Party of Six!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Sumer Time Continues . . .

Our Summer continues and it has been nice and laid back. A few activities here and there but a whole lot of bumming going on. . . (as it should be right?)

Hanging out at the park and saw this beauty!

One night I decided to make zucchini lasagna. I subbed the zucchini for the noodles so it would be less carbs and more veggies. The boys had thirds and Olivia had a chicken patty.

One evening Olivia and I went to the Library and watched a puppet show. Afterwards, we went for a walk around the woods that surround the library. We discovered one of the gardens that has a kaleidoscope that looks into a pot of flowers. This is what it looks like from the eye piece.

and here is Livi looking through the eye-piece.

Just a picture of our harvest from the garden this year: green beans, carrots, onions. This carrot is white and we have purple and orange ones too!

If it's hot out, we head over to Grandma and Grandpa's pool and cool off.

The beginning of this month, we sent Connor to CYC for the week. Paul relived his camp memories to Connor. Here we are dropping him off.

In front of his cabin . . .

While he was gone, Olivia and I hung out at the park and playground at the school. It was really quiet without him; however, Olivia picked up the slack and talked and talked my ear off!

We came back to CYC for church and pick up Connor. We couldn't find him anywhere. Sure enough, he volunteered to be mass server. He likes being apart of the mass.

When we got home, he LITERALLY kissed the ground. He confessed that he was home-sick (which we knew he would be, but didn't know he'd actually throw-up) The nurse kept him busy by telling him to keep active and so he did: zip-lining, horse-back riding, swimming, etc. He said that he had fun but he doesn't want to do it again! He stated that Dad made it sound like it was super fun, but it wasn't that awesome. . . at least he tried.

We were able to see my sister and her girls one weekend at a baby shower.

It was so nice to catch up and for the girls to see each other.

They picked up from where they left off. . .

Fourth of July, we went to pick up Connor while Olivia stayed in town to watch the parade. Over the weekend, we did sparklers and snakes with Grandma and Grandpa.

Funny Faces!

One hot afternoon and the family got together to have a dip in the pool and a picnic.

The library had a cool bug class that Olivia went to. She has decided that she wants to be a vet AND an entomologist!

Last week, we finally went to Build a Bear. Olivia had a gift card for two years and we just never got there. She's really into My Little Pony and so she picked Rarity. She used her own money for the extra accessories and some clothing shopping for herself.

Out of order, but Olivia posed and says, "Look, I'm the Statue of Liberty!

Connor thinks he's cool that he can light up the snakes this year!

I was working one weekend and saw this extraordinary sunset. I just had to grab my phone and take a picture.

Then, it turned into this and I had to take another one. Then in an hour we had to take cover for tornado warnings. However, the tornado warnings were way northwest of us or already east of us!

These girls are both 7 for right now!

Watch Out Below!

Finally, a little cuddle time.

It's been an eventful yet relaxing summer if that makes any sense. We only have one more week of July and August is around the corner. I'll have a few more pictures from the end of this month.

One with Nature . . . . .

Just some pretty pictures of my plants and flowers around the yard. . . .

Miss Zinnia is just starting to open up her petals and be in full bloom!

This zinnia is in full bloom and has a green fly attached to it that I couldn't make him move, so I snapped the pic with him in it.

Tomatoes are loaded on my plants and just starting to turn color! Kids were so excited to pick me an orange tomato (it was the first one to turn color!) I placed it on the window sill and waited for it to turn and YUM it was SO delicious! Nothing beats a fresh Iowa tomato....

We've had plenty of beans too and they are super long green beans this year. Kids and I love them steamed with nothing else on them... Like eating CANDY! New buds keep blooming . . .

The second go around for my roses to bloom. The bugs aren't into them as much as the first ones to bloom.

My favorite new plant are these Snap Dragons. I have found the perfect flowers for my planter that drains quickly. Snap Dragons love a well-drained area. They've never stopped blooming and are bushy yellow! A little bit of happiness in my planter this year.

The other side of the planter are my hens and chicks and they are doing well. The weeds have come and gone and they continue to conquer the space.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Summer Time!

I get a little skip in my heart when summer time comes around. It brings me back to the best memories that I had growing up on the farm. So many adventures . . . never had to be entertained by my parents. We dared not say that we were bored, for we would be put to work.

For the most part if we did utter the phrase, we were just merely sent outside.

After being sent outside, it didn't take long for our imaginations to come up with something:

pretending our farm was a city
going to our "clubhouse" which was an old trailer full of wood
playing cops and robbers and putting the criminals in "jail" (aka the corn crib)
nature hikes
bike rides
swinging on the swing-set, trying to swing to high you could see Feldman's house, or singing as loud as you can while swinging
picnics by the garden
climbing trees behind the farrowing house
playing in the creek (pronounced "crick")
playing in the sand-box (after scooping out all the cat poop) and we never contracted the cytomegalovirus! maybe just some pinworms (I kid, although I think it happened to my brother!)
playing in the barn with all the kitties
camping outside, etc. etc.
The possibilities were endless.

The endless summer days and nights were filled with ball-throwing until we could hardly see the white of the softball, catching fireflies until the whooshing of bats were felt around our heads.
Icy-pops and Schwan's ice cream bars were a staple, as well as watermelon.

The sweet smell of watermelon can take me right back to Fourth of July celebrations and seed spitting contests. Speaking of scent, if I get a hint of baby-oil or Noxema, it takes me back to when my sisters and I would "lay-out" and soak up the rays of sunshine, listening to some great 80's hit songs from the radio blaring out the screen window in the kitchen. But don't get too close to the antennae or the station would crackle!

The garden hose was a instant entertainer, we would wash our bikes, the cars, drink from it, and then start a water fight, or get out the slip and slide and swoosh down the plastic yellow sheet while hitting patches of speed bumps of uneven earth. Or just simply run through the sprinkler, then crawl through the sprinkler, then cartwheel, then, you get it!

I get excited for the kiddos and plan out our bucket list for each summer. Sometimes this is more for me than the kids. We have been able to knock a few adventures off our list. What I hope that I'm instilling into the kids' minds is that it's nice to slow down and not have a schedule. It's nice to have adventures that are cheap or even Free! And hopefully someday, they will get a hint of a smell, hear an old melody, or see a sight and get an immediate response of their summer memories. (like I still do!)

Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden (CHECK)

Here we are at Better Homes and Garden's Test Garden. I didn't realize that Des Moines is the headquarters for Better Homes and Garden Magazine until a few years ago.