Fair time!!

Our town's annual fair is coming up soon. The deadlines to submit entry forms is coming even sooner. The big girls have spent the last few days thinking and talking about what we'd like to enter as exhibits.

The chickens are a definite yes for entry. Grace is also planning on submitting a lego tower she's built. She also has a horse drawing that she made a few weeks back that she'd like to submit. Grace has started taking a lot of photographs with our old digital camera, so I'm sure there are one or two snapshots she'd like to submit. She has also mentioned that she'd like to enter her famous chocolate chip cookies as an exhibit.

Dianna is working on a drawing to submit as well. She has a lego tower to enter. She also has a few snapshots that she's taken with her digital camera that she's thinking of submitting.

I will most definitely be entering one of the girls' Easter dresses and the skirt I sewed for myself. I think I'll bake a loaf of zucchini bread (if my garden produces enough zucchini!!) and some cookies, though I'm not sure which flavor cookie to do. I will enter a jar of apple jelly and a jar of grape jelly (both already sitting on the shelf in my pantry!). And, of course, I have a bajillion photographs that I need to sort through to pick ones to submit.

This will be the first year that we've ever entered more than just chickens as exhibits. We're all hopeful that we'll do well, but the most fun part will be watching others look at our projects on display as exhibits.

Lazy Summer Day

Today has got to be the first true lazy summer day the kids and I have had since we returned home from our vacation. The three older kids had swim lessons at the town pool this morning, but after that we returned home. Nora napped while the rest of us ate our lunch. After Nora woke, I fed her a PB&J (her newest favorite!!) and then we all had some diced watermelon outside on the patio. (Thanks for the watermelon, Lisa!)

Since the watermelon snack, we've all been outside enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon. Nora just loves to play in the sandpile. Grace, Dianna, and William played with bubbles for quite a while. Then, Nora started to get more adventurous in her outdoors freedom -- I believe she'd have crawled all around the backyard if I'd have allowed it!

I just came back inside with Nora a few minutes ago. I figured she and I could both use a cool down. The other three followed us inside pretty soon after. I believe William is falling asleep on the couch as I type this....must be all that fresh air has tuckered him out.

This kind of relaxing non-structured play is exactly what summer should be all about. I love lazy summer days like this. Hopefully we can have quite a few more non-productive days like this before school is back in session.

Infant Grace

As promised, here is a picture of Grace when she was a brand new infant. I'm also re-posting the picture of Grace that I took the end of June......can you believe how much she's grown??

Happy Birthday Grace!!

Nine years ago, almost exactly to the minute, Gordon and I welcomed our first baby to the world. We were officially a family. Complete with loving mother, father, and beautiful baby.

Hard to believe that it was so long ago!

Of course, because this was well before I owned my handy-dandy, wonderful, perfect digital camera, I do not have digital images of Grace as a baby stored on my computer. Most of her baby pictures are stored on disks downstairs. I'll have to see if I can dig one or two up, but that will have to be later.

There is simply no rest for the wicked around here -- we've got a busy schedule!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, Grace!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl!

One year ago today I was wondering if/when our littlest one would make his/her arrival. I went in to my OB's office for a final appointment where we scheduled an induction for early the next morning. Not surprisingly, our babe decided she didn't want to wait until the next morning. Why come when everyone is expecting you if it's so much more fun to make your entrance in your own time?!?!

Everything happened so quickly that night one year ago. So much so that when I called my good friend from California to announce the news at midnight our time, she thought I was calling to tell her we were headed to the hospital to have the baby then!

She's grown so much in just a year's time!

Also, I wanted to wish Larissa a Happy Birthday today too! Lucky Eleanor, she's Birthday Buddies with one of the greatest women on Earth!

The rest of our vacation....in pictures

Here are pictures to highlight the rest of our vacation....they start with Sunday, after we'd gotten to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gordon's house in Louisville.

The kids playing with the wagon at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gordon's house

Bubble time!
Nora tries the bubbles too
Dianna helps cousin Sarah's baby Holly to blow bubbles

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gordon join us at the Louisville Zoo

Uncle Gordon kindly offered to take a picture of all of us together at the zoo -- Thanks!

I have pictures of Grace and Dianna doing this same pose when we last went to the Louisville Zoo five years ago....I should try to find them and compare how much bigger the girls are now!

After we left the Louisville zoo, we went back to Lexington for one more night....Grandma allowed the children to 'play' the piano for a while -- something they'd been wanting to do all week long! (Mommy put a premature stop to it...it wasn't very musical to the ears!!)

Just before saying our final goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa

While in WV, we walked down to the town pool with Lisa, Hunter, and Stevie...the two boys and our two eldest girls were fast friends!

making a mess in Aunt Donna's sunroom

Hunter and Stevie tooks turns riding in our van on the way home to CT from WV....it was pretty late by the time we pulled in the driveJust because we returned to CT didn't mean our vacation was at an end! On Friday we went to Grammie's house....Here are a few pics from when Laurie, Lisa, Gordon and I walked all the children to the playground for a little while.

Lisa spinning Dianna aroundBryce

Cole

Stevie and Dianna

Gordon, Hunter, Stevie, Dianna, and Grace

All of the young cousins together -- Bradley, Eddie, Nora, Grace, Dianna, Will, Cole, Hunter, Bryce, and Stevie

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

We're back to normal.

Well, no. We're back to our regular life. No more vacation. No more visiting relatives. Gordon's back to work. The kids and I are left with our daily chores/activities.

But, as is normal with most people, we've got a backlog of tasks that need to be completed after having been neglected for two weeks. I've got a vegetable garden that needs some serious attention. (We're talking jungle-style weeds here!) The tables and shelves have so much dust collected on them that I may be able to grow some indoor potatoes. The bathrooms could use a scrubbing, as could the kitchen floor. And now that Lexi's back, the dog hair that's everywhere needs to be vaccuumed before it overcomes all of us.

I do still have lots of pictures on my camera from our vacation. I don't know when I'll get them uploaded, but I promise to share them with you once I do!

more vacation pics

Nora enjoying the outdoors William decorating the sidewalk with chalk
Grace's chalk creation

Gordon and Nora enjoying the sunshiney weather

We went to the Kentucky Horse Park on Thursday

A self-portrait at the Horse Park

The Parade of Breeds, Kentucky Horse Park

Grace and Dianna got to ride ponies at the Horse Park

Grace & Hannah on one of the chairs from an actual horse jump called Giants' Table

It finally got hot enough for swimming on Friday

So both of the big girls took full advantage

William has been playing with Grandpa's RC Truck every single day

Dianna & Fluffy relaxing this morning

Grandma and Nora

The kids watching some of Grandpa's fireworks tonight

....and more fireworks

Happy Fourth of July!!

A late wish for a happy, healthy, SAFE 4th of July to all my blog followers!

We had a great one here in KY! Grandpa was in the Lexington parade this morning. Gordon and I had originally planned on taking the kidlets downtown to watch Grandpa (and the rest of the parade) but decided against it. Neither of us liked the idea of trying to find parking, walking a rather large distance to find a decent spectator spot, and then trying to entertain the four kids while waiting the parade's arrival.

So we stayed home with Grandma instead!

The American Legion that Grandpa is Vice Commander at was hosting a BBQ after the parade. Grandma graciously offered to watch the four kidlets so that Gordon and I could head over to the Legion and join Grandpa in his element. We ended up taking the Little People with us, because Nora was being especially clingy to Momma and Will was way past due for a nap (and, therefore, VERY cranky himself!). The big girls stayed at the house with Grandma, watching Wall-E and then some Little Rascals videos. The final reports were that the big girls were both very good and everyone had oodles of fun.

Tonight, Grandpa set off some fireworks for the kids to enjoy. They had a blast!! Gordon and I both cannot get over just HOW many fireworks displays there are here in Lexington. I swear, you could look in any direction and see at least one display or another going on -- and that's not counting the little ones that private homeowners were setting off in their own yards!

I have pictures to upload and share.....be on the lookout!

and we wait...

Day TWO of our vacation. I bet you're wondering why I'm online at 9am rather than vacationing with the family. Simply put, I'm waiting on the last kidlet to wake from her slumber.

While waiting for everyone to wake, I uploaded all of the pictures from my camera and have them saved on my computer. Here are a few:

On the road...

stopping along the way to see some sites.... Eleanor and Hannahhanging with Grandma on the swingplaying with Grandpa's remote controlled truck climbing on one of the trees in Grandpa & Grandma's front yard the Sleeping Beauty who is holding up breakfast this morning