Little Lady A ~ July Visit

I was so happy that Jenny brought the Little Tykes along for vacation!  I hadn't seen them in quite some time.  So sad. Sniff, sniff.

Anyway . . . . Little Lady A is growing into such a beautiful little thing ~ can't stop staring at her!

She is such a little mommy.  It cracks me up.  She dotes over her babies and she expects everyone else to do the same.  For example:  The Big Boy.  He was requested to hold and look after her babies.  He wanted no parts of that. She was insistent.  I think he lost the first battle.

 

 She tucked her TWO babies around him for safe keeping.  He looks somewhat amiss, don't ya think?  He refused to hold them.  She was not at all pleased with that response.  She was not pleased with him.  As a matter of fact she didn't like him.  At any given time one of her conversations with others concerning Big Boy went like this:

 

Bystander:  "Do you like Uncle Ben?"

Little Lady A:  "No."

Bystander:  "Why not??"

Little Lady A: "He won't hold my babies."

 

Plain and simple.  You don't like to hold my babies, I don't like you. 

Well now.  How's that for a "kiss my tail" attitude feisty?

 

The Big Boy had become her nemesis.  She could not conquer him.  She only tolerated him.

 

So it didn't hurt any that Itty Bitty understood her need for "mothering".  They got along quite well.

It also didn't hurt that all three of them L. O. V. E. Doc McStuffins.  The only victim in that scenario was poor Audie Dog.

 

But they took good care of her.  Fixed her up and sent her on her way.  No harm, no fowl.


Looks to me as if she's teaching Catie Bug all the "ins and outs" of the World Wide Web.  It also looks to me as if she has multi-tasking down ~ teaching and watching TV.  And, seems she letting her "babies" run amuck over there! Are they wrestling???   Tsk.  Tsk.  And she does all this with the style and grace of a Little Princess. 

 

 

"Tell me Catie, how does that make you feel?"

 

Little Lady A is full of life and vigor. 

 

 She seizes the moment and still takes time to "ponder".

 

 

 

 

 

 And . . . if you really want a friend for life, just break out the books or a tablet

and snuggle up to read (or play a game)!

 

 

 

She has quite obviously stolen hearts ~ and why not?  Just look at all that adorableness!



 

 

 

 

Little Boy Blue ~ July Visit

I know you know this Little Fella stole my heart the moment I laid eyes on him!  He just did.  I have no words for it.  But, alas, Little Boy Blue, he is a'growin'. 

And he still melts my heart. 

I think he has taken favor to "someone" and "someone" has taken favor to him (although he won't admit it).

Big  Boy couldn't get too far out of Little Boy's sight.  He made sure he shadowed every move the Big Boy made.  We discovered Little Boy was smitten with baseball!  He would sit with Big Boy and watch all day long if he could.  It was priceless to watch him "hit the ball (with what ever would work as a bat), throw his "bat", run the bases and slide!  We know what his calling is!

Watching the Home Run Derby
on the computer
 

Then there was the fishing ~ yep ~ even though Little Boy didn't get to fish didn't mean he didn't have a shared interest with the Big Boy.

 

 

Let's just see what we can find online to spark our "creative juices" or maybe some sweet boat to pine after.  Who cares as long as it involves a fishing pole, lures, water and a boat!  And speaking of boats, let's just see what Big Boy is up to with his!

A key!

There's lights and buttons
and switches!

Train 'em young we say.  No need to wait 'til they're old and set in their ways.  Nope.

And if it wasn't bad enough he had stolen my heart, Goldilocks was just as smitten with him as me!
She couldn't get enough of him.  Can't say I blame her. 

Be still my beating heart!

I wanted to just put him in a box and hide him until they had gone back home.  I just WANT TO KEEP THAT BOY!

Back to Summer. . . . .

. . . . . now that it's fall  . . . .

My young kindred was able to come back to the shore for a few weeks in July courtesy Kelly's friend, Jenny.

Believe it or not, this was one of those very rare visits that we hardly did anything constructive. 

Sarah Sponda did finish a scrapbook she started eons ago. 

We became obsessed with outfitting Hope's bedroom with Paris-y, French-y things.  We found bargains galore for her!  Talk about being stoked, we were!   It seemed every corner we turned we found treasures.  We became the  "Make-over" team.  Two peas in a pod ~ yep, that was us.

This is my girl donning the latest fashion trend ~ men's boxers split at the crotch up the middle:

 

Ben split them when he squatted and I didn't notice until I was folding the laundry. Nothing like washing laundry just to throw it away.  Kinda like making sure you have clean undies on when you leave the house  ~  just in case you're in an accident!

 Puts a whole new spin on the phrase:  "You're getting a little too big for your britches!". 

 

 

Sarah decided she wanted to make her own rag quilt.  No argument here!  Count me in any day.  Quilt, fabric, shopping ~ what's not to love about that?   With the exception of the background fabric, she found beautiful flannels for the front.  She sat and meticulously cut her squares.  Good Girl.  She didn't get to sew any ~ ran out of time ~ imagine that!  But, she did have them ready to go for when she got home and could find the time. 

 

And speaking of time, MOST of our TIME was consumed with watching Grey's Anatomy on Net Flix.   She was hooked.  Of course I couldn't let her run that marathon all by herself even if it did mean bedtime came after 1:30AM (3:30AM on her last night here).  I was one weary gal.  But I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China! 

 

We did the usual for the rest of the summer.  Swam, bickered and waited for school to start.  

 

 

 

It was surely a strange summer this year.  Can't put my finger on it, but it just seemed a little "off". 

 

But all in all, it was memorable. 

 

Now that fall is officially here and school is in full swing maybe I will be able to keep up with the homeland news. 

 

Maybe.





Kentucky . . . .

I feel like Dan'l Boone.  I need to live in Ol' Ken-tuc.  Yep, I do.  But I am here ~ on the sandy land of the Eastern Shore. None-the-less, I shall be happy where I am ~ so I say to myself. 

The last two days of my mini (unexpected, but very much appreciated) vacation went by in a blur.  Well, for that matter, the whole time there flew by like it had the devil on it's heels!  I barely had time to turn around before I walked back in my own back door.  Ridiculous.

The Saturday before I came home I had the pleasure of being able to go to one of Sarah-Sponda's Guard competitions.  It was great.  Those kids work so hard to do what they do.  And the hard work shows in their performances.  Sarah did a great job and I am so proud of her. 



Sarah during Guard competition.  (I know she's in there ~ I saw her!)

It's a story played out using a combination of rifles, flags, dance and theater.  All set to music.

Then, it was home the next day.  Long drive with pleasant memories and a sad heart at leaving my loves behind:

I Love You

Hope and Baby A ~ who's not a baby anymore :(

Just in case one is curious as to what my boy's agenda was for the weekend, well, he was able to go to
opening day at Keenland (a horse racing track).  It was a fine affair:  suit and tie, dressy clothes for all and the women wore hats! 

2nd day of Keenland ~ not quite as formal.  Handsome
dudes, I must admit.

We won't talk about who won or lost on a horse.  Nope.  For one (or two) it could be painful. 
But even with that, I believe life long memories were made by all.  And Mattie (Ben's friend), well, I think he could just move there with no hesitation at all!

Summer 2012 ~ Part 6

We finally get Hopie at the beginning of July.  We had a blast celebrating the Fourth with her and other family members and friends.  It's way too cool to be able to just sit on our deck or swim and watch the fireworks put on by the Hebron Volunteer Fire Dept. No worries for parking, bathrooms or snacks!  Nothing beats a small town!  Not a thing.

Like her sister, Sarah, Hope also loves to scrap book and do paper crafting.  For her this go 'round it was scrap booking.  I figured if we didn't get to the paper crafting she wanted to do, Sarah could help her.  This is what my dining room look like for the majority of July.  It was only "cleared" away to make room for meals.

Actually, this is pretty clean compared to most days!

 

Hope was no different in her energy level.  We had much to do, but a little more time to do it in! 

Hope pressed on every day to work on her scrap book.  She was making a gift for her adorable little niece (my very first Great-grandie).  So every day we took out and put away the projects at hand.  Every.  Day.   

 

But when I they needed a break the Mario Marathon continued . .  . with the same scenario.  PTL for Ben ~ but he even grew weary at times.  Goldilocks showed him no mercy either (pushing him off the screen ~ by accident of course ~ or causing him to take a lava bath, or get eaten by those "things" that lurk around or by just being 7 and playing Mario).  But after much agony or maybe just the need to play the game, he would succumb to our their pleadings for help.  And all would be good for a while.

 

When we they tired of that, or Ben wouldn't help, they did the next best thing:  "Just Dance"!

Can I say hardwood floors come in handy when you have busy, energetic kids sliding around.

 

 

 

All furniture is moved back. Girls had to spread out lest one should get conked in the nugget. 
Don't mind the laundry basket ~ that's as far as I made it ~ or the lamp ~ we were still in transition with Kelly's move.  Such is life.  Just keepin' it real here.

To add madness to mayhem, Paul brought over bubble wrap for them to dance on! 

 

 

 

There were puppet shows to put on.  I'm so glad imaginations run rampant in our family!  I'm not sure, but by the looks of it, I think they paused Lion King to use as a backdrop. Don't quote me on that.  The puppet with the big blue eyes is Rease's.  She made it in school.  It scares people around here, so I'm told.




And of course, the trek to Tyaskin Wharf.  Word spreads quickly when treasures are to be found. The tide was too high again, but Hope did find a couple little doo-dads.  Not all was naught.



The Bear Hug!

The Treasures

 

 

Of course they swam in the pool, played, read, cooked and bickered.  But, all was well and right with our world.  Memories were made.  Lives were bonded together. 

 

 

Then, before we knew it, it was time to head back.  Where had the month of July gone?  It's never easy saying goodbye to your grandies.  Never.  My heart was heavy.  Very heavy.

 

Tears ~ an understatement.  I swear, I hate goodbyes.  JUST. HATE. THEM!

Summer 2012 ~ Part 5

The next few weeks will be a blurry whirlwind ~ non-stop activity ~ and gone before we can blink.

We picked Sarah-Sponda up the day after we got home.  The kiddos here were still in school and it gave Sarah and I some "one-on-one" time.  And let me tell ya, that gal kept me hoppin'!
She was able to go to Helena's awards ceremony and Rease's 5th Grade Night (which basically is 5th grade graduation ~ which means Rease is now in Middle School ~ another story by itself). Where has Time gone?  Away, you say?  I say, I must agree.

But until the other two were home for the summer we:
Visited Hobby Lobby ~ A LOT
We visited Goose on the Roof ~ A lot ~ my girl is hooked on antiquing and all things "Ball blue canning jars" ~ yep, and of course, vintagey, edgy, kinda girly in a 30's kinda way. We bonded like glue - me and her, baby, we were stuck like glue!
We she paper crafted ~ A WHOLE LOT (Sarah didn't scrapbook this time around, but that didn't stop her from buying scrap booking paper ~ you know, just in case) This is what my living room looked like for most of the summer:

This is just the floor ~ the desk was equally cluttered with paper goodness. She had all kinds of help from Itty Bitty.  I had have a desk behind the sofa (on that drop cloth you see there) that I was am going to chalk paint and put in the computer room.  Well, it was confiscated by Sarah.  There she sat, much of the days, paper crafting and watching Bones on Netflix. It had her ~ hook, line and sinker.  Now lest you think that's all this bundle of energy did, let me just add in a few more things that she/we squeezed into her agenda.  Let's see ~ there was the Mario Marathon ~ the more players, the merrier, but the more frustrating.  Death for someone was inevitable ~ usually at the hands of Goldilocks because she would get in fast and furious pace a "push us off the screen"  and kill us. Painful. But, alas, Ben, our "go to guy" would bail us out of hours of endless deaths trying to get from one level to the next so we could advance to another world ~ just to keep the insanity going!

Then we have pool time:

Sarah tried so hard to get Baby Girl to jump to her.  No, no, no.  Nothin' doin'.  So, next best thing ~ she just jumped in with her.  Itty Bitty is holding on to her goggles ~ just in case :).

We had to take a trip to Tyaskin Wharf.  Sarah wanted to go "treasure hunting" in the worst kind of way, but the tide was too high to travel to the "dig" site.  Maybe next go 'round?

Can you tell she's in Band Guard? 

 

But, I think the thing that was most enjoyable was Strawberry pickin'.  There's just something about that sweet, warm smell coming up from a sun baked earth ~ fruit leaving sweet scented stains on your hands, and the very sight of overflowing buckets of goodness picked by your own berry stained fingers!

 

 There's a "Squishy" in every pick!

"I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and

he shall be my Squishy . . ."  Dory - Finding Nemo

 

 

See those berries in that shirt?  They got us in trouble.

Well, we thought we could top off

another bucket we had ~ but they wouldn't fit.  We tried to look pitiful

when we went to pay ~ but the girl very politely said they only charged

for "full" buckets ~ indicating that we weren't getting those berries for free!

 (we could either forfeit our hard work or suck it up

and get another bucket and fill it using our shirt-tail full as a "jump start")

You didn't have to ask us twice!

 

 We made pies.

 

Sarah licked the goodness from the pot. 

 

Then we she decided, as if that weren't enough, to make Strawberry Bread, and Strawberry Muffins.

You use frozen berries for those two things ~ and I think we let them thaw a Little.  Too.  Long.

Our bread was soggy as were the muffins.  But. . . . they were tasty none-the-less.

 

Of course while she was here we had to have Delmar Pizza and WAWA hoagies!  An "Eastern Shore Thang" and a family tradition.

 

Although she was only here for ten or eleven days, we packed a summer full of activities in that time frame.

And tears fell like rain when we had to say "Goodbye".   I hate goodbyes.  Just. Hate. Them.


P.S.    We can't forget the Strawberry Shortcake coffe after a morning swim!