Summer 2016

I haven't updated the blog much recently, so here are a few images from our summer vacation. (See Pinebrook and my birthday party pics at those links.)

One of my best friends from my teenage years visited this summer. We went to the zoo before they had to leave.

 We got a new kitten. This is Mookie. We met him for the first time Memorial Day weekend. He came home with us after my writing conference. He was born on the same farm as our 11-year-old cat, Lucy.

The children pick him up and play with him all day long. He does bite, but it has only recently been worse than nibbles. Mookie and Lucy don't get along very well.

 The first week of August the children and I went to Science Camp. Actually, I cotaught it with my friend. The older two children were in camp with me. Esther was with the younger children with Drama Camp.

This is Meghan and her friend, M. They were preparing for chemical reactions.

 We also explored physical changes. Evan rescued this LEGO minifigure from icec.

 One day the children helped me prepare corn for the freezer.

 My book arrived! See more about it here.

 Here's another picture of Mookie. He loves to cuddle--the neck and face. He begins purring before you even touch him. Meghan's been a champ helping me give Mookie medicine in the mornings. She opens his mouth and pops the pill right in!

Annette's 40th

Back in May Derek told me we should start thinking about celebrating my 40th birthday. It took me a month to agree to having a party. I don't exactly love being in the spotlight. 

We are too frugal to have something catered (even our wedding was DIY), so we spent a lot of time and energy preparing for the party. I'm so glad we did. My birthday party was exactly a month after my 40th birthday, but it was truly a blessing to be surrounded by family and friends.

It was a really hot day. I believe it was about 105° with the heat index. Thankfully there was a slight breeze. We had the party at a local park.

This is the cake Derek's mom made for me. I love that it's a book...and it has my newly released book on it! (I should probably write about that in a different post, but if you are interested, it's called Insects as Producers. It can be found on Amazon. No, it is not self-published.)

How about these lollipops to celebrate a book about insect products? Those are ants IN the lollipops!

I was really pleased at how many family members traveled a good distance.