How Do You Dry Your Clothes?

 Wow, that's hot.  And it's been this hot for weeks!

It's easy to get sick & tired of being hot.  Of having no rain.  Of having your grass, garden, and landscaping die.  Of having your electric bill climb.  It's so easy to complain.  Of course, if it had been raining for three months, we'd be complaining about that, too!  If it was a cool summer, some of us would complain that we wanted some "swimmin' weather"!

My back yard clothesline full of kitchen linens

As I was hanging out towels in the hot, dry wind, I was reminded how blessed I am and began to thank God

• for the people who dirtied these towels and napkins.
• for the view I have, even though the grass is dead.
• for the little hands that would help fold when I got back inside.
• for the paper towels I didn't have to buy.
• for the food that was prepared in the same kitchen.
• for the people that have given me those towels and napkins - Godly women in my family.
• for my husband that built the clothesline for me.
• for the air conditioning when I walked back inside.

I'm sure there was more.  That was a big load of towels!  I actually had more towels than I had clothesline, but that's OK - by the time I had the line full, the thin napkins were already dry!  I was able to take down napkins to hang the rest of the towels!

And that's how I dried my clothes this week.

The Problem with Soup...

The last photos I posted were Monday. The kids were outside in shorts getting hot. Today we were inside in sweats with a fire going. Seemed like a good day for soup. Everyone knows, however, the problem with soup is that you can't make a little pot. It keeps growing the more good stuff you think to add to it.

Did I mention I was the only one at home to eat this??? The kids don't really go for soup yet. They did devour the noodles & cornbread, though.

And Fluff just watched. Surely he can at least be thankful that he's got a nice size, DRY porch to hang out on! We'd even let him take a spin on the Big Wheel if he wanted.

Well at least he was happy out there the other day when it was sunny... and he did get some of the cornbread bones crumbled up with what was left in the bottom of the milk cups today.

Starting PreK, Ice & Tiny Talk!

Finally... Monday was our first official day of Preschool at home! David has really been looking forward to it, even though he really didn't know what that meant. I was just hoping he wasn't disappointed it meant staying at home with mom!

So far, I think he's enjoying it. I took pictures the first day, which are on my flickr. (Keep in mind those photos will appear in reverse order.) Some of the highlights were making letters with the wood pieces from Handwriting Without Tears:

and being able to draw on the new easel with chalk:

I was actually surprised how quickly we went through the lesson plans. So far our longest day has been about an hour & 20 minutes - and I've added in some extra books & workbooks! I suppose that's a good start, though. The only thing I know that holds his attention longer than that is Legos!

Elizabeth is sometimes at the table with us, sometimes with Dad, and sometimes doing her own activities like coloring or playing with ABC magnets:

Our first day of preschool also happened to be the ice day! It was nice to be inside with a warm fire going all day long as the drizzle slowly built up on the trees. What resulted was absolutely beautiful!

I can only guess that the ice was the source of our power flickering several times on Monday. With the last flicker, we lost our internet. We were down until Tuesday night, so I completely missed Tiny Talk Tuesday. So, for those of you hungry for the cuteness, here's a delayed version:

Last week, David kissed Lauren & then said, "I turned you into a frog!"

Tonight in the car, Elizabeth was playing her animal game (she either hollers out an animal name or a sound, then I'm supposed to make the sound or guess her animal). Her turkey was hilarious!

Then David said something about the animals, so I asked, "Who made the animals?" "God!" "What else did God make?" "Sharks!" "What else?" ... "There are lots of sharks in Mexican-co, in the Mexican-co ocean." ...

"God made the whole earth." "We live on the Earth and I see a star (out his window). That star is a planet." "I think that planet is Venus." ... "Why is Venus following us?" ... (turning the corner) "Venus is gone!" ... (turning again) "Oh! Venus is back again!"

Dad said he remembered watching the moon from the back of the car when he was little (back before car seats) and thinking the moon was following them. It's amazing how much they are alike!