July Fourth

Okay, I know it's already two weeks ago.  But I thought I would post some pictures of our July Fourth weekend.  I was actually able to get out and do some stuff, thanks to Ray doing all the driving and lots of child minding.  Originally I had hoped to get down to North Carolina to see my family.  The way I've been feeling lately, that wasn't happening.  Instead, we drove north to a great pick-your-own farm for blueberries.

It was pretty hot and I didn't do much picking.  We ended up with about 11 pounds of blueberries.  Not as many as I had hoped.  We had fun, though.  We also picked raspberries...or I should say M and C picked raspberries with Daddy's help.  The rest of us stayed in the car and rested. 

On the way home we convinced the kids to try a more traditional style Japanese restaurant.  Until then they had only been to the teppanyaki type Japanese restaurants which I don't really consider to be real Japanese food.  There was no kids menu so they each got a bento box lunch.  Ray got Yaki Soba which was really good.  And I ordered Teriyaki Chicken, mainly so that if any of the kids didn't like what they had I would have some food to give them.  I didn't need to worry!  They loved the bento boxes with tempura, gyoza, miso soup, sushi, a salad, and of course, rice.  I was really wishing that I had ordered a bento box, too.  Next time we go to the farm we are definitely stopping by there for lunch again!

Summer is here

I'm not participating in Ginny's Yarn Along this week.  Mainly because I have nothing new to report.  My Baby Surprise Jacket is on hold until someone can explain to me how to pick up stitches.  And I haven't even made much progress on any of my other little projects.  I have started reading a new book.  I borrowed Sidetracked Home Executives from a friend.  It describes me to a "tee."  But I'm leery of trying their solution which involves writing everything (and I mean everything!) that you have to do to keep your home running smoothly on individual 3x5 index cards.  Then you somehow organize these cards in a way that you pull a stack for each day and do what the cards say.  And then your house will be neat, clean, and organized.   I'm tempted to try it.  I just have this feeling that after the initial excitement of trying a new system I will be right back to where I am now.  Only with the added disappointment that yet another system failed to help me figure out how to get my house neat, clean, and organized (and keep it that way.)  I did swing by the office supply store yesterday while we were out and I picked up a card file and a bunch of index cards...just in case I decide to try it.

This weekend summer really arrived here in Southern Maryland.  We are still in the middle of a heat advisory.  We didn't let that stop us from spending Memorial Day at our favorite park.  The kids really wanted to take the canoes out on the lake and have a cook out.

Ray is not the type of guy that enjoys cooking out.  As he says, "We have a whole room in our house dedicated to preparing and consuming food.  Why would we want to pack everything up, haul it to the park, cook and eat in inconvenience, and then haul it all home again?"  Once a year, though, he does just this because the kids love it.

When we got home from our Memorial Day activities we discovered that our A/C wasn't working.  It was 93 degrees upstairs in our bedrooms!  The main floor was 89 degrees.  Thank goodness the basement was still cool.  We had to sleep down there for two days.  I am happy to report that we were able to get the A/C repaired fairly quickly and inexpensively.  And now I am planning on spending a day indoors enjoying the cool and possibly trying to get caught up on some knitting and reading so that next Wednesday I will have something to share with the Yarn Along.  (Although, you may notice that my girls are all wearing the summer knitted tops that I finally finished.  Yay!)

Peaceful Morning

It's 8:00 and the kids are all still sound asleep after a very busy day yesterday.  And I don't think they will wake anytime soon.  We had an early morning and a late night with a lot stuffed into the middle.  It's days like this that I'm so glad we don't send our kids to school.  I love that we can let them sleep in on a Tuesday and catch up on some much needed rest.  I also LOVE that it gives me a couple of unexpected (and also much needed) hours of solitude.  Ahhhh.

Weekend

We spent this past weekend picking strawberries (30 lbs!) and making jam.  I think I was able to make almost enough to last us the year.  When I count the blackberry jam that I'll make later this summer, we should have more than enough to support my kids' pbj habit.

While the kids and I were making jam, my husband was in the city at the final interview and tryouts for Jeopardy.  So sometime in the next 18 months he may (or may not) get called to be on the show.  Whether he gets the call or not, at least he didn't leave empty handed.  He won the mock game at the tryout and won the Wii Jeopardy game.

First Communion

J celebrated her First Communion today.  She was so excited.  We bought her a special dress and veil for the big day (that hopefully will be used by three more girls in our family someday.)  She looked beautiful and she did a great job.  We are so happy for her on this special day.

Feeling human again

I have been away from this space for some months now.  I was taking a short "early pregnancy break."  I kept thinking that I would post again when I wasn't feeling so tired and so sick and just so overwhelmed.  I really thought it would happen before now.  But, man!  This pregnancy is kicking my butt!  I don't know if it's because I'm officially "advanced maternal age" now.  Or if it's just because every pregnancy is different.  Or something else.  Whatever it is, my all-day sickness lasted months longer than with any of the others.  It's finally letting up and I'm starting to feel human again now that I'm six months along.  Just in time for the uncomfortable third trimester in the summer!  :)  But I'm trying to focus on the positive and the good news is that I am feeling better and I do have some energy now.  I was hoping to have spent the second trimester knitting up a bunch of really cute baby things.  Since that didn't happen, I'm trying to choose just a few of the most important items to focus on for the last three months.  While M was at a friend's house, the girls and I went to the yarn store and I stocked up on enough yarn for my three top priority projects: a baby blanket, a baby sweater, and some booties.  That probably doesn't seem like a lot, but for a slow knitter like me, it's probably more than I can handle.  If I don't finish before the baby comes... well, then I'll have plenty to work on while I'm up nights rocking the baby.

Sweet Moments

It's times like this that I want to remember forever.  M played a very cute game of hide-and-seek with T last night.  He helped her count, hid in very easy places for her, and pretended not to be able to find her right away even when she hid in the exact same spot every time.  Each round ended with them both bursting out laughing and running into each other's arms.  Then after the game, he snuggled up with her on the couch and read her Christmas stories. 

  Eventually each of the older girls snuggled in to listen as he continued to read.

Sometimes they can be so sweet.

Snow and Santa

We got our first real snow of the winter yesterday.  By "real" I mean it stuck and stayed more than a few hours.  The kids had a great time playing in it even if it was only a couple of inches. 

And, surprisingly, we only had a few tears getting everyone into their snow clothes.  T had the most trouble and I thought for a while that she wasn't going to go out at all.  But after watching her older brother and sisters having such a good time she decided that she could put up with her snow pants being a little uncomfortable.

 

 

  

 

We also saw Santa this week and T was very brave.  She climbed right up into his lap with no tears this year.  So sweet!

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Guy Fawkes Day.  Bonfire Night.  Since we happened to be studying this period in English history right now, we tried to have our own celebration here "across the pond" in our own backyard.  The kids made paper guy dolls and we lit up a fire in our new fire pit.  We roasted hot dogs and burned the guy dolls. 

 

The kids had a good time even though we had some trouble keeping the fire going.  In fact, we had to roast the marshmallows over the stove after the fire went out and refused to light up again.

 Fun, fun! 

Oh, the irony

I started this blog to encourage myself to do more fun and interesting stuff with my family. Ironically, we have been so busy doing fun and interesting stuff for the past couple of months that I haven't had time to catch my breath, much less blog about it. I kind of went crazy signing my kids up for activities this autumn. We've been on field trips to the National Zoo, the Baltimore Science Museum, Anne Marie Gardens, the Library of Congress, the American History Museum, and Historic St. Mary's City. We have had family visit and lots of playtime with friends. The older kids played soccer in the Upwards league. M entered an original Lego creation in the County Fair and won 1st prize! J and C entered handmade stuffed animals in the fair and won ribbons, too. They had art lessons. They started gymnastics and horseback riding lessons. M continues with jujitsu. And they are in the Christmas Pageant at church this year and rehearsals started a month ago! And we have joined a second homeschool group. And I'm taking T to the library story time, too. Oh, and we are trying to squeeze in our school work sometimes!

It's been fun, but exhausting. I think we are all ready to start slowing down and spend more time at home. Plans for November: cooking, sewing, knitting, reading, drawing, and celebrating the beginning of my favorite time of the year.

Friday morning cartoons and pancakes

A Friday tradition in the making.

Summer is here!

Today we went to our pool for the first time this year. I was planning on continuing to homeschool throughout the summer. But I have really been feeling that the kids (and I) need a break. We need some time to just laze around. Go to the pool, read easy books, watch some movies, visit grandparents, just be bored! So today I called off school for the summer and we grabbed the towels and some snacks and headed off to the pool. We had the place to ourselves for the first hour. Then we were joined by a couple of other families...enough kids for a good game of Marco Polo. There were only a few of mishaps: T floated off into the deep end and had to be rescued by the lifeguard (she was wearing a life vest so she was safe, just scared), J got in over her head and got tired and had to be rescued by the lifeguard (again, more scared than anything else), and a minor potty incident with C (I will spare you the details...but it involved a shower and a complete wardrobe change while we were there!) Yes, it was a relaxing day at the pool, kid style.





Happy Summer!

Memorial Day

It's starting to become our Memorial Day tradition. A local park, a paddle around the lake, and a cook-out. This year it was especially fun because T is old enough to go out on the canoe and the older ones are getting to the point where they can actually help paddle instead of just play at it.

A quiet, shallow little inlet of the lake gave us a perfect opportunity to observe water lilies up close.

Daddy and the girls.
We pulled over to an old abandoned dock and the kids got out to stretch their legs. We swaped passengers for the return trip.

Cook-out!


Happy Memorial Day!