Back to School!

Hopefully for a little while at least... 

Somebody hates wearing any kind of shoes on her feet. (me too, kid, me too...) She screams.  And acts like she can't walk.  She's pretty much gone barefoot all summer.  Which is not a big deal right now when it's hot, but it's not going to be good this winter.  So we compromised and she will put socks on. Ha.  She wasn't sure she could walk for a second with these on either, silly kid, but hopefully adding shoes will be less traumatic if we ease into it?  

Raw green beans are the best teethers.  

They were having trouble catching butterflies so Bob helped them catch two- and a katydid for Cadence.  We didn't observe them for long because Miriel was a little bit too interested in them and we didn't want them to get hurt.  :P  

Emmy is very domestic and ambitious.  She wanted to make a peach pie so we did.  I made Cecily help too because she is not nearly as interested in cooking, but cooking is a necessary, lifelong sort of important skill.  Also, 7 inch pie pans are exactly half the volume of a regular 9 inch pan and they are the perfect size for our family of "I don't like pie" and eat-one-piece-and-forget-about-it people.   

We girls went to story time in the park one evening and then, of course, the slide.  

Mom's friend Sydney was in town so I took the girls to the farm Saturday afternoon.  Dad just happened to have his honey harvest ready for jars; he had a very attentive audience.  We got to bring some home and it's so good.  

They were busily crafting....

Paper "hoo-mins."  (haha.  Humans.  Why I don't know.)

Hooray for butterfly nets.  :)

Some days all they do is beg for screens: tablet games, phones, I wanna watch a movie, and I get so frustrated.  And then some days they catch moths and make life size sketches and I think, perhaps, we aren't doing it all wrong after all.

Ooo another human!  So the girls heard the story of Bethany Hamilton (Christian surfer who lost an arm to a shark attack... there's a book and at least one, maybe two movies about her) and so of course this was on the kitchen table.  The shark is 14 inches so it is 'kind of like the actual 14 foot tiger shark'... also note the arm still in the mouth, and the bite out of the surfboard.   

Last Monday lake day before school started- Abe and Miri were just chilling on the swing.  We were more consistent about going this year (so much easier without a tiny baby) and I'm really glad.

The windstorm blew down a lot of Mom and Dad's pears (and the tree was loaded this year!) so I brought some home.  This lovely little worm decided to keep me company.  The fruit trees at the farm are organic by neglect so I always find myself muttering 'man I love insecticide' under my breath while I'm discovering all manner of creatures inside.  :P  

*Sigh* And then it was the day before school started.  

The girls wanted to swim in our poor pool that is down a ring.

They were so excited for school!  Even Cadence woke up early to eat breakfast with them and see them off.  Third grade, first grade, jealous 4 year old.  

Cecily chose hedgehogs and butterflies and Emmy has her rainbows and unicorns on upside down.  ha.  They don't seem to mind wearing them so far, and they are loving their new teachers and seeing their friends!  

The comic section has been on fire lately.  

I mean, if you have a cellphone contract and a credit card, "THEY" already know.  Everything. Perhaps we should move to Alaska and go completely off grid... 

Is it a sign of middle age if you're excited about getting a new license plate?  Asking for a friend. 

Bob does not like it when I pull her hair back just for fun.  :D  

Cadence, Miri, and I stopped in at "Grandma Kathy's office" to visit and to take a few more pears off her hands.  They were both very shy, which is good, because I'm sure they would have made themselves too much at home if they weren't.  

Little Miriel took a super long nap and woke up with a fever, poor girl.  It only lasted for 24 hours, and she ate and acted normal the whole time.  She was up every two hours at night though, which was rather awful.  

So far my cobbled together router sled is working- slowly, but working to get these stump sections to a uniform thickness.  I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what in the world she's doing now... :P  

Round four for the dress Michelle brought back from India! (Miri's expression!) 

 Getting up for school has been hard.  Especially since Miriel doesn't sleep all night, or like to go to bed early.  Cadence has been up early with the girls too, so she's extra tired and whiny and we're all a little grouchy and generally fragile.  Woot.  It will get better.  This, too, shall pass!  :D  

Blessings.

It's the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you...

'...it's the little things that make a house a home'

Doesn't Maryellen look sweet in my old doll cradle with her new bedding?

And Rebecca?  :)  

Not long after Emmy's birthday I found a doll closet/trunk on facebook marketplace for a really really good price. But... since she just got a bunch of birthday presents I didn't want to just hand it to her.  I was going to have her "earn" it with stickers for doing her chores/reading/being good everyday;  Bob thought the other two should get in on the stickers too, and they should each earn a prize for every 10 stickers on the chart. And it was suddenly very much more complicated, and I'm not sure if it was worth it, but they all made it to 40 stickers and now Maryellen has a closet.  😜

We picked up the farm bureau peaches and delivered some to the farm one afternoon. 

Goofy girls.

I sewed something for myself for the first time since Miri was born!  I tried a new culottes pattern that pretty much looks like a skirt thanks to some well placed pleats.  I like them- though I erred on the side of slightly too big so they sit a little lower on my waist than ideal.  I feel like the center pleat would look nicer if the waistband was up just a smidge.  Is it a skirt...

... or pants?  haha.  I usually prefer gauchos (wide leg pants) to culottes (a full skirt that's been split into two pant legs) because they have to drop the crotch seam really low on culottes so you don't have fabric bunching in strange places when you sit down, which I find uncomfortable sometimes.  Also, the fullness of a full skirt at the waist and hip is not super flattering on my figure, ...but... I could run into the grocery store in these and not be worried who might see me.  :D  Well, I might worry they would think I'd need lots of fashion help (which would be true) but not worried I'd disappoint my grandma by wearing legged garments in amongst the general population.  ha.        

 It's got two big pockets, though.... practicality over fashion any day!

So Gateway Woods did a virtual auction this year- I sincerely doubt that I (or Bob for that matter) could be prevailed upon to go to the auction in person.  Way too many people.  But now that Shelly's out there I figured we could at least be virtually supportive.  Ha.  We were both bidding on the same item.  She won.  I laughed a lot when we figured it out.  

My grandma had a vase just like this and I found its twin on Ebay.  I think I may still have to fight Shells for it someday, along with Mother Gledhill and Hilda Barth. Vintage McCoy pottery is just so pretty.  And this vase is just the perfect size and color.

Miriel has discovered how fun it is to brush her teeth. She is so proud of herself and gets so wet.

I had just mowed so they thought they needed to make it snow with hydrangeas.  woot.

Jon and Nichole hosted a cookout for the lake day families. Littlest miss doesn't venture very far away from me.

The older three spent the whole evening in the water with the other kids.

We call this her 'dictator walk' as she struts around...  

I made them get out and dry off at 8:30!  

I picked up two big bags of sweetcorn at the farm the next morning.  Dad and Mom went to IN to help Shelly and Nathan move to campus so I was all by myself.  I have great help though. 

She wants to do everything we do.

"Um!"  😍

It's not quite as much fun when it's my kitchen that is all sticky and messy. Ha.

Another facebook marketplace find- this one was probably more for me and nostalgia's sake.  It's Samantha's wicker birthday party table and chairs!  

Miriel spent the afternoon trying to sit in the chairs.  Good thing they are good quality...

Chalk art all the time... I'm kind of impressed that she knows to put a highlight on her fruit drawings.


Don't mind the bedhead, the dolls were setting up one morning...

....for a rousing game of UNO.

Ok, so I didn't win the cute little teepee and campfire, but we did win the singing Elsa doll package on the auction.  And I have regretted it everyday since.  haha.  Not really, but still.  It sings ONE song. One.  And there is a microphone.  What was I thinking!?  It also came with Frozen socks, gloves, earmuffs, hairbow, art kit, stickers.... *sigh* I can't even blame it on grandma!  They, however, are pleased.

Hehe. Most of the "plessures" are just her birthday list.  

We went to the farm the afternoon that Matt and Lena were moving- Bob was helping carry heavy things and I was helping by keeping the girls out of the way.  They swam.

And sat in the sand tub.

And did their best to empty the cow tank.

We joined the rest of the family for supper that night at their new house.  Poor Mom and Dad spent four straight days moving. 😝 

Quite possibly my favorite Peanuts comic ever was in the paper last week...  

Another lake day, another tub.  She's usually not interested in the water, or in playing with water in a dish tub, but this time she decided to sit in it with her clothes on.  Whatever.  It was hot.


'There's a storm across the valley, clouds are rolling in.  The afternoon is heavy on your shoulders..."
We were loading up to go home for naps as the derecho was blowing in.  We made it home before the worst of the winds hit, thankfully.  

Add fussy cutting 'How to Train Your Dragon' masks for school to the list of strange things we've done this year. 

I had forgotten about this cute little Illini cheerleader outfit- Sharon found it on a garage sale for Cecily and I rediscovered it while going through their closets. She had to wear it at least once. :)

When Daddy's home...  hehe.  

The older girls were soooo hot and boooored one afternoon but our little pool and the sprinkler just weren't enough.  Once again, our wonderful neighbor and her in home daycare saved the day when she invited the girls to swim with her kids and play on her water slide.  

And she sent pictures!

Miriel slept, I got the mowing done, and they had a fantastic afternoon!

Blessings.