In the Heat of the Season

Goodness, an entire month of summer has passed since my last post.

In that time my daughter returned home safely from Europe, we had three birthdays (including my son turning fourteen this week!), summer preserving is in full swing, and we are already preparing for the start of school again.

It has been a glorious season. So full of everything that makes summer wonderful. The rest of this month is very busy, and we are all starting to feel that itch for change. I know that at the end of this full month we will all be ready for the shift of school and autumn. There is one family member that will not be a fan of school returning though... and that is our sweet dog. She has loved having all of her children home, all day, everyday. She will miss them so much.

Some notes on the photos above:

*Those big puff ball flowers... that is what garlic scapes look like when they bloom.

*The back porch... entertainment ideas for the children

-buckets of dried corn, beans, wheat, etc.... very fun and not as messy as sand.

-a stump, hammer, and dish of nails... my kids loved this more than I even imagined.

-grass seed. they enjoy planting it. they can over water it. it grows quickly. once it grows, they can cut it with scissors, while still watering as much as they want. AND it looks cute too!

-a tray with kinetic sand and stones. kinetic sand is like sandy play dough, but it doesn't dry out.

-rock families. my kids came up with this one and it has provided hours of entertainment.

-also, buckets of things to wash! a huge hit. fill a bucket with water, throw in some dirty/sticky toys, give them a scrubber and pump soap, let them scrub away.

*I know I have posted many photos of the outside of the shed, but now there are a few of the inside (which has already changed since I took those photos).

*The sweet children's album "A New Day" is our new favorite. We know Linda Yapp personally and were so lucky to be included in the "and friends" part of this production. My children have been singing these songs for years and many of them are now my absolute favorites in the kid music department. I am so glad I finally have them to listen to in my home. "Little Elephant" is probably my favorite song on the CD. It is part English and part Japanese, and completely beautiful. "A New Day" and "The Fields of Kelly Green" probably tie for my second favorites but it is so hard to choose. They are all wonderful. I think that "A New Day" would be an amazing song to wake up to in the morning and plan to set it up as an alarm for my little girls this school year. The songs on this album are dedicated to animals and she is going to begin on another album soon. I believe the focus with that one is peace.

Anyway, if your interested... You can listen to samples of the album and purchase songs on amazon and you tube, you can listen to samples and actually purchase the physical album on this site cd baby , and it is available on spotify if you want to listen and add songs to your children's playlists (or your adult playlists). On the last song "The Great Big Basement Jamboree", you can hear my children giggling and laughing, and they do a little singing in "Goldie Girl" as well.

I suppose that's all for now. 

It seems that every post of mine is always a big jumble of thoughts. Each time, after I post, I say "Next time, I will spend more time and try to actually write something worth posting." But then I'm interrupted and pulled away over and over, and then an argument begins in the next room, and before I know it I'm writing something like "I suppose that's all for now."

Ah well, that's my life these days.