Meme and Papa Camp 2013

We have had an amazing time this week, hosting our youngest 4 grands - all girls ages 5, 4, 3, and 2.  We have had so much fun, playing games, dressing up, baking, swimming, taking a trip to the zoo, boating, and of course drama!

I went to Hobby Lobby a week ago, and bought a project to do several days in a row.  The photo above, shows them doing some foam flower decorating - they love anything with glitter and glue!  Of course all of the projects will go home with them when they go.  

One day we made cupcakes with my "cupcake machine".  I got it at a K Mart that is closing out, for $12!

They took turn stirring the batter, made from scratch with the recipe included.  They were good!  

The cupcakes are the perfect size for little hands, and not enough to ruin their supper!  Of course at this age, we seemed to end up with more sprinkles than cupcake at times!  

Out of 7 days, we've had 2 where it was nice enough they could get out in the yard.  They played hide and seek, which isn't always a great idea - but we have one who volunteers to always be the seeker, so it works out well.  Here you can see 3 of them hiding behind the flowers in the yard.  Yes, at the very top of the photo that is the lake you see.  So that means 100% of the time they are outdoors, they are monitored.  

One afternoon was spent at the beach and on the boat.  We require life jackets if you want your toes to touch the water.  If you agree to NOT get in the water, you can do without for short periods of time.  They have never complained about that rule.  

We spent one day at the zoo.  The girls were SO well behaved and had such a good time.  

 Great Grandma sent us a package that had bridal veils in it, so everyone could have one of their own!  Yes the photo of me is way off - the shirt I'm wearing is comfortable, but always makes me look preggers.

 One day we played beauty shop and Emma wanted curly hair.  This is the curls while they were drying.

This is her picture after we got done.  They wanted makeup and the whole make over, so that's what we did.

This is Greta after we got done.  She said she felt, "beautiful"!  The other 2 girls opted out for this.  They settled for nails only.  

We are still having a good time, and have a couple of more days to go.  Hope you enjoyed my little gallery of memories.  Sandi 

41 Years later......

 Here is a photo of DH (dear hubby) and me, July 1, 1972.

We were married on a very hot day, and in those days there

was no air conditioning in the church.  We were married at 2:30 pm, 

not a conventional time as most people are married on the hour not

the half hour.  We were married in the middle of wheat harvest, which was a BIG no-no in Kansas!

My wedding dress was made of white dotted swiss, with princess lines and white daisies with yellow centers accenting the lines of the dress which I sewed on by hand. DH's neck ties was the same fabric, and he wore a dark green suit and yellow shirt.  I made the dress myself on the White sewing machine my betrothed gave me as a gift.  My bouquet was yellow roses and white daisies with my white bible. I carried something old (my childhood bible given to me by my deceased maternal grandfather), something new (DH gave me a pearl necklace),  something borrowed (my veil belonged to my sister-in-law to be), something blue (my great aunt made a garter trimmed in blue), and a penny from the year of my birth in my shoe. My Mother-in-law made our wedding cake, which was decorated with white daisies.  Through the years we've had children and grand children, lost our fathers and grandparents, built houses and completed many MANY projects together.  I think we make a pretty good team.  DH promised me 50 years, so I guess my expiration date may be coming up!  Ha!

This was our last family photo in September 2013.  L to R is Anya, Jeff (son), Julia, Carla and Greta, Austin,  

DH, Ethan, Me, Angie (daughter), Emma, Emilie (daughter), Curtis, Brady, Landon, and Lady down in front, completing our family.  

I'm joining Metamorphosis Monday at 

http:betweennapsontheporch.com 

A fun gift for my sister! Shhhh! It's a secret!

I've been working on this for a couple of weeks, but I plan to get it finished this week.  I really like to do machine applique, and this was a fun one to do.  I found this little pattern in a quilt shop in Burlingame, Kansas, and just had to have it.  If fits my sister and I's relationship to the "T"!

All I have left to do is put the backing on it, and add a bow to the toe of each shoe.  I thought it was SO cute when I saw it in the store.  Thanks for stopping by this week, I'm posting this for the Life on the Lakeshore Drive Linky party found below:

http://www.lifeonlakeshoredrive.com/2013/06/a-bouquet-of-talent-linky-party-38.html

Mosaic Monday - Mother's Day 2013

We had a wonderful time at the lake for Mother's Day.  As you can see the weather cooperated with our activities!

I'm joining Mosaic Monday, trying to get back in the swing of things!  Please join me, as I post with other Mosaic Monday people.  

http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com

Caught up in the busi-ness called LIFE!

You know how it is?  One week turns into two - then a month - then several months?  I wish I had a dollar for every time I thought - I need to get something on my blog again.  I've had SO many great projects and haven't shared them with you at all.  My bad.  Then, I started getting all these "Anonymous" comments that meant NOTHING on some of my older posts, and that really made me UNHAPPY.  So, here I am - back again (yes, this is the third time).  Here's some photos of what we've been up to.  The girls are all growing up SO much and we get to see them much more than we used to.  We are loving it.  

 Mothers Day weekend, spending time along the beach.  Papa has a treasure!

 Spending a lot of time at the lake house, but never enough!

 This is a wedding cake that Angie made for my nephew and his beautiful bride - just last weekend.  It tasted as good as it looked!

 My two beautiful daughters!

Kids, just want to have fun!

Thanks for not dropping me from your friends list, I promise I will do better!  Sandi 

A New Year, A New Chapter in Our Book of Life

We lost a long time pet/friend this week, with our horse being found dead on Saturday.  She was old - around 29, which is old for a horse.  

 We got her when she was a yearling, and our oldest daughter Angie, broke her to ride.  She rode her for many years in horse shows, and she 

won many, many ribbons and trophies. 

 She's been "retired" for several years, but provided many hours of entertainment for our grandchildren.  The photos show one of our grand daughters with her.  

She was amazingly tame for an older horse, and never ever got cranky or mean with the little ones around.  

 We are going to miss her a lot, she was a great pet/friend for all of our family.  

RIP Foxy Nakita, you will be forever

in our hearts!

Thanks for stopping by, and please leave a comment.

Sandi

Balloons

We spent some time at the Olathe Balloon Festival in Olathe, Kansas - a couple of weeks ago.  

The evening festivities were opened by jumpers from Ft. Benning, members of the Silver Wings.

There were 2 men, and 1 woman jumpers.  The lady had the beautiful parachute pictured above.

The American Flag coming down was beautiful.

 The balloons begin to inflate.  This is a small festival, only about 40 balloons total.

 We sat in the right spot, when they launched, they went right over the top of us.

Mr. Potato Head was popular with the kids, as

usually the figured balloons are.

 Annie, the lady bug, was over 3 stories tall when inflated.  She was RIGHT in front of us, so we were able to see how they inflate, launch, and deflate.  

 When going through the photos, I realized that the balloons just look like a bunch of Easter eggs as they are lying on the grass.

 The most popular thing are the flare ups they do in the late evening.  Of course the darker it gets,

the more amazing the light show.  

 Thanks so much for stopping by.  I always enjoy your visits and comments.  Sandi