City Lights Festival

After leaving Lake Murray last weekend, we came straight home and went to the City Lights Festival downtown. Our friend Eli, who heads up The Eli Carlan Band, was playing and we wanted to be there for the concert and the fireworks afterward. We met up with some friends there, and had a great time!

Miss Amy sneaking Selah a bite of funnel cake.

Joe climbing on Mr. James; Jacob and Jeff.

Miriam, Selah, Noah, Amy and Jadelyn.

Miss Kim

Jacob, Jeff, and Kaity

The infamous Eli Carlan ... and Joe saying, "Why, no, Mommy, I wasn't trying to get on the stage ..."

These two boys rocked out on their balloon-guitars and Steve Murray pulled them up on stage!

This particular boy (in blue) copied Eli's every move! He totally reminded me of Juke Box Hero.

Oh, Happy Day

My cookbooks have arrived! Be sure to head on over to Barefoot in the Kitchen to check it out.

Die Kinder Schwimmen

Last Friday night, we drove up to meet my parents at Lake Murray. Though the kids and I have been there several times, it was the first Jeff had gone with us. I'll just let you enjoy the experience in pictures.

This was taken just moments after Joe declared he was not tired AT ALL and couldn't sleep.

Of course Kaity found a lizard ...

Our Little Seamstress!

Last week, Kaity participated in a sewing workshop for two days. She's loved sewing for quite some time, and I try to make sure she has lots of opportunities to practice. This workshop focused on making a necklace, headband and skirt. Here's my little seamstress in her new creations:

The headband is reversible!

Playing Outside

My children alternate between "There's nothing to DO outside!" to staying out for hours at a time. I haven't quite figured out why sometimes it's boring and sometimes fascinating, but until then I'll just continue my regular program of kicking them out when they get on my nerves. One day last week, we all just went out and enjoyed the mild Georgia summer weather - it was only 90 degrees!

Joe, showing off his shake popsicle.

Joe, playing with a daisy and our neighbor's kitten, Dash. Note his resourceful use of his toes as a popsicle holder.

Selah playing with the daisy and her baby, Hopie.

Kaity showing her Just Like Me doll, Ally Kate.

Kaity hand-sewed the outfit Ally Kate is modeling.

Our sweet girl.

 And now, the man who made all of this possible ...

My Handsome, in a VW shirt, naturally.

Barefoot Giveaway!

Now that my cookbooks have shipped and are on their way to me, I'm excited to announce a giveaway over on Barefoot In The Kitchen! It ends Tuesday, so check it out soon for your chance to win a custom, handmade apron or a free copy of my cookbook!

She's A Little Corny

Selah had her first experience with corn on the cob the other day. Like her siblings before her, she loved it!

Um, that's not quite ... oh, well.

Our Little Ham

Selah is learning already how to work a room. A couple of weeks ago when we had college people over, she spent quite a bit of time dancing and falling down while the crowd cheered. She wallowed on the floor, rolling and laughing, always keeping an eye out to make sure she was still capturing the attention of her audience. She was never disappointed!

Here are a couple of pictures of her with adoring fans - and as soon as she develops fine motor skills she'll be happy to provide autographs. For a small fee, of course.

With Miss Kim reading Old Hat, New Hat.

With Mr. Eli, trying to get Mommy's coffee.

These are some older pictures (February 2011) that I never did get posted on the blog:

Trying to capture Miss Hope's tongue.

Snuggling Mr. Jacob.

Playing with Mr. Alan

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I've wanted to add a foreign language into my kids' school experience since Kaity was in Kindergarten! Well, this year, what with our extra little tax deduction, we finally had enough in our school budget to add it in. Our curriculum provider, Sonlight, offers Rosetta Stone for foreign language learning and it was on sale this spring. I had always said that I would start the kids off with Spanish, then move on to another language if they chose, but for some reason we all latched on to the idea of German. Since I was born there and lived there for 5 years of my life as a kid, I grew up using basic German around the house. (I'm telling myself it's that and has nothing to do with Dr. Doofenshmirtz.) Anyway, German is what we chose and I love that with Rosetta Stone we can all learn at our own pace. It's become something of a summer project for me, Jeff, and the big kids.

The program is on the computer, using total immersion.You read, speak, write and "click" completely in German. It's actually very similar to how babies/toddlers begin to learn language - not every word is defined, but they learn what things mean by context and inference.

Makes A Mama Happy

After our Sunday lunch and Sunday naps, our other Sunday tradition is polishing up the house before the college people come. Our house is far from perfect, but we like to make sure the floor is vacuumed so when they spill Dr. Pepper on the carpet it soaks in easily.

This week when Jeff was vacuuming, Selah dug out her lawnmower and started copying him! It was absolutely the most adorable thing. She would push it around just like daddy then look up at us and give us a big cheesy grin, complete with nose-wrinkling.

Yes, that's "Andy" playing on the TV. I think Barney has just locked himself in the jail cell.