sleeping beauty

The children and I were up early this morning working in the garden. I had not mulched my tomatoes, and the heat is really beginning to take its toll. We went out to the chicken run and shoveled up some leaves that have been breaking down since the fall. I'm hoping they will be sufficient in helping to keep the moisture in.

While we were out, Buddy found this little beauty creeping up our trellis!



This is a sleeping beauty heirloom melon. They are small and good for tight spaces. Especially climbing. After a little hunting we found three more coming in!
Since we have the melons climbing, a little additional support was needed to keep the melon from falling off of the vine. Enter- the melon moby wrap (made from a pair of Moonpie's hole ridden tights):



I'm sure some adjustments will need to be made once it begins to grow, but I'm hoping this will hold for a few days.

letter #1

Dear Summer,

You know how they say that the earth smiles in flowers?

I think that you, dear summer,

must giggle in blueberries.

Love,

mandi

summer nostalgia

This summer I have been finding myself turning back to some summer staples of my own childhood.



My kids have been loving their updated version of the original Slip and Slide. As a child my siblings and I had The Wet Banana. Do you remember this knock-off? The sprinkler was shaped like a banana! Oh man, we loved that thing! Now I can hardly watch as my children hurl themselves at the slide. Ouch.

I have always been an avid reader. Summer days for me meant endless books. I remember going with my dad to work at our church. We had a library at the end of the hallway where his office was. This library was like a dream for me! It was full of old, dusty books. And it was empty. What more could a girl want? I would sit in that dark library, finding a spot where the sunlight was streaming in, and read. All day. My favorite was Heidi, but I always enjoyed good biographies. We picked up this book at the library yesterday. However, our copy is not this newly revised one. It is close to 60 years old! Can you believe our library still has it? We are reading this to prepare our imaginations for our upcoming road trip in August. More on that later!
Ahh, nothing is better on these hot days than a popsicle. Now, our pops never looked this cool when I was a child, but we always had the store bought kind on hand. And when we didn't, the ice-cream man always provided!

I bought this mold last summer and we use it daily. Sometimes more than once, if you know what I mean!

Yesterday Moonpie requested that we put up "one of those old rope swings" on our live oak in the backyard. Isn't this one beautiful? It is made of reclaimed wood, and the rope is untreated. Nothing says summer nostalgia to me more than a good old rope swing.

habit training

I have been re-reading some information from Charlotte Mason on cultivating good habits in our children (and ourselves). I came across a wonderful (and free!) e-book by Sonya Shafer outlining her teachings. It is a quick read that gently leads you towards the importance of habit training. You really must check this out!

And now for some quotes from Ms. Mason:

"The mother devotes herself to the formation of one habit at a time, doing no more than keep watch over those already formed." (Vol. 1, p. 136)

"The education of habit is successful in so far as it enables the mother to let her children alone, not teasing them with perpetual commands and directions- a running fire of Do and Don't, but letting them go their own way and grow, having first secured that they will go the right way, and grow to fruitful purpose." (Vol. 1, p. 134)

"The mother who is distrustful of her own power of steady effort may well take comfort in two facts. In the first place, she herself acquires the habit of training her children in a given habit, so that by-and-by it becomes, not only no trouble, but a pleasure to her. In the second place, the child's most fixed and dominant habits are those which the mother takes no pains about, but which the child picks up for himself through his close observation of all that is said and done, felt and thought, in his home. (Vol. 1, pp. 136, 137)

If you are interested in going deeper into the methods of Charlotte Mason, check out For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. This book opened my eyes to a whole different way of educating children. It is wonderful.

some summer inspiration

Man, it has been really hot here the past couple of days! So much so that we are back to our summer routine of outside early morning, inside most of the afternoon, back outside after 7:00. Which is pushing our bedtime way later than I would prefer. But that's not the point here. I have been dreaming up some ideas for things to do this summer, and have found some great ones on blogs.


Our To Do list for the summer reads like this:

1. Pudding skate
2. Flour swim
3. Ice cream fight
4. Tempra paint water balloon toss
5. Soapy trampoline
6. Kool-aid water gun

Now, this is not a definitive list, other things like "teach Moonpie to braid" are not on this list. This is more of a I-am-so-bored-what-on-earth-can-we-do-to-make-it-through-the-day (without dying of heatstroke) kind of list. When I'm feeling uninspired I look to this list for some crazy idea to get us out of our slump. And it works!

I have found some other great ideas in blog-land that you have to see!

• Check out Ashley's waterpark! We are FOR SURE doing this! If you've never visited Ashley's blog, you must.
• And then there was this from Heather. I've mentioned here before how I like to keep journals for each of my children, but I love this idea of them journaling their long summer days! Yep, this goes on the list!
• Nicola always has great, do-able ideas! I love this one for nature journaling!

What brings you inspiration on these hot summer days? Please share!

harvest

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! We have been too busy harvesting!

Moonpie brought in 7 pounds of Boston Pickling Cucumbers tonight and 2 pound of various heirloom tomatoes. Yum! For supper we are having (you guessed it) cukes and tomatoes dipped in a yogurt sauce.

This variety of cucumber has been wildly successful for us. I can't wait to make pickles for my little Buddy!

a day of firsts

Yesterday was a big day for Moonpie.

She asked her daddy to take the training wheels off of her bike!

Our Moonpie is a DIY learner. One thing we work on with her is having a teachable spirit. Not that it's bad to learn things on your own or the hard way, but sometimes it's ok, and necessary, to glean from someone else's experience. We know that this will be a life-long lesson for her, so we try to be patient with the process.

Daddy finally convinced her that it is best to ride with shoes on. Especially when learning a new skill!

She was reminded that learning something new is hard, and often frustrating work.

Later that day we got to go swimming with friends, and she jumped off of the big rock slide! We were so proud of her courage! Our cautious and careful girl had a blast stretching herself in this way. This is one thing I've loved about parenting. Watching our children as they step outside of their comfort zones. Really pushing the boundaries they have set for themselves.

Out of her very full day, Moonpie was most pleased with the fact that she lost her first tooth that evening! It was hanging on by a thread, so much so that a bite of spaghetti knocked it out!

She placed her tooth in the pocket of the tooth doll I made for her. I saw these on Etsy and fell in love, but couldn't afford the price tag. And even though mine isn't quite as lovely as the original, Moonpie was head over heels for her. Any imperfection my eye sees is completely non-existent to her. She named her Emily and hasn't been far from her since I finished stitching her up.

This morning Moonpie found a dollar in Emily's pocket and a book under her pillow. She couldn't have been more pleased!

She carried her tooth with her to church this morning so she could show it to everyone!

What a full day.

A day full of firsts.

remembering

This morning I was over on Wee Wonderfuls checking out what the talented Hilary has been up to. I love her designs! Her most recent post is on the teacher gift she made for her son's teacher this year. Well, this got me thinking about some of the gifts I received over the years and I just had to share!

I was an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in the public school system. I loved my job! I was one of those busy beaver teachers, up late most nights re-creating all of the expensive gadgets I'd see for sale in the catalogs. My students meant very much to me and that compelled me to give all I had to the job.

My first year teaching was in Austin. I had a class of 26 students! Yikes! Like most classrooms mine was a huge mix of behaviors, learning styles, personalities and being ESL, languages. I had a little boy that was just precious to me. By second grade he already had a file bigger than most fifth graders. It was all based on his behavior and his inability to read. You know, as a 7 year old. Well, that's all it took for me. I am a cheerleader for the under-dog, always have been. I was determined to show that boy that he was loved. We had a trying year, but we were buddies. His mom came to my meetings for the first time in H's school life. She had always been afraid, because she and her husband spoke no English. But she understood that her son was cared for. The last day of school H came into the classroom with a gift wrapped in a plastic sack. I carefully opened it and found a ceramic bird on a giant yellow rose. And then the best part- his mom kissed me on the cheek. Favorite gift. Ever.

That same year I had a little girl from Ethiopia. She was so beautiful and quiet. And behind academically (so her file read). For Christmas that year she gave me a 12 pack of lipstick, with one missing! Loved it! She was so proud of that lipstick and told me how she had picked it out herself at the dollar store. The icing on the cake was when she asked me if I would wear some. Hmm... Of course! She chose the deepest red I have ever seen. I mean, it wasn't even a real color- it was purple red. When I put it on it burned! Ha! But she thought I looked beautiful, so I left it on all day. Second favorite gift.

And lastly, this one is way less sentimental, but awfully tasty. I was working in a school that was an interesting mix of extremely wealthy ranch owners and the rural poor. I should tell you more about that some time- I learned some big lessons there. Anyway, for Christmas one year a mom brought me a basket full of goodies from Great Harvest Bread. I'll never forget that sight! Raisin bread, whole wheat bread, cookies, muffins- it was more bread than a girl should eat.

Ok- I probably should mention the worst gift I received. Mind you, I was 23 years old, and probably a size 4. A mom brought me a t-shirt that had a print of a blackboard, a globe, and an apple. The line read "teaching is a work of heart". Ok, cheesy, but it would have been appreciated. However- it was an extra large! Wha???

Oh- thanks for indulging me here! It has been nice to think back on those days, and all of those sweet students. Teaching is a wild ride.

home remedy

Recently someone in our home had a ...ahem... boil. I will not name any names here. Boils are yucky business. I came across a remedy that I wanted to pass on to you.

You know-

just in case.



First off, a topical treatment of tea tree oil 3-4 times a day really helps to keep the infection at bay. But if it gets to the point where it needs to be drained (***cringe*** - are you still reading?) read on below.

Take 1/2 tablespoon of turmeric and 1/2 tablespoon of ginger, add enough water to make a thick paste. Put the paste on the boil and let it sit for 30 minutes. Wipe off.




About 3 hours later said boil drained. Easy. Messy. Gross.

There. That's done. Are we still friends?

**all images from frontier

great weekend

We had a wonderful weekend full of old friends. A young man that we worked with in our former church was married Saturday. I couldn't get over that this kid we had known since he was 13 was getting married. John officiated the ceremony so we got to spend Friday and Saturday with the family. The group of friends that came up for the ceremony were kids we have known for about 10 years. Now they are all big and starting their adult lives. It was crazy. I had this moment when I was watching the bride and groom dance their first with my Moonpie and Buddy in foreground blowing bubbles at them. I was watching Buddy reaching as far as little toes would lift him all the way up to a tiny bubble floating overheard. And it hit me. One day, he was going to be that handsome groom, dancing with his new bride. Whoa.

Most days it is hard to see past the smooshed banana on the floor, the legos spread here and there, and all those sweet hugs and belly giggles. It is difficult to remember that his daddy and I are to be preparing him for man-hood. To one day be a leader, in his community and his family. Again, whoa.

For me, it has been so helpful to actually sit and pray over these things. To look past the work of the everyday to see what is to come. I'm one of those mamas that tears up at the thought of my kids being all grown-up, but I must. That's my job, after all.