Our Squash plants love the rain and we've had a lot of rain.

Oh, the weeds love it too, we can't keep up with them.

                                       Our Tomatoes are starting to take off, Hannah and I can't wait to
                                        eat fresh garden tomatoes.  Kevin and I can't wait to can more sauce.                        

                                                 Our little crop of corn.  It's doing well so far.

The Pumpkin patch.  Avery planted the seeds herself.

                                     I Planted a tray of lettuce.  The Bunny loved it.  He ate the whole thing.
                                                      Next year I will plant some for us too.

Avery and I had a special day together.  I took her out to pizza.  She was so good and such
a big girl.  Hannah and I had also had a special day alone together a couple of weeks ago.  It's nice to spend time alone with each of them sometimes.  I wish we could do it more often.

                                                      Playing on their new sit n spin

                                           We all went strawberry picking.  It was a lot of fun.

                                        We picked enough to can a double batch of strawberry jelly.

                               

                                        Hannah and Avery went to their cousin's birthday party and

                                       Cinderella was there.  They had so much fun.  Cinderella read to them,

                                      played games, danced and sang.  All the children loved it.

                                     They even received autographs from her.

                                         We decided to make our own pinata for Avery's Birthday dinner.

                                        It came out really good.  We still have to decorate it though.

                                              

We recently attended our first Home school Field Day.  It was so much fun.  The girls loved it, I loved it!!  I never realized how competitive Hannah is.  She competed in every event except for the Pie Eating Contest.  She did great in the sack race and the 50 yard dash.  Avery competed in a few events.  The girls tried to do the 3 legged race together, but Hannah ended up dragging poor Avery.

                                             We went for ice cream after field day to celebrate.

                                             You would have thought the girls would have been 

                                        exhausted from all those events at field day.  Nope, not at all.

                                        They still played on the playground at the Ice Cream Parlour.

                                      

                                 Pictures from our most recent beach day.  Every Thursday

                               we get together with area Homeschoolers for beach/park days.

                                             

                                            Our most recent Home Economics lesson.

                    We made homemade pretzels from scratch.  Hannah did most of the work.  She is getting really good at measuring.  She knows all of the fractions.  Now if I could just teach her to be a little less messy....

                                         
                                                          Enjoying the fruits of their labor.  The first
                                          taste of fresh out of the oven pretzels.  We made sea salt
                                                          and cinnamon and sugar pretzels.

Hannah and Avery playing dress up.  Don't they make beautiful brides?

I'll end this post with a smile...............

Fathers - The Forgotten Heroes

Many people in our society emulate their role models.  They strive to be something they are not because they value a trait or groups of traits that another person possesses.  There is nothing wrong with looking up to others, and learning from them, the problem is, we tend to look up to the wrong people, to admire the wrong traits.  In our country the famous, the wealthy, the athletic tend to be the people that are put on a pedestal.  What about the true heroes, the people we should look up to?  They are usually forgotten.  Their actions seem ordinary, so we take them for granted. 

We always hear about a Mother's love, a Mother's Courage, the sacrifices that a Mother makes for her child or family.  As a Mother and a Daughter, I know all too well how important a Mother's love is.  There is no stronger bond.  But what of the bond between Father and Child or Father and his Family.  We don't hear about this to often.  Father's often play a different role in the family.  Many times they are the provider, the protector, Mr. fix it, misc. chore doer, jack of all trades, IT Guy. 

In our family I am the stay at home Mom, the Teacher, the Mentor, the household Manager if you will.  I often hear family members say "Your doing a great job with the girls.  They are smart, confident, and have great imagination's."  This always makes me feel good and it reassures me that the lifestyle we chose is working, that all the sacrifices we make are worth it.  The point of this post is to spotlight someone else.  Kevin, Husband and Father.  Everything that we have accomplished in our family would not be possible without him.

I am able to stay home with my children and raise them, teach them, and ensure that they become happy, successful adults.  This has been my dream, my goal since I became a Mother.  Avery was 7 months old when I finally was able to quit my job and stay home with them.  Our family had to make many sacrifices in order to do this.  Losing an income changes your lifestyle drastically, however, what we gained is worth it. 

Kevin works 2 jobs and averages 50 - 60 hours a week.  He has also gone back to school.  He is the sole provider for our family and he does a great job.  He may not be home often, and sometimes when he is home, he is exhausted.  But he is always there for us.  He still manages to find the time to play with the girls, to read to them, to fix their toys, to help them with their studies and to simply love them.  One of his biggest sacrifices is that he often misses out on our activities, learning adventures, and field trips.  I take as many pictures as I can and the girls tell him all about what they have   learned or where they have been.  I always make sure the girls know that without Daddy, most of what we do, would not be possible.  His contributions may not be obvious but without them our family wouldn't work the way it does. 

So Kevin, we want you to know that we love you and appreciate everything you do for us!  You are our hero!  Happy Father's Day! Love, Nicole

Daddy, I am thankful for you because:  you play trains with me, you play Peter Pan, you make my hot chocolate sometimes, you give me piggy backs, and you read me stories, you took me to the train show, and you bought me carrot seeds.  Happy Father's Day, Love, Avery

Daddy, I am thankful for you because:  you made me my toy clothesline, you fix my china dolls, you put up the pool, you help me ride my bike, and you took us roller skating.  Happy Father's Day, Love Hannah

                                           
                                                        Daddy's Girls

                                                   
                              The first picture of Kevin and his 2 girls.

                                              Our Family

Happy Father's Day To All the Fathers Out There!!!   Enjoy your day!

               

Warm June Days

We've splashed right into Spring.  It's hard to believe that it's almost summer already.  Our gardens are growing like crazy and so are the weeds.  The girls and I spend a lot of time weeding.  We just can't keep up.  This is a picture of our herb garden.  Our oregano and chives are planted in other locations.  At the end of the season, I plan to transplant a little of both and add them to the new herb garden.  

 Our Peppers so far.... both green bell and jalapenos.  Everyone loves the pepper jelly that Kevin
makes.  Since taking these pictures, we've had a ton of rain.  The plants are all so big now.  We also planted a little strawberry patch this year.  Hannah already ate the first red strawberry.

Avery loves rabbits and wants a pet rabbit so badly.  We aren't ready to do that, however this wild rabbit loves are yard.  He hangs around all the time.  (he ate some of my lettuce plant but he's cute, so we will let him get away with it)  It's amazing how close he will let us get to him.  Avery loves it!!!!

A day at home, enjoying our yard, the sunshine and the flowers, and everything else the season has to offer.

We spent Memorial Day at Roger Williams Zoo in Providence RI.  It was a lot of fun!!!!   I think everyone else had the same idea though.  We have never seen the zoo so crowded.

                                                           Hannah's favorite, the Giraffe.

                                                   

                                            This guy was quite a character.  He entertained us for a while!

                                                            The girls enjoying themselves.

                                Every time we go to Roger Williams Zoo we take a picture with this dog. 

                                               It is a tradition that goes back to when I was a small child.

We have homeschool beach and park days once a week in the Spring and Summer.  These pictures are from our last beach day.  It was at Quaddick in Thompson CT.  

Hannah and I recently enjoyed a day alone together.  We went out to lunch and shopping.

This is Hannah at the Chinese restaurant having Chinese Tea for the first time.

Yesterday we went to an open-house at Fairview Dairy Farm in Woodstock.  Mimi came with us and we all had a really good time.  They gave us a tour of the barns, taught us about the cows and the dairy process and gave us free samples of farm fresh ice cream.  

I had to take this picture, Avery did not enjoy the smell of the cow barn.

This is the nursery where they keep the baby cows.

This calf was only one day old.  She was so adorable.  We wanted to take her home.

                                                          Pictures from Mimi's house.

June has been so much fun so far.  I hope the rest of the summer follows suit.  We have so much to look forward to.  Beautiful, hot weather, the pool, blueberry and strawberry picking, camping, birthday's and more!!!  This is my favorite time of year.