Playing Outside and Taking Baths

After a busy Saturday helping mommy and daddy outside with yard work and digging in the dirt, I get dirt all over my face, hands, arms, legs, and feet.  I think dirt and I are best friends, however, mommy doesn't like it when I get dirty so she puts me in the bath tub.  That's okay with me, because I really like taking baths too!

It is a great excuse to play with my fun bath toys.  I like to stick them to the side of the tub and float my ducks around.

What do you like to do when you play outside and then take a bath?

Applesauce and Salsa

Several days over the last few weeks I have been busy making applesauce from apples picked in my grandparents backyard.  Now, I have several quart canning jars full and lined up on the shelf!  Feels good to have that task accomplished and knowing we will be able to enjoy it for a while.

Next, my garden tomatoes started all turning red at the same time!  I had to come up with a few different recipes that I could use them up with.  I turned one batch into salsa, another into spaghetti sauce, and another into soup.  Any more ideas?  All have tasted great so far and with more still on the plants turning red, I know I can easily make more of what I have already listed.  

Thinking of maybe making my garden a little bigger next year - but have not yet decided what I want to add to it.  This year was tomatoes and beets.  I might add green beans and peppers. 

Birthday Celebration and Artprize 2013

Back on Sept 20th I celebrated my 30th birthday!  Yes, I know I am a little behind on posting, but I am working on catching up so you will have to bear with me on my tardiness and pretend it didn't happen. :)  We didn't do anything extraordinary, but instead we picked up some dinner and headed downtown for a family night of fun.  It was a beautiful evening and I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable time together with my family.

As usual, Grand Rapids has their annual Artprize event going on downtown and it is always a fun time walking around looking at all the different ideas people come up with.  Here are a few of the fun things that we saw.

lovin' my lil cousin

My sister and brother-in-law decided to move back to Michigan and we were so elated!  First, because there was this super cute little boy of theirs that was born back in May who we had not even met!  Second, now we can hang out and see them more often and the little cousins can play together!  Avery loved her little cousin instantly.  Can you tell?

Our Little Dutch Girl

Avery was helping daddy out on our front porch and she found some wooden shoes.   These wooden shoes I had brought back with me as a souvenir from the Netherlands when I was there about 8 years ago.  They fit her perfectly don't ya think?  Just ignore the pj's, she was in the process of going to bed and was sidetracked - starting out young! ;)

Fun at Daddy's Work!

Back in September, Andrew's work place had a family fun day out in the front lawn.  They had food with lots of activities for kids to do.  Unfortunately the activities were a bit too advanced for our little girl, so we did other things instead.  We toured more areas that we had not seen before and took pictures on vehicles that are on display.  :)

Here is the oldest one of the two vehicles, owned by the company.

Here is the next one that was fun to play on.