New Tervis

When we were on our way out of town from visiting Nana and Pops, we decided to take a 2.5 mile detour to go to the Tervis Tumbler Factory Store. Now I wish there was a factory that you can tour, but alas, there is just a store. These cups are great! They are very "Florida" and I think we are going to be sure to get some before we move! They are a little pricey, but so worth it!

When Matt was a kid, he came down and visited his grandparents and they bought him a Tervis that he could take as a souvenir. It cracked when he was at the Academy, or shortly after. Sad day for the pelican cup. But since they have a LIFETIME warranty, we took it back, got a credit for it, and picked out a new one. Sadly there were not any more pelicans, but there was this:

A John Deer Tervis. They really do have it all!

Summer Visit to Nana and Pops' House

We did get a chance to see Nana and Pops in Atlanta when we were there for Sarah and Christopher's wedding, but we wanted some time to them ourselves :) We drove over on Saturday morning and stayed two night until Monday morning. It was SO hot outside, so not too much happened out there, including the beach, but we had fun in the carport in the pool! We had a great visit and helped get some things done for them around the house!

Cecilia and Nana

Mir in the pool

Maybe her hat will grow?

Mir is trying to be a big girl....really.

Yay Miriam!

I wonder where she gets this look from?

Cecilia also enjoyed her time out of the pool as much as in.

I think there was a bug.

Yeah, definitely a bug.

Say cheese!

There is that tongue again!

Walking around the car port.

Looking for more things to "water."

And then we brought out the hose. Trouble is brewing.

So cute!

Forget the bucket, I am using the hose!

I will just help myself to Mommy's water. She won't mind.

I can't seem to get the water out though.

Cecilia gazing at the chair.

Working hard!

But we had a little trouble getting the water in the bucket.

Here Mir, let me take it from you, I mean help you.

Cecilia kept dodging the camera.

Let's water Nana. It will cool her off.

Nana and Pops!

This was our best group shot. Thanks for a great visit!

Canning!

A little over two years ago, my mother in law gave me a canning pot, rack, and the Ball Jar canning book. I have thought about it, but just haven't had the courage to try making preserves, etc. by myself, without ever watching someone else do it.

My friend Danielle went on vacation and came home with a half of a bushel of peaches. That is 25 pounds for those who don't know their conversions. That is a whole heck of a lot of peaches. I told her that I had all the "stuff" for canning, but had never had the courage to try. That conversation turned into us making peach preserves two days later :)

Babies playing! That is Mir on the left and one of Danielle's sons, Eamon on the right.

He's 10 months old and walking!

Cecilia showing us her goldfish snack. She didn't want to be left out!

The beautiful Danielle up to her elbows in peach!

Note the basket on the counter....these were authentic!

Sterilizing jars

Pots on the stove.

Lots of pots on the stove.

Peach preserve yummy-ness!

Hot jars

And another picture of Cecilia wearing Baby Elizabeth. It was so cute!

This was a shot of her being matronly.

Ta da!

End product. Quite lovely if I do say so myself.

I think I might try this again!

Eamon having a snack!

And back into the hot tub!

All the jars sealed...the preserves weren't as thick as they could have been, but all in all a great turnout for our first try! I think I might try the cinnamon stick next time!

Thanks for a great day, Danielle and all those yummy peaches!

Happy Haircut Day, Cecilia!

Uncle Ben and Miss Corey's wedding is coming up soon, and Cecilia was in DIRE need of a haircut. Now I usually cut her hair, but I was afraid that there would be some quick moves, bad snips, or just something that would mess it up and then we'd be up a creek!

I took her to a local place, where a very nice woman name Melissa cut her hair. She trimmed up her bangs (gave her less of them too!) and evened out the sides. I wanted to keep as much length as possible, but maybe after the wedding we'll have a bigger trim!

BEFORE:

At the hair place

I am pretty sure she sat as still as I have ever seen her.

I think it was the novelty of the environment.

AFTER:

Isn't she beautiful??

Storytime Crafts

Here are our latest story time crafts:

Mr Turtle....a Styrofoam bowl with construction paper head and legs, with a tissue paper shell.

He is minus one leg. Not sure what happened to that :)

Mr. Duck....quack quack quack.

He was supposed to be a colored paper plate, but there wasn't much coloring that happened.