~Peach Pickin'~

On Monday, Callie's second day of homeschool, we drove over an hour to pick peaches.  We jokingly called it a 'field trip'.  She completed all her classwork before we left and I took a nap while Grandpa drove.  (Getting up at 5:45A.M.  for a 2 mile walk followed by a 2 mile run, cooking breakfast, hanging out 2 loads of laundry, teaching a little girl, putting supper in the crockpot, and some housecleaning made for a very tired mommy!!)  This was her very first time being in a peach orchard.  The trees were loaded with ripe, juicy, beautiful peaches!!

 I 'borrowed' Duane's camera to take some pictures of our trip.  My camera has been out of batteries since our Chicago trip.  Purchasing new batteries hasn't been high on the shopping list  of things that we really need as of yet.lol:) 

 The peaches were so plentiful, that a basket was filled in no time!

  Beautiful, blue skies and puffy, white clouds, mixed with the scent of fresh peaches made for an absolutely beautiful day!!!

"We can fit just one more peach in that basket, Grandpa!"

 She was very proud of the basket of peaches she picked!

 Not quite ripe yet.

 There's nothing quite like eating a fresh-picked peach outside in the orchard!!

 2 1/2 bushels of peaches picked.

 Mommy & daughter.....



It's time for school!!!

Today was the first day of school  for the kids.  I can hardly believe our children are in 7th., 5th., 1st. Kindergarten this year!!! 

Samuel, our 1st. grader, was especially happy with his mommy made 'first day of school' shirt.  He told me over and over how 'comfy' it was!!  He had a wonderful day at school.  Hope it stays that way....

 Simon, our 5th. grader, informed me that 5th. grade was going to be 'tough'.  Apparently, they were given a test in History on the first day!!  Yikes!!!!

 Seth, our firstborn, is a 7th. grader this year!  Wow, where has the time gone?  Both before and after VBS this evening he was working on homework. I'm thinking it's going to be a busy year for him. 

 Callie, our baby girl, is in Kindergarten this year.  Once again, mommy is homeschooling her.  I'm excited about this year.  Last year, it was a bit rough starting out teaching her at home.  I'm hoping all goes well this year and we have a smooth/easy start.

 Daddy takes the 3 boys to HCS for their first day of school.

 Another picture of Callie in her mommy-made 1st. day of school dress.

 She moved her hair out of the way so I could take a picture of the back.  This is a very bright, colorful dress that received many compliments from total strangers while we were out today.

 We did lessons while she sat on the couch today.  There has been absolutely no time to search for a new desk for her as of yet.  Today, she wanted to use the couch.  :)

 After completing her lessons for the day, we took a trip to the library where she did reading.  Her K-5 program doesn't start reading until lesson 68.  I don't want to wait that long for reading to be incorporated in her lessons, so today's reading lesson was at the library.  She loves how she will get to go different places for her classes.  As a surprise, I let her pick out a donut from a local bakery. 

 I decided cooking classes would be added to her curriculum this year.  She learned how to make Cream Cheese frosting today.  She measured, mixed, tasted and frosted all on her own.  She was telling people at church that she learned how to make frosting today.  Too funny!! 

 I'm thinking I need to sew her a cute little apron & chef's hat for her cooking lessons.

 I showed her how to make fancy swirls in the icing.  She wanted it smooth and flat with no swirls!  She spent quite some time trying to get the icing perfectly flat.  lol

 Her music lesson....we just did some bow exercises today.  She is just starting to learn how to hold the bow.  Sailor 4(pinky) needs to be a bit more curved and poor captain thumb kept falling out of his chair, but she had fun sailing through the air with her sailors & captain on the bow.

 Needless to say, she was quite worn out after the day's activities, and took a nap on the couch.

After school was out for the boys, we went to Burger King with our free cheesebuger coupons the kids had received from VBS.  Then we came home, spring cleaned the living room/dining room and raced around to get ready to leave again for VBS.  This has been a crazy, busy, fun-filled week for sure!!

A girl's(& her mommy's) dream trip to American Girl Place!

Callie & I have been dreaming about stepping foot in the American Girl Place for an entire year!!!  We saved our pennies, nickels & dimes and finally Saturday was the day!!!  It literally took my breath away when I stepped in the store.  The amount of dolls & accessories, not to mention shoppers was a tad overwhelming.  We just didn't know WHERE to look first!!!  The guys in the family didn't last but a few minutes before they made a hasty exit!  Too much pink I suppose....lol

Here is the doll Callie chose to buy with her 'dollars' she had saved.  She had saved all her money for quite some time and had around half the purchase price.  Mommy chipped in and paid for the rest.  You see, I have dreamed for YEARS of owning one of these dolls so I was glad to help my daughter out.  One day, I will go back and buy myself my very own. :)  For now, I will be happy 'playing' with Callie's new doll.

 Callie really wanted the accessories that went along with her doll, Kanani.  I told her that she would have to save up for those and get them later. 

 In the background is a striped dress/leggings set that Callie wants me to make her.  I'd much rather sew it myself than pay the sticker price on the matchy doll/girl outfits. 

 In line to buy her very first American Girl doll. 

 Making a sun visor.

 After she got her visor all decorated, she was too embarrassed to put it on.  Later that day, she wore it on our walk downtown.

 She liked going up and down the escalator.  I ran down the escalator so I could snap this picture and if Callie hadn't warned me, I'd have fallen off the end!!!  I was so intent on getting a picture I wasn't paying attention about what was behind me.  Dear me....that would have been quite the sight!!

More vacation pictures coming.....

Sewing Costumes, gifts, baking and puppy-sitting....

 Samuel wanted a cape to play outside in with some other kids.  He picked out the fabric and design, length, etc.....  I hurried as fast as I could to get it finished, but 15 minutes later it was raining.  So he wore it around the house that night.  The next day, it was barely light out and he was outside running around in the dew-covered grass with his cape on.

 Love what his shirt says....

 Seth and Simon got to puppy-sit Jack over the weekend.  It was a learning/teaching experience for all of us.

 Simon loves to bake.  He made me some yummy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies!!

 Full of chocolate chips!!!

 Callie's 1st. Day of School dress.

 The back....

 A quick model shot.  She'll wear it with a different shirt of course.  This is what she already had on for the day. 

 Modeling one of the costume hats I made for my mother's newest Children's Worship Themes she is writing.  This will be Blueberry Muffin's hat in her Captain Munch theme.

 Raspberry Rafael's funny hat.......

Captain Munch's vest, along with Blueberry Muffin & Raspberry Rafael's vests and hats.  So glad I was able to finish these over the weekend and send back with my brother so she get get them right away.

Matching dresses for 2 of my nieces.  These are birthday gifts for them.

 The front.....

 Love the bow that ties in the back!

Not my favorite place, but the kids LOVE....

......CHUCK E. CHEESE!!!!!!!!

On Monday, we packed up and drove 45 minutes to a place we go once a year or less.  :)  This was a treat for the kids.  I printed out a coupon for 160 tokens.  It didn't take them long to find 40 different games/rides to do.  They had fun and then I got to go to THEIR least favorite place....a FABRIC store!  lol

 Samuel shows off all the tickets he won.  Don't know how he did it....I couldn't win that many tickets if I tried!!!:)

 Callie wanted to ride this ride sooooo bad but she was scared it would go too high for her.  As soon as she saw another little boy on it smaller than her, she HAD to try it!!

 Simon & Seth waiting for their sister to finish using all her tokens.

 The tickets Callie won.  One of the machines spit out a ridiculous amount of tickets for no reason.  That's why she had so many.

 All the kids chose a bag of cotton candy for their prize.  It was gone by the time we arrived back home.

 Oh, these were the donuts I bought FRESH-BAKED first thing that morning.  I discovered that I had not one, but TWENTY-FIVE items OVERDUE at the library.  I rushed to take them back before the library opened, but they were still THREE DAYS LATE!!!!  Yep, that fine is gonna be a killer!!!  Sigh......