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lincoln safari: peterson park

It’s been awhile since we’ve done any of the Lincoln Safari. Bella is obsessed really likes Mickey’s Clubhouse, and there is a lot of detective work on that show. Her favorite is The Case of the Missing Muffins. She’s loves looking for clues, so I thought it would be fun to start up again with the safari.

This park’s clue was southwest of the pond, under the tree that has a branch that almost touches the ground. She was so excited when we saw that branch! I have a feeling we’ll be doing these more often in the coming months.

We spent the rest of the morning at the playground. I’m paying for it this evening, though. I think all around the pond was ragweed. Yikes!

swinging at the park

tunnel at the park

seesaw at the park

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new on julie-k: how to refashion a dress into a skirt in five easy steps

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how does our garden grow?

I took these pictures last week, but I’m so behind with my blogging! The tomato looks about the same. We’re just waiting for that bad boy to turn red.

tomato

Our cucumber is almost ready to harvest. We’ve also got a few more growing.

cucumbers

The cilantro in our big pot didn’t make it, but these little guys that Bella planted are going strong.

cilantro

I think the problem with our tomatoes and cucumbers is that they are on our screened-in porch. There are no bees/bugs/birds to pollinate them! I’m having good luck manually pollinating the cucumbers, but I’m not getting any blossoms on the tomato plant. Oh, well. We’ll at least get something from our efforts this year. We’ll know more for next year.

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new on julie-k: handmade baby shower gift, mixing bread bags and wool with crochet, and wardrobe refashion: crochet top to tote bag

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blueberry buckle cake

If this post makes you hungry, you can blame Sarah. The other day we were up by Russ’s Market and I remembered her blogging about blueberries on sale. Bella and I bought some and then came home and made this:

blueberry coffee cake

It took me awhile to find a recipe that didn’t include a whole stick of butter. I settled on this one for a few reasons: it made two small loaves instead of one big cake and it said “freezes well.” Awesome way to spread out those calories! We cut into the frozen loaf today and it’s just as tasty as the first.

modifications: I used Light Smart Balance instead of butter. I also used a half whole wheat/half unbleached flour mixture instead of all white bleached.

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new on julie-k: twinkle, twinkle little chromium star

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the namesake

I haven’t written about any books lately because life got busy and I didn’t make reading a priority. The last few months I’ve tried to read at least one chapter a night before going to bed. That’s how I re-found The Namesake. I started this book months ago. One day my daughter decided she wanted to play with my bookmark. Afterward, I couldn’t find my place so I just shoved it into my nightstand and forgot about it.

The Namesake movie has been at the bottom of our movie queue for awhile. I wanted to finish reading the book before I watched the movie. When we switched over to Netflix from Blockbuster, I remembered about the book and quickly finished it so we could rent it.




The book is incredible. Jhumpa Lahiri writes with such amazing detail that you almost feel like you are in the same room with her characters. I’d like to think that I learned a little more about my husband’s culture, but I’m not sure how similar Bengali customs are to Punjabi customs. I’m not sure he knows, either.

T watched the movie with me and enjoyed it, but didn’t think it was as good as I did. A lot of the story gets lost when you try to fit it into two hours. Don’t get me wrong, though. The movie was very well done. I’d recommend seeing it without reading the book, but in this case, the written version is definitely better!

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new on julie-k: twin baby locks

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twitter was down?

It’s unbelievable that I didn’t know twitter was down until the evening news. I rarely spend so much time away from my computer during the day, but it was too beautiful to sit in front of the keyboard.

I have a book due at the library tomorrow that I was hoping to finish up today. The weather forecast was nice and cool (for August) so I took Bella to the zoo. She loves to sit in the big sand area and play forever. I figured I’d let her play while I’d sit in the shade next to the parrots and read my book.

You know what happened, don’t you? She was totally NOT interested in the sand area. Not one bit. I think I read two paragraphs before she was ready for the next thing. Oh, well. We had tons of fun. I can always read when it’s cold out, right?

bella caterpillar

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new on julie-k: oversized swatch becomes cute wool clutch

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fun at the ager center

I can’t believe that it is sunny and cool right now. We planned to go to the zoo with Kelly and Leith today, but it was raining. The weather report called for more rain right around the time we were going to meet. Plan B was going to the Ager Center.

Now that Bella is almost three, I let her get a pass for play structure. She wasn’t really interested in it until the very end — right before we were ready to leave, of course. I didn’t think to get a picture because I was too busy checking in on her. I did get some pics of the two of them playing with Little People.

bella and leith

bella and leith

Kelly and I also had a nice visit. We didn’t play with Little People, though.

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new on julie-k: wardrobe refashions: pajamas, a skirt and a shirt

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my little perch

bella's first swim lesson

Last week Bella tried swimming in the bathtub. I asked her if she wanted to take swimming lessons and she said, “YES!” There just happened to be a class open that started this week so I signed her up. Every day so far has had its own milestone.

Monday: This day was a little overwhelming. Skills covered were putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles, which she did not want to do, floating on her back, she kept bending her knees, and jumping off the side of the pool, which was more like me lifting her off.

Tuesday: A much more comfortable day in the water. She floated on both her front and back with help, jumped off the edge of the pool holding my hands and put her face in the water to blow bubbles.

Wednesday: I’m amazed at her progress. She’s putting her whole head under water, floating on her back, kicking while floating on her front and today she jumped off the side of the pool into the teacher’s arms and didn’t hold hands!

I wish I could take pictures, but I’m in the water with her. I’ll post more of her progress, though. Can’t wait to see what she does next!

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dad’s photos

Right before my parents leave after a visit, my dad lets me download all of the photos from his camera to my computer. I love going through them. Here are three of my favorites from last week.

july 4th parade in seward

4th of july parade in seward, ne

chasing bubbles

chasing bubbles in the backyard

having fun at lost in fun

having fun at “lost in fun”

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new on julie-k: two new tote bags!