2010 is half over already?

How can that be??

The end of June was a little less hectic for us than the beginning of the month, and I've been enjoying some lazy days. :) Soon after we returned from our trip to Ames, we received 2 big boxes in the mail from Fran, birthday gifts for me and George. Ben was very excited about the boxes themselves and had fun playing in them!
I finally received my 2 free copies of the May/June 2010 issue of Babybug, with a reprint of my story "In My Yard" inside. :)
It took me awhile to get motivated, but I FINALLY unpacked all the things I bought at the auction in Iowa and found places to put them. But before that, I took a few photos! :)

Can you believe that I got everything in the following 3 pictures for $1?? Really, I did!! Ten place settings of this china, including plates, saucers, tea cups, bowls, spoons, plus 2 serving bowls and 2 mini bowls: A platter, tea pot, sugar pot, creamer, and whatever the piece in the middle is called:
And this thing. Don't know what it is, exactly, but it's pretty! LOL The auctioneer said it was a chopstick holder, and that may be, but when I looked online, I couldn't find any chopstick holders that looked even remotely like this, so I'm thinking maybe it's something else? If anyone out there knows, please share!
Yep, all that stuff in one box for $1.

I also bought the following items for similar bargains. These 2 cups and saucers are probably my favorite purchase ~ I just think they are beautiful, and I wish I had a whole set! A pretty plate:
It's hard to tell here, but this platter is huge!
This bowl and little spoons came together:
and so did this set:
This is a neat piece, too:
And I just love this canister! I didn't actually buy this one... it went a little higher than the other pieces, out of my price range, but still a good deal, and my mom bought it for me, as part of my birthday gifts! Thanks, Mom!! :)Besides all the pretty blue stuff, I also bought a box of 40+ videos (all but 3 are old musicals), a box full of Christmas stuff, and a box full of Halloween decor! Pretty good haul, huh? ;)

On the 24th, Emmalie left for a camping trip in Indiana with a youth group from church. That evening, the rest of us met up with our friends Dawn and Larry at Woodfield Mall. They were in town for a few days, and treated us to supper at The Cheesecake Factory, yum!! We were all glad to see them again, but Ben was especially happy to see one of his most favorite people in the world, Miss Dawn! :)
Nick, Ben (who refused to look at the camera for this one), me, Dawn, and Larry:
Benjamin started going to day camp on the 14th. He LOVES it! They've gone on a few field trips so far, and last Friday, the 25th, they went to Build-a-Bear. While there, he helped make his new buddy, Fuzzy:
On the 26th, we drove down to Elmhurst for our friends Don & Cathy's annual picnic. The boys had fun playing on the equipment at the park:




and playing croquet:
While we were there, Emm called to say she would be home from her trip at 1pm (3 hours earlier than expected!) so we went and picked her up, then returned to the picnic. She and Ben had a blast trying out some water guns:
The 27th was George's and my 18th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to a matinee movie, and then grabbing some supper at Chipotle. Not quite "celebrating in style", LOL, but it was still nice to get out for a while, just the two of us. :)

Meanwhile, our gardens have been growing and blooming. The plants sure do love all this rain we've been getting! Here's one of our many tiger lilies:
Red bee balm:
White bee balm:
and pink bee balm:
Hydrangeas:
Hostas:
And an aster:
Nick left on the 29th for a trip to WI with a friend, so in the meantime, I've been taking care of the bird feeders, etc. Yesterday I took the two heels of oatnut bread we had in the fridge, broke them into little pieces, and put them in our ground feeder for the birds and squirrels. Guess who also likes oatnut bread? LOL
These baby bunnies are so cute! They live under our shed, and we see them several times every day.

And now it's July! Looking forward to the holiday weekend, and wishing all of you out there a wonderful 4th! :)