Opa's knee surgery

Praying for Opa in his knee surgery today. He has been in a lot of pain and hasn't been really mobile lately. Let's pray that it all goes without a hitch and he has a super speedy recovery.

berry picking with Aunt Melisa

thank hod Oma is home even if it is for such a short while. Liesl was so happy to see her this afternoon she ran to the door to hug her. we had so much fun berry picking with Aunt Melisa this afternoon at Blake's. Liesl ate just about as many blackberries and raspberries as we picked. I forgot Jeannie's hat al had to make due with a pair of Liesl's clean panties on her head. Jeannie passed out while we were picking she was so exhausted from the sun. I managed to swipe a few cuttings. we shall see how that goes. we also got some cider slushies and donuts which were a treat especially since it was so quiet in the mill. never seen it so quiet. just wait too September. I sure will do more berry picking. it was super fun. we brought home an awesome peach berry pie which is my new favorite pie....mmmm peaches and spent the rest of the afternoon with Melisa. when Oma got home I finally got the vitals done for my baby announcements and those will go out shortly. hay. how guilty I have felt. oh well. life happens

Yay stick people and learning letters

Liesl is still into the markers and crayons. She was practicing her letters of her name today and draws some pretty good stick figures. She even made one of herself with glasses. It is a pretty awesome "cool down exercise" for her before bed.  Can't wait til Oma is home tomorrow. Liesl is excited to go on vacation to drop her back off. Opa has his surgery Monday. We are hoping that it really helps. He is in so much pain. Made some more salsa today because the garden is just exploding. I am going to have to get someone to come by and harvest. Wish I had some broccoli in there. Liesl goes through it like crazy. She ate about a lb of it last night.
Jeannie fell asleep on her own 2 times today. She just rolled on her belly, fussed a little and she was out. She is totally going to be crawling soon. Gotta get them gates up.
Visited the rainforest cafe with aunt Gloria and Shannon and mike wed. Was fun hanging out. We celebrated liesl's birthday again....yeah I know.....just another excuse for cake. Liesl loves hanging out with Mike. There is no one else in the room when he is there. Congested to Mike on his new job teaching in the area. Will be awesome having him around more! Aunt Gloria promised to take pics of the girls together at the zoo. It was one thing she wanted for her birthday. We are going to find some gardens and plan it. It should be nice with Jeannie holding her torso up so well.

Kitchen fun

Yesterday, Heather and the kids came over to help with canning for the first time. I had the salsa I wanted to preserve and had never used the pressure cookery before. I had managed to get Oma's cooker a while back and I am glad I did. That thing is a Cadillac! We have it figured out now and feel we can do anything now. We were so sad when we had nothing else to can. I am waiting for some tomatoes to ripen on the sill to can again. Think it will just be stewed tomatoes this time. Wish my peach tree hadnt been pilfered by the birds. I also was thinking about making pickled peppers and pickles. Next year the garden will be much bigger and with more fruit trees. Liesl will eat anything that is grown in our garden. She seriously has a fun factor involved in eating something we grew especially since she witnessed it growing from seed. She loves to look for cucumbers and just goes to town on them. She and I have relocated our wild lawn strawberries into pots and she gets to harvest a few every day. She especially loved the bell pepper from the garden and gobbled it up. Hopefully my watermelon and pumpkin will take better next year. We also made our own yogurt last night which turned out amazing. Liesl also ate that for lunch without prompting. She appreciates food more that she sees work being put into.

Liesl has been a great help to me lately. She loves to do chores. Her favorite being emptying and filling the dishwasher to the extent that she has gotten upset when I didn't ask her to help before I started to do dishes. Thank god....not my favorite job. She knows where everything goes. She also loves grocery shopping and also hates when I don't ask her to go. She rides in the cart very well for me. She especially likes when I have bottles to take back and helps feed them into the machine. Another chore she loves is putting away her clothes thanks to her new furniture. Speaking of furniture, she actually chooses to go to bed because of her super cool princess canopy. She decided to not spend the night somewhere she says because she missed her princess canopy. She has been doing very well with picking out her clothes every day because she knows where everything is. Brushing her teeth has become so much more frequent. She helps me out with Jeannie so readily. She loves sissy so much. she always talks about what she is going to do with her, includes her in her stories, Jeannie is about three times as big as Liesl in her drawings showing how important she is to her. Liesl has been drawing a lot lately, it has been her major pastime daily. She has started to make some stick figures of a sort, a very cute sort and has me label them for her. Her new favorite to draw with is markers. Thank you Aly for showing her the smelly markers.

Friday Melisa, Heather and Jeannie and I went to get our feet done and to dinner for Heather's birthday. It was a super fun and much needed girls night. Thank you ladies! We must do it again soon. Saturday we had an adult dinner for Heather's birthday with the Perrys, Statons and Neelys at Sherzad YUM. Thank you Perrys! Dessert Oasis was also amazing. Loved the cayenne mocha. I had to slightly abort mission to pick up the girls from Veronika's because Jeannie couldn't calm down.

Happy anniversary to my wonderful husband of 6 years. Baby I love you and all the gifts you have given me.

Amazing fresh salsa from my garden

I just made 10 lbs of salsa from my garden. I had 5 lbs of tomatoes and 2 of peppers of different varieties. That stuff is super hot and yummy.

Jeannie is so mobile

Jeannie has been really rolling every chance she gets. I really have to watch what age is doing because she can get herself in some trouble. Right now age is playing on her playmate. Loving her monkey. She has been doing well with the jumper and the exersaucer. Glad I got that. Finally she is cool with the bounced too and I was able to take a bath without Jim around because that is the one thing that fits in there so I can watch her. I think she is just plain done with the swing though.....fine, I am running out of batteries for it. She is really practicing her vocals. She sounds so cute with all her vowels...ahhh,oooooh,eeeeeee aiiiiii. She does great in the crib at night and gives momma lots of sleep but during the day male are short. That always changes.

Liesl had a great birthday. We went to Oma Ronnie's house Monday before and celebrated with uncle Scott and aunt Melisa too. The party was fun and she had a good time. Went to the rainforest cafe yesterday to celebrate just the four of us. The girls enjoyed themselves. It always has something to distract or drown out thier screams. Last night liesl had a sleepover with Gavin. Gavin didn't so too hot last night other than getting to sleep right away and on time but they both slept in til 1030 and woke up happy and had a good time this morning. Liesl got a new bedroom set for her birthday. She now has a pumpkin carriage canopy bed and some matching furniture and I am able to fit her toys into the closet. At last. She really likes her new furniture and feels like a princess. She also got new sheets and comforter to match from Oma Ronnie and Opa. I didn't have any twin sheets. Could have sworn I did. Been having a great time in the garden. Liesl will eat anything out of there and just loves to pick cucumbers and go to town on them. Yesterday the girls and I went to Barb's to chill out in the pool. Chill out is a perfect word because it was kinda overcast and cooler. Liesl and Kayla had a good time together and Liesl was actually treading water a bit and swimming with her head above water to me for about 6-8 ft. I am proud of her. Jeannie is really into rolling and any chance age gets she is on her belly. Usually it is to try and retrieve her binky. She is really getting her knees under her and skooting forward. Starting to get the beginnings of a crawl already.

Jeannie rolled over

Jeannie rolled over finally yesterday at the reunion. It www super hot there but she managed to get in a little sleep. Jeannie was loves on by everybody there all day. Liesl had a great day in the pool playing with Jasmine but we had to jet because of the heat. Today was aunt Melisa's shower. Liesl had an awesome time helping out with the shower when Jeannie got loved on all day again. The girls are going to be back on track after a long week of vacationing. Last week we went to meadowbrook to "hug the hall" and had a great time. Liesl waited for hours to go on an old car ride. We visited the gardens there and liesl explored. It was really fun I wish we could have done more. Liesl managed to get a private tour of the kids playhouse by "wishing out loud". She really is a princess.