Weekend Happenings and Saying Goodbye

It was a chock full busy week and weekend.

We opened the pool.

It's not warm enough to swim yet but the solar cover is on so

hopefully in a few days the kids will be bugging me to swim.

All of my Clematis is in full bloom.

I can't remember the name of this but it was beautiful.

Love my Macro lens. Isn't this a cool picture?

See? The Clematis was just loaded with flowers this year.
I'm hoping it covers the ugly chain link fence that surrounds the pool.

The Iris around the pond is blooming.
I think the Buddha helps them bloom.


My husband planted my whole garden for me.
The lettuce and chard are doing well and we've eaten lots of salad.
I mean lots.
The garlic behind the lettuce is doing very well too.
This is the first year I've tried growing it.


I took these pictures last Thursday and already the lettuce and chard are twice the size they were. Must be that good chicken manure.

Sage and Lemon Balm with some tiny Fennel plants next to them.

Two pairs of Orioles have built nests in our yard again.

There is one nest in the Willow Tree and one in the Maple tree on this very spindly looking branch. I have to assume that the Orioles know which branch is the best real estate.

My Peonies are a beautiful stunning pink color.

And this week we said goodbye to one of our homeschool moms, Leslie and her children.

They have been coming to our house every Thursday for over 2 years.

We are very said to see them go.
We celebrated their family with lots of food and a party.

Romy ate some cake.

It matched her skirt.

The entire crowd was here to celebrate.

We each gave Leslie some gifts.

Joni made her this mama goddess doll.

You can find more of her dolls at http://www.jonirae.com/

That's Leslie with the doll.
Leslie has five children with one on the way.

Beautiful children.

Some more crowd.

Leslie received some hand knit Culottes for the baby.

And these adorable baby capris.

We just loved the purple skorts.

Every momma needs a Diva knuckle ring.

The mama-to-be tea looked yummy.

Avery had auditions for Blue Man Group.

The green popsicles were a huge hit.

Romy keeps a check on her big sister.

Aya ate all day.

I could bite those cheeks.

She's so photogenic.

Leslie put her cake on the ground while she opened her gifts.

We caught sweet Aya hiding behind the chair and sneaking cake.

She looked so stinking cute......but not so innocent.

Sweetness and Light.

Sue always needs a baby fix.

Sue's second baby fix.

She fed Cooper breadsticks.

That's always her plan.

Feed the babies goodies so they will sit her lap.

Cooper at some crumbled bread sticks and a few real sticks too.

Then his momma read him a story.

Socks on Fox.

Joni's read it a few times.

She knows it by heart.

Soon it was time to say goodbye.

All the kids posed for pictures.

Two children didn't make it into the photo.

It's like herding cats to get them to sit still for this long.

Then all the mommas posed for a picture too.

We'll miss you Leslie!

Gaspee Days

It's Memorial Day weekend and my husband is at a soccer tournament with

my daughter so it's just me and the boys.

Patrick decided to stay home.

We went to the Gaspee Days Arts and Crafts Festival.

You can learn about Rhode Island State History and the Battle of Gaspee here:

http://www.gaspee.info/history/index.htm

Tae was very excited to go because he knew there would cotton candy

and food I don't usually let him eat.

These shellacked Puffer Fish kinda grossed him out.

We didn't buy any.

He called them pricker fish.

Tae was so excited to enter the food court.

He was soooooo hungry.

After all-it had been nearly two hours since he had eaten.
He must be famished.

Fried Dough sounded good.

But they didn't have any with sauce.

Why wasn't there any with sauce?

We had to settle for cinnamon and sugar on ours.

We met our friends Kayrn and Gideon.

Gideon made short work of the fried dough.

But Kayrn treated us to some clam chowder and clam cakes.

They were delicious.

Thomas the tank circle the festival many times.

Several children almost lost their lives.

I think the driver may have been drunk.

Or wishing that he was.

We ran into our homeschool friends Romy and Clover.

Their mom Linda bought them these Colonial outfits.
As you can see-Romy looks delighted.
She was even more thrilled when Linda made her put on the bonnet.

Tae went down the balloon slide 3 times.

I know this because the tickets were $2.00.

For 3 slides.

Yep, Carnival life.

But he loved it and had fun.

Then he went in the bouncy balloon house for 5 minutes.

I know this because it cost $2.00 for 5 minutes.

The ride operator leaned his body against the door cause

kids kept falling out.

Then Tae remembered that he made a bottle with layered sand and

kept it in his pocket while trying to jump in the bouncy house.

And they were worried about him wearing shoes.

We went to see this magnificent view and a family

of Canadian geese wandered onto shore.

They had twenty six babies.

What a huge family.

I'm glad I don't have twenty six babies because

I was exhausted by the time I got home with one child.


Hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Keep those in your heart that have defended and

continue to defend our country.