Blind Makeovers

Claudia's birthday is tomorrow (yes, I have 3 girl's b-days within 3 weeks!!) and I let her have a friend here to spend the night this weekend. Her friend's name was Erin, that was a little confusing for a little dude around here!! On Sat. we had some fun. One of the things we did was "blind makeovers". I have never done this before so it was a bit of an experiment. The girls had to be blindfolded to do each other's hair and makeup. The girls had a blast, the best part for me was watching them laugh and giggle the whole way through it.


























I made them wait to look in the mirror until they were all done.

Random End of Summer Post

I have a few random pics I want to post today. I'm really bummed, I lost a bunch of photos due to an issue we had with our hard drive. Some super cute ones of another family trip to Dutch Wonderland, Margaret, your "art day" with Aaron, and who knows what else that I can't remember. Bummer!!
I had a conversation with my Amish neighbor yesterday, she is my age and is pregnant with their 8th child. I was asking her what she is canning these days. Grapes, pears, stuffed peppers, and ketchup. She told me that last year she canned 60 quarts of ketchup and that wasn't enough so this year she is canning 80 quart! That family works so hard. I often spy them out my window slaving away in their fields. Even their kids work so hard. I often wonder what they think of us and our existence. They sure are sweet and generous to us.
Next week begins our 3rd year homeschooling. I think we are all ready to get back into the groove of the routine even though it requires lots more work on my behalf! I never thought that I would be here, homeschooling my kids. I am very grateful for this time with them. Lots of work but lots of reward.
Ok, here are the pics I promised:

Coneflowers, I will miss you, you're almost done blooming




My aunt and uncle live next door. For a week this summer she had 2 of her grandsons for the week (they are Aaron's 2nd cousins). Here they are spending some time together.


Avery and Greta watching some Blue's Clues


Last weekend I had my 15th year class reunion. That makes me feel old! It was great catching up with people. Our "Senior Class Committee" planned it this year. Here we are minus one guy:


A few Greta shots from Shannon Odell:




We miss you already, EA and Shannon!! Why oh why did you have to leave us?? The other day a gray car drove by and Aaron said, "There's Shannon". I sadly had to tell him that she went to college. He has no idea what that means... except maybe on the Blue's Clues episode where they change hosts b/c "Steve is going to college..."


Morgan thought Shannon's remote was SO cool!


One last shot from Greta's b-day. Morgan bought Greta some bubbles and here she is watching g-ma blow them.

Happy Birthday, Greta!!

Yesterday our precious little Grety turned 1!! I can not believe that a year has passed since she was born. She has been such a sweet addition to our family. She is a happy little girl and is always smothered with lots of love.

She got a present in the mail from Steve's mom. She LOVED the moving butterflies!


My friend gave me these balloons leftover from her party. The girls were THRILLED when g-pa found a place for fill them for 29 cents each. So Greta had 12 helium balloons at her party.




Someone thought we should try to hook them all to Greta and see if she would float. Any guesses who that child was? She's not in this photo...


This crazy child would love to fly and seems to try any way she can to make it possible.










Greta's cake homemade by Claudia, Morgan and g-ma




Not sure what to think of the candle


Saved by sissy




This was Greta's general reaction to her cake. She was not at all interested in eating it, despite our efforts to shove it in her face.


After-cake bath


Greta's first doll


Cute piggy bank from g-ma and g-pa


We love you sweet girly. Happy first to you!!

Little Red Riding Hood

The girls have a friend named Angela who comes over often to play. Everytime they are together they come up with some crazy thing to do. The other day they dressed up and acted out "Little Red Riding Hood". They were quite hilarious.

The cast of characters:

Little Red...


Granny


The Big Bad Wolf