Monday, July 28, 2008
She Can Read!
The big news at our house is that Addie has started reading! For the past week she has been working on reading the first two Dick and Jane books. She is doing really well and we just keep going through a new chapter ever day or two. She has even started to read the words she has learned while we read her other stories. Michael and I are both super proud of her. The best part is that she is proud of herself.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Summer Time Fun
Before summer leaves us longing for more warm sunshine we've decided to make summer time fun a priority at our house. Don't get me wrong, the dishwasher/ kitchen project is still the number one priority (and should be done in the next week or so). But we need to enjoy our summer while we can.
On Wednesday us girls packed a picnic and went to the brownbag lunch concert at the bandshell on the bluff. We enjoyed our lunch with some friends. The kids enjoyed dancing and playing to the music. That night we eat a fast dinner so we could hurry off to the beach. It was a beautiful evening and we spent several hours relaxing on the sand. Addie dipped her toes in the water but it was really to cold that night to get in.
Thursday late afternoon us girls took our books out to the hammock and hung out there until Michael came home. Then he took my place while I cooked dinner.
Friday morning us girls meet up with a couple other moms/kids at the beach. Us mom's enjoyed visiting while the kids played. Then we all enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch at the beach.
Saturday Bill and Peggy joined us for a day at the beach. We where able to eat lunch in the shade of our beach umbrella and then spent the day jumping waves and building sand mountains.
Today we spent our day freezing corn. Okay, maybe that is not as glamorous as a day at the beach but we still had fun doing it as a family. I'm not sure what all we will be doing in the coming weeks but we are hoping to have some more fun filled summer days together.
On Wednesday us girls packed a picnic and went to the brownbag lunch concert at the bandshell on the bluff. We enjoyed our lunch with some friends. The kids enjoyed dancing and playing to the music. That night we eat a fast dinner so we could hurry off to the beach. It was a beautiful evening and we spent several hours relaxing on the sand. Addie dipped her toes in the water but it was really to cold that night to get in.
Thursday late afternoon us girls took our books out to the hammock and hung out there until Michael came home. Then he took my place while I cooked dinner.
Friday morning us girls meet up with a couple other moms/kids at the beach. Us mom's enjoyed visiting while the kids played. Then we all enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch at the beach.
Saturday Bill and Peggy joined us for a day at the beach. We where able to eat lunch in the shade of our beach umbrella and then spent the day jumping waves and building sand mountains.
Today we spent our day freezing corn. Okay, maybe that is not as glamorous as a day at the beach but we still had fun doing it as a family. I'm not sure what all we will be doing in the coming weeks but we are hoping to have some more fun filled summer days together.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
How Time Flies By...
I'd like to start by saying we are sorry for not posting in so long. This has been a busy summer for us, so busy we have not had the time to post many updates on the blog. I also wanted to let you know that our camera is acting up again (yes, the same problems we had last year that they "fixed"). So we don't have as many photos of the fun stuff as we would like but when your camera doesn't work there is not much you can do! I think that we will be looking into buying a new camera very soon.
Here is the update:
The last weekend in June Michael, Margaret and I went to, my college roommate, Betsy's wedding in Chicago. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time. Addie skipped out on the wedding spending her weekend instead at my sister's house in Ohio. She had a blast and ended up going to my parent's house instead of home! She had fun with her one on one time with the grandparents for three days until we all were together for the 4th of July.
For the 4th we had a wonderful cookout with family at Michael's parents house. After that most of us went to Fowler to watch the fireworks. Addie loved them, Margaret slept through them. The photo is of one of the new wind turbines by my parent's house. They put up a flag for the 4th on the one closest to the highway.
After the holiday weekend we joined my parents and my "aunt" Ava's family for a week of camping at lake Freeman. My siblings joined us for a few days each but was not able to be there at the same time. Grandma and grandpa Suiter also spent a few days camping with us. We all enjoyed our relaxing vacation. Addie loved going to the "ool" (no P in the pool) every day with grammy and Ava. She also enjoyed the daily s'mores. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I enjoyed the daily s'mores also. It was nice for me to get a little break from Margaret and I think that she enjoyed having other people around also. Michael enjoyed the slow pace as well. Ben and Jen brought the boat over to the lake and we where all able to go boating. Addie and I had fun on the tube. She did a great job for it being her first time on a tube. It has been several years since I've been tubing but I managed to hold on through some rough horse play from Ben. Michael and I took Margaret and the dogs for a walk along one of the canal trails just outside of Delphi. It was a very nice smooth trail. We enjoyed reading the historical information they had posted along the paths. We hope to go back again next summer and do some more hiking and spend some time at the local canal history center. The best part of the vacation was just being able to visit family without feeling rushed. We came back to Michigan well rested and feeling great.
When we got back though we found our garage had been trashed. It appears that an animal had gotten into our garage and knocked almost everything off the one wall, eat all the cat food (including the bag), and also tore into my bags of dried molasses and corn gluten meal just for starters. What a mess! It took us a while to get it all cleaned up but I think that we now have the garage put back to normal.
We also had surprises in the garden as well. Some good, some not so good. The bad news what that the weeds had taken over and the deer had recked havoc on my tomatoes, peppers, and some green beans. The good news was that I had lots of veggies ready to be picked. In the last two weeks I've harvested several bushels of green beans, yellow summer squash and zucchini. I have also been picking lots of blackberries. So as one can image we have been living on fresh veggies since we came back. They have been so yummy this year too. I've been busy freezing enough to last us through the winter and also making baby food from some also. Margaret loves the pureed zucchini.
Some of you might remember the transparent apple tree my parent's had at our hold farmhouse. It was by the driveway. The apples from that tree made the best applesause. I've been trying to find an orchard that grows transparent apples. They should be in season at the moment but I have struck out for the second year in a row. This year one of the orchards had them but they had lost there crop. When I started to go into my sad sob story about how much these apples mean to me, he said that he did not know of any other orchards that would have them BUT he did have two small transparent apple trees he could sell me! As you might imagine I was very excited. I had actually looked into buying them last year but was not comfortable buying them online. The trees around 3-4 feet tall and actually had a couple small apples on them when we went to pick them up. As you can see in the photos, we did take the apples off. They were making the tree hang really low and we did not want have the tree damaged from the weight. Addie and I had a great time planting the trees. She has already figured out which one is her and Margaret's tree and which one is Michael and I's tree.
I'm sure I'm leaving out lots of fun stuff but that is the shortest catch up I can do for the month that we missed. I know Michael will be adding more later! We did go to some WWII reenactments that where done here locally and he will have some video of that as well.
Here is the update:
The last weekend in June Michael, Margaret and I went to, my college roommate, Betsy's wedding in Chicago. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time. Addie skipped out on the wedding spending her weekend instead at my sister's house in Ohio. She had a blast and ended up going to my parent's house instead of home! She had fun with her one on one time with the grandparents for three days until we all were together for the 4th of July.
For the 4th we had a wonderful cookout with family at Michael's parents house. After that most of us went to Fowler to watch the fireworks. Addie loved them, Margaret slept through them. The photo is of one of the new wind turbines by my parent's house. They put up a flag for the 4th on the one closest to the highway.
After the holiday weekend we joined my parents and my "aunt" Ava's family for a week of camping at lake Freeman. My siblings joined us for a few days each but was not able to be there at the same time. Grandma and grandpa Suiter also spent a few days camping with us. We all enjoyed our relaxing vacation. Addie loved going to the "ool" (no P in the pool) every day with grammy and Ava. She also enjoyed the daily s'mores. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I enjoyed the daily s'mores also. It was nice for me to get a little break from Margaret and I think that she enjoyed having other people around also. Michael enjoyed the slow pace as well. Ben and Jen brought the boat over to the lake and we where all able to go boating. Addie and I had fun on the tube. She did a great job for it being her first time on a tube. It has been several years since I've been tubing but I managed to hold on through some rough horse play from Ben. Michael and I took Margaret and the dogs for a walk along one of the canal trails just outside of Delphi. It was a very nice smooth trail. We enjoyed reading the historical information they had posted along the paths. We hope to go back again next summer and do some more hiking and spend some time at the local canal history center. The best part of the vacation was just being able to visit family without feeling rushed. We came back to Michigan well rested and feeling great.
When we got back though we found our garage had been trashed. It appears that an animal had gotten into our garage and knocked almost everything off the one wall, eat all the cat food (including the bag), and also tore into my bags of dried molasses and corn gluten meal just for starters. What a mess! It took us a while to get it all cleaned up but I think that we now have the garage put back to normal.
We also had surprises in the garden as well. Some good, some not so good. The bad news what that the weeds had taken over and the deer had recked havoc on my tomatoes, peppers, and some green beans. The good news was that I had lots of veggies ready to be picked. In the last two weeks I've harvested several bushels of green beans, yellow summer squash and zucchini. I have also been picking lots of blackberries. So as one can image we have been living on fresh veggies since we came back. They have been so yummy this year too. I've been busy freezing enough to last us through the winter and also making baby food from some also. Margaret loves the pureed zucchini.
Some of you might remember the transparent apple tree my parent's had at our hold farmhouse. It was by the driveway. The apples from that tree made the best applesause. I've been trying to find an orchard that grows transparent apples. They should be in season at the moment but I have struck out for the second year in a row. This year one of the orchards had them but they had lost there crop. When I started to go into my sad sob story about how much these apples mean to me, he said that he did not know of any other orchards that would have them BUT he did have two small transparent apple trees he could sell me! As you might imagine I was very excited. I had actually looked into buying them last year but was not comfortable buying them online. The trees around 3-4 feet tall and actually had a couple small apples on them when we went to pick them up. As you can see in the photos, we did take the apples off. They were making the tree hang really low and we did not want have the tree damaged from the weight. Addie and I had a great time planting the trees. She has already figured out which one is her and Margaret's tree and which one is Michael and I's tree.
I'm sure I'm leaving out lots of fun stuff but that is the shortest catch up I can do for the month that we missed. I know Michael will be adding more later! We did go to some WWII reenactments that where done here locally and he will have some video of that as well.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
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