Vegetables, Music, Puppies, and Coffee

Flowers at the coffee shop....

Emily sipping her hot cocoa with extra whipped cream, her favorite part.

Kylie and I just hanging out.

At the farmer's market with "Mimie"

loving on the lab puppies, they all wanted to take them home. Not me!!

Strolling with grandma Sandy, they bought some local pecans.

Aren't these peppers just beautiful?

My pictures are in crazy order but I couldn't get them to move so here they are!!

On Saturday we got out and went to our usual garage sales.... we didn't find much but what I was really excited about was the farmer's market. Our town has the cutest little set up. The vendors line the parking lot and some times you will hear music too. This day was no exception Robin Macy was there to sing. She sings bluegrass music and owns the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine Kansas. I first heard of her at our local Walnut Valley bluegrass festival years ago.

We had a great time looking at all the beautiful veggies and there was a pickup truck with the cutest little lab puppies that needed a home. The little girl that owned them had tried out her new kindergarten scissors on their fur. Her dad didn't seem to mind, he thought it was kinda cute I was glad she didn't cut their ears off. The puppies were so sweet and gentle.

Barrett liked walking around holding hands and patting the big juicy watermelons the girls were happy to lead him wherever he would take them.

Today we had some errands to do so we went to our local coffee shop and had hot chocolate and raspberry lemon muffins for breakfast. We ate on the front porch and soaked up the morning sun. The girls took pictures of the flowers and we took pictures of each other. It was a nice way to start the day. It was one of those things we hadn't done this summer so we really enjoyed ourselves.

We went home for a while and packed a picnic lunch and picked up my grandparents and took them with us to the park, we surprised them and Laura and Barrett joined us too. We spread out blankets and ate sandwiches and grapes and just enjoyed the shade of a big sycamore tree. On the way home my grandpa thanked me for even wanting to mess with inviting the "old folks." I so enjoy my grandparents and am so blessed that my girls can spend time with them and know them well. I think it's important for kids to spend time with older generations, we can all learn so much from them.

So tomorrow bright an early in the morning, Laura , my super talented sister-in-law is taking my girls out for a fun little photo shoot. Laura has really taken off with her photography business so please check her out if you are interested in senior pictures or family sessions. You will not be disappointed. I think it will be so much fun to see how it goes, it's different when it's not mom taking the pictures. It took us awhile but I think we finally picked out some cute clothes. I tucked them in their sweet little beds and kissed them and told them how much I love them. Summer is almost over......

The winner is.....

Jenny Turner you won the contest! You had a pretty good chance since there were only 4 comments. I will make you a cute fabric shopping bag. You can stop by sometime and pick out the fabric you want. Thanks for leaving me a comment I love to read them....

A few things we did....

We've been busy, and not so busy. The girls are beginning to get bored. School starts in another week. We're ready, and not so ready. We wake up and they say "mom what are we gonna do today?" So I make them clean their room.

We have had a full summer. We have spent time with Grandmas and Grandpas, had friends over for sleepovers, baked, rode bikes, dug in the dirt, rode roller coasters, climbed trees, chased Barrett, rode the 4-wheeler, shopped, fought, oh, how they like to fight! I turned 35. uggg...we went swimming, and tubing. We played softball and Wii. I guess that's just a bit of all that we did.

This summer was special, but they all are. I treasure my children and want to enjoy all the moments with them. I try hard to keep my patience and I want them to know I stay home with them because I want to. I want them to remember summers with mom. I'm so sad that It's coming to an end. Kylie is going into 5th grade and that is a huge change for all of us. We have a wonderful close relationship and she is a very smart girl. I know she will be making new friends and choices. I'm glad I can be here for her at the close of each day.

I'm anxious to see Emily continue to gain confidence in reading and am ready for the challenge of making her sit down each evening to read. I think I'm ready for that challenge? She would rather be in a tree. Maybe we could read in a tree???

We have done lots of really fun things and spent some wonderful days together and I'm gonna be lonely when they go back to school. I am ready for the routine of school. I'm sure I will be helping out in Emily's classroom again. I love that and am so happy to do it.

The weather this past week has been rainy and dreary which usually I do not like but I dug in the closet and found some hemp cord and a Klutz book about making bracelets. Something I bought a long time ago at a garage sale. I decided that they could probably catch onto this pretty quickly so I showed the girls and they loved it. Kylie made lots of fun bracelets all different colors. She showed Emily once and she was hooked too. I think they did this for two days while watching movies and listening to music.

I made some bread and butter pickles in the microwave.... I thought they were pretty good. My grandparents had a few cucumber plants out and they got an abundance so every few days they would bring me a sack. I remembered this recipe that a friend gave me years ago. So easy.

As an end to the summer and since I haven't blogged for weeks, if your still coming back and reading my blog leave me a comment and on Monday I will randomly draw a name for something fun and homemade.