A new robe...

A few months ago, Maxine and I scored some reduced price fleece for a sewing project: a robe. Maxine wanted a blue robe and we already had the pattern from a previous sewing project. The plan was to sew the robe during the summer. That didn't really happen. On Saturday, Merril took Juliet to a car show, Jack went to a birthday party, Mikayla took a nap, and Maxine and I sewed.

Maxine sewed some and I sewed some. To be honest, the fleece was kind of a pain.

But it turned out great!




I got to use my rotary cutter and mat from Christmas! Yippee! It looked like it snowed blue fleece at our house afterwards. We had blue floofies everywhere.

We cleaned up and Maxine wore the robe almost all day. And the day after that. Thankfully she can't wear it to school. :)

Wahoo back to school!

I had a great time this summer. The kids were good, we had reading and writing time almost everyday, the kids did chores and we had some great vacations. Then I went school shopping about a week ago and ever since then, I'm totally ready to kick the kids out the door. The kids were excited to go to school too! First Day: Maxine is going to 4th grade, Jack to 1st, and Juliet in Kindergarten.
Technically, Juliet didn't start this day but still rode the bus since I was going to the school to meet the kids and help them to their classrooms.

This is Juliet's first day of real Kindergarten. Her friend from Primary, Lauren, is in her Kindergarten class.

Every day Juliet comes home happy from school. Maxine's already bored. Jack is adjusting to the all day thing. He comes home and seems to unwind for about 10 minutes with a fit or two. Then he relaxes and everyone is happy again.

I'm really loving the mornings to myself. I play with Mikayla, clean up while she's napping and I've started some projects. Nothing fun yet, just organizing closets and ridding my house of the clutter that accumulates while I'm pregnant.

Mom's playdate...

My best friend from high school, Emily, now lives in Massachusetts. She called me last week and said she was flying out west for her sister's wedding and wondered if I'd mind driving for a few hours to meet her and visit. I immediately accepted and planned a road trip. We met in a podunk little town for dinner. My friend Emily is in the blue strips, her sister Laura is in olive green and Emily's cousin Andrea is sitting next to me.

We all brought our little girls. The moms chatted and the kids ran around and played. Luckily the restaurant had a back room that was completely deserted. Otherwise we might have alienated the whole restaurant with our kids. I'm always amazed how Emily and I can fall right back into old rhythms like I just saw her last week. We chatted for a long time in the restaurant and then for a while in the parking lot. Then we had to leave. Bummer. Thankfully, Juliet and Mikayla were super good the whole time and I was grateful for good kids!

Lemonade Stand on the Last Day of Summer!

Every time I see a lemonade stand, I pull over and support the young entrepreneurs of America. It was a goal of Maxine's to have a lemonade stand this summer. I said we'd do it over and over again until Monday night when Maxine in tears said, "Summer's almost over and we didn't have a lemonade stand." I said, "You're right and tomorrow is the last day of summer and we'll do it!"

Merril wanted the opportunity to teach the kids about small business and made them buy the supplies. Jack bought lemonade packets, Maxine bought cups, and Juliet bought poster board with their own money. Mommy donated sugar and water. They were super excited! (Jack's pulling another cool face.)

We set up a shade tent on a busy street. Jack and Juliet got bored after 45 minutes and Daddy took them home. They received their share of the profits, $2 each. Which they seemed happy with.

Maxine decided to stay for another hour and a half and her total profits for the day were $12, since she didn't have to split with Jack and Juliet anymore.

Maxine was super thrilled as we took down the shade tent.

Maxine said she was very grateful to me and paid me 50 cents. :) I gave it back. Hee hee. Later that night, I found a note on my pillow from Maxine saying she was so happy with the lemonade stand and that she couldn't have done it without me. Occasionally, doesn't it feel great to know that we're raising good, responsible kids?? :)

I'm loving peaches...

We've been eating peaches like mad because our peach tree has produced beautiful peaches. I prefer peaches fresh versus bottling them so I made a peach-blueberry tart the other night. Oh so yummy!

Don't you just want to eat it?!

I always feel so grateful when my plants produce food.

And as a total change of subject, can you tell where Juliet is?

She's sitting on top of the fridge. She loves it. The ledge isn't that big and she's the only one who fits. She's always asking Merril to set her there. Weird kids. :)