Grace and Olivia stayed with me while

their Momma went to a Mary Kay

convention!

And - the first thing they wanted to 

do was have a tea party! 

 

 I made tea party candies! Aren't they precious?

 I've found that lollipops and cake pops

display nicely in small pitcher or

vase filled with rice. The rice holds

the pops securely in place and even

allows you to arrange them.

 Don't you just love the teapot and tea

cup designs?

 I even made mini teapots and teacups

to use a cupcake toppers!

 It was a sweet little tea party!

 The girls loved the 

tea party shaped snacks!

 

And I loved their smiles!

Splish Splash... Where Did She Go?

 Splish Splash!

 Where did she go?
 

Grace loves swimming with other kids.

Especially older kids!

This is Patricia, a little girl Brandy 

sometimes babysits.

Grace really enjoys playing with her! 

 AND - Swimming is always more fun

when there is someone to 

swim with. Grace is more

willing to try new things when she

sees others enjoy doing them, too, 

so having a friend over can make

pool time a lot more fun!

Angry Birds

 At our July birthday party,

we played Angry Birds!

 I bought a water balloon launcher and

a stuffed angry bird. We launched the

bird out of the launcher and tried

to knock down stacks of blocks!

 It was a pretty fun game!

 Even Papa Bill got in on

the action!

 But - launching the angry bird was

a little tough for the little ones!

 But, they were still able to

play! They just had

'hand launch' their birds by

throwing them.

And - they all won a prize!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEUCE!

Today is Deuce's Birthday!

Deuce is our oldest son.

He's an outdoorsman who

likes to hunt and fish.

Happy Birthday, Deuce!

I hope you have a great birthday

this year and every year to come!



A Simple Tea Party

I try to keep treats on hand

because at any given moment

a precious little girl could

come over and want to have

a tea party.

Brilyn caught me with

no cupcakes in the freezer.

But - I had these!

 Little Debbie Fudge Cakes!

 I took out a few cakes and cut them

into squares. They sliced up

nicely and looked really cute!

The teapot looks really cute, too.

Don't you just love the heart shaped lid?

 I put Kool-Aid in the teapot because

I was out of tea.

 But, I don't think it matters

much what I serve.

This little girl just loves

a tea party!

And I love HER!

New Hiding Places!

I bought this

Tent, Tunnel and TeePee

as an option for

rainy day fun and Brilyn

tested it out and had

a great time!

 I think she liked the tunnel

the best.

She also played with the

teepee. We inserted the tunnel

into the teepee and she told me

the teepee was her house

and she called the tent

my house and she crawled

through the tunnel to visit.

I think it'll be more

fun when Grace and Olivia

are here to play with her!

 

 

A Breakfast Tea Party

 When Brilyn spends the night

she likes to have an early

morning tea party.

She had already eaten

breakfast, but she didn't eat much

and I didn't want to fill her with

cupcakes and cookies, so we

had a "breakfast tea party."

 Her Barbie Doll even wore a

pretty dress.

(Brilyn loves to share with her dolls)

 Instead of regular cookies I served

cookie monster cookies.

(aka Cookie Crisp Cereal)

And Brilyn enjoyed it just as

much as she would have

if I'd served pretty cupcakes!

This girl, loves a party.

Getting Ready For Babies

Brandy and Alyssa came over

one day and we used Brandy's

new sewing machine and

made burp cloths

for the babies.

I'm not sure exactly how

many we made, but here

is one of each design.

 

 Aren't they cute?

Finding fabrics and trims to make

boy things is much more difficult

than finding fabric and trim to

make girl things,

but I think we did a pretty

good job!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!

Today is Heather's Birthday,

so please comment and wish her

a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Heather is our oldest child.

She's also Mommy to

two of our sweet little grand daughters,

Grace and Olivia!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!

We wish you happiness

today and always!

The Butterfly Garden

Our little butterfly garden has not been

as pretty this year as it has in years past.

The weather has been a little weird

I think that has some of the

flowers confused. They're not sure

if it is spring, summer or fall,

and so they're not quite sure

what to do.

We have had a good crop

of butterflies, though!

I've counted as many as 12

species in a day!

 This Gulf Fritillary is new to the

garden this year. I love his shiny

silvery patches on his wings.

He's really beautiful!

 The Buckeyes have been plentiful!

There are four or five in the garden

almost every single day.

 These little crescents are common, too.

We see them all the time and they

seem to run in little flocks.

There are four on the coneflower above.

Can you see them?

And another crescent. This guy is lucky

to have found a flower to perch on.

See those green leaves in

the background?

That's a watermelon plant!

Grace spit seeds into the garden

last summer and now her

watermelon have taken over.

It's choking out the flowers so the

butterflies might have a little less

to eat, but it'll be feeding us, soon!

The watermelon are almost ripe!



Grace Goes for a Razor Ride!

The little GoPro Camera my

husband got me for my birthday

does a great job capturing adventure.

I don't think I'd be able to see

her little face while she

rode the Razor, any

other way!

Watch her reaction as she gets

hit with mud in the face!

 

A Good Manners Tea Party

 The girls have been a little

lax about using their manners,

so we had a

Good Manners Tea Party

to practice "being proper."

Each girl started out with

3 clothes pins pinned to their

clothes. If they did something nice,

they got another one.

BUT - if they used bad manners

they lost one!

 Olivia drank like a puppy

and lost a clothes pin!

 Grace used good manners and shared.

She served her sister nicely

and got an extra clothes pin.

 She caught onto this really quickly!

 One pin, two pins, three pins.... four!

 Being nice gets you more and more!

 They had such a good time.

Olivia didn't care that Grace had more

clothes pins. She was just happy to party.

But - Grace wanted to WIN!

She kept being nice and saying please

and thank you!

Olivia preferred to be silly

and blow bubbles with her tea.

She lost another clothes pin!

 When Olivia was down to one clothes pin

she gave it to Grace and said,

"You win!"

She may not have the world's

best manners, but at least she's

a good sport!

 

 

And Grace was happy to be

the Good Manners Champion!