TGIF

What a lovely Friday! Ryan and Lizzie are outside right now, swinging on the hammock. Fridays are big days in the summer as this is when all of the CSA produce is bagged and delivered to our three drop spots. It means a very early morning for Ryan and lots to be done on a schedule. So, by 4 or 5 on Friday night, we are all pretty tired and usually end up on the hammock in the evening. Just a quick post and then I will go out and join them. Last weekend we got a balloon from the grocery store - I explained to her that she had to hold on to it so it wouldn't fly away and she took that job very seriously!
As the garden is going gang-busters, Ryan (and sometimes me too) spends some of many evenings getting any extra food cut, cleaned and frozen. Here he has Lizzie helping him - she really liked helping with the basil - she loves having a job to do! We will be so glad for the basil in the winter - we love pesto!

One pic

I just uploaded photos again tonight and found that we only took one picture of Lizzie since my last post - that made choosing what to post easier! Uncle Dan (aka Super Dan) came home with a bunch of friends last weekend - we had a great time visiting with them - Lizzie was especially happy with all of her new friends!

July 4

What a hot week we have had! These pictures are from the fourth of July, but this is a pretty good example of what we have been doing on these hot days!! I think we have tried to swim nearly every day this week. Here is Uncle Tom giving Bullet a bit of a rest in the water - what a swimmer! The dog jumped off the dock, which is always fun to watch.
In fine Dickens Family tradition, Tom and Char lit a watermelon with sparklers - something we used to do when all of my grandparents and grand aunts and uncles were hosting the party in Lincolnville (to celebrate Uncle Bob's birthday, I believe). Lizzie was not quote sure what were doing, but seemed to like it when all of the sparklers were lit.

Happy girl!

Lizzie loves swimming. She is so brave in the water. Her favorite thing is to throw her self into the water and kick around (we have a very strict life jacket/grown up rule, thank goodness). She even likes jumping off of the dock. She is only supposed to jump into the waiting arms of an adult, but yesterday she started jumping towards me and then took a deliberate turn to her right to jump away from me - we have to be very careful of this brave one!

She also likes to go under water - she hasn't quite figured out the holding your breath part of swimming, but she wants to keep trying! Once again, thank goodness for the life jacket and the many grownup hands often around her. Last year our pediatrician recommended putting one grown up in charge of her when we are at the lake so that we don't all assume someone else is watching her - I think that is really great advice for our little fish!

July!

It is really hard for me to believe that it is already July! Where did June go?? Based on the photos that I downloaded tonight, it seems that much of the time was spent with family and friends. Lizzie is such a grown up little girl these days. She is in the full throws of potty training (diaper only at night and doing very well) and we are soon making the move out of the crib. This first picture was taken at a party with friends from book club - what a lot of fun! There were a lot of things for the kids to do (slide, trampoline, kiddy pool, chickens, etc) which was great because it seems our book club has a lot of kids between us, all under 5 years old. I like this first picture especially well because you get a close up of Ryan's bead work in her hair. This was the first attempt and pretty good, I think.
Last weekend we went to visit Mimi and Timber for a belated fathers day with Timber. Here he is below clearing stumps to make more lawn and garden space.

Mimi brought out the big balloon maker - I think Ryan and Lizzie enjoyed this pretty equally - it was a lot of fun to watch too!

Lizzie also got into the pool for a bit. It wasn't an overly hot day, but hot enough for Lizzie to swim!

We are hoping to have a relaxed weekend ahead - hopefully lots of gardening, swimming and playing to be done.

Beach and beads

Lizzie is sleeping in this morning so I am trying to get a quick blog post in before she wakes up and we start our day (Ryan's day started hours ago). Last weekend we went to Belfast for father's day and after a nice lunch made the quick walk down to the water. Lizzie was not very interested in having her picture taken, so we are lucky to get the smile. I think her eyes are closed because she was rolling them at me.
Also, we are trying hair beads for the first time this week. Ryan deserves all the credit for this - he and Lizzie worked on the new hair do while they were hanging out (that is what Lizzie calls it) together on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are beautiful and she seems proud of them. I think Ryan was inspired to take the plunge by the beautiful hair of the Piper granddaughters from last weekend (running with Lizzie in the picture from my last post).

Another fathers day attempt.

We have a nice day ahead of us - my book club is having a family BBQ - there will be a lot of young kids for Lizzie to play with and fun adults for us to visit - it should be fun!

Weekend

What a fun weekend! Lizzie just woke from a nap, so no time to write - I will let the pics tell the story instead!

Hair post

It seems like we haven't taken many pictures of Lizzie this week (though tons of the garden - you can see those on Ryan's blog in the links on the right). The only pics of Lizzie on the camera are of the new hair style that we have been using lately (she is fast asleep in the car, which seems to make getting these pictures easier!).

It seems to be a very do-able style for us - we are always trying new "hair-dos" and Lizzie is very patient with us - we are slowly working our way towards braiding, I think.