Play-Doh with Charlotte . . .

 Charlotte's first time playing with Play-Doh.  She wasn't too sure at first . . . then decided it was so much fun that she didn't want to put it away.  Today is actually "National Play-Doh Day".  I guess we celebrated a day early.  :) 

My Little Mae . . .

I just love watching her . . . 

I look at her and see a little of  Luke when he was young - (actually, quite a lot). 

 I look at her and see the world in a completely different way. 

 I hear her call me "Amma" . . . and all is right with my world.

Happy Birthday my dear, sweet "Mae".

There's nothing like a baby . . .

Celebrating Family . . .

 Happy 2nd Birthday Charlotte!

Being a family means you are part of something very wonderful.

 It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life 

. . . no matter what!

Today . . .

Outside my window . . . it’s sunny and heating up – it’s going to be a scorcher today.

I am thinking . . . it’s a great day for a party! . . . even if it is going to be HOT.
I am thankful for . . . all my kids!
From the kitchen . . . breakfast burritos

I am wearing . . . a grey maxi dress.

I am creating . . . paper cranes.

I am going . . . to completely enjoy my weekend!

I am reading . . . nothing at the moment – (I better find a book.)

I am hoping . . . it isn’t too terribly hot today, but I think hoping won’t help.

I am hearing . . . an old Disney cartoon that Charlotte is watching on my phone.

Around the house . . . party decorations, making salads, tennis racquets being strung . . . just a fun mess!

One of my favorite things . . . Bag of Bones white cheddar Cheetos  J

A few plans for the rest of the weekend . . . trying out my newly strung racquet, fun with family, and just relaxing!!!

From my picture journal . . .

Us . . .

I fold paper cranes . . . he strings his tennis racquet.  (he is so excited!)

I sit and read . . . he yells at the TV watching sports.

I pile on the blankets . . . he sleeps with only the sheet.

I like to stay up late . . . he goes to bed early.

I grew up in a small town in Iowa . . . him - a city in California.

 . . . somehow we always seem to make it work.

mug of the day . . .

Richard bought me another new coffee mug . . . I so like this one.  

I don't know what it is with me and coffee mugs.  I am going to need more shelves soon.  I have an old dresser and also an old hutch that would be great to use for a coffee station.  I just need to paint one of them and rearrange a little bit.  "If you give your wife a new coffee mug . . . "

"As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?"  ~ Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

Richard's new toy . . .

Richard has been wanting to string his own racquets for awhile and has been waiting for this stringing machine to be delivered all week.  What a surprise when it was delivered tonight at 8:00.  I love when he gets excited about stuff like this.  New toys are always fun!

grandpa . . .

I like this picture of Richard and the expression on his face . . . he is looking at Charlotte and tends to have this same look every time he is spending time with her.  She also makes him laugh a lot . . . really laugh.  Not a day goes by that he does not tell me how much he loves her.  I don't think he was expecting what having this little girl in his life was going to do to him . . . it is definitely a good thing.

color . . .

 

I just liked these colors today . . . 

"Color is the place where our brain 

and the universe meets."  

~ Paul Klee

cribbage and cranes . . .

Cribbage and cranes . . . what a nice relaxing lunch we had this afternoon.  I love sitting at this pizza parlor . . . listening to the jukebox, playing cribbage, and of course I always have some paper with me to fold cranes.  These cranes are actually made out of the wrapping paper samples from the fundraiser  we are having at school.  I made some wrapping paper cranes last year when I noticed the fun samples in the back of the fundraiser catalog.  We just kept feeding the jukebox dollars - and ended up sitting there quite awhile.  

We met a young man who stopped at our table and smiled when he saw the cribbage board.  He was probably about nine years old and very proud to tell me that he knew how to play cribbage.  His smile was wonderful.  We met a little girl - seven years old . . . she took an interest in my cranes and we got talking.  She was so cute.  She makes and sells rubber band bracelets to raise money for field trips for special needs kids.  I bought a bracelet and she went home with a couple of my cranes.  An elderly gentleman and his wife stopped by our table and asked about my cranes . . . and to talk about the Elvis songs that I played on the jukebox.  He was a big Elvis fan.  

What a great day! I love meeting new people.

The last photo is of a crane made my Manuel.  His father owns this restaurant . . .we have been going there since before he was born.  Both he and his sister now work there - and are such great young people.  They are both folding paper cranes these days . . . and Manuel shared one of his cranes with me.  Something so simple as me sitting there folding paper cranes made for a great day . . . plus I beat Richard at cribbage - 2 out of 3 games.  

Friday Night . . .

Charlotte with Uncle Jake and Aunt Kasey. 

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses."  ~ Joyce Brothers 

L is for Lily . . .

 Back to school . . . and back to seeing Lily every morning.  One of the best parts of my day.

 My new coffee mug . . . a surprise from my thoughtful husband.  He notice the box that it came in with the 02/08 (which is my birthday) . . . and thought I had to have the mug.  I love it . . . and him!

 . . . and the box.  

 It is actually perfect for my index card calendar.  So now I get to enjoy my new coffee mug and the box it came it.  I can't help it . . . I get easily excited about little things.

 . . . like this.  I found this little pocket dictionary in a drawer at school.  Every morning one of my friends at work stops by my desk and picks a word of the day.  She has stuck all these post-it tabs in the front of the dictionary (which I didn't know about until today) and then marks and dates the word.  She is also easily excited about silly, little things.  

Word of the day . . . ornament! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

"You will do foolish things, 

but do them with enthusiasm.

~ Colette

new journal . . .

 Our librarian at school was throwing out some books.  I liked the size of this one and thought it would make a great little picture journal.  So I simply covered it with a paper bag that I had kept because I liked the paper . . . (and I can't seem to part with pretty paper.)  

 It makes a perfect little journal.

 I found these great note cards at World Market . . . I am still doing my 365 day mail challenge and thought these would be fun to send off to some one's mailbox.

"Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife.  The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?'  The second was,  'Did you find joy?'  

~ Leo F. Buscaglia