Good old golden rule days

Well.  The last three weeks have flown by.  We were pretty busy, judging by all of the pictures I took.  We tried to get in as much summer fun as we could before school started...  

The girls got coupons for summer reading so we walked down to Pinky's one evening.  

 Cecily was invited to a friends house one morning.  Emmy and Cadence were so disappointed that they didn't get to go, even though they don't even know Hope. We made up for it by going to the pool for a couple hours that afternoon.  Cecily has been begging to go to the 'town pool' every time we drove past (which is a lot) and I was finally "brave" insane enough to take all 4 kids to the pool by myself.  It went really well, considering.  Cecily found some school friends and spent most of the time going off the diving board with them.  Emmy and Cadence floated around and played some with Meg's kids.

 Miriel was unimpressed with the slightly cold water, but she was ok as long as I held her.  And then she fell asleep, and chilled in the stroller for the rest of the time we were there.

 Nothing like small towns... lovely pool with the grain elevator in the background.

 I told the girls to pick up the toys so we could clean- Emmy didn't want to pick up toys so she offered to do everything else.  Haha.  So she valiantly dusted; and vaccuumed with earmuffs on.  (I had to redo everything, but she was willing sooo....)

 Cadence's terrible summer cold turned into a day of fever.  Poor kid.  She spent most of one day sleeping in bed, which NEVER happens.  Bob was off that day; in the afternoon Emmy and Miriel and I went kindergarten shopping.  We were going to pick out first day of school clothes and a church purse, because kindergartners don't need a bag full of toys in church.    All ready to go- with her watch just like me, and her 'gel' sandals because they are for nice places, not outside.

 Little trouper would probably look very chic in this hat.  If they would have been cheaper I probably would have bought them for the little boys because they would look soooo dapper.

 Oh my little shopper!  She was not content with just picking a new dress, we needed to get shoes and a headband too for the whole outfit.  And she didn't like the purses at one store so we had to try a different store.  She wanted to pick out something for everyone in the family but we had to draw the line somewhere.  hehe.

 The complete back to school look: new headband, dress, and sandals.

 That night Cadence was feeling a little bit better.  She didn't have a fever but she was still tired and subdued, so I let her come along to the movie at the park.  They were showing '101 Dalmatians,' which is a childhood favorite of mine.  We used to beg to watch it every time we went to the Ricketts'.  (They had a monitor AND a VCR.)  So I took all four (traveling circus!) and we had a lot of fun.  There was popcorn, which they love.  Miriel nursed quietly through most of the movie and Cadence was so subdued she barely moved... the older two were getting so into the movie it was almost embarrassing.
That Sunday was Cadence's first day of Sunday school!  Woot woot.  We were all very excited... she was a little bit hesitant, but she had fun and has told me a few times since then that "God made the world."
I chopped and froze onions one afternoon with my helpful little onion peelers.  I wear lab goggles to prevent tears so they think they need safety glasses, and Cadence thought Miriel needed them too.

 Cecily kept wondering out loud when I was going to finish my miniature green house kit... well, I finally got it out again.  Let there be light!

 And then I was on a roll and finished it over a few days.  The box says it takes approximately 30 hours to complete so, yeah.

 It's so cute!  I have no where to put it, but it was so fun to make all the little tiny things.  I love Christmas presents.

 So my friend Rachel had a similar fridge issue and she passed along how they fixed theirs.... which inspired me to try, try again.  She gave me a more specific thing to google so I watched a bunch of you-tube videos and instead of feeding my children lunch, I went looking for the freezer drain.

 I have such good help- stand back in the corner and hold this and tell me if water comes out or not!

 I'm not sure if I actually did anything, but IT HASN'T DRIPPED since I put it all back together!  There was great rejoicing!!  So to reward myself for not having to pay for a service call, I bought myself an ice maker to install... which means I'll have to call a plumber to install a water line.... I don't think I saved myself money at all.  Ha.  Oh, and we did eat lunch eventually.
Emmy's meet the teacher night was later that evening and they really wanted to help me cook supper for some reason.  If you don't tell them that this isn't cooking, I won't.

Emmy and I went to school and unpacked her supplies and looked around... she was most excited about the freeze pops from her teacher.  I'm sad this picture is blurry, because it was so ridiculous.  "Emmy will you hold my freeze pop? It's too cold!" 

 We spent a few hours at the farm.  There were more freeze pops and Gus and rock piles and cats and I brought home pears from Dad's pear tree and honey from his bee hives.... good times. 

 Our last day of break we had a picnic lunch in the back yard.  The big girls picked the spot and spread out the blanket.

 They had their very favorite pizza lunchables.

 And then I feel like I blinked and summer was over and off they went to 2nd grade and Kindergarten!

 She was excited and not too nervous.

 She had a great day!  (Cecy did too.)

 And so did Cadence because she got a new tractor shirt!  Her original shirt is too small, and very, very stained.  :P

 I would not recommend listening to Andrew Peterson's "Day by Day" the first week of school.  Cue all the tears...
Friday evening the Young Group hosted KIDS night at the fellowship hall.  The older three got to go this year.  Cadence was so glad, she thought she would have to stay home, "me too?!"  The had a great time and were so tired when I picked them up.
Speaking of tears.... nursing hormones make me positively maudlin.  My little cousin Trent got married last Sunday in Peoria.  When the guys walked in... Trent, then Troy and Tate, I couldn't sing anymore.  Haha.  It was not that long ago that they were playing Indians all over the farm. It was pretty much yesterday, right?  We had gone in the back way to the fellowship hall because that is where the baby room is, and then tried to stay out of the way inside rather than fighting the crowds in the line.  Classic Trent... he came over and said something along the lines of "I guess I'm a husband now. Wow."  Haha. Yes, yes indeed.

 Cadence took my phone and took a bunch of blurry pictures of the backs of strangers... but "Hey- Jack-e-boy!"  turned around and said "Cheeeeese."

 I said cheese too.

 The happy couple.

 Thankfully, Miriel was pretty good all day, so Bob and the girls were ready to go home before I was. I wanted to stay and talk to my cousins. Oh well. We laid low that evening because, ugh, Monday was school again.  I don't like early mornings.
Monday was Miriel's Eleventy-first day!  Hooray!  We celebrated with cake.  We had a few stale ice cream cones so I tried baking some of the cake batter in them.  Emmy and Cadence very carefully put sprinkles on them, and then they all fell over.  They looked pretty cute even so.

 I mean, if you name your child after an obscure character in Tolkien's Silmarillion you might as well go all out!  My Tengwar script could use some work, but that is supposed to be Miriel in Elvish. 

 Little squish is chunking up!  Happy 111st day baby girl!

 I went to school again that night to meet Cecily's teacher and learn all about 2nd grade.  Huzzah.  I think I liked the all school meet the teacher a little bit better... at least it was all over in one night.

It was storming in the morning so we didn't go grocery shopping until afternoon when the rain had passed and  I took three kids to the store.  There were two little carts available and I wished I had worn shin guards on my ankles....

 Carpool picture!  Haha... the van is full of car seats and GIRLS.

The last few days have been busy with getting kids to school, picking them up, canning pears, picking and freezing green beans... the garden has not been a priority so it's weedy and everything is producing very slowly... oh well.
Blessings.

Summertime, Summertime

Emmy definitely pushes me to cook/bake more things than I'm naturally inclined to... aka, I'm lazy.  She wanted to make a blueberry pie, completely out of the blue, and we happened to have blueberries and I had some pie crust in the freezer from goodness knows how long ago.  She also decided that she liked it, so I didn't end up eating the whole thing by myself.  woot woot.

 We made it to lake day... for as much as they talk about the lake being "icky" it sure is hard to get them out of it when it's time to leave...  it was a lovely day to be outside, cooler, nice breeze, they were almost cold out on the water.  

 My uncle Ed was here from California for a cousin's funeral.  We all met over at the Lake for a picnic that evening. "Little" Logan is trying to catch up to Miriel in size.  

 Cadence and 'Jack-e-boy.' :)

 Bob's group at work had a picnic at a park along the Illinois River.  While we were waiting to eat a barge went by... it was very exciting.  

 The girls and some of the other CAT kids were playing down along the shore.  I was kind of a spoilsport but they were collecting "sea glass" which, to me, just looked like broken glass (and there was a lot of it) so I suggested they go play at the playground.  

 Bob supervised while I made several bathroom runs.  Why are the bathrooms always soooo faaaarrr from the playground?  

 Little Miriel is such a trooper and just chilled in the stroller and took a few cat naps.  

 She's usually completely lacking in attention and stimulation and is completely bored and lonely... or something...

 Saturday evening we decided to use our summer reading pizza coupons.  We obviously don't take them out enough because they were soooo excited to be eating INSIDE a restaurant it was almost embarrassing.  The plan was to go to the splash pad at the riverfront park after supper; then a small thunderstorm came up and it was still drizzling slightly.  We checked it out anyway- they weren't interested in getting (more) wet.  

 They were more interested in the deck out over, and into, the river.  The water level is still high, apparently.  

 I made a little bit of progress on my miniature greenhouse kit.  It had been a while and there's much left to do.

 Had to document the "Eiffel tower" they built out of duplos- it's taller than Cadence. 

 So our refrigerator has been dripping inside, down the back for a while. Every so often we'd find a little bit of water on the floor underneath it. I googled possible causes and solutions and never got around to trying anything until I discovered late Sunday night that it was dripping down through the floor boards into the basement.  Yay.  So the next day I pulled everything out and unplugged it and let it all warm up to see if one of Dr. Google's suggestions would fix it.  It didn't. Which is a bummer, but then Bob suggested replacing it and putting it down in the basement and letting it drip/die a natural death down there. 

 I, of course, am not going to turn down a new fridge- an ice maker! second fridge in the basement! This is all fine by me... so I measured it.  We have 65" under the cabinet.  Cue foreboding music...
I didn't plant many green beans this year and they have slowly been producing.  We had enough to do a few pints and little miss Cadence was my most willing helper with the most unorthodox snipping method. 

 She's basically a real life doll for them.  Poor kid.

 We picked up a serendipitous Varage Sale find on Tuesday!  Their very own play McDonald's kitchen!  haha. 

 The girls and I went back to re-attempt pictures for Cadence, and we did Miriel's 3 month pictures at the same time.  It went much better the second time; so much better that I upped the reward for good behavior to Happy Meals at McDonald's!  And then we went to an appliance store.  They weren't exactly bad... just imagine three excited girls opening every. single. refrigerator. door. In a refrigerator show room.  Repeatedly.  While I tried to talk to the marginally helpful salesman.  I started feeling slightly worried as we walked around the room and all of the refrigerators were just a little bit, or a lot bit too tall for our opening.  I can buy a 64" fridge... but it's narrow apartment size and only 14 cubic feet inside.  I want at least 18 cubic ft, like our current fridge.  Boo.  
We went home empty handed.  And I measured the opening three more times. And railed in my head against the inch of space that was lost when previous home owners laid hardwoods over the original floors.  I could get a big fridge if I had that extra inch!!  So I suggested to Bob that we could just cut the hardwoods out under the fridge... hehe... don't worry, he said no.  
We've reached the point in summer where they aren't super excited to go outside.  The novelty of sunshine has worn off... so I had to make them go out and play in the sprinkler and their little pool.  

 An evening walk in the cemetery... We were so excited this spring when they laid down a lovely new, smooth, asphalt base.  It was perfect for small wheels!  Then they came back and tarred and chipped over top.  (Why??) And there is waaay too much chip/gravel on top.  Now it's almost too hard for the girls to ride their bikes on, sad news.  We are hoping that when they have to plow snow this winter it pushes all of the extra loose gravel off.  

 Emmy took a bunch of pictures of her toy set up one morning.  

 We went to the farm to do corn one afternoon.  I'm so glad Miriel is so chill.  It's probably the reason we are all coping so well.  Mom helped me do 20+ full pints of corn.  Bob texted to ask if he could invited Dang over for supper... sure, why not, I had a beef roast in the crock pot and plenty of sweet corn, what could go wrong.  

 Come to find out, it was Dang's Birthday.  And we got home from the farm kind of late, and supper was kind of very late, and the rump roast was slightly dry, and there was no dessert in the house except boughten cookies.  AND then I looked out and they were out picking my green beans.... poor guy, what a birthday.  I ran to Pinky's and got everybody ice cream for a snack, so that maybe slightly redeemed things.  

 We met Mom and Lena at Summer's pool on Friday.  Cecily's swimming has improved enough that I let her swim sans life jacket.  Summer's pool also comes with the perks of visiting her kittens and goats... it was a fun afternoon.

 On Saturday, after spending insane amounts of time online looking at refrigerators and finding nothing that would fit, I went to another appliance store.  This time the salesman was much more helpful, although not able to solve our problems.  He told me that manufacturers are moving toward making refrigerators bigger by going taller, because for most kitchens it's easier to replace a top cabinet than mess with the opening width.  Remember our lovely 1960's built in place solid wood cabinets that are all one piece and not separate cabinets?  Yeah, me too.  Soooooo.... at this point the only realistic way to replace our refrigerator is get a carpenter to completely rebuild the cabinet over the fridge.  And replace the cabinet doors that I just replaced.  I think I'm going to see what it will cost to repair the current one.  mur.  So much for my dreams for a basement fridge...  I should maybe look into used refrigerators too... but I'm afraid longevity would be the same as repairing our current one and doesn't solve the problem long term.  *sigh* #olderhouseproblems
My Dad has 81 first cousins.  Most of them live in Iowa, but there are a few in Illinois.  All of Uncle Andy's boys were going to be in town together for the first time in years so they rented a lake house and were kind enough to invite some of the other local Metzgers for supper Monday evening.  Russ brought his two grandkids with him from Colorado- they are more my younger cousins ages.  I took the girls over to swim in the afternoon and they talked Carli into taking them on the paddle boat.

 Cecily went down the water slide over and over again with Katy.  Carli, Cliff, Tate, and Gabe were a little bit more adventurous. Emmy eventually worked up enough courage to go down the slide; Cadence got pushed off the edge when she wasn't expecting it and refused to go down it again.    

 After supper the fishing poles came out and Ron, Matt, Nathan, and Gabe fished with the kids.  My girls didn't end up catching anything, Gabe caught a few that they admired. From a distance. Hehe.  

Once again, Miriel was a little trooper and chilled in the stroller and endured being held by people.  The girls were having so much fun it took a while to leave.  I had to laugh, when I went to say my goodbyes, they were cutting off and putting up the leftover sweet corn ears that my parents brought for supper... only at a Metzger party... 
Summer seems to be going by so fast.  School starts next week already, sad news.  I don't like getting up in the morning and I'm not looking forward to it at all.  I think the girls are excited, for the most part.  We'll see how the adjustment goes.  
Blessings.