Springdale Farm

While on vacation last week, we went to Springdale Farms. This is a local working farm that Denver got to go to for school. It's free and an easy way to spend an afternoon. The highlight was climbing on the hay stacks with the goats. They were surprisingly happy. The goats I mean. Although they did show a lot of interest in the stroller. The girls were happy too. Ady slept through most of it. Which is all for the better since I don't think she would have truly been able to enjoy the goat experience.

Bug Hunt

I love that my very girly girls LOVE bugs. (Except when they are in their bedroom, turns out even bug-lovers don't care for that) Worms and Potato Bugs seem to be the specialty these days and I am expected to provide many dixie cups for their temporary residence on our porch. I love Summer.

Just Call Me Bubbles

Adalyn has reached that point in her babyhood where we need to teach her how to sleep. I remember this stage vaguely with Denver. It was not that fun. With some kids, you have to let them cry it out until they fall asleep. Willa, God bless her, was not that kind of baby and would fall easily to sleep when drowsy. Ady does not seem to be so easy going. So this morning we let her cry till she fell asleep(only 20 minutes). Here's hoping we can get her down so easily tonight. She has been sleeping worse. Wanting only to be snuggled close to me when in sleepyland. This ends up crowding Wayne since the two of us tend to inch slowly over to his side. Surprisingly, this is something he does not enjoy. Hmmm...curious.

Tie Dye Party

Well, for a bit of crazy Summer fun, we hosted a tie dye party for many of the girls' friends. This was a fun mix of friends from school, friends from dancing, friends from church and friends from the neighborhood. In all there were 29 kids(not counting infants) and 10 parents. My house is not big and neither is my yard, not to mention the vast amount of rain we've been getting has produced some very healthy weeds which I have not had time to get to. So it was kind of chaotic, but still fun. I could have timed it better since we are still trying to finish the kitchen and were working like mad to put as much of it back together as we could that morning. But the weather cooperated, and by that I mean it did not rain during the 2 hour event, though you would never know it was July.

Tie dye is fun, plain and simple. Like coloring Easter eggs. Even though you could not possibly eat more than a dozen hard boiled eggs, you always want more to color. Tie dye is the same, once you get going you start looking around for more things to color. One friend took off her socks so she could dye them. Another grown-up friend borrowed a t-shirt so she could dye the one she came in:) The kids all seemed to have a blast and ended the event with a large scale bug hunt. And this is what I LOVE about kids this age, it did not matter that they had never met. By the end, almost everyone was playing together.

Blog Wandering

I was wandering the blog world this morning. Ya' know, going to a friends' site and then checking out their links to other blogs. It's like taking a virtual walk. Anyhow, I came across this quote which made me really think, and will hopefully stick with me.

"I have often heard many a preacher stand up in the middle-class church and say something like, "it isn't a sin to have a big home and nice things, but let's just remember what's really important." Well maybe it is time someone started saying it is a sin to have too much a of a good thing. Maybe someone should say that Jesus was on to something when he said sell all you have and give it to the poor....that maybe he was speaking of how to save others as well as ourselves. We seem to have confused charity with mercy and over-consumption with blessing."

- Omar Hamid Al-Rikabi

Since we are in the midst of a kitchen remodel I have been feeling a touch more materialistic than normal. Should we or shouldn't we add on in a few years? Just because you like the look of stainless steel appliances do you really NEED them? If you watch HGTV at all you could convince yourself that you NEED many of these things. But in the end they are still just things. Many years ago I had the opportunity to visit Brazil for a summer. It was there that I saw my first look at true poverty. And while I like to keep those images tucked away because it's easier that way, maybe it would be better to bring them out a little more often.