Triangle Art

Today in Art Class, Elizabeth and I learned about the color green and about triangles. We began the class by putting on our smocks and painting with green paint. Elizabeth was very interested in patting the paper with her brush. The teacher told her that she had great technique!


After story time and a snack, we got to decorate a piece of "pizza". First we colored it...


Then we painted on our red sauce...


Next we added our cheese. Elizabeth concentrated so hard while pile her cheese on top of her "pizza". I would encourage her spread it all over the piece...but Elizabeth wanted it all in a pile.


After adding the cheese, it was on to our toppings. Elizabeth did great with peeling the stickers and putting them on the paper. The teacher was amazed that Elizabeth did not need any help getting the stickers off of the backing.


Elizabeth and I always have such a good time at Gymboree. I am truly blessed to be able to spend time doing these fun activities with her.

Hip Hip Hooray...

It's a Gymboree Day!

Today at Gymboree we learned all about Dogs. Elizabeth absolutely loves dogs...so she was so excited. We started out by making sure our little pet dogs had plenty to eat.

Next, we were off in search of doggie bones. They were hidden all around the room and it was our job to make sure that they all were found. Elizabeth had a great time digging in the "dirt" and collecting bones.


Once we found the bones, we got to bring the back to our pets. Elizabeth loved having the teacher help her give them to the dog puppet.


Elizabeth is such a compassionate little girl. She was so concerned about the dog. She sat right by him the whole time to make sure that he was okay and that all of the children were giving him the bones properly.


Before class was over, we got to have a doggie bath. Each of the children got to scrub the doggie...to make sure he was all clean. Elizabeth loved all of the bubbles in the air. She would scrub away and yell "bubbles".


One of Elizabeth's favorite parts at Gymboree is parachute time. All of the children gather on top of the parachute and have bubble time. We sing songs and create parachute bubbles. Elizabeth loves to run around and pop all of the bubbles.


I love that Elizabeth and I have this time together. She is learning, growing and changing each and every day and I am amazed and blessed to be able to be with her to see it all.

One Shoe Off and One Shoe On

This week we were over visiting my dad...who is still on bed rest from his foot surgery. A couple of minute after we arrived, Elizabeth took one shoe off and started walking around the house. She would get upset if I tried to put her shoe back on. I then tried to convince her to take her other shoe off...she would get upset at that too. Instead of fighting, I just let her walk around. It was a little while later when we finally realized Elizabeth was trying to be like Papa. My dad has a walking boot on one foot and nothing on his other foot. Elizabeth wanted to be just like Papa!

Pioneer Day Celebration

Happy Pioneer Day! We had such a great day and we hope that everyone else did too! Elizabeth and I headed over to Karla and Kelly's house to swim while we waited for Matt to get off of work. Elizabeth loves to play in the splash pools and even tried the slide...as long as I was holding her hand.


Once Matt arrived, we enjoyed a yummy BBQ and played in the yard. We always have such a fun time at Karla and Kelly's house. Elizabeth loves walking around the garden, smelling all of the beautiful flowers.

Thanks for a great day. Karla and Kelly...we love you to pieces!

She HAD a perfect nose!

This week, we headed over to Wheeler Farm to take some family portraits. As we walked around the grounds, looking for the perfect place to take our family photo...Elizabeth totally biffed it and landed on her face. I ran to her and picked her up to discover that she had a couple of scratches on her forehead and nose...but otherwise seemed okay. I was so happy that she was okay...and that her injuries were not worse.

Well by the time we got home after the photo shoot, Elizabeth looked like this...


Poor little girl! It amazes me though that she can fall down and mess up her face...but keep on smiling. What a little sweetheart!

It's a Jungle Out There!

At Gymboree today, we took a trip to the jungle. We went hiking and had to use our balancing skills to cross a raging river.

Then we went in search of bugs. We collected them in nets and brought them back to our camp for observation. 

Elizabeth loved looking for wild animals with her binoculars.

We even discovered a monkey's den and got to feed him some bananas.

Elizabeth loved the monkey and spent most of the rest of class feeding him and carrying him around. 

Gymboree is such a fun place to be. I love that we get to spend time together being creative. I had a great day in the jungle with all of the little wild animals running around!

Freebairn Family Photos

We have been well overdue for a new Freebairn family portrait..so today we headed off to Wheeler Farm to finally get them done.

It is so amazing to see how our family has changed over the years. Karla and Kelly now have four grandchildren...and they are all getting so big!

**On a side note, I have to say that Matt did an amazing job. It is not easy to take a photo and to be in it...especially when there are four kids under age four.

Elizabeth's New Train

Elizabeth is one lucky little girl! Today grandma called Elizabeth and asked her if she wanted to go search for a surprise. Of course, Elizabeth said "Yes!"...so off we went. When we got to grandma's house, we learned that grandma wanted to take Elizabeth shopping for a little ride on bike.


After going to Walmart, Shopko, KMart, Target, and WalMart again...we ended up with this Leapfrog Train. It is absolutely adorable and Elizabeth loves it! It has tons of buttons and sings all sorts of songs. Elizabeth was so excited to discover that the seat lifts up and has room to store some fun things.


When we finally decided that the Leapfrog Train was the one, we told Elizabeth that we were going to take it home with us. She was so happy and started to carry it to the front of the store. After a couple of steps, she started pushing it since it is kinda heavy. As she would walk down the aisles pushing the train, she would say "I buy this!" and would tell everyone that she saw to "move". Eventually, I started carrying it to the front...but Elizabeth had to have at least one hand on the box the entire time. What a little crazy girl!

Yarn Quest 2009

This week I have been participating in the 2009 Yarn Quest. It has been educational, interesting, and lots of fun! On July 11th, I picked up my yarn store card and have been visiting each of the seven participating stores. This is my first Yarn Quest...and it will definitely not be my last.

The first store that I stopped at was the Black Sheep Wool Co. I had never been to this store, so I was really excited to go and see what all they had. It got off to a little bit of a rough start when I arrived at 10:00am and they were not open. I sat there and waited until 10:40am....when, finally, the worker arrived. The shop is small but they had a lot of gorgeous yarn and cute samples. One of my favorite things about this shop is their selection of buttons. I don't think that I have ever seen so many buttons in one place. They also had some really fun DPN holders and project bags.

My next stop was at Blazing Needles. This is a brand new shop that I have never been to before. They will be celebrating their one year anniversary on July 23rd. I have looked at their website so I knew a little bit about them but I really wanted to go and see the store in person. This store has a lot of potential. Right now, they don't have a ton of stuff but I can see them building the store into something really cool. I love their classroom and I think that it is so neat that they have a felting room! They had a really good selection of purse handles and buttons.

Next, I was off to The Wool Cabin. I had been to this store once before but I couldn't really look around because I had Elizabeth with me. I really enjoyed my time at this store. Other than Kamille's, it is probably my favorite. They had some really fun yarns and samples. Their selection is huge and they have lots of different kinds of patterns and notions. I bought a pattern for a darling knitted dress that I cannot wait to make. So Fun! I will definitely be going back to this shop!

I quickly stopped at Kamille's but did not do any shopping. Since I am at the shop on a weekly basis, I decided to spend my time at the shops that I do not get to very often. I will say that I think Kamille's shop is probably the cutest shop out of all of the participating shops. Kamille's is cozy and friendly. She has a huge selection of yarn compared to some of the other shops.

Unwind was the next shop on my quest. I have to say that the owner of this shop was so nice. She took a real interest in making sure that I was happy and finding everything that I need. She had some really cute patterns and yarns. They have a huge selection of amigurumi animal patterns...and even ones that you can buy pre-made. I really like their selection of Lantern Moon bags and On Line Linie 5 Corafino yarns. I also found information about this really fun website www.mybootee.com.

Next, I was off to Unraveled Sheep. This was probably my least favorite shop. It is kinda small and I did not love the atmosphere. They did have a nice selection of purse handles and beads though. The only yarns that I am really interested from this store is their selection of Cascade Yarns and their Berroco Love It yarns.

I ended my quest at Three Wishes. This store is very big and seems to specialize in spinning. I haven't tried spinning yet but if I ever decide to, I will have to check out this store again. They do offer a few really nice yarns. They have Bebe Cotsoy, Sublime, Ella Rae Classics, and Tabali. They also offer Sublime and Sirdar Patterns.

I spy with my little eye...

a nest full of baby birdies!


For the past little while, we have been watching a couple of little birds build a nest on our porch. Well today, we went outside to find a nest full of four little baby birdies. Too Cute!

July Scrapbooking Club

Today was my monthly scrapbooking club. I am always so excited to go and get some new ideas from everyone. Since Matt had today off he was able to stay home with Elizabeth for a little daddy-daughter time. It was fun to get together with friends and to get some pages done.

This time we had eight layouts to make. We used the 2 Sweet Simply Scrappin' Kit. I love all of the flowers and girlie stuff in this kit.