Catching Up #2

As promised (a couple of days late), here is my last catching up blog for the summer. We started school this week and I will be blogging more about our school year adventures if I can find the time. I have stopped the Multitude Mondays and Daybooks because there is just not as much time as I would like to do those things. I remain thankful, though, it's just that I utter my thanks in prayers and as my head hits the pillow. I just want to spend a bit less time on the blog and a bit more time with daily life. Here is the rest of the summer in pictures...

We did A LOT of canning! Now, for some, we probably did nothing. We have a few jars of tomato sauce, a few jars of tomatoes, and a few jars of pickles -- but for anyone who has a garden, you realize how much time and work those few jars took. Somewhere in the process, I realized that while I love the garden, I don't want it to take up so much time next summer. SO, we will reevaluate the process next year.

HOLY PICKLES!

Does anyone know what to do with a GIANT cucumber? Any ideas would be appreciated...

Daniel brought this monstrosity in off the cucumber vine last night. It is 17" long and has an 8.5" circumference. If there was a contest for these things, I'd enter it. We just laughed at it. I guess all the rain had an effect. Below are: Addie holding it "like a baby" and Carter thinking it would make a great baseball bat.

GRAND OPENING!!!!

We thoroughly enjoy playing with our kids. Because of Daniel's involvement with the local Chamber of Commerce, they have been exposed to the idea of grand openings. Carter has had one before for a delivery business that he shut down after a day or two, but he decided this time to open a business called Making Music.

Cutting the ribbon.

Making some music at Carter's business. He basically put on a concert (see the guitar set up next to him). Making Music is apparently a business where you can make any music you want.

Of course, Addie had to have a grand opening too. I'm not sure what her business is called but what we did there was pretend to have a meeting and a meal, then all four of us laid in her bed and goofed off...

Addie getting wrapped up in the hilarity of the moment.

Carter was still making music, though...

But Addie decided he needed to keep his music at his own place of business...

Not willing to miss out:

Daniel teaches night classes at a local college, so we have started going out there to eat with him in the student union on the nights he has class. It has helped so much with not missing family time and devotion on those nights. There is a piano in the student union and the kids have a blast playing it. Carter does impromptu concerts and Addie plays her pieces she has learned with Mrs. High.

***A side note because this next pic was too cute to leave out...

One thing Addie REALLY gets creative with is the arrangement of her stuffed animals. This arrangement was so intricate and specific that we had to get a picture:

Helping Dad:

Here is what the kids do when Daniel is working outside:

Addie wearing shooting earmuffs to protect herself from the noise of the lawnmower. Somehow she turned this broom into her own mower and "helped" her daddy out.

Carter displaying his ability to be scary while overseeing the yard work.

***One more side note to show off my less than stellar sewing skills. :)

A pillowcase dress that I made for experimental purposes. Addie adopted it as her own. I now need to make more of them and gather some ladies at church to make them and send to Africa. If you don't know about the project, see Little Dresses for Africa.

BBQ Club:

Daniel has two good friends and once every few months, they make a pilgrimage to a BBQ place. They usually go pretty far for a day trip. Last weekend, they went to Hattiesburg. I'm thankful for the "club". Male friendships are rare, and I am thankful to see him having the support he needs as a man. While they were gone, I took the kids to the park for some sweat and sunshine.

Carter at the top of a CRAZY big hill back in the woods. I tried to get a pic of both kids up there but my phone froze up so I only have this one. They worked so hard to get up there! I was proud!

Addie climbing the rock wall. When did she get big enough to do this on her own without falling??? This was bittersweet for me.

Carter nestling up to me underneath the playground structure.

Addie doing the same. Sweet girl.

As you can see, we had an incredible summer. Addie also learned to swim and Carter got a lot better. I'm so proud of and happy for both of them, but I never took any good pics because I didn't want to risk ruining the camera. I might risk it Saturday and update this post. We'll see. We did no major travels other than a few day trips to visit friends. We just played and played and swam and swam. Daniel took days off here and there to be with us and that was such a blessing. I wish we could have traveled some but that will have to wait until next summer, Lord willing. But even without the travels, we really enjoyed each other. We started school Monday so I will post about that soon. It has been a crazy week but we have continued to enjoy each other. That is probably my favorite part of homeschooling. I know the kids are getting more educationally at home (**update note on 5/2/11 -- don't know why I thought this -- Carter is getting SO MUCH MORE at the school he's in now), but the benefits of all of the family time have been indespensable.

"The family is a haven in a heartless world" -Attributed to Christopher Lasch