Arts & Craft Fair and the Whoopie Pie Festival!

Last weekend we went to the annual Whoopie Pie Festival in Strasburg, PA. What a day! :-) Jane and our friend, Sherry Clippenger set up a booth in the arts and crafts area there, and we all hung out together for the day. It was a gorgeous day and a fun time spent with good friends. :-)

The Whoopie Pie events kept us laughing and eating throughout the day....

Setting up - as you can see, I'm doing some last minute price tags and labels!

Sherry Clippenger does AMAZING quilted wall hangings. love, LOVE her turles and flowers! soooo creative. :-) And, in this photo you can see Erik's wooden teethers - sealed with beeswax. They were a hit and too cute to pass up!
I made a few clutches to see if they would sell...one happy customer, anyway. maybe the next show they will be more popular...??

Sherry and I had fun putting together our "tree" to hang our ornaments. Wax molded ornaments by Sherry and cloth birds and houses by Jane.

my cards and a bird's nest tea towel...and Sherry's jazzy turtle!

The completed booth! :-) Isn't it pretty?!the line of vendors
MJ was great during the day...and especially enjoyed her time with Mr. and Mrs. Clippenger (her new best friends!).

And...of course we had to try a few whoopie pies while we were there. wowzers!

pumpkin and cream cheese filling - yummy!!

MJ's First Food!

It has begun....

This morning, Tuesday, September 21st - dressed up in her "party animal bib" and her "hungry caterpillar sleeper" - Meredith took her first bites (well, slurps is more like it)!!

Woohoo!! Banana and Rice cereal is a winner! She is a fan.

She was pretty hesitant and unsure at first (see the video in a post to come), but she warmed up to it and nearly finished the whole bowl. Well done, MJ. :-)

So...now we enter yet another season of life. Eek.

mr. hippo

Speaking of knitting.... :-)

Another dear friend of ours - Mariah Weigel - just sent a gift for MJ

A knitted purple hippo!!

Strawberry Top

Our dear friend, Jane Hutchinson, made this adorable hat for Meredith. We call her "strawberry top" when she wears it! It's a great fit and just the thing for our early morning walks as a family.

Gotta love her expressions! What is she thinking? :-)

Jump Up Time!

Meredith has been enjoying her "johnny jump up" lately. She twirls around mostly, and gets a few bounces in here and there. She mostly likes looking around her and observing from this new spot...that's really her favorite past time anyway.... :-)

First Dip

Meredith had her first dip this week at Grandma and Granddaddy McKinzie's pool in North Carolina. :-)

I think she's a bit nervous here...

But, she really loved it once she was splashing around with us.

She had her "first" official swimming lesson too! Kick those legs!!

Cousins at 5 months!

Meredith and Lilia spent some quality time together this week. I love this photo of them chillin' together. Lilia is being such a sweet friend to Meredith here!


Meredith got a new outfit at a baby consignment shop this week - yay for a lemon onesie!!


Lots of giggles and kicking around together. Love this time for the cousins!

Undertaking the Timing Belt (and more)

This week, I learned more about cars than I have know in my whole life...which wasn't a small amount, thanks to my dad. I decided to change the timing belt (among other things) on our "new" 2000 Honda CR-V. What an experience. Here's the the car being stripped to begin the work.

It was beautiful to see the inner workings of the car. Here's the cylinder head exposed. The internal combustion engine is one of the most ingenious designs of man. The two parallel lines are the camshafts that open and close the valves, which in combination with the fuel and oxygen, powers the car.

I had to take off quite a bit to access the timing belt from the driver's side of the engine and through the wheel well. Here is looking down at the pulleys after everything had been removed. The two pulleys at the top turn the camshafts (see above).

And here is looking up from underneath the car at the lower part of the timing mechanism. With the belt in place, everything has to be exactly positioned to be "in time." This controls the precise coordination of the crankshaft (bottom pulley), the water pump (the whole in the middle of the picture as I was also replacing this), and the camshafts. A little off and the engine could have serious problems.

After 4 days (not continuous, thankfully), lots of dirt and grease, near failure about 15 times, many trips to the auto store for parts and rentals, the support of Jane and Meredith, and the help of my father-in-law, Steve McKinzie, we were successful in our quest. We saved $800 on the job (if we had taken it in to a shop), learned a lot, and have many good stories to share.

Great-grandma's 90th birthday!

On August 30th, Meredith's great-grandma turned 90! We helped her celebrate. :-)

Still blowing strong...

It was also a special day for all of us because Grandma met MJ for the first time. Here we all - the four generations together!

G-Gma and MJ bonding