A joyful reunion. Andrew snuggled right into Gary the minute he was taken-and didn't stop snuggling for a few minutes. I was amazed! 

The making of a Swingset: Part 1

The little girl who used to live here is now a princess 24/7. Except of course, right now, when she said she was a 'Papa'. She HAD to be a man to WORK with wood, right?!?! ;-)

With the Newman folks' visit-a long awaited prject was started...the promised SWINGSET! 

It is starting to resemble a swingset at least. 

 

It's almost there!! 

The ALMOST finished product. They are planning how to attach the slide-and Matt needs to smooth out some boards for 'big girl' seats-but it is still usable NOW. 

While 2 out of 3 guys worked outside and the third was a lazy bumpkin and slept the afternoon away, Corynn got to skip her nap and 'rest' with Grandma. Reading is the special bond between Grandma and grand daughter-and a pasttime that Corynn will never tire of. 

See-I told you! You may not know WHERE they are-but you always know WHAT they are doing!!! :-) 

The birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Newman brought a gasp!!! What could it be?!?! 

A MAN Barbie. Now she doesn't have to pretend a girl is a boy to marry them! 

I caught this smile when I noticed she had gone into her own little world-ignoring all the people and sounds around her. The lady Barbie had just told the man Prince that she loved him and it tickled Corynn's insides. 

Thank you kisses-Corynn was SUPPOSED to be giving not getting.... 

Words, Words, Words

I can’t BELIEVE it has been a week since I last posted! THAT isn’t like me! :-) I have been SO ridiculously busy lately-it is insane. I was left with very little time to do anything extra-and that meant computer time. :-( So much to tell!!!!!

The sun awarded us with warmth this week and so I made frequent trips to the garage (where the washing machine is), to the clothesline, to the bedrooms and then back to the garage in a feeble attempt to vanquish that dirty laundry monster. I am still not caught up-but I am at the mercy of the weather since we haven’t yet been able to get the dryer fixed. I tried to get 3-4 loads done a day and I got a lot done. But laundry is something that ALWAYS piles up-especially when you have company, so the piles have replaced themselves once again. Today is a ‘sprinkly’ day so I guess I get the day off from laundry duty. I am hoping Matt will hang a line in the basement as a last resort. I STILL can’t do any of my sewing though-since the fabric has not been pre-shrunk.

Matt’s parents came out for the weekend so I had to red up the house for that (I hadn’t even cleaned from the birthday party so it was a job!) and the kitchen was BRIMMING with garden goodness…from my garden and the Amish gardens down the road. I got ½ bushel of peaches, tomatoes and some cucumbers from them. Oh-and they had gorgeous hot peppers (about 7 inches long) priced 10 for 1.00. I got 30. Produce is not something that can sit FOREVER-so that was a priority too. Especially the peaches. We had a clan of fruit flies sitting leisurely at their white-clothed dinner tables, ringing for their supper before I had even bought those peaches! As it so often does, when it rains it pours.

I was able to make salsa (my VERY own recipe-well, a little bit of this a little bit of that…I didn’t write it down because frankly, I thought it might be kind of gross. Now that Matt tells me it is DELICIOUS-I feel kind of bad I won’t be able to recreate it.) Among the other treasures: jardenieri, brandied peaches, vanilla peach syrup, pinapple topping, honey-spice orange slices, zucchini relish, and spaghetti sauce.

This weeks canning to-do:
Salsa
Chili sauce
Taco Sauce
Bread and Butter Pickles
Garlic Dill Pickles
SOMETHING with hot peppers
And ONE MORE batch of zucchini relish (I LOVE IT SO!)

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This week is the local fair-and tomorrow is the drop off for entries. I am going to look around to see if there is anything around here I can enter. And maybe bake something for it. I would like to enter some canned goods. We’ll see how much I have time for. I have a BAD habit of biting off more than I can chew….

While Gary and Linda were here, they took a 'family picture' of us-something we haven't had in a LOOOONNNGGG time. Here is are, the Newman Four-well, five....



JUST Kidding! ;-) 

The beginnings of my VERY OWN salsa. I named it "Sunset Salsa" because I used only colors in the sunset. Red, oranges and yellows (except of course for the spices.) I even added red pepper instead of green and such. Now-just to figure out how to recreate it... 

My kitchen helper. 

As I worked to dwindle this pile, I came to know a new love. The smoothness of a freshly skinned peach. I am now under the conviction that a life that leaves this earth without experiencing this smallish of life's pleasures, is a tragic end indeed.

By the way: as the night hours turned to morning hours, notice my 'midnight snack' of m&m's. They kept me going. And I wonder WHY I am starting to look pregnant again?!?!

On Saturday, while perusing a thrift store to fill up a bag for a deal, a man came by and dropped off an entire truck brimming with kid STUFF to donate. As he made his trips, I joked "Hey-to save time you can just load up MY car (he was parked next to me.) He asked me to come out to the truck to see if there was anything that I might want. I said "SERIOUSLY?" After he assured me that he was...I went out and found THIS! A REAL DESK for CORYNN! I have been WANTING one for her!!! She doesn't have to use a storage bin anymore! :-) Hurrah for generosity. And would you believe that kind man thanked ME for making HIS day?!?! 

And a Pandamobile to boot! 

A few of many...

Vibrant cockscomb 

My handsome guys!!!

As you can see...Matt weaseled himself into getting a 'winter beard' prematurely. Now I have to wait SIX months to see his face again. 

Hosting a luncheon in her birthday tent. Now she is a REAL princess-with the duds and the house to match. 

Just looking at him wearing this outfit makes me smile-let alone with a face like THIS!