August 9 through August 15

Sunday, Aug. 9




We don't usually have dessert after dinner, except on Sunday's. Summer dessert is sweet and simple...ice cream cones! You can see how much the kids loved them as they wore just as much on their faces as they put in their tummies!

Monday, Aug. 10



Natalie loves having friends over. Today she rediscovered our little baby wading pool and invited Rachel to come over and cool off. Silly girls posing for the camera!

Tuesday, Aug. 11




Thanksgiving Point has $2 Tuesday's in August. I decided to take Natalie down to visit their farm country but when we got there I was surprised to see incredibly long lines! We ended up at the Children's Discovery Gardens since it had the shortest line. We enjoyed it for the first little bit but then as the afternoon heated up, we were both ready to get out of the sun! The first picture was at the start of our visit but by the end, Natalie wasn't interested in smilng for any pictures not matter how beautiful the flowers were!

Wednesday, Aug. 12



We've been walking to school every morning. Ben and several of the other neighborhood kids ride their scooters and the Mom's follow behind and try to keep up. It can been a bit of craziness sometimes with all the bikes and scooters and Mom's with strollers heading down the main street to school. We often end up scraping a kid or two off the sidewalks some days but it's lots of fun most of the time!

Thursday, Aug. 13



A little harvesting...tomatoes, peppers, carrots, zuccinhi, and lemon squash.

Friday, Aug. 14



Just a random silly face on a Friday afternoon.

Saturday, Aug. 15


The kids ended up emptying Natalie's closet and carting it all downstairs to play while I worked in the basement and they tried to stay quiet while Daddy slept. Thank heavens for the toy organizers we have which makes cleaning up pretty easy!

August 2 through August 8

Sunday, Aug. 2



This year we planted some giant sunflowers in our garden and one of them bloomed today. They have grown to be quite tall...some of them tower over me and this bloom is the size of a dinner plate. They have been fun to watch grow. They definitely love the sun and I love watching them at different times of the day. In the morning the buds are facing the east, at noon they are straight up and in the evening they are facing west. I forget somtimes that they are living creatures and do what they need to feed, grow, reproduce, heal and fend off bugs. While these sunflowers have been fun to grow, I discovered that they attract all kinds of beetles, moths, bees, ladybugs and even squash bugs. Luckily I haven't had squash bugs this year but they have been eaten a little by the sunflower beetles. We'll see how they turn out...they may not be something I repeat on account of the bugs!

Monday, Aug. 3



Last spring we planted 3 fruit trees and this year the peach tree budded and produced some little peaches. I thinned them down quite a bit but let several grow to see how they turned out. Bryan picked them today and whilte they are small, they sure taste great!

Tuesday, Aug. 4



This is what happens when you mix poor table manners and grape Kool-aid! Natalie and Ben were being silly at dinner and playing with their drinks. In a fit of laughter, Natalie's mouthful of grape Koolaid exploded all over her...quickly putting an end to the laughter as you can see. While I hope she learned her lesson, I'm sure we haven't seen an end to poor table manners at the Peterson home!

Wednesday, Aug. 5



Natalie sure has missed her big brother since he started first grade...she loves when he finally comes home and is willing to give her some attendtion. After a long day for both of them, they snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie together...I wish every moment could be so sweet.

Thursday, Aug. 6



Haydn is one of Natalie's favorite playmates and she asks daily for him to come over and even insists on being the one to call him. They love to empty her closet and pretend all sorts of things. Lately they love to play "Disneyland" and dress up as the princesses to sign autograph books.

Friday, Aug. 7



My friend, Michelle, has sent me a few pictures this week from Kindergarten that she took. This one was from Mom's and Muffins Day last fall. It's funny how things in the past can seem like yesterday and like forever ago at the same time. It feels like I blinked and Kindergarten was over...Ben even looks so much younger in this picture. I guess it's like trying to hold onto a handful of water...eventually it trickles out between your fingers. Try as I might, I can't keep my kids from growing up...I just wish it didn't happen so fast!

Saturday, Aug. 8



As I mentioned last week, my kids love getting a hold of the camera and taking pictures. I now have many pictures in my photo gallery that look like this...maybe I need to sign them up for a photography class?

July 26th through August 1

Sunday, July 26th



Sunday means cute curls and bows and dresses for Natalie. It's the one day a week that I can get her to let me really do her hair. The rest of the week it's usually thrown together since she lacks the patience to let me fix it. The longer it gets the more it looks so messy. When she was younger it was curlier and easier to just put a bow in it. Now it's another story. I miss that 18 mo. old hair she had!

Monday, July 27th



The dog days of summer mean lots of popsicles at our house. They're even tastier when shared with cousins and friends!

Tuesday, July 28th



Today was Ben's first full day of 1st Grade. Yesterday he met his teacher, Mrs. Joffs and saw his classroom. He was a little nervous but did much better than I thought and tolerated everything pretty well. I was more worked up about than he was! It's a big step for a mother to send her oldest to school all day and know that someone else has more influence in his day than she does.

Wednesday, July 29th



My sister Jennie, and I signed up to be the PTA co presidents at school this year. Neither of us really wanted the job but since no one else would do it we thought we'd do it together. We went to the school work room today to make copies and Natalie and Haydn came along. Jennie took her picture out in the hall...she looks like she's not so sure about this assignment either!

Thursday, July 30th



Ben and Natalie have decided their new favorite toy is our camera and they are constantly grabbing it to take pictures. I have several pictures now stored on my computer o random, out of focus shots that they have taken. They love trying to take self-portraits. Here's Natalie's.

Friday, July 31st



Here's Ben's attempt at a self portrait.

Saturday, Aug. 1st