Scenes from a Summer's Day-Family Reunion #1

We had a beautiful day, filled with beautiful family and beautiful fun. This is why I am posting many, many pictures of all the beautiful people that belong to my beautiful family!
Cousins-Sara, Becky,and Emily
Danny and Kimberly
Daddy and Kimberly
Luke spent a lot of time talking to this "Tin Man". We don't know what he was saying, but
he almost punched him.
Gracie is finally beginning to enjoy the water.
I think I can....
I think I can....

I CAN!!!!
Daddy and Uncle Gerry boil the corn.
Beautiful cousins, Laura, Maggie, and Amy
Our miss-firing Mentos and Diet Coke gyser.
Uncle Tim's new hot tub was a HUGE attraction for a large group of cousins.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Tim
The temperature was about 60 degrees when the kids finally got out of the water--they were cold, complete with purple lips, although Mark wouldn't unwrap enough so that I could get a picture of them.

A perfect day ended with a fire, complete with toasted marshmallows, (I mean burned marshmallows!)

I am not really sure what is happening here, but I couldn't resist Gracie's big mouth. I think she was screaming as her marshmallow burned.

The party is over, Mary, put away the camera!

Scenes from a Summer's Day

We have caterpillar hatchlings...

Laura found two Monarch eggs on the same milkweed leaf this past Sunday at Grandma H's house. This photo is last years egg, but they sure look the same year to year.

I tried to make the size known by the comparison to the veins in the leaf.

You can see this year's hatchling above. It is the tiny black speck at the top right of the leaf.
Hatchling between a few minutes and two hours old. Mark named him Alexander the Great.
Two days old, and at least three times the size of the 2 hour hatchling.

I hope to get pictures every two days because it just amazing me how fast these little critters grow.

What Kind of Bug do we Have?

This dreaded fly creature visited our screen this morning. You can see Laura's eye on the other side of the screen. This can help you gauge its size. This scary bug was at least 1 1/2 inches long.

Does anyone know what it is called?

Thanks to my 4Real friends, I now know that it is a "giant", "blood-sucking" horse fly. I am not so happy now that we all ran outside to take its photo!

Author Fiesta for August-Tasha Tudor

I have to humbly admit--I did not know who Tasha Tudor was. We homeschool, we read picture books by the dozens a day, we love nature and the simple life-but I did not know who Tasha Tudor was, until Cay introduced her as the Author Fiesta author for August.

I know about her now, and I know that I will be reading and learning much more about this remarkable women in the days and years to come.

If you don't know her or haven't seen the video Take Joy! it is a video biography of Tasha's life, in which Tasha herself tells about her life, work, family and inspiration. I think that just this short video has introduced me to someone whom I will admire for the rest of my life.

My home library had a few of her titles and I have many more ordered through our interloan library service. I found this site that tells a little about her life, and it includes a list of her works near the bottom of the article.

This afternoon was used to get out our Author Fiesta binder and get started on this months fun. Tasha Tudor's art is striking in its charm and simplicity. I just love it, especially since many of her subjects are children, a subject near and dear to the heart of this family.

You can see a sampling of her artwork at this site.

Our first page in the Tasha Tudor section of our binder we glued a picture of Tasha in the center, and then we carefully practiced using her art techniques to make our own drawings. We then decorated this page, in much the same way Tasha did around the border of her stories.

Amy's work

Gracie's flowers

Mommy's attempt

Mark's sunflower

Amy has become very enthralled with this artwork. She loves drawing and now she has great inspiration to learn even more.

Target practice with Grandpa

Kimmy Feet

What we will do for Grandpa on his birthday

My dad has always been a Boston Red Sox fan. We are not! I believe he choose this team just to cause problems for New York Yankee fans, but I am not accusing him of anything. (at least today on his birthday I won't accuse him)

I made these shirts for us to wear today. I figured that for this one special day, we could put aside our differences and all get along. But just this one day. After today, the friendliness is over once again.

Actually, after the first photo, some people were having real problems wearing these shirts.

We love you, Grandpa!!

And now there is a picture to prove how deep out love for you goes.

Happy 80th Birthday, Dad!

My Dad with two of his sisters in about 1938.Today, at a wonderful 80th birthday gathering.

Picture of the day...

The bathed beauty!

Magnifying glasses, crayons, and rocks

We have already had "solar fun" this summer, and today was no exception. We used the old standby-a magnifying glass and strong sunlight-but we put a new twist on things, and instead of lighting things on fire, putting scorch marks on the picnic table, or terrorizing ants,

we used crayon shavings and rocks to do a little melted crayon art. I saw the idea here.

The word "art" is used very loosely here.

Mostly it was about watching little wax puddles form, slowly mixing together with the color next to them.

Whatever we are going to call it-it did keep kids busy for a good hour on a hot, summer afternoon. So for me, this is a perfect activity.

That's got to hurt!

It is almost time...
for soccer practice.....Get ready girls!!!!!!!