom whispered into her ear, "I love you and I'm so proud of you, sweetheart," which only brought tears into her eyes. Her heart felt as heavy as lead at the thought of not being able to go with them. *Sigh*. The car started without a hitch and amid many loud goodbyes (a.k.a. yells thrown out of car windows by little peoples), and some horn blows the car pulled away from the curb and rode smoothly down the street. It turned at the intersection and was lost among the morning traffic. She turned to go inside the quiet, still house with a lump the size of a baseball in her throat.

That girl is me. This incident happened today.

Today is the first day of camp- I've had so much fun every year so far and I really wanted to go this year. Really wanted to go. But I have a job. And with most jobs there comes a certain level of responsibility. There was no one to take my place so I decided quite on my own that I was going to stay home this year, even though it meant a huge disappointment for me. You have to grow up some time, right?
My boss was overjoyed though, and there's a small consolation in that, I suppose.
Plus, I only have myself to grumble at since I made the choice.
Double plus, all my siblings are gone so I have one whole week with just me and my daddy. Complete silence will reign in our home.

Although, *groan* my mom made me promise we'd eat almost all food in the fridge. (You'd have to see our fridge to understand ;)

After All, They Come Cheaper by the Dozen!

Yes, we are here! We are alive! We are doing pretty good! Busy, very tired at the end of the day but pretty well, all the same. Haircuts are done on time (or nearly so, :)our garden is growing quite well, Viv recently learned to ride her little bike without training wheels, and we can barely tear her away from it long enough to eat! Being as busy as I am, I still find time to read and recently picked up Cheaper by Dozen and found it to be such a cute book. Filled with so much humor and the fun of large family living I found it to be a book I will want to read to my siblings. The following is one of my favorite stories:

"Dad himself used to joke that he couldn't even tell us 12 kids apart. He even boasted about one time when Mother was away on a lecturing tour and he was in charge of the household. Things went fairly smoothly and Father had us all lined up outside on the front porch when Mother arrived. "How was everything, dear?" asked Mother. "Fine, just fine," answered Father. "But this one here gave me quite a bit of trouble," he said as he pointed towards the offender. "But as soon as I gave him a good thrashing he was as good as gold." Mother, who was never ruffled at anything, calmly replied, "But he isn't one of ours dear, he's from next door."