Buddy is 8!

Birthday's come fast around here.  Buddy turned 8 this week and that means NO CARSEAT! He is very excited about that.  He is growing fast and every time I turn around he surprises me with something. (sometimes good, sometimes bad)  He wanted a sleepover, so we ended up having 3 kids from another family spend the night, then everyone got a friend for the night.

He does hate having his picture taken, so I only have a few when he was busy opening his presents.

 He is hiding under the table ans wouldn't come out to blow out the candles until I put the camera away.

Happy Birthday!

Summer camping

We went camping at New Germany State park and had a great time. The weather was upper 70s during the day and in the lower 60s during the night. It was perfect.  Plus it was the middle of the week, so there were only a few other campers.  We went hiking and swimming in the lake.  We brought the kids bikes and they rode all over the campground.  They met all sorts of people.

Daddy mixing up eggs for breakfast

 Scout checking out the tent in his cute fuzzy pajamas, he loved the tent and even willingly took a nap in the tent.

 Princess however was a little chili and chose to sit with the cornbread at breakfast trying to stay warm.

 Scout thought that all stumps were his personal little chairs.  He loved walking through the woods.

 My boys hiking

 This is a Maryland Terrapin, it was in the nature center.  That mouth is fast and we were warned several times to not put our fingers near him.

 Munchkin and Buddy took a side trail to the top of the hill, we took the bottom trail.  This is Munchkin at the top.

 Our tormentors for the few days were these little bees, amazingly no one got stung, but they were around at every meal. We also had a friendly deer who arrived every night about dinner time.  He was eating the not ripe blueberries growing in the woods near the camp site.

History in Linen

My family is a lot of pack rats.  We keep lots of stuff that most people would not.  I love being able to look through stuff and see the history through it.  Even though the sheer volume of stuff is a little bit excessive.  My mom is going through piles of her stuff and passing it along or getting rid of some of it.  My kids got some cool dress up clothes that my mom had made for me and my sister when we were kids. I got some cool stuff too.

We found this in the bottom of a trunk. I remember shopping at Louis Fashion shop, I think it went out of business in the mid 1980's.

 In it was this.

 We are pretty sure it is my grandmothers wedding underwear.   It is pretty cool.  The bra has very little elastic and has lots of shaping sewn in.  It is beautiful to look at.  My grandmothers wedding dress is very stunning and it fit my sister when she was about 14 years old.  She was a tiny and very fashionable woman. I think my aunt has the dress now.

 The bottoms are very small and the lace is see through.

 The sewing on them is impressive, since the only elastic is around the waist, the bottom is gusseted.

It is a cool reminder of the grandma that I remember and loved.  

Also in the trunk was a few other cool things. 

We think my grandmother volunteered in the war for the red cross. This cross is hand sewn on a linen scarf and is kind of cool. 

There was also a large head scarf with this embroidery.  It was in it's own box and was my grandmothers.  (it does not look like it was ever worn)

It was intended to be mailed to someone.

 It has its own directions for how to wear it.  I am tempted to wear it somewhere, it is pretty cool.

 There were also a whole bunch of clip on earrings. My grandmother never got her ears pierced, and I remember her wearing clip on earrings everywhere.  This is on Munchkin.

 None of them are particularly valuable, but they are pretty cool.

Then there was some other cool linens some of these were boxed and had never been used, like this one.

 with the sticker still on it.

 It is all part of history, and I love it.

Stuffed Squirrel for Princess

Some days Princess begs to work on a project with me, and I have introduced her to Pinterest, so she sees all sorts of cute projects, many she attempts on her own.  She is an expert at making Rag dolls, maybe if I can find one I will take a picture.

Today I finally worked on a project with her. She loved this cute little squirrel.

Ours is very similar.

 It is also very small.  It is about 3 inches, and those stitches are very small.  

  It is made of wool felt and embroidery floss.  Princess cut the entire thing out and then sewed and stuffed the tail. I sewed the body. Some of the arms were a little tricky because the front was a different size than the back, but once it was sewn you don't notice.

She is one very happy little girl. 

Daddy dinner

Daddy is a great cook and actually does most meals on weekends.  Once in a while we have an ultimate summer daddy meal.  Ribs and corn on the cob, and nothing else.  The kids loved it.

 Piles of napkins were used.

 One little boy gave up early and had a banana.

 All because Daddy cooked some ribs.

Cub Scout Camp 2013

Summer continues on and we are trying to enjoy every day.

The 3 big kids and Daddy spent a very hot week and Cub Scout Day Camp.  The only pictures I have are from the end of the last day.  Not much to show for a week of Archery, BB shooting, sports, crafts, skits and learning.  Daddy was in charge of 11 boys all going into 2nd grade.  It was a learning experience for him too.

The girls skit.

 The flag survived the week, and everyone signed it.  Hopefully it will be delivered to the youth assistant soon.

 The boys, all sweaty at the end of the day.

Vacation 2013

While we were gone the kids had a great time playing with their grandparents and their cousins. All these pictures were taken before we left and after we got back.  It was fun to watch the kids play together with the family they don't see very much.