4th of July

Sterling and Lexie

Lexie is a kiddo magnet

All the kids enjoy her

Sterling and Amber

Here he is exploring access to water

Turn the cup the other way, little cutie

Daisylyn  Sterling  Brinton

Step back and let your big sister have some button pushing fun

Chef Tyrel

Thanks for cooking, dude

Abree Dean  Rylee  Candice   Alisha  Chanel

Smullin's brought us some bright red shade

Levi's stance reminds me of a very cute robot

What a beautiful day to be with some family

I feel gratitude for the God's blessings in this promised land

Sweet Lizzy

Lizzy was brave on the 4th of July

When she was in pain her parents got her a bucket of cold water for leg soaking

She developed a bummer sickness a couple of weeks earlier

that we hope resolves itself with no long term effects

Owww oww

What is the Bride's Style?

Alisha looked at Lexie's Pinterest pages

 talked with her

 began gathering things she thought would match Lexie's

preference for their wedding open house look

Alisha set up a display for practice

These girls are tuning in to each other

Both of them are on the hunt for rustic treasures

Here are the tear-a-page-put-of-a-book

then-cut-and-hot glue

paper flowers Lexie likes for decorating

She taught us how to make them

Ignore the purple and multi colored pictures

(they are just a convenient corner for hanging the flowers)

Lexie is all about light shades:  off white..cream.....wheat

All hands on deck...the time is getting close!

With Lexie and Alisha spear-heading the family efforts to decorate a friend's backyard

one thing we know for sure . . .

IT WILL BE CUTE

Two Arizona Girls

 Arizona Tawnya got a visit in with Grandma, who was an Arizona girl, herself

And Tawnya brought her cute kiddos for a visit with their great grandmother, too

A rare sight.....grandma bursting into laughter

Jana and Kevin were there, too, and brought the birthday meal chicken and strawberry short cake

yum

Happy 97th birthday to Grandma

Can you believe that?.....neither can she!

I live at the end of the rainbow

Apparently I live at the end of the rainbow

Just so you know...

I hope you do, too

In the Pink

Had a visit to Smullins one day to chat and take some pictures

Taylee and Abree indulged me with some front door poses

Rylee accepted a vintage offering of an old dress of mine

I said it was an from my high school singing days....but that's not quite accurate

Yes, high school, but not for singing

It was my bridesmaid dress for Jocile's wedding reception

Rylee thought maybe she would wear it if she could add a belt to make it cute

Do you like how the word "vintage" is used these days....

rather than "really old"?  

Uh huh

Fuelin' Up Grandma

Um-m-m-m raisin toast 

Picnic lunch in the TV room

Breaking the usual rule of "eat at the table"

Do you think she will let herself be just a little sneaky?

She is liking her cashew snack

Wouldn't you?

She still likes to read and look at the pictures and notes you send to her

She keeps them right in front of her at breakfast

I Cooked!

Yea....some snacks for a Girls Night

I made sticky buns

Look familiar?
Uh huh

 So good, I've made the recipe several times

Yum!

Warning:  Do not do this at home....unless you crave sweet and delicious

Off to the Thea-tuh!

Well, actually, it was to the cheap seats for a movie

I thought we were quite brave to take a busy bunch

We all made it to the end

Bing!
Chalk that one up as a success

Hi Daisylyn, Maliah, Sterling, Tawnya, Amber and Kyrick

A movie is always better with a blankie, huh Daisylyn

Whew...no longer penned in----Sterling is off for a run

Clawson summer

 What fun

A June visit from Tawnya and kiddos

Maliah is a blast with all she can say

Kyrick

What a kind boy

He has many play ideas and is a super clean up kid

No visit is complete with out some Crayon Melt time 

Uh oh

I think I got Tawnya hooked on Scramble

Big deal day in Meridian

Parade time

I was glad to find some shade in the shadow of the big Channel 7 truck 

 This girl lets you know what she wants

Tawnya loves Dairy Days

She and her kids bagged a lot of treats handed out during the parade

What fun summer adventures have you enjoyed?

Memory Lane....Hanky Babies

I had totally forgotten about this activity that my mom used to do with me

(maybe to keep me quiet in church)

When we got some some hankies and scarves out for play with the grandkids

I remembered

(I wonder if I ever did this for my own children)

To entertain me, my mom would 

fold her hanky in half like a triangle

roll up the two opposite ends into "babies"

pull the unrolled ends up at the "head" and "foot" of the baby rolls

Then I'd rock my babies

Here kids....babies for everyone!

If you pull too hard

your babies will disappear

Then we 

tossed

danced

smoothed

imagined

and collected

Kaitlyn  soon had layers and layers in her collection

and everyone else was in short supply!

Has anyone these days even heard of a hanky?

Did your mom ever make you some twins in a cradle with a hanky?

Lovin' the Levi

Oh for cuteness!

Don't you want to just grab those cheeks and kiss those lips?

He is looking so grown up

Levi came to play 

He easily engaged himself in lots of imagination time

Looks like there's been a successful throw down of the babies

and he's moved on to dog wrestling

Sure am blessed with sweet grandkids

Taylee Talent

Toward the end of the school year

we got to enjoy some of Taylee's talents

A story Taylee wrote was chosen to be presented at the local library open mike event

Boise Public Library theater room

Taylee waiting calmly for her turn to present and read at the microphone 

 Taylee had a supporting role in her drama class presentation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

She carried it off with total focus, staying in character and adding to the performance

She also had a dramatic scene as "Distractor" 

where she did such 

an amazing job of wailing and moaning 

that we in the audience WERE totally distracted

and did NOT see the escaping character sneak off stage

You're good, Taylee!

I was trying to capture the intensity of the red makeup on her face

My photos kind of fade it out

Wowzer dazzling make up, Taylee!

I am proud of your passion for sharing words and dramatic entertainment

Climb Every Mountain

Here is one view of the fountain area where

Lexie and Tyrel will have their open house

It's a mountain, really

There are some irresistible climbing opportunities for our kiddos

We are wondering if Sterling might heave himself over the little fence in the back 

and swim with the koi

What do you think?