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.

Bananas!

"Look at me!"

Doesn't it look like she's taking a self-portrait?  : )

I err on the side of waiting longer before starting my babies on solid food.  Sarah is no exception.  She has been exclusively breastfed for 6 months and appears to be doing well.  She started taking interest in things that are going towards my mouth, so I figured it might be about time to start solids.

 I'd say, based on her grabbing the spoon and pulling it into her mouth, that she was ready to eat!   Mmmm... Aunt Sissy, she loved that mashed up banana!  Then Rebekah turned a little green & she wanted to eat mashed up banana also!  Time to pull out my baby food cookbook and the Baby Bullet!

Four and a Half Cupcakes

I love cupcakes!  When I stumbled upon a recipe for Pink Lemonade Cupcakes in the Big Book of Cupcakes, I thought this would be perfect for Elizabeth's 4 1/2 birthday.  This year we stayed home, shared our cupcakes with Grandpa, and played on the slip & slide.

Elizabeth has grown so much since 3 1/2, as have the others.  It's amazing to look back and see them!  She doesn't look like a baby any more.  She looks like a beautiful little girl.  And she loves cupcakes, too!  She enjoyed the lemonade cupcakes, but has already requested chocolate for her 5th birthday cupcakes.

Happy Four and a Half!

So hard to wait!

It's the 4th

Happy Fourth of July!  My second favorite holiday!  It's full of fond memories of camping, family, fireworks, homemade ice cream...  Here is our little firecracker in the dress I forgot to put on her Sunday morning:

 It amazes me how much I love her!

We'd already started getting ready for bed when Dad reminded me about doing sparklers with the kids.  Yeah, I've been off today.  I actually got Rebekah out of bed so she could go outside & burn her hand.  Of course we stayed on the gravel since it's been so dry. 

Happy 4th!

July ONE

 The First Day of July!  

Rebekah was crying because she wasn't holding the kitten. So...

 That's a good little cat.

His name is Steel.

On this first day of July, Dad went to a birthday party for a coworker.  I got the babies in bed early after a long week of VBS! and wanted to enjoy the finally-not-sweltering-temperature outside, so the 2 big 'uns and I walked down to the pond, which is just in the back yard.

Now I am really not good at getting the hooks out and this guy had gotten 2 of them stuck in the corner of his big mouth.  After a few minutes, I started to worry that I was gonna kill the thing by having it out of the water and not being able to get the hook out, so I started praying to myself about it.  I didn't even realize I was talking out loud.  Elizabeth asked me who I was talking to, so I explained that I was asking God to help me get the hook out and that the fish not die, and I continued working with the hook and with the prayer.  Finally it came loose!  Whew!  Thank you, God!  - Thank you that I did not forget to thank you when the little ears were listening! - Then Elizabeth said, "Wow, God sure is strong, isn't he?"  And that, my friends, was the BIG catch of the day!

Then David got my camera and had himself a good time.

There was lots of giggling as he took a few self-portraits

and then turned the camera around to see his picture.

 

 Then I told them I'd take some goofy pictures of them together.

Wow, that turned out to be a good evening!

See how the kids are growing every month here!

A Dry Garden Report

 This evening's photos are kinda dark.  This has been a hot, dry spring & first week of summer!!!  The garden has been abysmal.   However, after 3 years of trying to grow sunflowers, I finally have a bloom!

 Yes, it is really taller than me!  There is one more plant that is even taller, but it's not ready to bloom yet - it's still growing up!

I took photos from the same positions as I did last time, so you can compare if you'd like.  In the first photo, the onions have been harvested, the corn (which did not make any) has died, and the squash is still alive but not producing any more.  The green bean tepee is there but empty because the green beans died without producing.  One lone zinnia is blooming in front of the playhouse.

 From the opposite side, you can see the spaghetti squash plant on the trellis is dying, but it was my best producer of all!  We have eaten one and I have 9 spaghetti squash put up for later!  The tomatoes are hanging on, and believe it or not, still making some little tomatoes.  The pepper plants are doing likewise.  I put up a shade cloth over the peppers and the tomatoes are benefiting from it in the afternoon as well.  I am starting to believe "full sun" does not mean "Texas sun" for many garden plants.

Here is the lizard house David & I built beside the asparagus (in it's 1st year) after spotting a Texas Spiny Lizard there one day.  Of course, we haven't seen one since, but David enjoyed making the house for him.

 I have tried to make the garden a fun place for the kids to be with me, since I like to spend so much time out there.  I just wish this year had been a better year for gardening!  Just too, too hot and dry... too early!  Notice the large crack in the ground coming out from under the playhouse?

The girls were waiting for me when I came out of the garden.  They're the reason it's fenced off... them and the other wild critters that would get in there & dig it up.  I have decided to try gardening again, this year, in the fall.  I've never tried fall gardening.  We'll see how it goes.

Welcome Summer!

 We celebrated the First Day of Summer with apple juice pops on the porch and tried to go to the Splash Pad in town, but it was not running (which really stinks for the first day of summer).  Instead we came back home, played in the awesome sprinkler I built!!! and made homemade ice cream in my amazing ice cream maker!

YEA, SUMMER!

Happy Father's Day

This year for Father's Day, 

we made our  

7th Annual Father's Day Collage,

went swimming with our Life Group 

and... 

we got kittens!!!

 

We love you, Dad!!!

First Fish!

We had some fishing excitement as David caught his first fish of the year and Elizabeth caught her first fish ever!

With the help of Spiderman and Barbie, David had a pretty little bass and Elizabeth had a... um, what's that? a perch? maybe? 

Anyway, it doesn't really matter what type of fish it it - just look how cute she is with the bow and the pink pole!!!   : )

Relay for Life 2011

 

 This first year after we lost Momma, I decided to participate in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.  Our team name was The Blue Angels, in memory of her.

 

Our team gathering before the event began.

 Survivors Photo and then they start walking.  Daddy is the only one not wearing the t-shirt.  : )

 My sister & I raised over $560 for the event, but she lives in CA and was not able to join us at the walk.  They had their own walk, however, hiking along the coast.  Other family joined me to help walking and we had someone walking all night.

 This is where Sarah stayed much of the night!