Peaches 2 - Mouse 0

Heeerrrre, mousy mousy...come see the nice kitty. I know you are there somewhere...I'll find you.

Peaches scored her second mousy in the house (don't know why we have mousies inside during the middle of the summer. And I don't think I'm THAT bad of a house keeper). I was up late reading in the living room when all of a sudden she was on high alert. She waited a good 20 minutes until she finally was ready to attack (I couldn't see the mouse, it was in the kitchen rooting around). Caught it on her first pounce, which I always find so impressive for a cat without front claws. She then did her little ritual of flinging it about the dining/living room, once straight at me (thank goodness for chairs to stand on) but thankfully not on my feet like last time. Had to wake Doug up (by yelling of course!). Then he had to make an appearance outdoors after midnight in just his robe to release the mousy...gotta keep the neighbors guessing around here.

Kids crack me up

R-girl's best friend C-girl is here for the day. I just sent them outside to play, and am sitting here checking my email, etc. Out of the corner of my eye I see this blur go speeding past the window out on the lawn. It's Rgirl on her bike, pulling Cgirl behind on a trike, across the yard, with a rope connecting the two, Cgirl yelling happily. I would have gotten a picture for you all, but I sensed imminent danger and flew out the door. Not too safe a thing to do, but I had to laugh out how ingenious they can be. At least they were wearing helmets :)

In other news, being the good and prompt on-the-ball mom I am...I called at 9:15 this morning to sign Rgirl up for swim lessons that start at 10:00. She was supposed to be in level 2, but they tested and put her in level 3. I about fell out of my chair, I was sure they made a mistake. She was a wee bit nervous at first, and had this "what in the heck am I doing in this class!" look on her face. But I think it will be good for her to challenge herself. I'm pretty proud of her for sticking it out and doing things she hadn't done before. We'll see what tomorrow brings. It was like a social outing for me - neighbors, MOPS friends, dance friends, preschool friends were all there for lessons too. It was good to see so many familiar faces and to catch up. That's what I love about where we live, although it is a city, it's small enough to feel like a town.

On a final note, we now have experienced naked Lego play at our house. I have a picture but don't dare post it, but hey, you get the idea. One fully dressed kiddo, one naked kiddo (who peeled out of her swimsuit). Sigh. Oh to be so carefree! Happy Monday everyone!

Summer stuff

Impromptu Lion Dance

Tea party on the deck with neighbor and their American Girl dolls.

R-girl made another one of her fun concoctions, garnish and all.

Her first tomato from her very own tomato plant. Too bad no one in our family likes tomato's, including R-girl.

Fancy Snack

R-girl made up her own snack just now. Cereal, marshmallows, craisins and mini chocolate chips. And to make it even more special, she took a wine glass (that's water) and put a strawberry on it. Tah-Da!

More weekend fun!

Spent the weekend enjoying the 4th of July with my sister and my brother in law. They live on a small lake, and a church camp directly across the lake puts on a not-so-small fireworks display. Perfect weather, front row seats (the dock!), a campfire, and not too many mosquitos amazingly.

Hey there Auntie B and doggie Suzie, are ya catchin' anything? Just thought I'd swim out and say Hi! R-girl did some fishing too, caught sunnies and perch.

Trees looking up from the hammock. Love the bright green color, with blue sky. Picture doesn't do it justice though.

Our little mermaid. R-girl spent as much time as she possibly could in the water, under the water, on top of the water...she literally played with the fish (Auntie B would catch one, toss it into R-girls floatie, R-girl would play with it until Auntie B caught the next one. They tried to convince me this was their way of making sure they weren't catching the same fish over and over again).

Me and R-girl.

D-daddy hanging out.

Parade, Minn-eh-soh-ta style

Purty red tractor.

The sign on the red ATV says "Sexiest Senior Citizens of Pillsbury".

A Minnesota Viking, fake biceps and all.

Candy for the kids, beer for the adults. Seriously. Kegger on a float handing out glasses of beer. One float was an entire wooden bar being pulled by a truck. There were others handing out bottles and cans of beer. Do I need to say this parade is well attended? They even "hand" out water balloons, so you have to remain alert.

This last photo was on a different lake, it was the end of a boat parade by the residents of the lake. I love the photo because the clouds look fake. Couldn't have had more perfect 4th of July weather!

The town and lake are called Pillsbury because Pillsbury Flour had a mill on the lake many years ago. There ya go. I don't think it gets any more Minn-eh-soh-tan than that, you betcha.

What does your dad drink?

Today at playgroup, a little girl whose name starts with the letter "C" was helping herself to a "rootbeard" from the cooler, when she loudly announced that "My dad drinks Diarrhea". After a second of stunned silence, those of us who understood what she meant to say burst out laughing! F-man drinks only one particular soda pop, so it wasn't hard to figure out what she was trying to say. So we had to quickly explain to the mortified others that she meant to say "My dad drinks Diet Pepsi". Poor F-man chose today to come to playgroup. Way to go C-girl!

Trying to catch up

It's been a busy but fun summer so far. Last week R girl attended day camp for three days at a nature-type center and had so much fun. She was really excited about all the great things she learned, and came home with 4 different plants. This week we are hanging out at home, going to the library, playing Lego's, creating scrapbooks (plus catching up on laundry, lawn mowing, etc). It almost feels like I'm on vacation because my time is my own time this week, I love it! Here's some photos of recent happenings:

Prairie-like. Cousin A handed down this great homemade prairie dress that her grandmother hand sewed for her. R girl has been into Little House on the Prairie, daddy has read all seven books to her.

T-cup fun! Attended a 5 year reunion of our China travel group on Saturday. Picnicked at Como. It's amazing to see the girls' grow up, and special to keep that connection.

Slip Slidin' Away. Same day but late afternoon we also joined friends for a BBQ/Birthday party. (Yes, I had a great nights sleep that night, slept until noon the next day).

There is a girl in this bed somewhere. She finds comfort in having every stuffed critter with her.

Cuteness. Kitty in a basket.