Emily's birthday

Em serves tea from her new tea set.
Emily likes to wear the size sticker from one of her new shirts.

Uncle Greg gets a hug where you can see Em.
Uncle Greg gets a hug from Em.
Uncle Greg building with Emily's new Lincoln Logs.


Emily and friends painting the driveway.
Lynne gave Em her old baby bed and one of her dollies. It was quite a hit.

Lazy Summer Time

It seems like summer has fully struck, it's hot, it's humid and nothing is getting done! I have been reading a lot. I am deep into a series of Christian novels about the Norwegians in North Dakota - written by Lauraine Snelling. I keep saying I'm not reading the next one because they make me cry. I've been sewing a lot - mostly baby items and table runners. I have pieced several table runners but have not backed or quilted them yet as I might need a trip to a "real" fabric store.

Our band concert got rained out Thursday night - who knew it was going to rain? We got several numbers in before we gave up. The audience didn't want to stay in the rain either. As it started to sprinkle and people started to move toward cars, a lady slipped or tripped on the square and we delayed while calls to 911 were made and the ambulance came. She was right next to the bandstand and hit her head hard when she fell. Hopefully she is fine.

Dan and I were working out in the yard today, using the hose and broke the faucet. This pipe actually had a shutoff valve, but too corroded to turn. The guys are in the basement right now trying to install a new one or cap the pipe so we can turn the water back on. The joys of an older house!

More on Emily at the zoo

We were very pleased to babysit for Emily this past weekend while her parents went to a wedding. We had not stayed overnight with her before so planned a trip to the Des Moines zoo (Blank Park Zoo) as a distraction. Emily walked nearly everywhere even though we had a stroller along. She knew most of the animals we saw. We saw monkeys, elephants, seals, tigers, lions, birds, airplanes, a train (rode on it), camels, cows, giraffe and zebra to name a few. We thought 3 hours was probably enough but didn't do the whole zoo. She was a delight, even entertained others with her marching and dancing. I hope her folks want to go away again soon!

More Em at the zoo

Dan and Emily feeding koi fish. I was afraid she'd fall in, Dan had a good grip on her. At first she wanted to drop in one pellet at at time. This was how we got her to quit sliding at the playground.

Emily at the zoo 7-12-08

Here is Emily looking at the zebra. Although she knew names for many animals, she seemed to like this one the most. This is my first time posting pictures, I don't have it quite down yet, so will try again with more photos.

Half Done

Summer school is officially half over. A lot of kids were absent today, I wonder if they are getting tired of working hard?
The past two afternoons I have been chief babysitter for a friend's baby while she took some computer classes. The baby is 2 months old. Yesterday I thought she cried for a long time (must have been 5 minutes or so) but today I couldn't comfort her and the cry was off and on all afternoon. Maybe a tummyache? She still was fun. Tomorrow afternoon I need to work on some of my stuff, though.
The weather has been much improved this week, hasn't it? I'd like temperatures just like this until August. The South Skunk is still very high but beginning to fall.

A nice day

Finally, a nice pleasant temperatured day. It didn't rain today. I don't know why I am complaining, so many people are suffering right now. I can't imagine what it is like to be in Cedar Rapids, for instance and I saw on the news that ALL bridges in Cedar County are closed?
One week of summer school is done and not a moment too soon. You can tell in about five minutes why these kids were invited to attend. I don't know if anything I did all week made a difference, whether anyone heard a word I said.
I will get to visit (and receive services from) Chelsey's new place of business tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing it. I think she is excited.
I had a very nice birthday with lunch with friends and a nice surprise from Laura! Makes getting older easier to take!