First Day of School

First Day of School   2015-2016

Earlier in the week, we tackled 7 baskets of tomatoes

The tomatoes almost won

I shall go on record to say that I love my new Bayou cooker, even with the breezy day I didn't have to relight in at all.

Random Pictures

Cheezy smile, I think from having her cheeks full of candy from Grandma.

A Shekinah salad plate

Zeke waiting "patiently" for his turn in the OR.

Grandpa was honored to read the classic to Parker,

Really?!

Why would someone actually need one of these? :) 

Today was one of those days...Zeke got a bone spur removed from his leg.

It has been increasingly annoying for the past 3 years and the doctor

agreed it is time to remove it. Recovery seems to be a breeze so far.

Full weight bearing and little pain. Oh and what does Zeke do to recover from anesthesia?

   "I can't remember, what is the 30th digit of pi?"

So now the remaining days of summer should be EZ. Ben is off to Thailand and Zeke's surgery is over....oh but I still need to do another run to Philly sometime for Joe's legs. Just love that town.

How We Cope

While keeping my eyes on this

I am trying to do the other things that need to be done

like peaches

Six hands surely do make the work fly

These Baby Gold peaches are a trick.

grapefruit spoon to take out the pits and vegetable peeler for the shells.

The Time has Come!

"NO WAY!" said Shekinah

She suddenly needed to sit on Ben's lap during supper.

...and practice her koala bear hug.

A far away country is in their future.

Creek Hike Sunday

You pick the hottest summer Sunday,

and find your old clothes or swimming stuff.

And you take a walk down the creek,

leave mom at home (it's tradition)

Unusual finds....a snake, harmless we think

telephone pole...sorta far from any road

Take the traditional group photo (the group changes from year to year)

Had to make sure he poses for at least one picture.

QOTD: "Mom I don't want Ben to go to Thailand."

No deary mom doesn't want Ben to go to Thailand either, really, but I think Ben should go to Thailand.  It's a little like those scary trips to China to add to our family, just think what we would have missed if we would have given in to the fear. 

Mama Day AKA Craft Day

For weeks Hope has been planning a "mama day", a day in which the girls

get all mom's attention AND do something fun.

Since we were saving SO much money by not sending the girls to camp this year, 

she thought we could spend some $$ on this "mama day".

We bought 12 rayon scarves (one free silk one) from Dharma Trading,

pulled out the dye from my years as a "fabric artist" and

got to work.

I had to read the instructions again, it's been so long!

They of course wanted chevrons.

That required "dye sticks" --expensive crayons and masking tape.

Took more patience than they thought.

Shekinah solved the glove problem (there were none her size) by

going in the house and getting her winter gloves.

I had warned her that I don't want to hear any more whining about gloves.

Squooshing the dye to all corners of the fabric.

At the end the girls gathered up the white "smalls"  around the house

and dyed them..."mom don't post that!"

It's not a close-up.

While the scarves brewed (below) I taped off a t-shirt for Shekinah. 

Finished product!  They were happy.

Sharpies on dishes should just be done on the non-eating surfaces...

even after they were baked at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Found that out later....

It's a shame, cause this one got neat.

Then they did sand art...found that sand when we cleaned off shelves 

in the garage on Wednesday. 

Gives new meaning to hand-dyed.

QOTD:  As we were driving down the road: S- "Are we going past the berry patch."

Me: "You mean where we get strawberries?"

S - quietly "No the place where people are that are killed."

me: " OH! you mean the grave yard." Guess I need to work on my vowels....

We apparently had a memorable conversation about a cemetery we passed the other day.