We have a Bambi!!

:-D

Megan's THREE!!!

Our Megan turned three years old yesterday and we celebrated with Grandma P and Grandpa and Grandma W. Megan got everything on her "Dora" wishlist...and then some! It was a fun day!!

On Sunday, Megan went up front to get her birthday lollipop from Uncle Ray. I couldn't believe she went to retrieve her "loppy-pop" all by herself and even nodded her head to the questions she was asked...all without tears. But, this picture that Nana snapped shows that she certainly wasn't joyful, either. hehee...

The big birthday girl with Daddy and Mommy


Making wishes and blowing out candles (on her small, pink Dora cake with star sprinkles) :-)

Pink, inside and out... :-) (the best closeup I got of the cake was, of course, after we'd cut into it...)


Holding her Dora clock, while wearing her Dora backpack and watching her new Dora dee-dee-dee :-)

Testing out her new Dora umbrella with Grandpa W (while wearing her new Dora jammies)

How far we've come!! Click to see Megan at one and two. *sniff, sniff*

Without the rain...

Rain can be such a nuisance.

It can delay plans and prevent outdoor activities.

It can make days feel gloomy and dreary.

But, without the rain,

...my garden wouldn't grow.

...I wouldn't have a good excuse to curl up with a good book.

...I wouldn't spend time inside baking.

But, mostly, without the rain, we'd never see this:



I took these last night around 7:30. It's not very clear, but the beginnings of a double rainbow are in the first picture.

It was a gorgeous rainbow!

A Birthday Wish List, A Rocking Horse, Cookies, and A Trip to the Zoo...

Before I begin (warning: long post ahead), did you know that Megan will be turning THREE next Monday?!!! I can't believe it!! Most of you who see her quite regularly, still don't believe she ever talks. Well, she has been quite vocal in her birthday wishes.

Megan adores Dora. I tried my hardest to keep Dora from invading our house, but I failed. If you really want to hear the whys I tried and the whys I failed, email me. :-)

Anyway... I uploaded a *NEW VIDEO* with Megan telling me all she wants for her birthday. Translated: it's ALL DORA. (cake - small and pink with star sprinkles, clock, air balloon - that's really just a regular balloon in her language, jump rope, backpack, map, and dee dee dee - dvd).

We'll see if she gets it all.... grandparents?! ;-)

The rest of my post is also pretty random. We helped Grandma P clean out a shed a few weeks ago, and brought home one of daddy's childhood toys. The kids are loving it!


Both kids helped mama make some chocolate chip cookie bars. Nathan really wanted to do all of the work...he may be a future Bobby Flay! (oh yes...that's paint on the stool...not food leftovers) :-)

Watching them bake was eventful, too... :-)

Last Monday, we took a special family day and made a trip to the Syracuse Zoo.

I did something I said I would never, EVER do. I wore crocs in public for our zoo excursion. You know, my feet didn't hurt at the end of the day. Still not sure I'll wear them in might-actually-run-into-people-I-know public, either. :-)

Megan and Nathan waiting to go through the admission line:

Nathan loved most of the animals, but Megan was pretty skittish and stuck really close to daddy. Her favorite part was reading the zoo map and telling us all which way to go.

THAT WAY!!


Megan's favorite animal was the elephant... but, by far, her favorite thing was the cotton candy.

A little sibling love:

We're still keeping busy. We got a load of logs that Ben has been working on in all of his free time. He's got it all cut and is now working on getting it all split.

I've been re-moving again this week. I had to do a lot of furniture rearranging for carpet cleaners last Thursday and painting our bedroom and hallway Friday and Saturday. Now, I've got curtains to make and hang...

I've also been working on combining my recipe and book review blog into one: Her Creative Side. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out!

Oh, yes...and, did I mention that Megan's birthday is next Monday?? I have a house to clean, a small, pink DORA cake to make, presents to wrap....

More, more busyness!

Hope all is well with you!!

Family Fishing Fun!

Say that 10x fast! :-)

My gift to Ben as a new father was a pink Cinderella fishing pole. Ok, it was "really" for Megan...but, it was definitely for daddy, too! We have patiently waited until Megan grew a bit older.

This summer was finally the time...we took Megan fishing last Saturday night after Ben got out of work.

Megan was so excited! She kept flinging her pole around in the backseat and jabbering away about fish and worms and water.

I had tried to prepare her earlier in the day, saying over and over that fishies wiggle and squirm when they come up out of the water. I fully expected an America's Funniest Home Videos moment of screeching and pole-dropping once that real live fish appeared! :-)

Not so. Megan didn't get very CLOSE to the caught fish...but, she had no real fear and no screeching or running away.

She loved it! She caught several sunnies and blue gills, so overall, our first family fishing outing was a success (aside from Nathan picking up some goose stinkies...)! :-)

And, a summer family outing isn't complete without some ice cream! :-)

Have a great weekend!

The squeamish should look away...

...really.

Butterscotch pudding is not pretty.



Although, he obviously thought so...! :-D

Recovering

The last week has been loong and a bit rough. The entire family got a nasty stomach bug and it really knocked us all out. I think we are all finally feeling closer to normal!

I have so many things to catch up on -- blogging is one of them. I have many pictures still on my camera, and just haven't had time to get them to the computer. I've also had a bit of free time to finally fun read again!

I have several entries for both my recipe and book review blogs, but just haven't had time yet to get everything posted!

So, we are still alive...

Here's a picture my dad took just before church, when my parents visited us a few weekends ago:


Aww, I love my family!! :-)