Stuff...

Tonight for Family

Home Evening we headed to our friends' house to pick wineberries from their huge wineberry patch. Thanks Jessica and Family for sharing!

Here are the berries in their native habitat...

... and here they are in my bucket, ready to be devoured!

Last week, we found this awesome moth just outside Tim's work...

... it was HUGE!

And, after an impromptu trip to the Mohegan Sun casino for a little Pepe's Pizza, we discovered that the weekly Classic Car Show and Fireworks had been rescheduled for that night after having been cancelled due to rain the night before, so we decided to wander around and look at the cars. While we were wandering, we ran into some friends and decided to stay for the fireworks display. And so, Claudia enjoyed her first fireworks...

... and Sarah had an absolute blast dancing with her friend Sam!

Claudia is getting really strong, and can hold her head up almost indefinitely.

Hey there Cutie!

Athena...

Our book club recently read and discussed 'The Lightning Thief', first novel in the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series. As part of our discussion, we had to decide which of the Greek Gods or Goddesses we would have descended from if we, like Percy, were considered a demi-god hero. After consulting the list, I determined that I would have been connected with Athena, goddess of wisdom and useful arts. And, no, I do not consider myself particularly wise, but I do enjoy the 'useful arts'. I also, do not consider myself a true artist, that distinction belongs to my friend Steve (you can see some of his artwork here).

But this post is really about 'art' that can be used, and my latest work is being put to excellent use:

I had been feeling completely uninspired by the crib bedding we had for Sarah, and had not even pulled it out of storage when a good friend of mine made me a burp cloth with this fabric, and I loved the color scheme and pattern so much that I sought out the fabric and took on the task of making new crib bedding for Claudia. It was a lot of work, but I am very pleased with the result, and it makes me happy every time I look at it.

After I finished the bedding, I was putting away the pack n' play and found this mobile that came with it, which I have never used, but I transformed it into...

... this, and added it to the crib.

It was great to have an outlet for some creativity.

Summer Fun...

Summer is shaping up to be great, starting with "Camp Liberty", a co-op camp with some friends. Here are all the kids in our backyard on the day I hosted. We talked about the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart then made paper airplanes and tested them out in the backyard.

We had our good friends, Andy, Caty and Alex come to visit from New Jersey for the long 4th of July weekend. We had a wonderful time!

We took a day to visit Gillette Castle, the home of eccentric actor William Gillette who made his fortune playing Sherlock Holmes.

Sarah and Alex had fun playing in the water in the backyard.

We did fireworks in the front yard (yes, you are right, it is not really dark yet, but with a five year old, a 20 month old and a 2 month old, we were already pushing bedtime).

Sarah did sparklers for the first time and loved them!

On Monday, we took a stroll on the Boardwalk and had a picnic on the grass before our friends got back on the road to head home. It was HOT!!!

And these two photos are just for fun, so you can see how darling our little Claudia is!