Turner Farm Flower Arranging Class

This morning Lia and I headed to Turner Farm for an "oval" flower arranging class with a new friend Tami and her daughter Maya.

In this picture above are 3 arrangements - the instructor's, Tami's and mine.

Here's mine on our dining room table!

After the class we had a picnic lunch at the farm.  And then came back to our house for some sprinkler fun.

And slide & swing fun!

Latin Music on the Square

Tonight Lia & I went downtown for the Latin band experience on Fountain Square.  It was really fun.  Lia LOVED the foutain and running all around, chasing birds and playing in their "sand" areas!  She also enjoyed the band, and wanted to sit right up by them...

Lia met a new friend on the square and was immediately taken with this beautiful little girl.  They were little monkeys!

"Kiss and Hug too" - for Lia's friend Miracle - her favorite words these days!!!

6 eggs today!!!

Here's a photo of 5 eggs - that Frank collected all at once this afternoon.  I went back this evening and collected one more!  This is an AMAZING day for us with 8 chickens!!! ☺ I am also just now figuring out that I think we have 2 different brown eggs - one is lighter than the other.  So I'm not quite sure who is the darker brown egg layer and the lighter brown egg layer!?? I hope to figure it out. We are so thankful to our friend Karla who GAVE us 4 of our current chickens!  Thanks Karla!  I need to cook you dinner here SOON!  ♥ I also witnessed a not-so-pretty-behavior tonight of one of the ladies on top of another one PECKING at her neck...awwww.  Let's hope this stays to a minimum since we don't have a BUNCH of chickens.  Come on ladies...let's be nice!

Meet Mr. Mojo...the newest member of our family!

As Lia says and said tonight before bed... "kiss bunny"...

...."and hug too".  Guess who loves this little bunny?

Dinner with the Stantons

July 9, 2010

Mary treated us to a really nice meal because of all the hard work Jimmy's been doing on her house!  Frank felt good about being up there to help Jim out with some of the yard work.

Debo drove in to be with us!!!

Congrats to Whitney and Mike who are engaged!!!

Lia had fun coloring and enjoying the family!

Our Ameraucaunas are laying eggs!

July 12, 2010

We are sooo excited that our 4 Ameraucaunas are laying tiny light green eggs!  Above are 3 eggs Frank collected this morning.  These went on Frank's breakfast plate because he is the real care-giver of these ladies!

This picture shows you how small some of them are, the lighter egg is our Sussex's egg, which is medium, not too large.

Our first egg came when we were in Rochester and Colleen & Andy were watching over our girls and gardens.  Not only are we now getting THIER eggs, but this has inspired our other 2 - Black Jersey Giant and Sussex to start laying again. We are such happy egg-laying chicken owners!   :D

The birth & flight of honey bees for Lia's Birthday cupcakes!

Okay, below is some marzipan that I tinted yellow.  And also there is a section that I attempted to tint black.  I tried very hard to get it black, but it was a dirty grey color, not what I wanted!  I consulted a friend (and neighbor) who suggested that I use her black fondant (it came tinted) instead b/c black is hard to achieve, so that is what I did instead! In most cases, fondant (firm sugar icing) and marzipan (a paste of ground almonds, sugar and sometimes egg whites) can be used interchangeably, and these worked fine together for me.  Thank God for Anna and her generosity & knowledge (she has made many decorative cakes before!) so that I could get these bees made tonight instead of tomorrow or later. 

I rolled out the yelllow marzipan and the black fondant and cut them each up to create the bumble bees below. 

Look at their almond wings!  Yummy fun bumble bees!  They will be sitting on top of their flower cupcakes for Lia's birthday party this Saturday!  :)