Heat

We can't escape it! The triple digit temps have made farming quite uncomfortable. Mostly Andy and the guys are suffering through it. But on Friday we all braved the elements to conquer the very prolific pea patch. Here are the sweaty kids afterwards. This picure was taken just before cold showers and gatorades.

Sweet and sweaty!

The high today is 105. So thankful for the ac and a day indoors. On the agenda: packing, laundry, canning veggies, and cleaning. Even though chili, soups, and sauces do not appeal to us now, we are trying to can tomatoes for when these things will be tasty in cooler weather. Fifty two quarts so far! It smells like summer goodness! Green beans will be tackled after vacation.

Bushels and bushels of tomatoes!

This is what happens when I leave Lydie in the kitchen alone with cookie batter!

But time for these things is dwindling with the approach of school just 7 weeks away! I have had THE BEST TIME preparing for my third grade class. I can hardly believe this unexpected journey the Lord is taking us on! But I am thrilled and so looking forward to the beginning of the school year. I got my class list last night and can now pray for these darlings by name. What a privilege! Next week offers...the pool, the ocean, reading, very little cooking and cleaning, cocktails with my husband and playing with my children. So excited and thankful! I plan on doing a lot of playing, reading, relaxing, laughing, and kissing. :) Yes, that is my agenda for next week!  I am really loving this summer season, even with the heat wave!



Indiana Jones/Harry Potter spy costume





Battleship is a good thing to do when avoiding the heat!



Dear LouLou

Please do not quit playing with Little People. You are almost six, almost in school. And when you outgrow them I will have to put them away for my grandchildren. Like your crib, Josh's wooden trains, and Jack's favorite board books. So please, just a little longer...

I need a break from this growing-up stuff!

"Lousy" weekend (but not really)

We embarked on another exciting weekend last Friday.  As we were waiting for a much anticipated visit from friends, my sister-in-law called and said her girls had head lice and that Lydie needed to be checked since she had spent the night at their house.  With fear and dread, I looked...and sure enough.  So as I hopped in the car to go to town and get all the proper "equipment", I passed our friends on the long country road.

Because Lydie and our friend (who is like an adopted grandfather to her) had been so looking forward to seeing one another, and the rest of us were excited too, and they had traveled three hours from Atlanta, they stayed.  (I felt like such a terrible host...can you imagine?)  They spent the better part of Friday visiting with us while I picked lice and nits out of Lydie's hair.  The men grilled out a great dinner and Andy gave them a tour of our farm. 



Hardest working man I know, ready for the tour of the farm.



I was so thankful that God prepared me for this weekend of "nit-picking".  That previous week I had gotten news that someone close to my cousin was faced with a son's suicide attempt.  And I had spent an entire night almost 10:00-4:30 praying for someone else I love who was facing a frightening temptation.  So I found myself, although wishing I didn't have to deal with head lice, very thankful for being a Mom and that beautiful daughter who needed my help.  Gratefulness changes one's perspective, and I was thankful.



Tomatoes, almost ready!

Saturday morning Teresa took some beautiful pictures (all the pictures on this post are hers) of our farm while the men picked okra.  (Farm work doesn't stop when we have visitors, unfortunately!)  And I spent the following twelve hours picking more nits and sanitizing the house!  Everyone except for Lydie and I went on an all day canoe trip, which was really fun for them!  I was so thankful they had planned this trip (and could get out of the buggy house!).  They had dinner out.

Baby watermelon

Bees- a farmer's best friend

Sunday morning we discovered that everyone was still lice-free...except for me!  So everyone went to church except me.  I stayed and listened to a beautiful sermon on-line and some wonderful praise music.  Just wrapped my hair up in a towel and enjoyed the solitude.  And after lunch, they all returned home so we could say good-bye to our friends.  Then Andy spent the next 5 or 6 hours proving again that he truly meant it when he said, "I do!" to our wedding vows.  He sat and picked bugs and eggs out of my hair.  YUCK!  And our dear college friend who is working for us this summer made dinner for us.  The weekend really turned out to not be so lousy after all, but how could I resist the title?

Yesterday we were all lice-free.  Praise God.  Life goes on as usual.  And the blessings overflow.  Lydie is swimming with a friend.  The boys and I are going to lunch and a movie today-just us.  We also found out this morning that my parents rented a beach condo for us to enjoy next week and I am forcing my husband to leave the farm in the hands of our college and high school employees for a week.  This blessing has put me on cloud nine for the day.  A whole week off for the hardest working man I know- thank you, Jesus!  And the vacation that the kids begged for and I thought impossible has fallen into our laps.  What a gift from the Father (and my Dad)!  Plans for today: enjoy the sweetness of our first watermelons, cut sunflowers from the garden for the house, spend a great day with just my boys, and praise God all day long!

Flying

The days are flying by so quickly this summer! Between farm work and my parents moving to a new house, we have been busy at work.  In fact, we still haven't written our annual fun "Summer Bucket List".  Maybe next week...

Excited boys when I dropped them off at camp

But we still have had time for good fun.  The boys went to camp last weekend and had a blast.  And Lydie spent the night with her cousin and went to vbs.  And we seem to always have a neighbor or high school/college friend around here.  So I think the kids are having a good summer.

Lydie after VBS with cousins and friend

Here are a few pictures from a morning when the boys made produce deliveries with Andy and I was here alone with Lydie.  We sewed a dress for her bear and had a tea party.  It was good, girlie fun.

Father's day was quiet.  My Mom and Dad wanted to just rest after moving.  Andy's parents were at his brother's house.  And Andy wanted to have lunch out and then a quiet day here.  We made him breakfast in bed, went to church, ate out, and just played around.  The children adore my husband, and I cannot describe how blessed I feel to have him as their Dad.  He is fun, kind, and wise.  He truly enjoys time with them, and listens and responds so lovingly to them.  They have no idea what a treasure he is.  And every year of my life I am enjoying and becoming more thankful for my sweet Daddy.  Funny, generous, and full of spunk.  I love him to pieces.  Spending more time with him this past year since we moved back to Alabama has been one of the biggest highlights of living here.  So thankful for Andy and Dad!

Work and play

My amazing best friend had the children come to her house from Tuesday until Friday the other week.  What a gift for my kids to spend almost four days with their best friends.  She went all out and took them to the pool, Monkey Joes, and tennis camp.  But mostly they loved just playing at her house with their buddies.  While they were gone, I had some time to help my parents prepare for moving into their new house, complete some projects around here, and have a lot of date time with my husband.  It was so amazing.

Good-bye, white house!

That week we closed on our house in Atlanta, which was actually a relief and not sad, see...

No more mortgage!

I took Lizzie to the lake house for the weekend and the kids went home with Andy. What an adventure...my keys did not fit and I had to break in, it rained every day which caused us to only get our swimsuits wet once- from rain! We almost got attacked by crazy birds and got locked out of the pool, only to finally get in,take off our cover-ups, and get rained on! But we still had a blast. Plenty of fun conversation, sweet encouragement and support, and good wine. How can you not have fun when you are with your best friend??

Jack is working 5 hours a day, 3 days a week with Andy. So proud of him as he works so hard and is so thankful for the time with his Dad and his first opportunity to make his own money. I love who he is becoming.

We are all putting in some long hours on the farm.  Poor Josh, poison ivy on his face and very infected bug bite last week.  The downfalls of being outside a lot, I guess.  We are trying to make it fun for the kids, but mostly just hoping they learn the value of hard work.  I am so immensely proud of them and all they are learning!

Today the boys went with Andy to deliver produce.  Lydie and I are here alone.  Because I am desperately behind on laundry and housework, we are have an all day Disney-channel fun fest.  I figure we have logged in enough outdoor hours to merit a whole day of cartoons! :) 

Ahhh...Summer Break Begins!

We finished school last Tuesday.  Our schedule was set for June 1st as our last day.  But the boys were determined and doubled, even tripled, their lessons in order to finish over a week early. Along with all the schoolwork, we had standardized tests.  But they decided they would be done by Tuesday, May 22nd.  And after a handful of eight hour school days, they finished!  Wouldn't it be nice if we would tap into that determination every day!

So Wednesday was our first day of summer break.  Because it had been two weeks+ since I had been to the store, and because we were celebrating, here was our dinner that night:



really healthy



For summer fun so far, we have gone to a pool party (our first time in the pool this year), attended our neighbor's graduation, went to the library and joined the summer reading club, went to the lakehouse for Memorial day weekend, and met some friends for slushies and mini golf.

Then we turned our farm office/school room into a play room.  I am wasting no time getting into a new frame of mind around here.  No more need for a school room at home!  It's very overwhelming and so exciting.  It probably drives my husband crazy, but this house is so small, I am always rearranging to find the best use of space.  I have about 15 summer projects lined up for May/June.  I am not sure how I found so much to do in a 9 room house!  I love house projects. The high school/college guys who help at the farm will help me occasionally.  Like last week, they helped me move Andy's office stuff to another building on the property.  Love having them around to help, hang out with the kids, and eat dinner with us every now and then.  Especially our friend from Atlanta, Caleb, who is here for the summer.  Here is a picture of the guys with Andy and our boys:

The boys at Danny's graduation

We went to the lake for Memorial day weekend with my Mom, Dad, and brother's family.  But this is the only picture I took:

Next week we are going to make our summer bucket list.  Let the summer fun begin!