pics of elle, by elle

Elle was in charge of taking pictures with Aunt Nicole's camera last weekend while we were all outside playing basketball. We were laughing when we looked at the pictures later and there were several self portraits of our adorable little photographer. :)

miss you already nicole

My sister left today after staying with us for a full two weeks. We had such a great time together. This morning when Ava woke up she asked where Aunt Cole was. I told her that I took her to the airport so that she could go back to Nebraska. She said, 'Why? Did she miss her mom?' It was so funny.

We love you Nicole and miss you already!

project 2: elle's garden

Elle really wanted to plant a vegetable garden this year. The challenge was finding a sunny, flat spot! We decided that the small garden at the top of the driveway would be a good place. I had planted some flowers and herbs in it a few years ago so I transplanted the flowers to a different location and we got to work moving the rocks.

It was a big job and took a long time. There were a lot of rocks there!

It got a late start but so far we have harvested 1 jalapeno pepper. There are baby tomatoes growing and the fresh herbs are fun to have again. There is still an area at the one end for planting some lettuces and radishes. The other veggies we have planted are cabbages, brussel sprouts, yellow squash, bell peppers and egg plant. I love that clematis blooming in the picture. I have a new spot for it to go in but it was already so entangled in the trellis by the time I was ready to move it so we are just enjoying it's blooms here this year.

m & m chocolate chip cookies

These are so good, I made them twice this week!

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups M & M's (divided)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together. Add eggs & combine.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda & salt. Add to butter mixture & stir together until just combined. Add 1 cup M & M's and the chocolate chips. Stir. Drop by spoonful on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the tops of the cookies a little with your hand and then add a few M & M's to the top of each cookie (from the remaining 1/2 cup). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Take them out of the oven when they just start to turn brown on the edges and remove from the pan to a cooling rack right away for a really soft cookie.

project 1: girl's bedroom

I thought it would be fun to show you some of the projects that I have been working on this summer. The first one is the girl's room!

Thomas and Elle spent 10 days in Nebraska with their grandparents in June so while they were gone I redid their rooms a little to surprise them when they got home. Elle has wanted a pink room for a few years and this last winter I thought I was going to get serious and finally get it painted for her. We went and found just the right pink color and purchased two gallons of it. Then it sat in the utility room. :) I have a hard time tackling big projects while we are homeschooling! So, it ended up on the summer project, must get done before September, to do list.

Two coats and two full days of painting later the room was transformed into a pink-lovin' girls dream! Ava was such a good girl while I worked on it. She just played and played while I worked. I laughed out loud at several of the conversations she made up while she played.

It was so much fun to show it to Elle when she got home. She absolutely loves it! We bought the white frames in the picture above and both girls painted a picture to put in them. They look great!

One of my favorite things about the room is the toy storage. Several months ago Scott helped me hang a second closet rod with a shelf on top that Elle could easily reach. Labeled bins help keep all of the toys organized. The room stays so much tidier with the toys behind doors when not being played with.

We did the same thing in the other closet for their clothes. Ava's clothes are still small enough that this works. Elle has found that it isn't always very fun to share a room with a little sister that always wants to get into her stuff. So I got her a couple of baskets to keep her special things out of Ava's reach. Ava's a smart one though and has figured out that if she carries her little rocking chair from the other room over to the closet that she is able to just reach the baskets to get into Elle's treasures. :) We've found her under the bed playing Elle's Nintendo DS several times and the little rocking chair in the closet.

thomas's thoughts on his summer days

This summer has been a bit of a rough one for the kids as far as injuries go. Both Thomas and Elle have had bike crashes in the last week that have left them pretty scraped up. They've also got swimmers itch twice. This is the first year they've ever got it and we hope it's the last! It's not fun. In addition to that there are the usual mosquito bites and little bumps and bruises from playing outside all day long.

The other day Thomas said, "This is how my days go - Wake up, eat, work, eat, play, get hurt, eat, sleep. Repeat."

I like how he had to be sure to include all of his meals. :) Eating is very important in a growing 9 year old boy's schedule!

summer fun

Hi! I hope you all have been having a great summer. We've been soaking ours up!

We've had fun -

watching the 4th of July parade

eating big, drippy waffle cones

relaxing on the lake

and playing with friends

till we're all tuckered out!