Mint

Year after year I have watched our mint explode into growth as summer pushes its way in. Quickly, it grows and spreads its roots over any unclaimed soil it can stretch far enough to reach. I love watching it take over. I love seeing a once rocky portion of the garden slowly becoming wrapped up in green. I love walking by it on the way to the rest of the garden, pulling off a sprig or two, holding it up to my nose and drinking in the sweet smell of mint. Sometimes I find the smallest leaves forming at the top, pluck them off and pop them in my mouth, rolling them around for a bit while I bend down to examine yet another patch of thistle creeping its way around the garden.

Every year I watch these patches of mint come in and then fade away as the cooler weather tightens its grip. This year I thought I might manage to hold on to summer just a little bit longer. And possibly, if I'm lucky, I could be drinking in that wonderful summer goodness all winter long with a stash of mint tea upon my shelf.

Owen and I started our tea harvesting as the weekend began. We snipped it, tied it, and hung it to dry. It is now resting in one of our closets filling the room with its delicious scent. I am so excited to see it filling some glass jars on the shelf all packed up and ready for winter. I hope Owen will be able to enjoy a warm cup too, even though it won't be quite the same as his very favorite Rotbusch tea. I think he could appreciate a little bit of our summer preserved while we sit in front of a fire sipping our tea watching the white snow fall over our once very green patch of mint. I'm certain I will enjoy it.

An evening walk

We were all so eager to leave the house after dinner last night (or was that just me?...hmmn, clean up dinner dishes or leave...) that Carmel hadn't even finished her last bite of food before we were piled in the car, engined revved up and in hot pursuit of some double dip ice cream with sprinkles on top. I ended up settling for a mint chocolate chip milkshake. Actually, I always end up settling for a mint chocolate chip something. All the way to the ice cream shop I tell myself, "pick something different!", but every time I gaze into that little chest of ice cream choices I can't help noticing my ol' reliable good-tasting mint chocolate chip gazing right back at me and well, I just can't help myself. Always the mint.

We ended up enjoying a nice walk near an old train bridge not too far from home. I am always amazed at the beauty of this area, even in the places I don't expect it.

Carmel headed straight for the water and dove right in to some rock tossing. Owen got held up for a very few sad moments on some muddy shoes, "slap" shoes, that is. Yes, "slap" shoes. I'm not sure how he came up with the name for them but that is certainly how they are known around here. They are very much loved and oh so pleasingly named AND they should NOT be muddy under ANY circumstances!

Hmmn...getting them wet is okay though...it seems. Sometimes it's hard for me to understand all of these kid-rules. Suddenly, I find myself thinking about Owen trying to figure out all of our rules from day to day. I'm sure he finds our rules equally as bewildering.

Please notice Owens "new" shirt, if you will. He is in to heavy equipment in a very big way right now. I tried to design a Digger Loader stencil (I say that like I really know what one is.) for one of his shirts that needed some stain coverage. I cut the design out of wax paper, ironed it on to the shirt and then sprayed it with fabric paint (look here and here for more on that). He was so excited about his new shirt that I couldn't stop myself from dreaming up heavy equipment stencil designs for the rest of the evening. Anything to see those sweet eyes sparkle with excitement, you know. Of course.

So, along we went until the evening grew dark. Carmel, nearly a champion rock tosser upon leaving. Owen, with some extraordinarily clean (no matter how wet) "slap" shoes. A mama and a papa with two very sleepy babies just moments from bed time. And, a kitchen filled with some rather lonely dinner plates that were forced to wait around for another day while we enjoyed a beautiful summer night together.

Rain days

What to do on rainy days?

Drag your children into your sewing room, grab what's left of your favorite bed sheet and start stitching. Well, that's what we did anyway.

The skirt pattern is from Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe. I'm not sure what I think about the skirt just yet. It's possible that my feelings for the yellow bed sheet are clouding my opinion of this new skirt of mine. I will have to admit that at this point, I am feeling pretty much over this fabric, you know, because I have also been wearing it to bed too. So, I have been looking at it entirely too much as of late. Oh, but did that stop me from finishing up this skirt and then moving on to a poor innocent child?

No, it did not! Carmel got some jammy pants to match her mama's pants. And, her incredibly thoughtful older brother even cut out a special design for her from the same fabric to be appliqued onto her "new" jammy shirt.

I tried to sew up a little something for Owen out of the same fabric, but he politely (and oh so wisely) declined my offer. He might be thinking that flowering, yellowy-orange meadows just aren't for him.

From the Lake

We made it back from our trip this weekend and we are just getting settled back in to the rhythm of things around here. I'm not sure how it happened, but while we were gone something ridiculously large came to our home, picked it up, turned it upside down, and shook it several times as if it were shaking salt from a salt shaker. It's true. I know that is what happened because it has taken me several days just to find our floor. Luckily our floor, although under mountains of debris, is still there. I can't quite see it yet, but I can feel it. It's there.

Phew!

So while some large messy beast was tossing around our poor little house, we were here staring out at the beautiful blue water of Higgins Lake in Michigan.

{top two photos taken by gran}

Carmel on my back in her baby carrier, I could hear her giggle so close to my ear with each rise and fall of the swing. She would laugh and then I would laugh. She would hear me laugh and then she would laugh some more. Back and forth, back and forth, I'm not sure if it was the swinging while looking out at all of the beautiful blue water that was taking my breath away or the sound of that little girls sweet sweet laughter. Oh, surely the latter.

Andy spent one day sailing around anyone who would agree to brave the wind and waves out on the lake. Owen had been talking about going out on a sailboat with Andy the whole week, but when he finally got out there I think he felt afraid of all of that wind and water so big and so uncontrollable all around him. He stayed out there for awhile and then asked to come back in. It was the sweetest thing ever to watch those two guys of mine out there sailing around. Sailing has been such a large part of the history Andy and I share together that it just seemed so beautiful to me watching Andy out there with our little boy.

Early in the week we started a fairy house back at the cabin (inspired by this book). We picked a nice little tree to build around and collected some of natures most precious gems the rest of the week to decorate with. Time permitting I think we could have built both the most luxurious and the most colossal of all fairy houses ever to have been built, but alas...
all vacations must come to an end so our fairy house dreams must continue back in Ohio somewhere on our little peice of land way down the valley.

Fruit farm

{Owen and Carmel bidding farewell to all of their favorite animals at the fruit farm}

We're off!

Woods, water, sunscreen and campfires.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

We will see you again next Monday.

Playing with snakes

For a while Andy and Owen were going out nearly daily to catch snakes around the garden. We have a few sheets of metal laying around from an old shed that once was but is no more. Together, the metal sheets used to make up a perfect little shed roof and now, as it turns out, they make a perfect little roof over the snake habitat that is our backyard. Owen loves watching Andy look around for those snakes and then, after much anticipation, finding one and quickly pulling it up from the ground. He hands it over to a smiling Owen.

Just look how happy it makes him.

Mama's fancy pants

Oh yes, mama gets her own fancy pants too!

These are the pajama pants from Weekend Sewing made out of an old bed sheet I thrifted sometime last year. I love them. I made them last week and have worn them quite regularly since then. Some may argue that they have been over worn since then, but what can I say? I really like them. Bedsheets and pajama pants. Truly, a perfect combination.

Cool Bike

Andy and Owen were both in awe over this bicycle. Oh how I have seen those gears turn in my husbands head before....scary. Seriously, scary. I have been imagining Andy with these two tiny preschooler-sized bicycles laying around him in pieces with sparks from a welder flying through the air. "Here you go Owen....only a few more joints to weld up. Your new bike is almost ready....papa is just putting the training wheels back on this bottom portion here son and you'll be all set to ride," he says to Owen as my little boy looks around excitedly for his foot stool to climb up on his new bike.

It really doesn't sound too far off now does it?

Gasp!

Fancy Pants

These are Carmel's new fancy pants. The pattern is from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. These are the Huck Finn Pants and intended for some sweet toddling little boy, but instead they now belong to my sweet little girl. The pattern is so easy and super cute. I think there may be something that is mislabeled so if anyone is planning on making these I would check out the errata on her website. It seems that the pattern front should be the pattern back and vise versa. Details. Details.

I sure wish I could have captured a better shot of the pants for you but this little Carms is a quick mover. No time to sit around for a photo shoot you know...ducks to chase...raspberries to devour...compost heaps to explore... She's a busy girl.

Around the weekend

Owen, Carmel and I went to the Independence day parade that kicked off our holiday weekend around here. I always love watching tractors and horses running through the downtown streets and rarely miss the opportunity. However, after the last little horse passed us I'm certain it became one of the loudest parades I have witnessed, complete with sirens and horns running at full volume from every firetruck and ambulance from the surrounding area. It turned out to be good training for a weekend filled with explosives, but I think for next year we may begin to sidle away as the last tiny horse passes us by (and before the first siren rings out!). Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

A new rhythm

Almost three weeks away and so much to tell...

::That sweet little girly of ours had her very first birthday. Oh my, where did that year go?

::That wonderful man of mine and I shared our 6th anniversary together as husband and wife and I continue to be totally and completely smitten with him.

::Andy gained some ground into his forties and then, two days later, I gained some ground into my thirties. Happy Birthdays to us!

::Our raspberries came in. Dreamy.

::Almost 50 jars of jam happily perched on a shelf.

::What else...wonderful visits with family, walks in the woods, strange and familiar critters to read up on, oh and of course there were a few light beatings on a poor innocent little donkey.

Oh my how summer has descended upon us! There has certainly been a new rhythm to our days around here lately as this summer sun has grown in intensity. The weeds in the garden have grown taller and taller, but thankfully those beautiful rays of light stretch out into the evening offering us that extra bit of time we need to tend to what is most demanding (usually our thistles!) . We have found ourselves soaking in these glorious days of summer hanging around in the garden pulling weeds and nibbling on lettuce and berries. Say good bye to long stretches in front of the computer or curled up in the evening with some knitting. That is but a memory as those rotten little thistles taunt us from the garden threatening to take over every available bed and as our raspberries beg to picked and savored one plump and sweet morsel at a time.

Oh summer....(perfectly busy) lovely summer.