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The Severn River and the canoes/kayaks at the Indian Landing Boat Club.

© Michelle Hines

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Yet another butterfly. This one seemed to want to sit and pose for me.

© Michelle Hines

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I have been crocheting hats for Oliver and the N.I.C.U. Lilly has begun skipping naps. This means that she is awake and watching me crochet in the afternoons. It keeps my hands busy and means I snack less during my down time in the afternoon and in the evenings. At first Lilly just wanted to hold a hook. Then she spent time playing with yarn. Now she is putting them together. I chain a few stitches with both of our hands on the hook and yarn then let her try. If she were a bit older I think she would be making hats of her own. ( I made the one she is wearing.)

© Michelle Hines

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Lilly got a toy cash register for her birthday. While Lilly was busy pushing buttons Chloe grabbed the cash!

© Michelle Hines

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Click on the image to see a larger version

What can I say? I am drawn to the butterflies that visit this bush. There are always several enjoying the beautiful purple flowers. Big ones and small ones, brightly colored and not. I wish I had a macro lens so that I could capture all of the details in their wings. Today the Monarch decided to stick to the flowers at the top of the bush. I only had my 50mm outside with me so this was as close as I could get but even from this distance the colors jump out at you.

© Michelle Hines

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Friday night we went to dinner in Baltimore. McCormick and Schmick's is one of my favorite places to go. The food was yummy and the company was wonderful. We thankfully sat inside because during dinner a big thunderstorm rolled through Baltimore. After dinner the rain was almost gone. We had wanted to walk around town a bit after we ate but because of the weather we had to change our plans. I did manage a shot of the lights shining on the water. If it hadn't still been drizzling I would have done more than grab this quick snapshot.

© Michelle Hines

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When Lilly received her new bike for her birthday she decided to give Chloe one of her old ones. Chloe's first instinct was to stand up one it.

© Michelle Hines

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Happy Birthday Lilly!

This morning I arrived at work to find a very excited little girl. She said, " Last night when I went to sleep I was two and when I woke up this day I was three!"

She got all dressed up in her "fancy dress" and had a special lunch with Mom and Dad.

Then she spent some time in the afternoon riding her new bike.
She's a big girl now.

© Michelle Hines

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Chloe is becoming a little monkey. She tries to climb on everything. Here she has tipped over the little plastic chair to their table and chair set, put her knee up on one leg of the chair and is bringing her foot up to put on the other. She practiced this over and over again. You can see how hard she is concentrating.

© Michelle Hines

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On our way home from the Baltimore Bridal Show, Kate and I, stopped by our local farm stand. They sell cut flowers as well as fruits and vegetables. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was bouncing off of the roof of the barns. Butterflies and bees were darting from flower to flower. I just had to get the camera out. I wish I had thought to put on my polarized lens cover so that the sky would have been less hazy, but in August Maryland is suppose to be hot and hazy.

© Michelle Hines

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Some pictures from today's photo session in the park.

How funny is this?

Tomorrow we are going to take some urban shots.

© Michelle Hines

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This coming Saturday morning we are suppose have a photo session so that I can take some maternity portraits of Christy with Ian. Oliver may have other plans. At her doctor's appointment today Christy was told that she could deliver soon. Let's hope the baby gives us a few days to wrap up that project before he makes his appearance.

© Michelle Hines

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The finished quilt.

© Michelle Hines

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Saturday we had two parties. We had a baby shower for Christy in the morning and the birthday party in the afternoon. Crazy right?! Doing it this way allowed our friends and family from out of town to attend both. My sister in law, Caroline, came up from Florida and prepared the food for the shower. It was all wonderful.

© Michelle Hines

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Yesterday we celebrate Kate's 21st birthday with a party. After Happy Birthday was sung and everyone's attention was still on Kate Matt took a knee and asked my daughter to marry him.

She said Yes!

I am so lucky. A year ago I was afraid I wouldn't be here and now I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first grandchild and my daughter is getting married.

© Michelle Hines

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This is a baby who is serious about her mac and cheese. We had lunch at Noodles and Company yesterday. Chloe ate half of a large mac and cheese and half of a parmesan crusted chicken breast.

Another butterfly photo. Lilly got her face painted at the monthly family show yesterday. It was the first time I let her do it. She had it done at 11 am and managed to not smear it until around 4 pm. Of course we couldn't take a nap because that would smear the face paint.

© Michelle Hines

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More butterflies! Are they Monarchs or the look alike moth? I can't tell the difference but I have always favored this butterfly. Its colors are beautiful. I would love to live in an area that saw an abundance of Monarchs during their migration in the fall and spring. They do travel through Maryland but I think where I live is too populated for these beautiful butterflies to gather in large groups. How wonderful would it be to sit in a field while hundreds of Monarchs darted about?

© Michelle Hines

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Kate is now occasionally riding on the back of Matt's motorcycle. Part of me is scared to death every time she gets on. The other part of me is proud that she has the courage to do it as I do not.

© Michelle Hines

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Happy Birthday Kate!

My little girl quietly celebrated her twenty first birthday today. Next weekend we will have a birthday bash. Tonight I cooked all of her favorites for dinner, fried chicken nuggets, beer bread, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. Our family, Matt and his family, Kate's friend Erica and Grandma and Donald were all here. We will have a big cake at the birthday bash so tonight I made Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Icing. Yummy!

© Michelle Hines

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Last night Ian, Christy, Kate and I went to the 102 annual Big Glen Burnie Carnival. I have been going to THE carnival at the end of July and beginning of August every year since I was eight years old with a very few exceptions. When I was younger I went with my grandparents, who were active in Civitan and work at the pizza booth. We would arrive before the carnival officially opened for the night and stay until the rides shut down. Those nights are included in my fondest memories of childhood. The first time I missed the annual event was twenty one years ago. While preparing to go walk around the carnival I went into labor. Kate has always associated the carnival with her birthday. Last night we went and bought our raffle tickets for the car they give away every year, ate pizza, fries with vinegar, funnel cakes, candied apples and lemonade. We played bingo, something I use to do with my grandmother and my mother and some of the carnival games. We came home with two goldfish. Ian and Kate both won one. Kate has named them Squishy and OISH ( Oliver's initials). I had a great time! I am hoping to go one more time this week with my baby sister and her three girls. They live in North Carolina and have not been.

© Michelle Hines