The last few days....

Hope each of you had a wonderful Fourth - we sure did!! On the third we went to White Lake for the day (just D, Gran, and the two youngest since the others were working) and it was perfect weather and loads of fun. Then although several families had to cancel coming on the 4th, we were still blessed with all 5 of our children plus Gran and several young adults that we count as family, too! The Broglis were here and we were so very glad since we probably won't see them as often after they move. Matt B. will be a Youth Pastor, and although we will miss them we are very glad that the Lord has opened a door for them and we know He will bless them greatly in their new adventures! After we ate (and ate - esp. D's homemade salsa from veggies from the garden - I am so glad I grew that cilantro!) we drove over to a baseball stadium to watch some fireworks. My Matt "practiced" taking firework pictures (like he needs practice - I've not seen a bad one yet!) so that when he and J are in Paris this weekend for Bastille Day he will have some practice with them (although I'm sure the French would not compare their fireworks with those of the Mudcats :) !!)

Anyway, it was a wonderful holiday here (except for a while mid-day when I got the "Martha syndrome"and was ill-tempered with my dear hubby - who is loving and gracious enough to forgive this middle-aged whacky woman) and I pray that each of yours was great, too. On Saturday I gathered the first purple hull peas and green beans from the garden and we ate them and some of the salsa and leftover grilled chicken and burgers for supper. Yummy! Purple hulls are probably my favorite veggie. Lindsey had left some of her watermelon here so all weekend I pigged out on watermelon, too!

Service Sunday was very special with a beautiful tribute to the armed forces, with the veterans standing when their military anthem was played. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed thinking of my father and many of his WWII generation that have passed on as well as the many young men and women who have/are serving and the ones who have paid that ultimate sacrifice. May we not be foolish in living, voting, praying in a way that will help to carry on their memory.

As we get ready to send two off to Europe, do gardening, canning and housework, keep two extra children part of the week, get ready to have relatives from Kansas visit this weekend, and try to squeeze in some time to enjoy the summer, I probably won't be back at the computer long enough to blog but will try to keep up reading yours. Hope you have a wonderful summer week!

Summertime "school"

A friend asked me about what we do for "school" in the summer. First of all, we stick to a traditional (Aug - May) schedule for the textbooks but since I firmly believe that a lot of learning (maybe most for some children?) is outside the textbooks, I hesitate to put us in that box. Since we have a vegetable garden, small fruit orchard (btw, we got our first blueberries off yesterday morning - yippee!!), and prepping the remaining 15 acres for pecans, we spend lots of time year-round on the farm, but especially in the summer. It is also a time where I purposely read (or re-read) books to try to help me grow spiritually and as a primary teacher to them. Late spring I make out a list (yes, a list!!) of habits that I want to work on with them through the summer. I just started that last year and it worked great. Little things like making sure they are flossing correctly, making their beds and not just throwing on the covers, learning to tie a shoelace, how to properly load/unload the dishwasher, getting better at swimming and diving, learning to do a handstand under the water, etc. That way those with which I work with them consistently are hopefully habits by the time we get back into school mode this fall. Worked well last summer, we will see about this year!

For those who asked earlier, I now have cucumbers, squash and tomatoes coming in from the garden. Fresh basil and parsley are getting clipped from my potted plants and we have eaten plums and blueberries from the orchard. Not enough from ours to can yet, but we picked plums at an Aunt's house last week and made 12 pints of jam so we are definitely into the canning mode already! Ya'll come on down and get some veggies soon!

(copyright notice - painting by Robert Duncan)

Mudcats

Yesterday my hubby took off from work and we raked and picked up rocks in a small area directly behind the house. We used hand rakes and tried to get up all the rocks in the area we will have as our "official backyard" and will just rake up the rocks with the tractor rake on the rest of the 14+ acres left. After doing that all day, we showered, ate a quick southwest chicken salad for supper and went to see the Mudcats play (compliments of a coworker who has season tickets - thank you!!). Great time, great game, with the Mudcats behind until the 4th, then tying the game and finally winning it with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th - fun stuff!!

Field Trip - Oak View

Yesterday we joined about 75 other parents, children and toddlers to tour a Historic Site called "Oak View". We had 3 programs after everyone arrived and the children had "met" the local pet goats. "From Field to Fiber" was where the children learned how hard it was to pick and de-seed cotton, saw a cotton gin and model, and learned about the boll weevil. "Artifacts" was really fun for the children to discuss and try to figure out some "weird" artifacts (our girls had an old-fashioned pre-electricity curling iron that was heated in the fire and the boys had a "boot jack" which I had read about but never seen. "Changes Over Time" was not as hands-on as the other two programs but the children enjoyed it and learned a lot from a mural depicting all of the changes to the area over the past 400+ years. The guides in all 3 programs were absolutely some of the best and after the programs we picnicked near a duck (goose?) pond in the pecan grove and then toured the main house, plank kitchen, herb garden and carriage house on our own. Lots of fun. My 5yo dozed off on the way home so what did I do then? Let him nap a little then we went to the pool for our (probably) last splash of the summer since it closes Monday and we have plans for the weekend.

Summer Fun - Friends!

We've had lots of fun this summer getting to see friends - from J's graduation party through today - and we have made a point of using time this summer to "make new friends and keep the old" (Did you learn that song as a child? It was one of our favorites to sing on the Girl Scout bus!). Here's a few pics of our fun with friends this summer (so far!).

Summer Fun-4th of July Pics