Noah made a bracelet for his mom

Noah took some of my beads from the bead bowl, some didn't make it into a set, were experiments, or I just didn't like them. He made a cute bracelet for his mom:

More tea party

Here are more photos of the girls at the tea party. They had their nails done, a bit of shine on their eyes, cheeks, and they got to choose some fragrance to put on.....they all followed the rules given to them by the lady. It was neat to see them have so much fun.

Jen, here is a photo of me, I hate to have my picture taken, but I digress.

Recipe Friday July 3rd, 2009 Rhubarb Pie

Took this from the internet, it was a story about RAGBrAI, the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. The person writing the story indicates the bikers search all over on their trek for Rhubarb pie. Who knew, it is and will always be my favorite pie. Second is cherry, then coconut cream.

Deep Dish Rhubarb Berry Pie

Pie dough for a 2 crust pie

4 cups chopped rhubarb (about 2 pounds)
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries, quartered
1½ cups sugar
⅓ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt


Toss fruit with ½ cup sugar and set aside. Divide the pie dough into 2 portions and roll out the bottom piece to cover the bottom and sides of dish. You can use an 8x8, I use an 11x7. I think the size of the dish is interesting. Not your typical round pie pan at all. Leave about ¾” overhang around edges. Roll out remaining dough into a rectangle to cut your lattice pieces. Place the crusts in fridge to chill about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375° F. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch, cinnamon, sugar and salt. Add the almond extract to the fruit, and then add the dry ingredients and toss to coat. Brush crust with egg white and fill with fruit. Lattice the top crust and brush with egg white and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cover loosely with foil, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for another 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or a room temperature.

Tea Party: Clara's Closet

We took a trip to Clara's closet to do a tea party. It was so much fun! I highly recommend it if you have little girls that are girlie girls, adventurous with a sense of imagination and playfulness. The girls loved doing it, we had good times. Princess tea was served to them along with a lesson on proper etiquette. Olivia at only 4 took it all in, she followed all the rules to the letter, it was cute when she was done, she put her fork upside down at the 5:00 position....just like instructed. It was so cute to see her enjoy this excursion. We had some friends join us, they enjoyed it quite a bit, also. Jen, Ally and Reagan, thanks for joining us on our 'girl's out day'. We had so much fun!!!

Fireworks family and fun

The days are full with the energy that surrounds us from the little ones. Noah, 5 and Olivia, 4 keep us hopping. Today is 'The Transformer' movie for the boys, the girls are joining Jen, Karen's BFF from high school and her two nieces Ally and Reagan. We're doing a tea party. Should be fun........there will be a trip to Michael's and Archiver's first.

Olivia made pies with grandma, her baby pumpkin pie is next to the big one. Noah loves to hole up in the computer room and play with his storm troppers figurines.

Great grandma and grandpa Carnes (G-ma and G-pa 'horses') came to eat homemade chicken and noodles with us. There were some mild fireworks last night, which caused a ton of excitement.

Lightning bugs were rampant in the backyard prompting a trip to the dollar store today to get a bug house so we'll have a place to put them.

Pray for a move to Ottumwa, that would put them within 2 hours of me, Glory Glory Hallelujah, would I love that!!!

WOOHOO!! They are here

I couldn't say anything about our visitors because Isaac reads our blogs. Karen, Brian and the babies are here to see us, they drove in today as a surprise to Isaac. I have some pretty good photos of Olivia doing a hula hoop, and stringing 2mm silver beads on a pink poodle pendant I made for her.....to match her dress I got for her.

They had a water fight the first thing after they got here with Uncle Isaac. Then we had Rib Eyes for dinner along with'fluff' (watergate salad) baked potatoes and whatever else we could find. Tomorrow I am making pies. Pecan, Pumpkin and chocolate.

Tomorrow Great Grandpa Carnes and Great Grandma are coming. Karen always called them Grandmna and Grandpa Horses..........because they had horses and Steve's Mom divorced so much and remarried we could hardly keep track of her last name. So the stable grandparents were attached to what they had that was fun............HORSES!!!

We'll have homemade noodles. Then on Wed. the girls are going to the tea party and the boys are going to see the new Transformers movie.

I'll try to keep you posted. Our computer is in the spare bedroom where Steve is sleeping to get up and go to work tomorrow............or I would post photos.

Summer Arts Festival

I love the Summer Arts Festival. This year Isaac was able to go with us, he got this dragon mug. He bought one that wasn't as ornate last year, but it got broken. THis one is so neat. I love how the tongue hangs out the side of his mouth, it is on the top of the mug. I liked the blue one, but I didn't buy it, so we got the black one.