Family Reunion and First Day of School

We had our family reunion last week. It was great, as always. I got t-shirts made and we were able to get a family picture. This one is a "making of" picture of the family picture. See, me, the only one smiling at the camera because Bill was taking the picture.

We went on a family canoe trip. (see canoes way in the distance) It was great and we even went for a dip! Thank you Jeff for being the first brave one to jump in. Bill is still healing from the bruises her got when a log broke that he was standing on:(

We did a headband craft from here. Since the grandchildren are 14 girls 3 boys.

Luke with niece baby Sarah. So cute!

Again, the chaos of trying to get 32 people together for a picture!

The girls started school. James is at a different school than Campbell:( But she is loving third grade!

Campbell started Kindergarten! I can't believe it. When I picked her up on the first day she said "I didn't even get sent to the principal's office!" We are so proud!

We grew this gigantic tomato! It tasted really good too!

Taite is catching up on her sleep with her sisters at school!

Pictures

The county fair where we live always has a parade that goes right through the middle of town and this year Campbell and her friend Bekah were invited to ride on a float and throw candy. They were so cute!

Campbell loved throwing candy and when they ran out of candy she kept throwing more. The woman on the float asked her where she was getting the candy from. She had stuffed her pockets FULL!

We were having scissor issues last week and Taite ended up chopping off some long layers in the front of her hair. Luckily it just looks like she is growing out her bangs. This was after taking scissors away at least 7 times that one day.

Our garden produced! Last year we had 9 pepper plants and that resulted in zero green/red/yellow peppers. Finally this year we have some!

We had a bought of blossom end rot, but now the tomatoes are looking beautiful! We will be eating Pico tonight!

Taite vs. mascara (no explanation, although how did I get so careless with my make up?)

The Drive In

Our local drive in was showing Cars 2! We loaded up the suburban and headed out for an exciting night.
Waiting for the movie! We got a great spot to watch from.

Family picture in the suburban.

During the hours before the movie starts they have this little train to occupy the kids time. There was also a playground down in front of the screen.

The girls had a blast. Taite was a little restless when the movie started (it was 9 PM, a little late for her). After a little wrestling she fell asleep and then we could all enjoy the show!

Summer

Although we have our own strawberry patch, it was not quite big enough for our needs. The girls and I went to pick strawberries at a local farm.

Taite ate to her delight while I picked.

James and Campbell were having a competition to see who could pick the most. I think they each picked about 15 strawberries that actually ended up in their baskets!

Grandma Dot and Grandpa Bob brought us two Peach Tree Seedlings last fall. Only one survived the winter. Bill and Campbell decided it was time to make it a home in our front yard. So far it is doing great! I hope it will survive this next winter.

The big girls attended Garden Camp this summer. I love this program and the kids have so much fun. They meet for Garden Camp on the fair grounds and plant a garden there. Usually when we have our county fair the vegetables are ready to harvest. They came home on the last day with pots of "mystery" seeds. We are anxiously waiting to see what they produce.

James' University

James went to UD for kids this summer. She loved it.
She learned about optical illusions in one of her courses.
She made a "Zany Bird" in the other course she attended. She called her bird Jamesland Jitters.

Interesting new pets.

this little frog is actually tiny. You can't tell in this picture. But it is. Taite loved playing with them. We didn't actually bring any home.

Here is Campbell catching tadpoles. We have three of them at home to watch them transform. So far one of them has back legs. James just updated me that the one with legs now has different eyes.

This tree frog was in a plant pot outside our kitchen window. He was making lots of noise when it was raining. Campbell and Taite had fun playing with him.

We didn't bring him inside either. The grown frogs can stay outside!

We went on a nature hike to the Caves and found these snails (the snail is sticking it's head out one of the air holes in the top of the terrarium - James really hates it when they do this). They don't have snails in Minnesota so I was really excited about them. Bill thinks it is hilarious that we now have "pet" snails. We have two snails. One is Campbell's and one is Taite's. James is not so into the slimy creepy things. Campbell had a terrarium from her carnivorous plant kit (that we only grew one plant from!) that now houses our snails.

Pictures of the Girls

I had the girls portraits taken a little while ago and they turned out so beautiful! Thank you Butler Photography (again)!

Well, hello!

It has been a while. And a lot has been happening. Taite's vocabulary has more than doubled since her birthday. School is coming to an end - tomorrow! Bill and I went on a cross country road trip sans children. And it is finally warm. Warm enough that we planted our garden and flowers are blooming!

Last Friday Bill and I got back from our trip so on Saturday we took the girls to the park to play.
Here are some pictures. You will notice that Campbell got a cute bob cut from my lovely sister Maegan.