Company picnic

Yesterday was the annual company picnic. It's definitely fun for the kids. We laugh though because each year you can see how they've had to do a bit less due to the reduced budget for the picnic. Bouncy castles, lollipop hunts, miniature golf, face painting, bumper boats, and free cotton candy make for some happy kids no matter what.

Seth got one lollipop. Good thing brother and sister had enough to share.

Minature golf Seth style.


Seth and mommy in the bumper boats.


Hannah and Simon on the bumper boats shooting everyone with water.


A little face painting.


And finally one tired, worn out little boy.

House

I have to start with I've never done this before. I took a picture, kind of drafted it out and then picked out some fabrics that would work as the house. I started it back in Nov and just let it sit for a while. Sometimes projects need to marinate.

The two wall hangings on the left side of the design wall were Xmas gifts.

Threads everywhere!

All quilted up!

See, my friend is going to lose her house. We all know how the market is right now, properties aren't selling for what they were once worth and the bank gets a lot of them back. Her house is one of those. She really liked her Victorian. So, I thought I could give her a house. Her house, to take with her. Cheesy? Yes. Dorky? Yes. Will she like it? I have no idea... It's so totally cheesy... I think I'll give it to her and ask her to not open it in front of me in case she thinks it's lame.

All I have left is to hand stitch the binding down.

One more week

I can't believe it's Friday already. We leave for Denver in one week! There's always so much to do before a trip.

We've had a pretty good week so far. Aside from the cold the kids have. We finished up their session of swim classes. So far this has been such an unusual summer. It's been cool most days. Like 80 ish. I'm not complaining but seriously, how can you run through sprinklers, swim, hit the beach, etc in cool summer weather. Our high for today is supposed to be 77! No need for AC, that's a good thing.

On Weds we went blueberry picking. It was a bit of a drive but worth it. Organic blueberries at $2.50 a pound! Sweet.



The kids love doing stuff like this so I don't feel like I am torturing them. We came home with 8 lbs. We could have picked more but I didn't want to go over board. I have 12 cups frozen now, we made muffins, and we've still got 4-5 cups to snack on! Lots of blueberries. I thought about making jam but I don't think I'd like it very much. I know Hannah wouldn't.

Yesterday, I gave Seth a snack and went upstairs to check my email. I came back down and found this...


Guess he was tired.

In quilting related news- I have a little wall hanging project I am working on right now. I'm making a house. I'll show you when I'm done. I hope it comes out as a cute as I envisioned. Or something like what the house really looks like... I better get on it. I'm already quilting it. I made a brick pattern on the little house. Took forever! I want to have it done before we head to Denver. I shouldn't put things off till the last minute. I'll learn someday. I swear.

Sashing, check

I got the sashing on yesterday and started on the borders. I went all the way to the quilt store and got a nice purple of the sashing but then decided to use a deeper purple that I already had in my stash. I am sure I can come up with something to use the yard I bought. The borders will be like the crazy blocks... It'll take a while.

Fun on the fourth

I don't know about everyone else but I think the 4th is probably the best day of summer. Not that there aren't other great, fun summer days. We participated in the Kazoo Band again this year in Ocean Grove's 4th of July parade. Hannah and Simon rode on the back of the truck and threw candy to the kids and Seth rode in his stroller with us. I had to give Seth a hand full of candy to eat. He just didn't get that the candy was for the other kids. He's a kid, he deserves candy, right? Pick your battles, I say.

They covered their faces with the hats and asked me to take a picture of them. Aren't they cute?

Hannah doesn't seem to want me to take her picture anymore. What she doesn't understand is that I'll put the picture on my blog even if she makes faces. She's gonna love me when she's a teenager, I just know it.

Seth is chilaxin with his home girl.

We ate some lunch in the park and then got a free ice cream cone (a benefit of wearing a t-shirts for Days Ice Cream all over town) to top of the parade day. We had a few hours of quite at home before a few friends came over to grill with us. For little Miss Hannah we started a fire in the chimnea my mom left when she moved. It was enough to get some marshmallows roasted for smores. We just hung out and relaxed until it was almost dark. Then we headed on over to the field to watch fireworks.

At bedtime we asked the kids what their favorite thing was about the day and they couldn't pick just one. Sounds like a good day to me.

Today I'm going to get some work done and photos taken of my current quilt project. I had to put it on hold until I could make a trip to the quilt store for a nice sashing. It'd also help if I hadn't started watching True Blood in the evening. I'd have gotten a bit more done. I want to be punny and say something like, I'd take a bite out of it...

Fireflies

Oh, summer. What would we do without fireflies? They are so much fun.

Letting them go after we caught a whole bunch.

I played with my camera tonight. There's a night mode on it and it's much better than the automatic shots but it's still hard to get a good low light shot. I showed Hannah one of the pictures with Seth blurred and she thought it was cool. She asked me to take a picture of her running around.

Seth, or should I say Dash.

Hannah ran too fast and veered off to the side. Fast as lightning.

Simon, well, he just can't hold still.

Tomorrow should be a fun filled day. We are in the Kazoo Parade again. Then in the evening we'll trun on the grill and hang out with some friends. Once it gets dark and the fireflies start coming out, we'll walk over to where we can see the fireworks. Ah, summer. I like you when you aren't all hot and sticky...

Quilts, veggies, pools, and parks

I finished up the last quilt block for my crazy quilt. The batik on the side is a potential binding fabric. I really am not quite sure how I'm going to finish this off. I don't think it needs traditional crazy quilt embroidery and I am not sure how I should quilt it up. Any suggestions?


My little garden is bursting at the seams. I shouldn't have put the zucchini in the there, I know that now and next year will be different. Next year I'll make different mistakes. :) I am, however, excited to see the little tomatoes starting to grow and all the flowers! I'll have some veggies soon!

Snap Pea flower.

Bush Beans.

Tomatoes...

Last week during swim classes I took some pictures. It's a great place for swim classes because the have a great play ground and a splash park too. It's one of those places that you can spend most of the day there. Bring a little picnic lunch, your sand/water toys, and hang out for the day.

Seth was digging through another kid's sand toys.

Monkey see...

Monkey do.

Aside from the bored "there's nothing to do" kids I have around here, summer is off to a great start.