Friday, July 25, 2014

Our Little Girls

These pictures are just random snapshots from over the last month or so:

One day, our imaginative little Selah got my iced tea maker out of the cupboard and started dragging it around by the cord calling it a doggie! When she took a break to watch a little TV, she tied his leash to the table so he wouldn't get away.
My Facebook caption for this picture: "Okay, so maybe my poor, lonely, home-schooled children DO need more socialization. Selah is pretending that the iced tea maker is her pet doggie, and "He wants to watch 'Garfield'.""

It doesn't take much parenting experience to know that the more often you hear, "I'm not tired," the more likely this is to happen:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but Lauryn has started "conducting" whenever she hears music playing. It's adorable how animated she gets as she bounces and waves her hands to the music. Kaity took this picture while we were driving down the road one day.

On June 28th, little Lauryn took her first steps! She walked over to the bookshelf - a portent of things to come? She IS a Pittard, after all! Speaking of which, the other day she did something brilliant and I smugly commented, "She gets that from the Ralston side." Unbeknownst to me, from behind my back she started flopping her head around and acting goofy. Jeff nodded his head at her and drily remarked, "Does she get that from the Ralston side, too?" Yes, yes she does.

And I just love this smooshy-faced picture! She and Daddy were listening to classical music at bedtime and this happened:

One last thing - the brilliant thing she did the other day was this: At supper I was tossing bits of food onto Lauryn's tray for her to feed herself. There were a couple of pieces she couldn't reach so she hit her hand on the tray in order to bounce the food to within her reach! It was truly brilliant. I deliberately put more pieces at the edge of the tray and she did it again! I have already contacted MIT and they've advised me to wait until she finishes Kindergarten before beginning the enrollment process.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Independence Day

I know, I'm way behind in updating! I'm hearing about it constantly from all three of my faithful readers. I'll soon be going without regular internet for the foreseeable future, so I guess I better get this thing caught up!

First of all, our home has been leased! We are moving out this weekend, and the tenants are moving in August 1. Though we've been looking for quite some time, we haven't been able to find a home as of yet. That means we'll be temporarily living with Jeff's parents, bless their hearts. They have no internet, and since we'll be there such a short time, we won't bother with getting it. Hence, the need to update quickly!

SO, way back on the Fourth of July, we spent the weekend at Grandma Fran's condo with Mom and Berk. It was a lovely, hot weekend (much better than last year when I wore a sweater at the fireworks!). I have lots of pictures from our time there, so without further ado ...

This is out on one of the docks at the lake. We found a tiny frog!

Selah flat refused to be in the picture.
Lauryn loves to feel her new teeth!
My little blonde boy. (Don't tell him I called him 'little'.)
She was so exhausted after our long walk.
Daddy and Selah!


Besides Grammie and Bobba, the highlight of a trip to the condo is always the pool!

Stuart brought the boys up to spend a day with us, too.

Jeff and me (& Lauryn) playing cards at the end of the day.

Learning to float!


Bobba and McKinney

My favorite brother, Beef Stu.

Our Gracie, exploring the unknown depths of the 5-foot swimming pool.


Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Ginger Pear Freezer Jam

I was contacted several months ago by a representative from Taste of Home magazine, letting me know they were interested in publishing another one of my recipes. Last time, I won a contest sponsored by their sister magazine, Healthy Cooking. I was very excited, but haven't heard anything since that time. When I dropped Joe off at day camp yesterday, though, my friend Jennifer told me she'd seen me in a magazine! After getting a few details from her, I found the magazine tonight at Wal-Mart.

You can click on the pictures to see them in a larger size. 


That's me on the left, with my recipe on the facing page.

The friends I mention here are Lynne and Guy Power - such a fabulous couple!