Blueberries, Swimming

So here are a bunch of pictures from picking blueberries on Wed and then going swimming on Friday. 

What, you can't see them? 

Neither can I. 

I don't know what I did, but I blew it. Somehow when I put the card in to download, I goofed. The files got corrupted, and I'm very sad. I had a ton of cute pics of the boys eating blueberries for breakfast, and sharing them so sweetly. *sigh* There are always pros and cons to technology. 

Notes of interest....Aaron is taking the first real vacation in forever. Since our honeymoon maybe? Does a long weekend in Key West count? Anyway, he has the week off to do fun things.

On the list of things to do: Chimney Rock 

http://www.chimneyrockpark.com/

Grey Fossil Site

http://www.grayfossilmuseum.com/

New Pooh Movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbFz--GCkOM

Swimming here I hope.

Abram's Falls as well, if we can ever get a good hot Sunday afternoon. Sometimes I wish we didn't have the weather forecast...then we could just go and take our chances. 

Have a good week. I'm going to! Maybe I should go make some blueberry cobbler...

Accomplished

So gracious friends and family turned out this past weekend to help paint on the house a while. Whew! Amazing how fast things go with lots of help. 

Israel, Polly, Aaron and all hard at work. (Rebekah behind the camera, and she put in a full day as well. Thanks! )

The bucket truck has made things SO much easier. Thanks, Pop! 

Bun was there to look cute, get in trouble and entertain Lucy. 

Well, I have delayed posting this because I haven't been able to get some good "after" shots....hard to get the right lighting. So anyway...you'll see it sometime I reckon. 

Mater Season

I was delighted to see that the largest Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato was ripe enough to pick this morning. They are SOOO yummy, tangy and sweet. 

I thought Silas would be the perfect model to show exactly how big it is. 

Hah, we got approximately 2.3 pictures taken before this happened. BITE!! 

"Nummy!"

A tomato as big as he is. 

"So good!"

Get that mater!

Silas' expression here cracks me up.

Gnawed.

"Cool dudes," Leon says.

Uh-oh. Tomato put down by Silas, picked up by Leon. Tears erupting. Must. Hold. Tomato.

"Pease, Eon?" (Nope)

Still shaking head "No."

Tears and tomato.

Cutie face.

Chalk Artist

Leon's skills are improving. He drew the happiest little bird today. As I took pictures the bird grew a full head of feathers instead of the previous topknot. 

Meanwhile Silas was rolling down the hill and having wrecks on his scooter. 

Just an evening in our summertime life. 

Bloomed

We got a mail order water lily back in April, and thanks to Aaron it actually got planted in the pond. Well, several months later we have seen our first bloom! It's been so exciting to see each leaf slowly grow towards the surface, and even more so when we saw that tiny bud start to show itself. I think there's another in progress. I apologize for the terrible pic, at least you can kind of see the color.

I found this tiny, sweet book at the thrift store. It is only about 4 x 8, more of a pamphlet. I think it's adorable. 

So cute. Aren't the illustrations great? 

Israel Puppet, Dilly Beans

Leon had a paper bag he was using as a puppet this morning. "What's your name?" he asks me. 'Mommy.' "My name is Israel...oh, oh, I'm going to go draw Israel on here." Behold the beard and large smile. Awwah! Our little budding artist. 

Second batch of dilly beans, check. These buggers have to sit a few months before they get really good. I'm hoping that little piece of chili pepper doesn't go all crazy hot on me. 

Yum! 

House Painting

Progress is slowly and agonizingly being made. Aaron has put in some very long and hot days scraping. This west side is the worst, because it gets all the weather and sun, so if we can get over this hurdle ,the rest will be easier! Aaron even missed the birthday party yesterday, putting in a 12 hour plus day. Ouch.

This is scraped and primed, ready for a top coat and some folks to come help out.  

First section from the front, fireplace room window.

Computer room window. 

You can see how bad it was, here under the kitchen window. 

Ugh, this took forever to scrape! I felt so bad for him. I worked up on the back porch a bit, in between watching the boys. Hard work. We're hoping to have a paint weekend in 2 weeks, and get friends to come and wield a brush with us. This task is overwhelming.