Midsummer

This school thing makes summer go by way faster than necessary... 

Michelle and I took our kids to Fritz's one afternoon.  Cecily is not shy, but she is afraid of swimming in the deep end without her life jacket.  

 Cadence thought the diving board was great!  But she didn't want to actually go under the water; she  just jumped on top of me repeatedly.  Emmy was more interested in their swings. 

 That evening we invited our street over for Root Beer floats and snacks... the girls were soooo excited.  They helped me set up without complaining.

 I get so nervous about these things.... 

 Impatiently waiting for our guests to arrive.  

 The big girls wore themselves out with G and S and Cadence wasn't too jealous of Savannah using her swing.  

 I really enjoyed the evening- the weather was perfect, the bugs weren't too bad, and the company was great.  We like our neighbors.  :)

 Bob dumped the cooler ice out into the bathtub, which they loved.

 Breakfast of champions... she found her bowl of leftover snacks... Puppy chow is no worse than cereal right?  ha.  

 Cecily and Emmy were super excited to go to Kids day on Friday.  This year they had some big inflatables and a dunk tank; it looked like so much fun! 
I'm not ready for school- the flowers are still blooming!  

 "I want to make unicorn ice cream for my snack!"  

 Grandma Lydiann turned 90 years old.  (Apparently the bread slicer was invented in 1928 so... she's the best thing since sliced bread!)  

 They had a party for her at the condos Sunday night.  The girls loved the balloons and the cake.

 And ice cream.

 The conversation is always excellent too...  hehe.  

 Sooooo..... we have this very territorial cardinal that has been attacking two (just two) of our windows all. summer. long.  I am so tired of it.  We've tried all of the humane methods to discourage the dumb thing.... soaping the windows, the windsock, silhouettes of predators.... they will work for a few days and then he ignores them and is back at it again.  We've moved on to less humane methods; cardinal silhouette to draw him in to the mouse traps on the window ledges (he set a couple of them off and lost a few tail feathers, but now he just hits the top of the window), strips of clear packing tape sticky side out (not effective so far), but nothing has worked for more than a day or two.  Help! I am so tired of dirty windows and constant thumping!  

 We were down to the last few days before school started so we went to McDonald's just for fun.

 Chocolate milk and chicken nuggets, don't mind if I do!

 That evening was meet the teacher night (it's too soon!!) and we got ice cream afterward.  

 We attempted to get Cadence's 2 year pictures taken at the mall.... she didn't cooperate so we shopped a little bit.  

 The girls think it's the coolest thing ever, and every time we go in an actual store and the begging starts I resolve to never shop with them again... 

 Thursday morning the weather reflected my mood.... she was a little nervous for first grade, but excited too!  

 These two did better without her home than I was expecting.  

 I bought a turkey on sale last thanksgiving that I finally remembered to thaw... roasting it coincided with me needing to can a batch of tomato sauce so the kitchen was sooooo hot.  Summer time, and the living *isn't* easy.... also, I love fresh produce, but I'm ready to get my fridge and counters back.

 Saturday we went to the farm.  They rode the jeep, swam in the cow tank... 

 Played with Nina and Aunt Renee...

 They played this super involved detective game.  

 A little bit less intense activity...

 Right before we left we played a really fun game called "Bring Your Own Book."  We all grabbed books off of Mom and Dad's shelves and had to find words or phrases out of the them that fit the prompt- best one got a point.  Bethany was winning when I stopped playing.... I should have picked Family Circle magazine and not Picture of Dorian Gray, I guess.  
We got home a little late, but it was worth it.  Oooohhh look who has new tractor jammies!  (Varage sale find- from my cousin Mindy, randomly).  

 So Chicago Shakespeare theater did a free performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Glen Oak Sunday.  Mom and Shelly and Donna and Joy and I went after church.  It was so hot.  But, it was delightful!  It's my favorite Shakespeare play to start with, and the adaptation was really great.  Puck was rapping some of his lines.... and they were in and out of the audience... Puck even sat on the grass by me for a while, and now I'm regretting not getting a picture with him.    All I've got is a picture of my lovely companions.  :) 

Blessings.

Hail to the Orange

Summer is flying by.  

The girls have been begging to swim at the town pool so we went one afternoon.  Cadence needed a nap but she had fun swimming.  And she was starting to get a little bit braver and more trusting of her life jacket.  Which is nice because she doesn't spend as much time clinging to me.  

 Cecily found some classmates and was off swimming with them most of the time.  Emmy just floats happily.  She made friends with Mrs. Kreiling... haha.  Nichole was there with her kids that day too, so they swam with Eli and Mya some.  

 I finally vanquished the mole that has been tunneling under our yard!  It felt really weird pulling the trap out of the ground, but there he/she was!  I kind of think moles are cute with their big front digging paws and noses....  and then there's Emmy:  "I can't wait to cook it!"  Um, what!?  We are not eating that, kiddo!  

 Sunday morning we got up bright and early and headed to good old Champaign- Urbana for a U of I reunion.  The girls were protesting having to go to a different Sunday school and they were very relieved to discover that they take a summer break in Champaign.  I was not so excited since I had only brought one service worth of stickers.  It was good to be back for church with so many old friends.  There were lots of Champaign people gone though, so we really need to go back sometime to see them all.  :)  
After church it was raining... so we stayed at church for a while and then went for a drive around campus so that Cadence could get a little bit of a nap in the car.  I got a polar pop for old times sake and to try and shake a headache (I was out of tylenol).  

 The girls enjoyed our driving tour... Cadence slept, thankfully.  We drove past the Saltshaker, and 709, and where Grandpa Ed lived.  We pointed at lots of things, but... it was raining and how much can you see from the back of a van?  They did not understand why I would jump in a fountain with my clothes on... Emmy was very confused about the underground undergraduate library, and they were also very confused why Grandpa would drive over it. haha.    

 There was a picnic at Lake of the Woods later that afternoon.  It was still a little bit drizzly out but the kids didn't care.  Jack wanted a 'life jacket' like my girls and Cadence was refusing to put hers on, so we let him have it.  It's pink.  He didn't care.  haha.   

 Cadence had just woken up and was not happy about it though.  She didn't want her jacket but she REALLY didn't want anyone else to have it.

 She cheered up eventually, discovered this drinking fountain, and proceeded to get soaked. 

 We all had to go around and talk about ourselves and share memories and things.  I'm really bad at that type of thing, but it was fun to listen to everyone else.  Aw look at us, we haven't aged a bit.  

 I left feeling very thankful for the friends and great memories that I made during my time at U of I.  And for the relationships made with Champaign church people.  I was only there for two years, and I've been gone for 11, and they still remember me.... and put the lunchroom flowers in beakers for my sake.   So here's my plug for U of I: they have the best young group and the best church and you should send all of your college kids there.  Oh, and the school is pretty top-notch too.  
We got to watch Tirzah and Griffin during the chicken show later that week.  My girls were pretty excited to have friends over.

 Grace and Eden came for the evening the following day, so it was a double dose of friends and fun.
Thursday morning I got the mail and some fabric that I had ordered for my latest quilt project had come.  I was showing the girls and they really, really, thought that I should let them use my new fabric to sew something.  I did not think that was a good idea, and they really didn't understand why.  So, I've been going through my fabric stash lately and cutting up my too small leftovers into common quilting sizes in hopes that they would eventually get used up.  I talked them into choosing from that pile of fabric instead.  Emmy picked some leftover 9 patch blocks to make a quilt for Little Baby, and Cecily picked some 4 inch squares to make a quilt for Rebecca.  They sewed pretty steadily and without tons of direction from me.   

 Then we put it away, because Grandma came with a box of peaches and Jack.  They ate lunch with us.

 And Cadence and Jack got totally soaked outside "washing" the playhouse dishes.  Jack got to wear Cecily's Turk shirt home...  going back to his roots. :)

 They finished piecing their quilts that evening.

 So proud!  

 The backs don't even look to bad!  Emmy probably had more help than Cecily so hers is a bit neater than if she'd been completely independent... I helped them use the sewing machine the next day to put backings on them.  

 I pulled out my very first quilt to show them.  They were completely unimpressed for some reason.  hehe.  In my defense I was probably only 7 or 8 and did this all on my own with no help from Mom.  

 Friday evening was potluck.  I took the girls to the farm in the afternoon and they had lots of fun. I got a little bit of alone time and grocery shopped without them before it was time to go for supper.  It was enjoyable as always... only one small fire (Is that a candle?), not a coon.  
Saturday was quiet.  Emmy made a chalk rainbow on the driveway.   

 I canned peaches.  woot.  I actually prefer canned pears and I haven't found anyplace that sells them in bulk like they do peaches.  So when they're in season and the grocery store has them for 99cents I buy enough to can. Emmy really, really wanted to use them to make a pie.  Sooo.... I've always wanted to try pear pie.  Sunday afternoon we pulled out the Farm Journal Complete Pie Cookbook and tried the Summer Pear pie.  She helped me roll the crusts and put the filling together and then she wanted to sit and watch it bake.  It turned out pretty good and it tasted good too.  It looks so much like apple, though, that every bite was just not quite what I was expecting-  the nutmeg and pear texture versus cinnamon and firm apple or something? Next time we'll try the French Pear Pie with a cheese crust.    

 These are her favorite flowers.  Silly kid.

 We took the van to the shop Monday because it had been making an awful rattling noise.  I left the carseats in the van so we had no vehicle and couldn't borrow a vehicle and we didn't get to go swimming.  Also, our mechanic couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from, so we weren't sure if we were going to get to do date night that night.  I was feeling sorry for myself so when the Schwan's man came I ordered the ribs.  I figured if we couldn't go anywhere we could at least eat well at home.  The noise in the van ended up being a missing anti-rattle clip on a rear brake, even though we all (mechanic included) thought it was coming from something up front.  haha.  So the girls and I walked up and picked up the van with plenty of time for them to go play at Londyn and Tyra's house with the other potluck kids.  Bob didn't get home from work til after 6 and we decided not to go out, so my impulsive rib purchase wasn't so bad after all.    We got to eat ribs, purple potatoes from the garden, steakhouse style green beans, and cornbread with bacon, off our second best dishes in our very quite house.  It was delightful.  

 I think the girls played hard all night because they came home super sweaty and tired and insisting I "upgrade" a star app.  They slept in the next morning too, which I love.  
Oh Emmy, life is good.  Beef jerky, a comfy chair, what more could you want?

 I've never had much luck keeping onions through the winter; they always end up moldy and gross.  I probably don't prep them right, or our basement isn't cold enough or something.  The past few years I've been chopping and freezing them because it doesn't require blanching.  We didn't get many onions this year- some didn't thrive and some were pulled out prematurely so it wasn't a huge job.  Cecily and Emmy even volunteered to help peel them!  We wore our safety glasses/goggles to help with the crying.  hehe.  I'm sure the neighbors think we are nuts, but it works! I chopped them in the food processor and froze 11 pints worth for soup and recipes- if I get the bags flat enough in the freezer I can break off chunks as needed.     The freezer has a faint onion smell, but, sacrifices must be made... also chem goggles are amazingly stylish.  

 Cecily made a paper boat.  We have no printer paper but we've got lots of creativity!

Blessings.