Monday, July 28, 2014

at the moment

For the last two weeks, I've been solo-parenting while Will was away doing mission work with our church.  And although I'm used to being on my own a few weeks and weekends a year, and although I'm really glad he gets out there to work and serve with the youth, there's nothing like having him home, back with us where we want him to be most of all.  Yesterday I took the kids to Reedville to meet the ferry boat that the mission team was riding back on from their week on Tangier Island (in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay).  They were SO excited to see him and watch the boat come in.  I was glad we decided to make the trip...good decision, good decision. 

In the midst of being here on my own with only a 7- and 3-year-old for company, I made sure to take a little time for myself each day (well, more like late at night) so I could keep my cool.  Here's what I've been enjoying at the moment...

in my basket

  
I've pretty much done zero knitting for the past several months what with all the packing and moving and unpacking and cleaning I've been doing.  But when two of my best friends in the whole world had babies about three weeks apart back in May/June, I decided to get started on some projects.  So although they're still not done, at least something's been started.  They don't need them until it's a little cooler anyway...right?!  Never mind...don't answer that.

at the table




Tommy and I did some kitchen experimenting recently in the form of recipes from my Taproot magazines, a recipe from my favorite SouleMama, and an old favorite.  We tasted Horchata - a refreshing sweetened rice milk, strawberry mint soda, homemade crackers, and the always-popular Mary Jane Eggs, which has shockingly been left out of our food posts here at WeThree thus far. (I plan to remedy that on Thursday so stay tuned.  You definitely don't want to miss this one.)

on my nightstand

I have a pretty big line-up of books waiting on my nightstand and am looking forward to reading/looking through all of them in the next few weeks.  I just finished the top one, "The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted" by Elizabeth Berg late last night.  It's a collection of short stories and although they were all well-written, some of them were too sad for me.  I don't want to read about people dying of cancer or children who feel bullied...I get enough of that in real life.  So anyway, maybe not the best summer read, but not a terrible book either.  I'm about halfway through "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian McLaren and still haven't decided what I think of it yet.  Looking forward to reading "A Place in Time" by Wendell Berry (and hopefully one more!) on our vacation next week.

in the mail

It's always a good mail day when Taproot shows up in my mailbox!  This newest issue, SEED, did not disappoint.  Can't wait to get the next one in September.

with the kids








Picnics, popsicles, ice cream, sleep (holding hands! be still my heart), more ice cream and bike riding have been filling our days recently.  It's been really really good.

in the garden
zinnias

tomatoes and basil

tiny sunflowers

herb garden
 My gardening efforts this summer are few and far between and pretty pathetic if I'm being completely honest.  I threw some zinnia seeds in the ground, never expecting anything to come up in our terrible soil that I didn't add anything to, and then what do you know, they're growing!  My tomatoes and basil are doing ok, but as I've mentioned before, the deer are eating my baby tomatoes right off the plants.  Next year there will be a fence.  And perhaps a BB gun.  Just kidding...maybe.  I also dug up a section of soil at the end of our driveway and planted a row of sunflower seeds.  Not all of them have come up, but the 4 or 5 that have are so cute and exciting.  I was really late in planting them so hopefully they'll have a chance to bloom.  And finally, the kids and I planted a few (almost dead) herbs that I'm hoping will come back now that they're out of their constricting pots.  We lined it with stones found around our property and although it badly needs mulch (like everything else), I really like it.  Our first little dedicated garden patch!

in the morning

 Although it wasn't as early or as quiet as I had hoped, I finally got to have my coffee on the porch steps last week.  Complete with banana blueberry muffins and sausage.  Gotta love a breakfast picnic!

That's a little look at what I've been enjoying at the moment.  What are you loving these days

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