The First Fruits

Today we harvested the "first fruits" of our garden labor - 2 cucumbers and 1 squash! And we found a watermelon the size of our feet growing in the watermelon jungle on the hill...

Here is one mighty proud farmer!

It's a cucumber - no it's Larry Boy!

A trip to the Zoo

We took advantage of our zoo passes today and enjoyed the 95+ degree weather with our dear friends the Johnson's. Mrs. Jessica keeps Lucy and Samuel for us during the school year and Jordan and Connor are kind of like big brother for Lucy and Samuel. The kids got to touch a snake, feed the birds, and watch the lions playing really close to the window. We had a great time and enjoyed our friends -

Zoo fun with the Lions

3-2-1 Blast Off

It started with a simple request - it usually does - "Mama, can I use this box to make a space ship?" and ended up with this ...



The 12343 Banana space ship with custom paint job and the ability to fly wherever the imagination can take it. That's the radio tower in the back with a space cave tucked underneath. Of course there were a few questions like, "Mama, how do I go to the bathroom on a space ship?" and "Can we get a snack on this space ship?" but for the most part I enjoyed watching them play and then made lunch - friendly alien food!

PS - FYI - Jeremy is NOT in Africa - if you received a random email it's NOT from us. It's from someone hacking into our email.

Summer fun!

It's amazing how much joy and laughter can come from a 6x6 plastic turtle pool. Saturday I loaded the children up and headed to Walmart to purchase the summer pool. It's actually our first turtle pool and I can tell we will get our $15 worth out of this thing fast (Lucy cries when we have to let the water out). AND the practical part is - at the end of the day we can use the water in the pool to water our garden! Yippee - summer fun in the backyard!

Garden Manners -

As Lucy passed behind the scarecrow in the garden I heard her say " 'scuse me scarecrow". How polite!

Lucy and her Papa

When Lucy finally saw Papa on Sunday she did not want to let him go!

A Kinsey Weekend

This weekend we made a quick trip to Lee to celebrate cousin Abbey's wedding reception (she and Brian got married in Jamaica in April) and to celebrate Grandpa Kinsey's 60th year of being a deacon. We got to see lots of family and enjoy the gnats and laughs. I didn't get many pictures from the weekend but I did get a few of Lucy doing various things (Samuel was usually off playing) Here is Lucy having "tea" with Aunt France and Granny

Lucy and bunnies She's just too cute!

Lucy and Papa at Lee First Baptist

At Abbey's wedding reception

I want to share a quick story Aunt Frances (Granny's older sister and Samuel's Great-Great Aunt) told me while we ate a good ole covered dish supper at Lee First Baptist. Lucy was very interested in the gnats that were circling her chicken and rice and she was distracted when they would land land near her or get stuck in the sticky goodness. Aunt Frances said that when Aunt Carol (Ronnie's wife) first started eating chicken and rice at dinners at the farm with all the gnats- Carol would add a bit more pepper to the chicken and rice and disguise how many gnats might have been added to the meal. I hope I got that story right - thought it was a good one to share!

A Kinsey Weekend Part II

Uncle Casey with neice, nephew and son!

Uncle Casey and Cousin Wyatt

Four Generations of Kinsey men - Casey, Wyatt, Grandpa and Daddy.

Samuel and Shay playing downstairs at Granny and Grandpa's. They seemed to enjoy playing with one another and Samuel even asked "Mama, can Shay come over for a playdate?"

Quotes

Sunday morning Samuel crawled into bed with us and said

Samuel: " Mama, I'm sp-amished. When are we going to eat breakfast?"
Mama: "Samuel, we can go right now and eat breakfast if you are famished".
Samuel: "Thanks, Mama"

WOW!

Yesterday, Grandpa Noonan came to spend the day with Lucy and Samuel while Jeremy finishes school and I start school. Besides playing rescue heroes, going out to eat, doing a few fix-it jobs around the house and playing - he made this with the kids -




What a great addition to our garden! Don't you like the Mr. Potato Head pieces? And trust me - when I got home late last night and walked around the corner to the garden I was startled at first by the silhouette of the scarecrow -

he's tall! Grandpa Noonan is an amazing handyman and a wonderful grandpa - THANKS, GRANDPA NOONAN!

Tea Time

Today we had several little girls near Lucy's age over for a little tea time. I've been wanting to do something girlie with Lucy for a while and wanted to share these neat styrofoam beads I found. SO, I decided to have a low-key tea and see how it goes. I really enjoyed the morning and think the girls did too. Thanks to all of you for coming - we'll have to do it again soon.

I don't have pictures of everything but we read stories, made necklaces from the "princess jewels" we found in the treasure box and had tea - with real tea. I forgot to do some of the things we had planned (and I forgot to put sugar in the tea I think) but I think it went really well - I hope to help reinforce that these girls are beautiful and loved by their heavenly Father - making them princesses able to share and love others because they have been given so much. OK - here are a few of the pics I have -



On the surface the menu was PBJ, carrots and sweet tea with a little brocolli and blueberries added in BUT with the right setting it becomes food fit for a princess. We played with their plastic tea set Mimi and Papa gave Lucy for Christmas and then used our real stuff -
Here is the attempt to make necklaces - not bad...

These pictures capture the girls in various stages of wrestling with their carrots - so glad they all loved their fruits and veggies but the carrots seemed to need some extra attention to chew!

At the end of the day...

At the end of the day what is a princess to do but kick back and relax?

I walked into the living room after having helped the children clean up - to find this -

The needle vs. sword debate

I grew up with some artsy, recourceful women around. My Mama always had (and HAS) a project or two going - cross stitch, canning, painting, pine cone wreathing. AND My Mema makes McGuyver look like an amatuer - she could whip something out of nothing in about two seconds and make it look good. She was always doodling with something, learning something new and I got to be a part of her "adventures in creativity". I remember visits to Mema usually meant daily trips to Cloth World or a request to save something (I mean there really are 100 ways to use styrofoam meat trays, crystal light containers, yogurt tubs and the red rings off of bologna- vaseline also has that ability to multitask but we'll stick with the resourceful-crafty-second-usefulness of objects for now) I would like to say I have captured the resourceful gene from my Mema and Mama and tried to develop those traits but I will admit I'm not that artsy - just creative and resourceful. (EX. Mema tried to teach me to sew many times and I have only become proficient at curtains and hems - the jams/shorts I sewed in 5th grade are a good example of why I should not make my own clothes.)


OK - I have a bit of that resourceful-second-usefulness gene in me AND I'll admit I have about 20 toilet paper rolls stuck under my bed - come on, they have all sorts of uses (pirate spotting scopes, hoopty do's, ribbon holder,etc). AND I really like doing things with my children even when it takes 10 times longer, is messier and takes more of my energy and patience. I don't get very elaborate or detailed but we enjoy things together. That's what I remember about time with my Mema baking cakes or with my Mama cross-stitching.



In all of this I see the differences in my children - like today after the tea party Samuel wanted to make a necklace using the plastic needles the girls used (Great for fine motor development) and the colorful styrofoam beads. He worked diligently to make a necklace and then gave it to me as a present (sweet boy!). Lucy finally got the hang of stringing the beads and had fun naming all the colors. I was surprised at how well all the girls did - they seemed to love the "sewing" project.
OK - here is where the debate comes. Later we sat down to make some more necklaces but Samuel wanted a crown and soon the needle became a sword and a bow and arrow being skillfully shot through the beads. After we finished the needle was now pronounced a sword and it provided 1 more hour of entertainment in Samuel's imaginary Camelot as a living sword fighting the guards at the castle. On the other hand - Lucy loved stringing the necklaces and wearing her crown but was not the least but interested in the sword. I guess that is his imaginative mind and resourcefulness kicking in - well, and he is a boy. So, is it a needle or a sword?


Here is the queen and her faithful king with sword in hand.

Time with the Leerssen's

Yesterday we had the chance to spend time with Christina and her children (I can't believe how much they have all grown). I had such a great time watching our children play and getting to spend a little bit of time with Christina (I wish we had more time) - what a treat before school really gets started today for me. THANK's Leerssen's for letting us come and spend the day! Here are a few pics from our time at the park -