Postcards from Summer

Yesterday morning was spent with us all catching up on our reading. After that we did a little art; baked some pumpkin bread & then it was lunch and rest time.

After rest we headed outside for some bike riding, collecting berries for the fairies & some more art in the shade of the crab apple tree.

These slow days of summer are starting to get less humid & uncomfortable. Our energy levels (and attitudes) are slowly beginning to swing upwards! And a morning spent with books & art & baking sure helps too!

Weekending

This weekend was what we needed. 

I was awoken Saturday morning by the sun streaming into the bedroom. It was a gentle wake up with coffee, journaling & prayer.

We dropped my car off for a new tire & balancing and aligning and all that (last weekend on our way to my sister-in-laws we got a flat tire. Ran over a big piece of metal that tore through it.)

Saturday afternoon was spent knitting, watching cooking show's & relaxing in the sunshine while my husband cleaned up the yard (last Tuesday morning a huge freak storm rolled through the area and smacked our city. Trees on cars & in houses; a few houses a few neighborhoods away from ours were knocked off their foundations. Thankfully we just had a lot of big branches down with no damage. over 75% of the city was without power for over a day. We were lucky & were only without ours for 15 hours. The majority of that time while we were "camping"). 

Sunday was Mass & a quick run to the grocery store & more knitting in the sunshine & cooking steaks on the grill & enjoying a fire in the new fire pit (our first!)

As I was typing this weekending post up I realized I haven't updated here in over a week! Aside from the tire & the storm we were gone much of last week camping. Which means we left here to spend the day at my parents campsite with them & my sisters about a half hour away. At the end of the day we came home to our bed & shower! The end of the week was spent catching up on laundry & cleaning & grocery shopping.

Playing along with Karen for weekending!

Catch up summer postcard

There was a break in the postcard posting here last week due to dance camp. We had to be up & 30 minutes away by 8:50 each morning. That cut into blogging time & reading everyone else's blogs too!

And the past few days have been catch up around the house time. (And on sleep time). 

Today begins the first day of a long stretch of crazy hot weather. The hottest of the year so far they are saying. I think we will make a run to Target in a bit to find a small kiddie pool, set that & the water table up & spend time out in the shade in the water in the mornings & then upstairs in the air conditioning for nap/quiet time afternoons!

I had wanted to have a yarn along post today but there hasn't been any knitting for over a week. I have what I think might be carpal tunnel in my hand. It's caused by my twisting it funny opening a cupboard (of all things!) about a week ago and it hurts like crazy when I do much of anything....knitting included. I've been trying to rest it (and really I think I need to put the phone down more often because it's after scrolling through Instagram that I notice a big jump in pain).

I have been reading & finished that book up there in just a few days. It was SO good. I haven't read any historical fiction in so long and this book has re-ignited my love for that genre. I must find more!

So that's a quick catch-up of life here these days! I'm hoping to catch up with everyone's blogs today!

Postcards from summer

{My intention for this summer is relaxed & slow & intentional: to take more pictures with the big camera; to be outside as much as possible; for my girls to have as many fond memories of summer; and to capture some of that here.

So postcards it will be. A picture or two of our day, with a few words written. Just like an old fashioned postcard!}

Yesterday was recovery day from the weekend.

It was also the hottest day of the summer so far, so we spent the morning outside with the water table. Playing, running, resting on the blanket, having a picnic lunch. When the sun moved and there was no shade we retreated into the house for naps & reading in the air conditioned upstairs. 

After supper it was cooler outside so we sat on the deck and watched two little girls give a dance recital in the golden summer evening sun. 

This is what summer is made of.

Weekending

Our weekend began Friday with getting ready for a wedding! The girls were flower girls in their cousins wedding and you have never seen two cuter flower girls! (If I do say so myself!) The best part in Marie-Therese's world was being able to be a part of the big girls getting hair done, makeup done and dressed. My heart overflowed with love for the bride and her bridesmaids. We arrived at the hotel and they all scooped my two little one's up and included them in every second of the joy of getting ready.

Both girls did fabulous. From walking down the aisle, to having their picture taken, to dancing away the night until 11:30! 

Saturday was a late morning then packing up to head to my cousins high school graduation party. There was swimming and bouncing in the bounce house and another late night. Yesterday was Church and then grocery shopping and taking naps and yard work and trying to catch up on the laundry.

Today will be a slow day of relaxing, finishing catching up on all the house work that I let slide for a weekend of fun!

Linking up with Karen! 

Yarn Along

It's been a long time since I participated in a Yarn Along with Ginny! I have still been reading (lots & lots!) and knitting too. For 2015 I made a goal that I would knit a pair of socks each month. That one up there is the second sock of June's pair. I am sort of in a mid-month end/begin cycle but that's okay. As long as I have 12 socks at the end of the year I will be very happy! So far I have made I think one pair for myself. All the rest have been for gifts! After this pair up there is finished I will be working on a pair all for me!

I also have been averaging a book every three or four days. For about a month I couldn't sleep. My husband finally figured out why. I was sitting with the iPad until bedtime each night. He said something technical about the light from the screen telling my brain to wake up even if I felt tired and it was keeping me up. So as an experiment I decided to shut all screens off about an hour before bed and read my book. It has had amazing results: not only am I getting tons of books read but I also am falling right asleep at bedtime! 

I am almost finished with The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. It's haunting and good and makes me remember my old thoughts that in order to be a creative genius you have to be a little crazy....although I guess we all are crazy in our own way!

I am working through the Artists Way with an on-line friend. We just began this past Monday and I can already tell it will help open up some creativity in my writing. I am excited to see where it takes me!

Post cards from Summer

{My intention for this summer is relaxed & slow & intentional: to take more pictures with the big camera; to be outside as much as possible; for my girls to have as many fond memories of summer; and to capture some of that here.

So postcards it will be. A picture or two of our day, with a few words written. Just like an old fashioned postcard!}

Yesterday was warm, not too humid. There was a trip to the library & then a picnic lunch in the backyard. A nice rest time and then after supper more time outside to run, knit, help daddy plant some flowers and enjoy the evening sun. After baths we all ran back outside to watch the sunset. The sky was on fire with brilliant orange! There was the night time read aloud out on the back deck too. 

And in regards to the teepee from yesterdays post: no we didn't make it and it isn't in our yard either although we all would love it to be! It's at the day lily nursery we went to on Sunday! Both girls loved it! (So did the momma & daddy!)