Dad and Paul return from Safari!

Paul shot the warthog between the eyes!

Dad and Paul return from Safari.

They all taste delicious. You should all ask them how to smuggle large amounts of meat into the country. It's a great story.

Happy Fourth of July

Independence day started by attending the funeral of a student of Colin's. Young guy, 19 years old. Good funeral, a lot of military showed up. This is especially meaningful because it was a 1.5 hour drive in the middle of holiday leave. The protesters showed up also. They had published the 'sermon' they planned on reading including lines like 'God hates your son' and 'thank God for roadside bombs'. Thankfully there is a biker gang who also showed up and kept the protesters out of the cemetery. The bikers were yelled at and spit on, etc. I'm sure they can handle wimpy protesters.

The rest of the day was the usual food, fireworks and patriotic music. Emily watched the fireworks but the music was her favorite part.

Finger update: I have avoided looking at the sewing machine after my recent experience. I almost step aside as I walk by just in case I trip and impale myself again. So I figured I should 'get back on the horse' and I looked at the stitch. There is over an inch of thread with my blood on it! It is good I was working on the red part of the quilt.

Summer is in full swing: swimming and friends.

Emily loves being in the pool. She hangs on the side by her self. She jumps off of the side into my arms. She loves splashing into the pool after being thrown feet in the air by her dad. Fun memories.
Emily and Piper hanging out. I love Emily's dress. California poppies for a California girl. Piper was fun as always. We will see her a couple more times before she moves to Germany. Bummer.

E-M-I-L-Y!

Emily is such a girl. She is always "talking" on the phone. She has started wearing my shoes around the house. She even puts on my high heels. She tried fitting them on Colin, that was funny.
Emily SANDWICH!!!

Finger update: Once I was able to clean out the crusted blood, I found the exit wound. It is by my nail bed instead of on the pad of the finger. I am thankful the needle didn't hit the bone. I have total finger anxiety. The cut in my nail is 1/4 inch long. It is way too gross to put a picture up.

While Emily was sleeping...

Today one of my greatest fears came to fruition. I sewed my finger while working on a quilt.
It is true. I can sew on my mom's machine in the dark. My machine, I am still getting use to. So don't ask how I managed to put my finger under the needle as it descended and pierced my fingernail. It did not go through the finger but I did have to slide my finger tip off the needle.
I ran to the phone squeezing my finger, called Colin. As I am crying on the phone, the baby wakes up and started crying. He tells me to go to the garage to get his medical kit. There is a hot iron on the floor. I can't figure out how to open the door. Ahhh. That's when my mom power kicked in. I put the iron in the bathroom, shut the door, grabbed the baby, and walked down stairs while Emily wanted to look at all of the blood on my hand. After retrieving the medical kit from the trunk, Colin walked me through looking for pieces of thread, broken needle, etc and wrapping my hand. All in all, the finger will be okay.
Wow, I wish that would not have happened.

What a doll!

Look she has more hair!!!

Glam Girls.
Did I mention Emily sight reads?
Emily's first garden included basil, thyme, oregano and flowers.

She apparently does not like tomatos.

The Hospital Ball