Children!

So cute in pictures, such a pain to live with!









Dad is holding up the peppers he grew in his window at work - please note the bag they are in!

Spiders

The girls came running in a minute ago to let me know they had found a garden spider - bring the camera and come see! So I went out into the glorious morning with them and we looked at the little spider (where else? in the garden! Glady said when I asked her where it was). Then we took turns holding a Daddy-long-legs which crawled slowly because it was still to chilly to move fast. And we walked around the front yard looking for webs full of dew before I had to come back in. What a nice way to begin a day.

Well, my day had already begun three hours before, but this was their start. Phil is off to a show up north, and he has another tonight. Dad is preparing for his big bee-talk at the Holderness Science Center. he tried to get some bees to take up residence in a skep so he'd have some honey in it to show people, but the bees decided that they'd rather live somewhere else... And his plan to dig up a Bumblebee colony was foiled by the heavy rains that have drowned most of them out. Now he's on to plan B, rather disappointed.

Well, I have a full schedule today, so I'm off to work ( the other room, don'tcha know).

Walking in the morning

For the last four mornings I have been getting up at 5:30 and walking until 6, which is the best time for me to do it - no one else is awake, and I can relax and stretch out for my day. This morning was lovely, clear sky after all the rain we got over the weekend, still colored from the sunrise. There was a light mist hanging over the pasture, in fact, it burned off while I was walking, but looking out over it at the towering pines that fringe our woodlot and Sanbornton Mountain rising up behind them into the pink sky was worth getting up for.

It is high berry season, so I picked blueberries and raspberries while I was out. This morning I froze them, but Saturday morning I made some yummy wildberry pancakes. Raspberries, black raspberries, and blueberries in my usual batter. The girls helped me make them and also have been picking berries for me. Even bringing them in to freeze instead of eating them all. We are saving them up to make a batch of jam with. Later we will have a bumper crop of blackberries, too, but those, I have been told, I will have to pick because they are too "poky".

Pippa just came to show me her outfit for the day, clothes in one hand and Squishy Bob under her arm. I need to go mix up chocolate milk and start the day in earnest.

What a Week!

It has been a week since I sat down to write in this, and we have been busy busy busy. Phil had Market Days in Concord all week. The city shuts down a big chunk of Main St. and has a street festival. For the last five or six years we have been sponsored by Imagination Village to come and twist in front of their store. They are a really great toy and learning supplies shop, whose owners have become our friends, and we usually take our fee out in trade :)

Let's see... Saturday Phil took me with him to the Loon festival, my first facepainting gig. That went so great! I got my picture in the paper, even! Then Sunday was a bit of a disappointment. I was at the restaurant for three hours and it was dead. I did nine kids in three hours, and had the owner tell me he didn't think it was worth paying me for the day. So Phil and I decided to make it a trial day - and this Friday the owner agreed to give it another try, on a day there isn't a race in town (there's a Nascar speedway close by).

Then last night and Thursday night Phil took me to Market Days with him to paint. I only did about 2 1/2 hours each time, but it was so fun and I think I am going to like this a lot. I am feeling much more confident about it, and it is very satisfying to be asked if I am available for Birthdays. Phil is the consummate entertainer. He is funny, loud enough to command attention, and has the skills to wow people. I am very quiet and shy in a crowd, so this is a big confidence booster. Right when I need it, too, because tomorrow I start telemarketing daycares to fill in the August hole. *sigh*

Well, I have taken my walk this morning, and picked black raspberries, and I hear the pitter-patter of Pippa foots, so I had better think about breakfast.

Oh, I have to share - we got the coolest present for Juliet's 6th birthday - a butterfly pavilion! She can send off for caterpillars and raise them to butterflies, and we got her a butterfly net, too. She's studying bugs this summer.

So excited!

I got my facepainting kit last night. Saturday is the dress rehearsal, then Sunday my first paid gig. I spent a little time last night painting the girls. Here is Juliet as a tiger. The paints are much better than the first little one we picked up, and I am feeling much more confident about this now. Whee!


Second shot is Dad's head - he said he wanted a third eye - and then he went to Walmart like that! And with a skep on his forehead, too.

Thanks, Sharon!

I did it! a whole new vista of blogging awaits me!

1/2 Whipped Cream
3 Oreos
1 tbsp Ice Cream Cake

Stir well... makes great finger, er, body paint!

A Whole Year

It seems both like so long and so little time has passed since Johann was born. For that matter, since Glady was born. I can still feel her tiny little body in my arms for the first time, and now here she is, almost shoulder height to me. We had a fun celebration for the little man, I sent out pictures by e-mail since I haven't figured out how to do them on here yet. Boy, was he messy!

This week has been crazy. Phil has been working non-stop, particularly today, he has a three-show day today. And we have been trying to find a van to buy. I think we have a solid lead on one that is parked in a yard on 132, it took me forever to get in touch with the owner, but Phil is meeting him on Friday. *sigh* hopefully this one will work out. We want to be in our own vehicle by Monday.

Well, I have to go blow up 400 balloons, package 20+ balloon kits, mend the balloon apron (and sketch the idea for a new one), wash his shirts, socks.... and so forth.

Fourth of July

We had a lovely time this year over the long weekend for Fourth of July. On the 3rd we went up as a family to Steele Hill, to their fireworks. Phil and Glady went first, as he was twisting, and he started about 5:30 pm, then the rest of us joined them and I started twisting about 6:30 pm with him, while Dad kept an eye on the kids. There was a playground that they had a blast on, and the crowds were pretty light until about 8 pm. The Phil and I started to have a line, even with two of us. I hadn’t expected there to be so many people there.

After nine, when it got too dark to see what color balloons we were pulling out of our bags, and the fireworks were about to start, we shooed off the last few people who still wanted a balloon, even though it was now too dark to see them, and went to be with the kids. Johann had been hanging out in the baby backpack and I picked him up when the ‘booms’ started, but he didn’t fuss. He flinched a few times, but mostly he wanted to look up at the colors and play with my face.

I have never seen a neater fireworks display than this one was. We were so close to them that sometimes it looked like we were inside the bursts. A couple of times embers rained down around the crowd, but they were little and the grass was damp, so no harm. It was a very intimate display, and quite breathtaking. The girls loved it, of course, and joined Phil in cheering and applauding the finale very enthusiastically.

After that we waited a few minutes for the crowd to thin out and half of us headed home. Glady, Johann and I waited for the second trip, sitting on the porch wrapped in a blanket. I taught Glady how to play twenty questions and we had fun. She got to be at a quarter after eleven, and was very pleased with getting to stay up so late.

Yesterday Dad and the girls went up to Toad Hall for the Annual Independence Day Party. It sounds like they had a good time. Phil needed to keep his legs up and catch up after three busy days in a row, and I was needing to rest, too. We were quiet and didn’t do a lot. The girls came home and then fell into bed not too long after - and Glady slept until 8 this morning, which is unheard of.

Phil is off to two Summer Reading shows today - up by Conway. I am trying to get office stuff done and the girls to nap. And laundry, and what-not... But it was a very nice holiday weekend.

The Fourth

We had a lovely time this year over the long weekend for Fourth of July. On the 3rd we went up as a family to Steele Hill, to their fireworks. Phil and Glady went first, as he was twisting, and he started about 5:30 pm, then the rest of us joined them and I started twisting about 6:30 pm with him, while Dad kept an eye on the kids. There was a playground that they had a blast on, and the crowds were pretty light until about 8 pm. The Phil and I started to have a line, even with two of us. I hadn’t expected there to be so many people there.

After nine, when it got too dark to see what color balloons we were pulling out of our bags, and the fireworks were about to start, we shooed off the last few people who still wanted a balloon, even though it was now too dark to see them, and went to be with the kids. Johann had been hanging out in the baby backpack and I picked him up when the ‘booms’ started, but he didn’t fuss. He flinched a few times, but mostly he wanted to look up at the colors and play with my face.

I have never seen a neater fireworks display than this one was. We were so close to them that sometimes it looked like we were inside the bursts. A couple of times embers rained down around the crowd, but they were little and the grass was damp, so no harm. It was a very intimate display, and quite breathtaking. The girls loved it, of course, and joined Phil in cheering and applauding the finale very enthusiastically.

After that we waited a few minutes for the crowd to thin out and half of us headed home. Glady, Johann and I waited for the second trip, sitting on the porch wrapped in a blanket. I taught Glady how to play twenty questions and we had fun. She got to bed at a quarter after eleven, and was very pleased with getting to stay up so late.

Yesterday Dad and the girls went up to Toad Hall for the Annual Independence Day Party. It sounds like they had a good time. Phil needed to keep his legs up and catch up after three busy days in a row, and I was needing to rest, too. We were quiet and didn’t do a lot. The girls came home and then fell into bed not too long after - and Glady slept until 8 this morning, which is unheard of.

Phil is off to two Summer Reading shows today - up by Conway. I am trying to get office stuff done and the girls to nap. And laundry, and what-not... But it was a very nice holiday weekend.