Another Mother/Daughter team today wanted to make patriotic cookies for the upcoming July 4^th holiday. We had good time talking about all their cousins and aunts and uncles. Sigh, I had NO cousins growing up. I once read a quote that said: It doesn’t matter how poor a man is, if he has family, he is rich. This little girl is very rich indeed with family. They were by far the cleanest/neatest decorators I’ve hosted!

I can see Abby having her own Food Show on TV!

Today found two cousins, Emileigh and Madyson attending Camp Barbie for the 2^nd year. I was happy to see them come back. Either they are extremely quiet little girls or my hearing is going bad! Emileigh is so precious and I would love to spend more time with her. The girls want to come back for Cookie School so I will definitely be seeing them again.

My sweet friend Abby came over today. This girl is creative! She brought some of her scrapbooks she had made. I was thrilled to see her starting at such a young age. She is also in the jewelry making business. We enjoyed getting re-acquainted and talking about future camp crafts.

Our first Camp session is entitled Who Needs Hallmark? It is a card making class. Thank you to my friend Carolyn for getting me hooked on card making last year. It got me through some really dark days. My days are much brighter now, especially when these precious young girls come visit. Today Kaylee was my first camper. She is a brand new born again Christian, having accepted Christ publicly and followed him in baptism this past week at our Lake service. She comes from a Godly home. We really enjoyed our time together.

School is out and it is time for Camp Barbie! We started the week off with a mother/daughter camp for Cookie School! What a fun day we had. Anna is 12 and Canaan is 5 and the Moms are….? Oh well. The girls jumped right into decorating while the Moms were a little hesitant. They all wanted to wear Chef Walton’s hats! I may have to get some more from him. It was a great and fun-filled day.

Bobs have always had a special place in my heart. My Dad was a Bob, my father in law is a Bob, my sister’s husband is a Bobby, and my sister in law’s husband is a Bob. It seems that God has always wanted me to have a Bob in my life. You know, Ecclesiastes says: a good name is better than any fine perfume. I sure miss my Dad/Bob and yet I am so blessed to have all these other Bob’s in my life. So Happy Father’s day to all “my” Bobs.

Today is a special day for me and Lee, but especially Lee. Today he received his Distinguished Toast Master Award,. This is the highest award a toastmaster can achieve. Not only does it involve giving many speeches, but it includes service time, leadership positions, and other key factors. Today was his last speech in completion of this coveted award. It was presented to him by his good friend and fellow toastmaster Jeff Walton. He will be officially recognized this fall at the district convention but today, June 12^th is his official date. Toastmasters has become an important part of our family. It has been a bright source of encouragement and motivation for Lee during some very dark days during my recuperation. I am very proud of him and wanted to share this time with you all.

A picture of Lee and Jeff

And what is “really” behind the scenes

Lee, I am so proud of you and the dedication you’ve shown to Toastmasters. It has been fun to share the journey.

Today was another Terrific Tuesday. The boys arrived with their bikes. Jacob surprised me by riding his bike without training wheels. He is not even 5 years old! He was able to ride all the way to the mailbox.

Not to feel left out, Spencer has his own tricycle. His little legs can certainly go fast trying to keep up with his brother.


Also we tried a few bubbles. No wind today so we actually had to blow a little.

Again Jacob took my picture.

Jacob is teaching Spencer how to drill cavities.

We had another terrific Tuesday. I highly recommend them to anyone!

Welcome to Private Camp Barbie, a sleep-over including bubble blowing, chalking, and decorating cookies. Throw in fish sticks, blue box macaroni and cheese, waffles, and corny dogs and you’ve got yourself a fun-filled Thursday and Friday! The girls’ Mom went to a kids camp and I offered to keep her kids! I know I got the better deal. You should recognize their picture as they’ve been featured in my blog before. As Lee’s grandmother used to say: I was glad to see ‘em come and glad to see ‘em go! Amen!
Telling Mom and big sister goodbye.

45 mph bubble blowing!

Rubbing Mr. Lee’s hair! I think he liked them!

Putting girls to bed was certainly different

What Camp is complete without cookies?

I really do love them with all my heart!

Today marks the first Terrific Tuesday for Jacob and Spencer. We are going to try this every Tuesday morning and see how “we” do. “This” is how they arrived today, ready to play! And they brought their own chairs to keep at my house.

Our main project today was to ice a few Father’s Day cookies. They were both great helpers. I quickly found out Spencer is the “frosting monster”. He licked more off his frosting stick than he got on his cookies. I got so caught up in taking these “non-staged” actual life pictures, that I forgot to take pictures of the finished cookies! Jacob even took my picture.

Honest, I did NOT put that frosting on his face!

We had a great time and a big shout out to Chef Jeffrey Walton for the Chef Hats!