And then Marty & Cindy Time!

We have a way of making the most out of brief visits with family. It was a whirlwind weekend, but in a little over 48 hours, we packed in a lot of fun and some important family work.

 Matthew enjoying the cake and Dad enjoying Matthew.

Mary Alice enjoying the cake!

Dad enjoying the festivities

Hooray!

Dad and his boy

Love you!!!

Doing Hair

Cole & Marble

Making the Thanksgiving Dinner (out of clay)

The whole clan

Ben, Alex, Sue & Jim

Marty, Linda & Sue

Marty, Linda & Sue with Dad

The Groat Family

Grandma loves me.

Fun with our Friends

Our summer would not be complete without a trip to see Sofia and her family. We are so blessed to have such dear friends, whom we met as we traveled together to meet our daughters and now share such a special bond, made possible by our regular communication on the computer!! Our girl's love each other and really enjoyed our short 24 hours together.

We had a great visit to the ocean!

The girls showing off their matching Barbies.

A thoughtful moment...

Fun with Mary Alice

And with Matthew

Sister smiles

Crazy Days of Summer

We have filled our time with swimming

Laughing

Shopping

 Writing

Sewing

 

 

 

Traveling

Visiting Family

 Making new friends

Admiring the harvest

And just hanging around

Camp Time

Yesterday we drove Mary Alice to camp. It looks like she will have a wonderful time. The horses are gorgeous and there are so many fun things to do. I sure do miss her, though.

Who's this trail cutie?

Here she is with her bunkmate. MA doesn't look too happy, but I think it's because she does NOT appreciate the picture taking....and I think it's time for me to go.....

Daddy goes in for a last goodbye. 

See you next weekend, Mary Alice.

Miscellaneous Nesting

Remember my 20th wedding anniversary? Well, I tried on my dress and it still fits!  Just can't breathe, that's all!!! Decided to give it one more go before I Spacebagged it! Making room in the attic and nesting.

Celebrating Summer!

Our "new" kitchen table, from Craig's list. We needed a 6th chair for Shanna, and a little more room. We're really happy with our find!

More and More Butterflies

The chysalides are hatching, on average of about 8-12 a day. The process is amazing and quick; if you are watching for 20 minutes and leave the room for a second it can happen while you are gone. I was bound and determined to catch one on video, and finally I was successful, although I missed the very beginning.

A chrysalis about to hatch. It becomes very clear, then a little opaque, just before it comes out.

We "lost" a few caterpillars and "found" them under the kitchen stool. It's funny how they all went to the same place.

Matthew is marking all the butterflies with our phone number (smudged here for privacy) so that when found someone can call us and let us know how far it flew. This is an approved method of marking (with a very fine sharpie) and holding according to his internet research. Each butterfly gets a number, and is recorded on a data sheet with date hatched and date released. Mary Alice is also giving each one a name after a king or queen, based upon gender, which she can somehow tell.....

All the butterflies that hatched yesterday and were released last night.

This is Queen Elizabeth in our garden.