::30 Days:: Redux

Four years ago, I participated in a 30 Days series, where one posted a picture a day to represent their day.  I found it hard to choose just one picture, so I posted 3 or 4 a day with a brief description of my day.  Some of it was hum-drum,  with nothing much to share, just ordinary days in which I do laundry, tend to the children, can apples.  But I was recently looking back through old posts and I really enjoyed reading each one of those 30 posts. It forced me to look and find the beauty in my ordinary day. To stop for a moment, snap a picture, and remember.

I'm going to do it again.  I'm busy these days, but how much busier am I than I was 4 years ago, with a newborn baby?  And I was preserving all sorts of apples-- applesauce, dried apples, apple chips.  And we were splitting and stacking wood.  And I  had not just baby Peter in diapers, but young Sylvia, too. And the older two were not exactly independent and doing things on their own compared to now.

While I tend to bring the camera along for special occasions-- a visit with family, or a picnic outing-- these very ordinary, sometimes boring days, deserve some recognition, too. Because within these days spent at home are some extraordinary moments, a glimmer of extra-specialness that lasts only a second, and if it isn't remembered somehow-- writing it down, or a photo taken of it, it will very likely be forgotten. I know I have had plenty of those, 'this was so cute, I need to write this memory down' and then I didn't and I couldn't remember the moment anymore.

I'll start next Monday, giving me time to gear up for it and if any of you want to join along, please let me know in the comments.  Just a photo (or 3 or 10) a day that represents your day for 30 days. The original series, if I remember right, asked for just photos, but I guess I'm a chatty person, I couldn't post just a photo and not say anything!  So feel free to silently post just a picture(s) if you want, or by all means, describe your day!

The Best Investment

We've had such a stretch of hot days.

 The temperature rises and makes everything sticky hot.

The children melt.

We trip over the cats and the dog laying on the coolest parts of the floor.

The sun shines bright and beats down on our skins.

Sweat beads on our brows.

It's just hot.

Hot, hot, hot.

Ah, the pool.

The cool water is just the place to be on these hot, hot days!

So grateful to be able to slip into the water and instantly wash away that stickiness.

We spend a good chunk of our days out there, in the pool.

A break for lunch, then it's right back into the pool again.



 In the stillness of the evening, when I come and check the water,

I catch the sun taking a dip in the pool.

Mr. Sun gets hot, too, I suppose.

Onions!

We harvested the onions yesterday. Seeing all those yellow and white onions just make me feel so pleased with our efforts at keeping the garden weeded. Last year, when we planted onions, we lost the entire crop when weeds completely choked them out.  All that back-breaking work to plant them only to have all our efforts wiped out.  Not this year!

I didn't count, but there are more than enough onions here to last us for quite awhile. I don't think it'll last til next summer, though, so we plan to plant a second batch to make sure there's enough. We eat plenty of onions, just about in every dish we make.

A far cry from the onion-hating person I used to be! I used to plead with my mom not to put onions in meals, and she made onion-less potato salad for my sister and I.  Then I met Andrew, with onion juice in his veins and he often says, "A house is not a home without onions!" I'd begrudgingly add chopped onions into a dish, just for him, only a little! He'd ask for onions in the meatloaf I make, so I obliged, just half of one! Then the amount of onions I used grew, onions were included in more and more meals. We'd give raw onions to the kids when they were babes, and to my surprise, they liked them!

Now, I cannot imagine not having onions! Onions go in practically everything I make these days. Even though our kids have grown up eating onions, it still surprises me each time they willingly put raw onion slices on their sandwiches or hamburgers.

The onions still need a couple weeks of drying time, and they're in the pole barn now. I plan to store some, dehydrate some, and of course, use them as we go.  I've stopped buying store onions quite awhile ago, and there's nothing more satisfying than being able to provide something we need from our own garden.

Catching Up- July Edition

So much going on these days.  A birthday, loose teeth, stormy nights, canning, fireworks..  And that's just the beginning of July!!  Oh my! What does the rest of this month hold for us?!

Peter had a birthday. 4 years old now! What a big boy!

Since we had a double birthday party for him and Evelyn last month, his actual birthday was pretty low-key. I made him his favorite meals: pancakes for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, cake and ice cream, and spaghetti for dinner. He seemed to have a pretty good day and liked all the presents he got from us and Grandma.

Fireworks!

The small town down the road from us had delayed fireworks, which turned out to be a good thing, since we had a thunderstorm the night of July 4th. They held the fireworks on Friday, July 6th, and we decided to go.  It wasn't so hot then, and we knew that it would get cooler once the sun went down. The kids had a great time, making friends with other kids there and running and playing in the field next to where we parked. As soon as the first boom! went off, the kids scattered back to their families and we settled down to watch the show.

Pretty good show for a small town. A lot less crowded than Washington D.C. would have been, that's for sure! I think the fireworks lasted about 20 minutes and there were some really spectacular ones, too! I liked hearing the kids ohh and ahh in awe and jump when there was a really loud boom!

I remembered to break out the glow necklaces before we left, which turned out really handy in spotting the kids when they were playing off in the distance! Just look for the glowing arms and hands!

We got a scare on the way home when the hood of the truck popped open on us while we were driving! Talk about heart stopping! And in the dark, on a pitch-black mountain road! I'm glad Andrew was driving because I think I would have crashed! Luckily for us, he kept his cool and turned into someones driveway to see what happened.  Nice people stopped to help, armed with a super bright spotlight which was so much better than the little, puny, kid's flashlight we were using! The hinge of the hood got over-extended and we had to get it back into normal position before we could get the hood shut again. About 15 minutes of fiddling with it and we were back on the road to home again.

Before:

Peter got into the clippers and shaved a few bald spots on his head. Time for a haircut then.

After:

He's so cute, after we cut his hair he gave me a big smile and said:

"I so handsome!"

Why, yes you are, little guy! Very handsome!

And the Eating is Good!

There's nothing better when the garden starts giving you it's first offering. While other people I know have already started eating from their gardens, early radishes and lettuces, even corn, we have only just harvested a few early onions and snow peas, and recently, broccoli and shelled peas.

I made a stir-fry using broccoli, onions, and snow peas from the garden the other day and it was just fantastic. Someday it would be nice if the beef came from the homestead as well, but until then, I'll enjoy what I got now.

The shelled peas had a bunch of heavy pods hanging, so I decided it was time to pick some. This is the first time I've grown shelled peas and after this first picking, I can see I definitely won't have enough to freeze. I'll have to make note of that and plant more next year! What I picked today was enough for a meal and they were so, so sweet and tender.  I could have easily eaten nothing but those peas, but instead, I made fettucine, chicken, homemade alfredo sauce and the peas, lightly steamed.

Even better than picking the peas is a husband that sits with me and helps me shell the peas! It was a beautiful day, not too hot and sitting in the shade, watching the kids play in the pool while shelling peas was a nice way to pass the afternoon. I sure got lucky having a husband like mine to play house with!

And All is Well

The double birthday party went well. Family came, celebrated, ate, and left.

And the best part, my girl is home with us again!

I had visions of getting photos of her running out of the car and hugging her siblings, smiles on their faces. And you know what? That's exactly what happened, minus the camera! But that's ok, I'll always have that sight in my memories, of my children running to hug each other after a week apart.

Happy tears are running down my cheeks right now. I just love those kids so much! So, so much!

Grandma and Grandaddy came early, before everyone else, and we got to catch up a little bit with each other. Evelyn came home bearing small gifts for everyone. She was full of little stories of the stuff she did and I was able to get pictures off Grandma's camera.

Here's one of her when she was on the phone talking with us.  Some of those phone calls lasted an hour, and she had to get comfortable.  Oh my, she looks so much like a teenager here:

Can't you just imagine those future phone calls when she's older and talking with boys??

Anyone know how to stop time so I can keep her little?

She's different some how.  A little older, a little wiser. It was her first time staying at some one's home and seeing how they are around their house. Different eating and sleeping habits. Different lifestyle. She was surprised to see Grandma and Granddad's "office" which was the dining room table, normally cleared off and spotless when we're there, but turned into a desk with the laptop, mail, and piles of papers when it's just the two of them.  Helped her to see that we aren't the only ones who clean up before company comes!

She got to look through the family photo albums and hear stories of her dad from their point of view. Not just Daddy telling stories but *his* mom and dad telling stories about him. 

Grandma and Grandaddy got to know her better, too. To see that she is a smart young girl, reading any book she can get her hands on, able to hold conversations, and play games. They saw snippets of personalities in her that reminded them of Great-Grandma and Great-Grandad. They found an early picture of Great-Grandma Helen when she was in her 20s, maybe, and wow, Evelyn looks just like her. We'll be getting a copy of that picture soon and I look forward to trying to get her to pose similarly and keeping both pictures side by side. Evelyn's middle name comes from G.G. Helen's middle name, so it's really neat that she has this resemblance to her.

It's lovely having four children again to tuck into bed and kiss them all good night.

All is well... everything is just as it should be again.

A Piece of My Heart

Sorry this space has been so quiet lately. Partly because I have nothing to say that feels new and fresh and not a repeat of something I've said before. Also because it's just so busy here. Isn't it summer? Aren't these days supposed to be lazy? Well, maybe for the kids, but for this mama here, it's as hectic as ever.

One never realizes how much one depends on someone until they're gone. In my case, my oldest girl, Evelyn, has gone to stay at her Grandparent's house for a week. Oh, those first few days were just so sad around here. The younger girls weeping and missing Evelyn so much. They are taking turns sleeping in her bed and counting the days for her return (tomorrow!). 

I know it was hard for Evelyn, too, to be apart from us. She called every night and every morning in tears, filled with homesickness. I wanted to drive those two hours like a crazy mother to rescue her crying baby and bring her home. We almost did, halfway through the week, thinking maybe 4 days was long enough. But we kept the car keys on the hook, took deep breaths, and repeat after me: "She will be fine. We will be fine." And she is. And we are. One tiny step closer to the day when she flies away from the nest, but I won't think about that now.

She still calls daily, sometimes twice, and now they are happy calls, full of chatter and what they did that day. The little ones jump up and down, hardly containing their excitement at being able to talk with Evelyn on the phone.

At home, with Evelyn gone, the first few days was lots of talk about boredom. "I'm bored!" Sylvia would cry. "There's nothing to do!" Gretchen exclaimed. They sat and moped and missed Evelyn's leadership and ideas of games to play. Eventually, they developed their own rhythm together and learned to figure out ideas of their own. I brought out the embroidery stuff and they both sewed pictures-- for Evelyn!  Gretchen has learned to play with Sylvia instead of teaming up with Evelyn and leaving her out. The girls are also paying more attention to Peter, helping him more, when before it was mostly Evelyn tending to Peter.

Peter has always marched to the beat of his own drum, so it almost seems like he doesn't miss his big sister. Almost. He gets upset seeing one of the girls sleeping in Evelyn's bed. He protests and demands they get out of "E'lyn's bed!" He'll see something and point out to anyone nearby that it belongs to "E'lyn"!

It's been good for all of us, this little separation. We've discovered how much we value Evelyn's presence and her help, her leadership and her guidance with her siblings. Her sisters have learned to do things on their own, rather than depending on someone else to tell them what to do. Her absence has, indeed, made our love grow stronger for each other.

She comes back tomorrow, to a birthday party for both her and her little brother, Peter. Not a surprise party-- she helped make small party favors, but she won't see us decorating the house and get a peek at the cake. It will be a wonderful party and the best gift will be having her home again!

 Welcome Home Evelyn!