summer activities

We finished off my mom's visit with a belated birthday dinner and dessert which coincided with the final Mom's study group before Summer Break. I quickly made a bunting out of floral paper flowers bought in jars of several different colors years ago on a clearance shelf at Michael's Craft store. I have used them many times for different projects, but this was the first for a bunting. I went with red, white and blue since my mom is very patriotic and loves to decorate with those colors. I didn't measure how long it should be so the swag was quite lower than I would have preferred, but very-very-last minute ideas do not enjoy any tweaking, especially ones made in secret. I had made an unbaked cheesecake(cream cheese, sugar, cool whip and sour cream) with graham cracker crust and this homemade blueberry pie filling recipe. It was good even several days later.

Kate's therapy has helped her to be able to chew crackers, watermelon, cooked carrots and apple slices in small pieces placed on her molars where she can chew it well before swallowing. Under direct supervision she can feed herself bite sized pieces while she is reminded to place it correctly and chew well. It's a stage of toddler finger-foods-eating that she was never able to do. And her therapist is so encouraged by her progress that we are meeting more often to practice and help her try new steps in her eating abilities. She loves the watermelon.

Laura also has reached a milestone by teaching herself to ride her bike without her training wheels. I started out back with her on the grass by the river on a very hot and sticky morning. It became evident that she did not need me, just needed some time to work out the whole process. She went out several times that day and finally nailed it. The next morning was cool and windy, she headed back out and within minutes was riding it. We thought it was time to come out to the front to ride on the paved path that encircles the courtyard formed by our twenty townhouse/condo homes. Sure enough, she was ready, just needing practice at making the turns around each corner. Her efforts and skill rewarded her quickly and by later that afternoon she confidently riding with the other bikers. She has now been on bike rides with Seth and has done very well.

We have had several times of thunderstorm and rainstorm weather which has helped to keep the vegetation green and growing. It also has provided for some spectacular sky scenes.

Before my mom left she helped me plan and sew some curtain scraps into viable kitchen curtains, the last windows that needed treatments when we took down the venetian blinds we had been using since we lived here. She finished the seams and I made pockets for the curtain rod to slip through. I then cut two pieces of ribbon, attached velcro and applied anti-fray to the ribbon ends. There are four panels instead of two (leftover from the four Ikea curtain panels I altered) which looks a bit untidy when we untie them for the night, but it allowed me to use up fabric and not have to trudge around the shops for something else.