I enjoyed a good portion of the day on the balcony - over maybe 10 short visits - but still nice.
These geraniums refused to die over the winter, and now they're making a nice show again along with one little fuchsia survivor.
It always makes me happy to see a hummingbird come in and drink a little bit.
Layla goes a little crazy but doesn't run at it or threaten it. She turned over my artificial bamboo earlier today and used it as her cover.
She's gone from being scared of everything to spending most of her day outside.
I worked on the NYT crossword puzzle some. The library stopped providing free papers on Monday morning, and I just can't justify spending $3.00 for a newspaper just for the crossword and the book section. I don't check Groupon as a rule, but something made me see that one of their offerings was a year's worth of Sunday papers for $30. That's less than 60 cents a paper and more in line with my budget. So I subscribed and got my first one yesterday. I have to admit it was kind of nice to hold a newspaper in my hands again, although there was not much there that I couldn't read on line somewhere.
I finished my book and listened to Graysen read a book to Katherine. We talked about her word of the day, which is annoy or annoying. We talked about what it meant and used it several ways, and I annoyed her all afternoon using it in sentences. Katherine had the best sentence: "I'm going to annoy this floor right now."
I finished knitting another dishcloth. I'm glad I have these little projects, because it's about all I can do when I'm keeping the girls. I can't sew much because they'll follow me into the sewing room and go where they're not supposed to. And I can't read because it's hard to concentrate. Housework is possible, but who wants to do that.
Sherry sent me a box of dish towels that she had bought to embroider and never did, and now I'm on a mission to do those.
I did find the best pattern that I used for the blue one. Now I'll have to find someone with a blue kitchen to give it to.
I'll probably do cherries on the red one, and I'm not sure about the black one. I saw a pineapple design that might look good there.
I won't be using this one any more. After we had been to the beach, I wanted to put a shell or something beachy on a towel to hang on my stove. I saw a watercolor-looking shell and Embroidery Library that was only $1.53 and got it without checking on the details. It looked light and airy, but when I started stitching it, I came to the realization (too late) that it was going to be a BIG project. When I checked the stitch count, there was over 92,000 stitches.
But I plodded on. The machine is on the other side of the wall from Elise's room, and she said she heard it running for what seemed like hours, and when she went to check, I wasn't there, and it was running by itself. I did let it rest periodically, so it took a couple of days and used two bobbins.
And for this.
I'm not sure if I've posted the girls' Fourth of July shirts or not. They picked out the designs, and they turned out just the way they wanted. The gathered V-neck made it a little wrinkly, but for one day, they'll work fine. And believe it or not, they agreed to hairbands. I had two fabrics, and they couldn't make up their minds, so I made them reversible, but everyone's happy.
I can see they're going to keep me busy this summer with embroidering them shirts. I have a few plain ones for Katherine, but it looks like I'm going to need to find some size 6 ones for Graysen. Katherine has picked out kitty cats and Graysen bunnies, and they have opinions on the colors. That will be fun.
Speaking of Elise, she says she can't cook, but she made this for us last night: Chicken, water chestnuts, mushrooms and green beans. It was perfect. She made another dish tonight - pasta and cheese and chicken - but I didn't have any.
She took the girls for a walk today and to "the hill" where they like to play Queen Kitty. Elise took a blanket and was soaking up the sun, but she called and asked if I would bring sunscreen for the girls' faces. Katherine showed Ole Mimi where to go to climb the easiest, and I got right in the middle of their play by almost stepping on a "poison circle" of flowers. I love their imaginations.
A few more pictures of the day and the weekend. The Shopkins Go Shopping cards can also be used for an Old Maid type game, and Graysen absolutely loves it. Katherine not so much. She doesn't even mind losing if it means getting this card.
They rode their bikes over Saturday, and Elise, Emily, and the girls played Go Fish and Old Maid. Lots of screaming and rolling on the floor laughing. Such a good afternoon. I think soon Kate will get into card playing.
This was exciting to see in North Bend on the way back from swimming lessons. I keep trying to get pictures of the beautiful baskets hanging there and in Snoqualmie downtowns, but I never get a chance to stop.
This was our little bit of weather excitement Friday night. Thursday afternoon, we kept hearing a few rumbles of thunder, which thrilled us since it's so unusual. Friday, Graysen told me she asked God to send us a thunderstorm because we really enjoyed them.
We got not only a booming thunderstorm but a good bit of hail and wind too.
Steller Way got a little more of the ice on their patio cover. Of course, they all ran out and played in it!
Layla enjoys a little weather excitement too.
Swimming lessons are over for now, except when Emily takes them on Saturday mornings.
By Friday, Katherine was grinning and high-fiving Clarissa, and Graysen was showing a lot more confidence.
We noticed this empty soccer field on the way to the car, so I thought a little running might warm them up.
We have two dance camps coming up, one for a week in July and the other for a week in August, both girls in the same class. Seems like the summer is not going to be long enough for everything.
They got to spent some time Saturday night studying the skies and finding some stars and planets.
And now we'll see what we can get into the rest of the week.
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