Midsummer Nuggets

Despite my lack of posting, life is happening I assure you.  Summer has been the best, just what we all needed to start to feel truly settled in our new home.  Just tonight as Louise was sweeping and I was wiping the table after dinner I ventured "Louise, does it feel more like home now?" "Oh yes mom!  I love it here. It feels just like home."  My heart couldn't be happier.

new socks! 5 year old style

cabin time!

 the tall board confirmed that I am STILL the shortest Rogers' girl, and that all the cousins have grown exponentially

 the beets have been so exciting!  I made my first batch of pickled beets too, so good.

Friends from Chicago who have a cabin in Minnesota made the stop for dinner on their way.  Such a treat!

 garden veggies and flowers and an embroidering girl

 reading time

 indoor playing on 100 degree days

the girls did my makeup ("Did you make me look beautiful?" Oh yes mama, very beautful, and....like a clown.")

 By some stroke of incredible serendipity one of Ainsley's best friends from Oak Park's Uncle happens to live AROUND THE CORNER from us.  So a family visit for them became a friend visit.  Such joy.

pre-church snuggles

a terrible photo of our pastor's getting pies in the face at the carnival today because over 7500 school supplies were donated through VBS!

 A blissful hour reading a new book while Felix has the whole pool/yard etc. to himself.

July has been so busy!  Well, by being away having a blast at the cabin.  10 days over the 4th, another 4 with family.  I can't wait for another long weekend or two before school starts.

The Garden!!!  The garden has been my sanctuary this summer.  I was so anxious to leave it while we were up north.  Thankfully all is well and the bunnies only ate ALL of the peas and snap peas. Boo.  But really, it's been quite bountiful for a first go.  Tons of bush beans and zucchini, chard and beets and tomatoes.  The cucumbers are going wild just now and this past week I spotted the first tiny melons and pumpkins and squashes growing on vines.

The raspberries have been the biggest disappointment.  I think I over pruned this spring and most of the mature vines snapped and fell in a big rainstorm we had at the end of june. We enjoy a good handful a day, but that's it.  There are SO many plants growing for next years harvest and I'm going to do my research to get them primed for success.  I've been weeding the strawberry patch and  read I should cut  the plants back and mulch them for winter.  I guess raspberries do well with a heavy fall pruning too. Eek! I learned from a neighbor that the raspberries are as old as the house, planted in 1965.  I'm determined to keep them going!

(I wrote this about two weeks ago, so the first paragraph now trumps this one!)
The kids are so enjoying summer.  I'm learning in my old age to not overplan.  Their free time together is the most precious time they have.  I find myself missing our old neighborhood and friends the most right now.  I know how our summer would look in Oak Park.  Running into tons of friends just walking out the front door and walking up to the pool.  After dinner bike rides and walks around the block, heck, even just sitting in our backyard!  Louise was in tears tonight missing home.  All I could do is hug her and remind her that it took us so long to feel at home there too.  We'll get there!  AND in planning her birthday party here I already had to ask her to pare down the list because between school, dance, tball and neighbor/church friends it's a bit too much already!

As usual I'm so behind in crating.  Our quilt is sitting half done in the basement, Louise's summer dress and Felix's shorts have yet to make it to the pattern stage, embroidery dreams too.  I waffle between letting myself sink into the time I have with my children and so desperately wanting more productivity for myself.

A lot of that time with them has gone towards reading.  The girls (and boy!) and I have been devouring books this summer and that feels so good.  We read the BFG in anticipation of the movie coming out.  We may go see a matinee this week after VBS (though now it's only at far away theaters, boo!).  We are currently finishing up the Helen Keller book in the WHO Is/WAS? series. Can't wait to read more of those.  The girls are enthralled.  Ainsley is smitten with the Nate the Great Series and Louise continues to plug away towards her goal of reading a chapter book by the end of the summer (we classify chapter books as anything with chapters....Mr. Putter and Tabby books are our FAVORITE first chapters).

I have been having a blast reading from my mom's Fire tablet.  I actually ordered us our own on Prime Day for a mere $30 and have had a blast with it.  I just finished the Husband's Secret which was really thought provoking and am currently diving into The Light Between Oceans, an Australian island lighthouse romance tragedy drama, perfect for this stage of summer.

Ian has started telecommuting on Fridays which is so wonderful for us all.  He gets a day off from the hour commute and we get to see him for snippets all day, lunch, and earlier than normal in the evening.

I'm really trying to buckle down with our budget, so food has been simple and easy, usually inspired by what's ready in the garden.  Caprese salad with tomatoes and basil from the garden, bread and bacon.  Grilled zucchini on the side of grilled things, baked sweet potatoes with pickled beets and cucumbers on the side.  Tonight it's pesto cream pasta, probably with more zucchini on the side.  I'm hoping to get a few more rows in before the calendar turns to keep the produce coming through the heat of September. I need to bunny proof first though!  They can squeeze through the fence as it is and love those tiny seedlings.

So summer life has been so good and full.  I'm really looking forward to August and that extra week we get now that we're here and the kids don't start school until after labor day.  Once VBS finishes tomorrow we have a wide open weekend to spend with family and friends, next week I've silently vowed to go to beaches as many days as the weather allows.  We need to hit the library to turn in sumer book reports and to restock for the coming weeks.  We haven't made nearly enough homemade ice cream and popsicles and smoothies. I must remedy that immediately.  And I really wanted to get the girls' rooms fully decorated and in order before they head back to school, which means some more sewing and crafting fun.

We can do it all I'm sure, knowing that the most important thing is to enjoy this time together.
Happy midsummer!

Counting Summer Days

I'm struggling to find the right words lately.  In some ways it feels like the sky is falling.  The outside world feels really scary to me right now.  I worry a lot about big future things, for my children and for us.  It's juxtaposed with how amazing our family life is right now in our new home. It feels off and funny but mostly really good.  

Our big camping girl

At picture of me at Ainsley's age!!!

Minnehaha Dam, fishing picnic night 

(minus Ainsley who was at her camp overnight for the week)

Ian's chocolate camera from father's Day

dance recital hair

End of the year school parties

this picture looks like the ones I used to take of the kids by our back kitchen door in Oak Park! It made me all sentimental

Aida's Dance Recital

biggest strawberry haul of the season (now they're all done for the season! It was fast and furious and I'm looking for how to care for the plants after the harvest!)

the vegetable garden!!! (so many exclamation points for the gardens)

Wednesday night church with bouncy house

My two day time buddies

nothing like independent artists who set up a finger painting station while I'm gardening

My view from the kitchen sink, kids playing in the pool on a bright sunny day

Charlie Brown church drama camp (that's Ainsley standing up on the green box in the middle)

perennial flowers, I'm loving the color combinations

the last three strawberries overlapped with the first three raspberries, we're now up to a handful a day and I'm hoping our first big pick comes soon!

Life is moving pretty seamlessly from the end of school to the summer.  We were so busy those last weeks, it's feeling good to slow down!

The girls' dance recital was wonderful.  I surely had as much fun (more I think!) than them.  It was so magical to be back at the same auditorium that I used to dance at each spring.  The girls were in awe of the big girls who were in so many numbers, and all those beautiful costumes! (and the SHOCK that mommy used to dance in 5 numbers each year too...really????!!! Even Ian was requesting I show them "my moves"...haha!) Oh my.  They both are excited for next year (tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop...the choices!!!).  I'm excited too.

Louise's Tball season ended last Sunday on a 90+ degree day with a 1pm game and park picnic.  It was a fun season.  I'm glad Ian got some good photos of us together coaching and playing.  I was overwhelmed at times with the responsibility but it was good for me and good for Louise and I together.  Though I won't miss lugging that bat bag and tee and ball bucket around!

These first summer days are so easily filled.  Ainsley's three camp weeks are keeping her very busy.  Last week's drama camp at church was the perfect intro to summer.  She went every morning with a bounce and a smile and their performance on Friday afternoon was so fun.  Our church has been such an incredible place for us all to help grow and feel at home here.  I'm glad it's that for my kids too!

Last week Ainsley started her summer day camp.  She was more nervous than I thought she'd be but left me happily for her counselor "Meeko" (they all have nicknames) who's from Ireland!  Thursday she did her first overnight.  When I picked her up the next day at 4 she squeezed my face enthusiastically and said "THAT WAS THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!" She is having the time of her life.  Swimming, kayaking, fishing, crafting, fairy house making, hiking, sport playing, singing.  It's pretty much perfect!

I'm loving my alone time with Louise and Felix. The vibe is so different with those two. They We try to get errands out of the way quickly so we have lots of time to play.  We've loved exploring new parks, spending lots of time in our yard and gardens and new blow up pool.  It's such a special time for us all.

I find, as usual, I'm struggling to get into the new routine of the summer season. It's so hard for me to motivate to get everything done that I'd like and to balance the needs of the kids and the house and me.  

If I had a few days to myself I'd run every morning and knock our all of the sewing projects on my list.  I'd finish my book I'm reading and delve into a few more.  I'd watch the rest of the Orange is the New Black and Grace and Frankie while finally finishing knitting my socks I started a few weeks ago.  

At the same time I'd love a good chunk of one on one time with each child.  Ainsley, to sew with her and make a new fairy house with her and finally finish Little Princess with her.  Louise, to teach her to embroider and finger knit and hand sew better like she wants, help her read and write more.  Felix, to teach him more letters and numbers and play soccer with tball with him and bake things and read tons and tons of books.  It's so hard when they are all at different places.  They overlap some of course, but in any given activity I'm doing three different levels and it's exhausting and hard.

So! I'm just taking a moment each morning to think it through.  What can I do today?  What's realistic and fun and sets us up for success.  Yesterday it was making the girls reading charts, and cooking dinner with Louise, and motivating to go to the summer festival despite inclement weather, and buying mini donuts when we had to leave because the weather was moving in and watching the amazing pioneer show with everyone in the cool basement.  Today I think it's fishing for Ainsley and Ian before church, church for us all, and an afternoon filled with the pool outside, reading on picnic blankets, collecting items for fairy houses, dinner with family, and maybe a bit of evening sewing. (Ian and I have vowed to wait for the new season of GOT before we watch the season finale...those last two episodes were way too satisfying to ruin!)

This next week has so much potential.  It's my last with just Louise and Felix while Ainsley is at camp again. Then it's a week+ at the cabin, followed by another long weekend at the cabin close after, followed by vacation bible school, followed by a long hot August all together.  Summer always goes so fast.  I'm trying to make each day count!