One of my favorite places in Lancaster County is Central Market which is located downtown, in the heart of Lancaster.  Some of the oldest memories from my childhood are of getting up early to go to market with my grandmother on a Tuesday or Friday morning.  She would always buy my little brother and I a bag of dewey buns – delicious powdered sugar covered long doughnut-type goodness.

Two things I must always pick up when going downtown to Lancaster Central Market are fresh flowers, and some fudge from the PA Fudge Company.  I always bring a market basket to carry my purchases in, it is what I grew up doing. 

Central Market is a great representation of the variety of cultures and ethnic groups that reside and do business in Lancaster County.  Much more diverse than people who are not local might think.  Did you know that this is Farmers’ Market Week in Pennsylvania?  It runs from August 3-7.  Yay for farmers’ markets!

LEGO Star Wars The Visual Dictionary is not the typical picture book that I would feature on here but it is one of my little guy’s favorites right now.  If you have a son, nephew, or other little boy in your life or if you have a husband, brother, or boyfriend who grew up in the 70’s or 80’s, you are probably familiar with LEGOs and Star Wars.

This book even came with an exclusive mini-figure, which my little guy promptly ripped out of the book like it was made of gold or something! 

Jemma Jane is 18 weeks old today!  She is loving life and would run in the backyard for hours if we let her.  Doesn’t she look happy in this photo?  Jemma is turning into such a great dog – that English Springer Spaniel sweet disposition is definitely coming out in her.

I have written before about how when preparing for our puppy, we did alot of reading about puppy training and care.  One of the books that we picked up for the kids is The English Springer Spaniel, which is part of a series of dog breed books by Terra-Nova.  It gave alot of insight into the history and handling of the breed.  It also came with a helpful DVD which the kids really enjoyed.

Have you heard about the Lands’ End Every Tee Tells A Story Contest?  I love these fun contests that encourage young people to express their creativity.  The theme this time around is arctic adventure and the two winning designs will be featured on tee shirts that will be for sale.

Each winner will get a $500 Lands’ End gift card and $1,000 for their school art program.  My daughter has already started working on some design ideas – she loves entering writing and drawing contests.  Do your kids like to enter contests too?

This week’s picture of our English Springer Spaniel pup is a flashback photo from when we first met her.  Our Jemma Jane is getting so big – it is almost hard to believe that she is the same puppy that we held all of those weeks ago at the breeder’s place.  Her eyes were barely open at the time and as soon as my oldest son started holding her she fell asleep.

Our English Springer Spaniel puppy is 15 weeks old today.  Just cannot resist that sweet face.  I adore the polka dots on her nose –  I think that the breeders actually refer to them as freckles.  Jemma loves having her picture taken and has gotten quite used to it.  The kids call me the pup-perazzi!

This photo came out so well and I loved it in black and white.  I wanted a sweet close-up of Jemma to add to our family photo wall in the dining room.  We are still working on this and I will be sure to share it with you in the near future when we get some more photographs added to it.