Horse Camp

Emma just finished a fun-filled week of horseback riding day camp. Today was her final ride...a mini-rodeo for the kids' parents...or in Emma's case...her loyal entourage of 11...grandmas, grandpas, aunts, parents and sisters!! The more the merrier!

Here is a video of Emma's 'routine'...a riding pattern each kid picked to show the skills they learned. She was the second kid to ride 'Dusty'...and the first kid who managed to get her horse to trot. You can't see it in this video but she had a big smile on her face the whole time--she was in horse heaven!!

Before & After

We finally found the right price and the right timing to redo our kitchen a bit...something for which we've been planning and saving for about the past year.

We had a high bar where the girls loved to eat breakfast/lunch but it had always been way too high for them...especially Julia...to sit at bar stools & eat there comfortably...or safely (Julia usually ended up kneeling or standing on her bar stool--oops). So we had the bar lowered about six inches and replaced all the countertops to match. It's just laminate countertop but we picked a color that would look like stone...we really love it & the new bar height is GREAT--just perfect.
We did the cabinet knobs (ourselves!) to match the new faucet & a coat of paint (of course) polished it all off!!
Change is good.
BEFORE:


AFTER:

Evergreen

Bob was helping me paint today...well...he was holding the ladder as I climbed up 15 feet to paint our vaulted walls. He had the most important job, really. It was very scary and almost...I said, almost...too much even for me, the painting fiend. Can you believe that? Mere mortals would have packed up their paintbrushes and ran away but not me...I see a painting job ahead of me and away I go. Dumb, I know. It didn't really help that Julia & Sophie sat on the stairs saying things like, "Mama...if you fall off the ladder, will your head bleed?" and "if you fall, please don't fall on me because I don't want MY head to bleed." etc. etc.

But I...we...I...managed to get it all cut in--now I just need to roll tomorrow...should be easy now that I got all the really high parts done...famous last words.

Anyway, by 5:00 I...we...I was ready for a break so we decided to pack a picnic dinner and head up for an evening walk around Evergreen Lake. There was a nice cool breeze whipping through my paint-speckled hair and by the time we had our picnic, the crowds of people had cleared...replaced by a herd of elk on the nearby golf course. A lovely evening--topped off by a mandatory stop at the Evergreen Baskin Robbins...now I'm rejuvenated for tomorrow's painting adventure...

Wheel

Sophie was wandering around the house today gathering up supplies for a project she decided to do. She found an empty kleenex box in my bathroom & started to cut it into strips. She had all the strips laid out on the kitchen table and then began to tape them all together. She was very calm and deliberate and knew exactly what she was doing.

I went outside to get the BBQ ready for dinner and when I came back in, Sophie was grinning ear to ear...excited to show me the gerbil wheel she made for one of her little plastic gerbil toys. I couldn't believe my eyes--it looks just like a gerbil wheel and is so sturdy, doesn't tip at all and even holds the weight of the gerbil inside the wheel.

To go from concept to hoarded supplies to finished product with no help at all--(and all in about 45 minutes from start to finish)...Mama was duly impressed!!

You go girl!

Before-After

I promised an 'after' shot of our garden we planted earlier this summer so here it is!!
All our June rain really gave our garden a jump start. Recent hail storms threatened to do in the lettuce but it bounced back nicely...now we have lettuce for sandwiches every day...and we even have enough to give away...still waiting on the pumpkin, cantaloupe, carrots & tomatoes but shouldn't be long now!!!

Bastille Day

Bob & Nadine invited us to the Country Club for the Bastille Day celebration/brunch on Sunday...so yummy...and so fun to get all gussied up!!

Have you ever seen anyone dance to La Marseillaise, dutifully sung by their mother...? All things are possible...c'mon sing along...Allons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrive...!


Others of us are too mature for all that nonsense...and when your dress screams "Vive la France," you don't have to bother with the song...

Miracle Grow

More 4th of July fun...

The girls thought that since Sara is shedding so badly in the summer heat, it would be great to put her 'locks of love' to good use...right on top of Grandpa Bob's head. No sense just throwing it all away when there's a head in need!! What a head of hair!! What a good sport!!!



Grandpa, if that blows off in the wind, c'mon back over for another transplant!

You Know You've Had Enough Rain...

...when the grass starts to float!!

During our last deluge, we noticed that our neighbor's grass was bulging. Turns out their drain pipe (which is underground and is supposed to empty out onto the grass) was blocked and so the water filled a pocket under the sod & formed a weird, smooshy, grassy waterbed. Like something right out of Harry Potter!!

Happy 4th!!

en pointe

Julia had her last ballet class of the summer session this afternoon. I, of course, forgot that parents are invited to watch the last class so I didn't have my camera--just my cell phone--so sorry for the wacky pics. She was the littlest (shortest) kid in the class (as she is in most classes) but she successfully executed some pretty complicated moves--I was impressed!