What's on your windowsill today?

handmade thank you's from dear friends
a rooster
delicious tomatoes from mom and dad, ripening in the sunshine
basil in a jar
flowers picked for me by my sweet little ones
a reminder of the importance of friends

Friends

i love how they played together

how the big one watched out for the little one

loved to listen to their conversations

loved how she called him grandpa hop

Life at 33

i love birthdays
i might not when the numbers are larger (who knows how large that will be)
but i love them
33 is great!
~~
i woke up to this smiling face
all of the others were still sleeping


mom and i spent the morning "running around," as bob puts it
then we went scrapbooking
it was a lovely surprise to have two gift cards handed to me when i signed in
thanks to max and amanda and to the sloans (whose third son was born this morning!)
a sweet friend joined us (forgot to take a photo!)
another dear friend stopped by with her beautiful daughters to
deliver a gift. see her back in the corner? she made that!

this photo was taken as we were checking out for the night...just
before the checker sang happy birthday to me over the speaker
believe me...i was red!

love it!

yum!

when mom came to the house at 10 am, she had this with her

when we got home at 9 pm. ... it became a little smaller!

(just a note...i'm not neglecting to take photos of ryan...he

was a sleep in the morning and at the races with dad in the evening)

our family minus one

on tuesday, we went to the caldwell night rodeo

you know, the one where the cowboys are the stars?

it was awesome...the amount of grit thosde cowboys and cowgirls has amazes me

i told ryan that there is no amount of money that would convince me to

get on a bull...nope, not even that much!

thanks to uncle max and aunt amanda for the "rotton candy"

amanda shared her duct tape knowledge

these are so much fun to make...well, except for one part...but besides that...

another dear friend (known her all my life) made this watch for me

isn't it awesome!

and she's gonna teach me how to make more bands...

sweet!

~~~

week two of year 33 will be spent in portland

mom and the kids and i are headed to portland to see some family, friends,

hopefully visit a nice warm beach (yep...wishful thinking) and

spend a few days receiving bread at boring

i'll try to pop in here and there

there's a give-away coming soon...who knows when...sometime in the next month or so

so keep your eyes peeled

i've been thoroughly enjoying my new sewing machine

(bob's birthday present to me)

but more on that later

Finished product

This is the finished product that I talked about here.

I didn't do too much to it, but I love the simplicity of it.

The photos are on the outside of the glass, so they will be easy to change.

It's hard to see in this photo, but the top middle pane

has a "welcome" rub-on.

Bug invasion!

Our house was invaded by ladybugs this past week as

we prepared for Clara's second birthday!

My first attempt at hair clips.

Preethie and Nelson's Wedding

At the fair

(Ryan's in the third car)

This mama threatened me if I put this photo on the blog.

Sorry, Cassie, but I love the look of pure joy on your face

as you ride the roller coaster with Ember.

Ryan entered photos in the fair and won two ribbons!

First place

Second place

One HOT happy family!