it's official

Well it is officially summer around here.  The kids were in the pool before 9 and they are eating breakfast in their swimsuits.  In the pool.

Here's something else that's official- I'm shutting down school for the summer.  I had considered doing some form of modified school, but you know what?  We need this!  When the kids were stripping down in the backyard at 8:45 am my first instinct was to say "no- we have chores... and math!", but then I thought, no way man, let the kids do whatever they want, it's summer dangit!  So it is now officially official.  And all that homeschool mama worry about "am I doing enough?" is now out the window.  Swimming and freezer pops and chasing chickens and killing stink bugs...this is enough.

we were so mature when we got married- here we were giggling
because we had to kiss in front of everyone!

And finally, it is officially 13 years today that I married my best friend.  And since we have been together for most of our lives, it is 20 years in total that we have been together.  Am I a lucky girl, or what?  I mean, what a gift this life is that I get to spend with John.  He is my favorite, and getting to wake up most every day with your favorite is a treasure.  It's birthday morning every morning.  So happy birthday to this life that we have built.  Together.

For a look at anniversaries past click here. 

slow moving

After many, many hot days and nights spent under the hood- Mr. Lewis (affectionally named after the original owner) is up and running!  I'm not sure who is most excited about this, the daddy or the kids.  John installed the seat belts tonight and we were able to go for a pretty long cruise through town.  We talked about living back in the days before air conditioner and cup holders.  Before air bags and high speeds.  We took it slow and easy, much to the dismay of the cars behind us!

Speaking of slow moving, that's how I want to live this last week of summer.  We have an official start date for school next Monday, so this week we'll finish up some deep cleaning, wrap up our studies of Japan, and get books re-sorted and ready to go.

In honor of slow moving, I don't think I'll be back in this space for the remainder of the week.

Happy last week of summer (if you live in our house), or first week of school!

the pros and the cons

TodayAug 15	Tue16	Wed17	Thu18	Fri19	Sat20	Sun21	Mon22	Tue23	Wed24

Mostly Sunny	Sunny	Partly Cloudy	Mostly Sunny	Mostly Sunny	Sunny	Mostly Sunny	Mostly Sunny	Partly Cloudy	Scattered T-Storms
105°FHigh	104°	104°	103°	102°	102°	101°	102°	101°	100°
75°Low	76°	75°	76°	76°	74°	75°	75°	75°	75°

EXPAND GRAPH

the pros:

my clothes dry on the line in record time!

the cons:

it's too dang hot to walk my rear out into the backyard to hang clothes on the line.

*****************************************************************

are you familiar with Randy Kaplan?  Take a listen to my summer anthem.

letter #2`

Dear Summer,

Your extra long days have given us a new girl. One that swims, reads, cleans, snaps, and loses teeth without any input from Mama and Daddy. She is so independent and clever. And she is loving mysteries- "the spookier the better" she says.

She adores the snails and mushrooms that all of your unseasonable raininess has brought on.

And we adore her. Her hair all streaky gold and her skin, sun-kissed.

Her spirit courageous and bright.

Love,

Mandi

letter #1

Dear Summer,

You know how they say that the earth smiles in flowers?

I think that you, dear summer,

must giggle in blueberries.

Love,

mandi

summer nostalgia

This summer I have been finding myself turning back to some summer staples of my own childhood.



My kids have been loving their updated version of the original Slip and Slide. As a child my siblings and I had The Wet Banana. Do you remember this knock-off? The sprinkler was shaped like a banana! Oh man, we loved that thing! Now I can hardly watch as my children hurl themselves at the slide. Ouch.

I have always been an avid reader. Summer days for me meant endless books. I remember going with my dad to work at our church. We had a library at the end of the hallway where his office was. This library was like a dream for me! It was full of old, dusty books. And it was empty. What more could a girl want? I would sit in that dark library, finding a spot where the sunlight was streaming in, and read. All day. My favorite was Heidi, but I always enjoyed good biographies. We picked up this book at the library yesterday. However, our copy is not this newly revised one. It is close to 60 years old! Can you believe our library still has it? We are reading this to prepare our imaginations for our upcoming road trip in August. More on that later!
Ahh, nothing is better on these hot days than a popsicle. Now, our pops never looked this cool when I was a child, but we always had the store bought kind on hand. And when we didn't, the ice-cream man always provided!

I bought this mold last summer and we use it daily. Sometimes more than once, if you know what I mean!

Yesterday Moonpie requested that we put up "one of those old rope swings" on our live oak in the backyard. Isn't this one beautiful? It is made of reclaimed wood, and the rope is untreated. Nothing says summer nostalgia to me more than a good old rope swing.

some summer inspiration

Man, it has been really hot here the past couple of days! So much so that we are back to our summer routine of outside early morning, inside most of the afternoon, back outside after 7:00. Which is pushing our bedtime way later than I would prefer. But that's not the point here. I have been dreaming up some ideas for things to do this summer, and have found some great ones on blogs.


Our To Do list for the summer reads like this:

1. Pudding skate
2. Flour swim
3. Ice cream fight
4. Tempra paint water balloon toss
5. Soapy trampoline
6. Kool-aid water gun

Now, this is not a definitive list, other things like "teach Moonpie to braid" are not on this list. This is more of a I-am-so-bored-what-on-earth-can-we-do-to-make-it-through-the-day (without dying of heatstroke) kind of list. When I'm feeling uninspired I look to this list for some crazy idea to get us out of our slump. And it works!

I have found some other great ideas in blog-land that you have to see!

• Check out Ashley's waterpark! We are FOR SURE doing this! If you've never visited Ashley's blog, you must.
• And then there was this from Heather. I've mentioned here before how I like to keep journals for each of my children, but I love this idea of them journaling their long summer days! Yep, this goes on the list!
• Nicola always has great, do-able ideas! I love this one for nature journaling!

What brings you inspiration on these hot summer days? Please share!

squash crisp

i'm thinking that lots of you are like me about this time of year- up to your eyeballs in squash. i didn't even plant any this year because i knew that between the csa and generous friends that i'd be swimming in it. and i am.

last year i thought i made up squash pie- you know, like an apple pie, but with squash. i thought this until i saw the lady at the farmer's market selling it. she's also the lady i was buying potatoes from. every week. that is no coincidence. it lodged in my mind, tricking me into thinking i was some form of culinary genius.

so this year, with my excess squash i really did make up my own dessert- a squash crisp. and yes, it's basically a pie without a crust, but humor me here!

here's what you do:

peel and seed the squash

grab a little person to start chopping it up into half moons

you want about 4 cups worth (approx. 3 large squash)

while s/he is doing that, start on the crumble. this was about

1 cup oats

1/2 cup flax meal

1 cup chopped up walnuts

3-4 tbsp butter

cinnamon to taste

2 tbsp honey

mix it all up with a fork.

next add 3ish tbsp of honey and some cinnamon to the squash. or have your child do it and they will add 6ish tbsp of honey. it makes it really good (but a tad too sweet).

spread sweetened squash into a small casserole dish and sprinkle crumble on top. bake on 350' for about 20 minutes.

we ate ours with leftover home made whipped cream from buddy's bday biscuits! it is a pretty tasty way to use up summer squash!

do you have any creative squash recipes? please share!

btw- this recipe is loosely based on cathe olson's apple crisp out of vegetarian mother's cookbook. i love this cookbook!

guess who's coming to dinner?

hopefully you are.

with 10 of your closest friends.

because this is my csa share this week! look at all the colors...all the possibilities (ratatouille, stuffed zucchini, stewed okra and tomatoes, pesto, pepper pizza, salsa to can, and a small batch of pickles)!

to break it down, that is:

8 lbs. of tomatoes

2 lbs. of okra

7 varieties of summer squash

1 lb of peppers

3 eggplants

2 onions

1.5 oz of basal

YUM!!!

i must confess that i received a double share of tomatoes and okra. there is a gentleman who always seems to be picking up around the same time i am. he is very interesting, always telling stories (like his recent travels in france). he gave me his share of tomatoes and okra this week. what a lucky girl i am!

and, so my pretty little tomatoes don't feel left out- this is what i harvested from our garden the other day.

beat the heat

buddy helps wash the car...

did i mention it's been over well over 100 degrees every day this week?