We’re off the rest of this week for a trip up to the northern parts, to leave the land of the hot and scalding and to hopefully get a happy little taste of weather to come. :)
This morning, actually, we woke up and the temperature was in the 70’s. That’s not happened for months and months – it’s been 80’s and 90’s for months on end! We had doors hanging wide open ~ it felt like autumn is coming!
We are so anticipating time with dear friends and family, and even the road trip time as a family. Preparing for three months in Colorado is big on our minds, and Ben has been working hard in order to prepare us to go. I understand it’s a season, and I’m fully supportive, but I will be very happy when we can have evenings and weekends together as a family again. :) But usually anything good takes sacrifice, right?
Letters.
From Cambodia. From my two sisters. ♥
Olivia.
This little girl has boundless energy and keeps me on my toes from morning till night. She does bring boundless laughter to us though, and I think I laugh at her more than I’ve ever laughed at a little kid. And, to be honest, I probably get more exasperated at her too. :) She’s turbo power in a mini-body.
I tried to take a shower on Saturday night, after a rather hairy day of taking care of children and Ben working long hours an hour away. I thought if I just finally make it to the shower I’ll keep my sanity. The girls had their baths, the house was mostly cleaned up, and I was ready for a little bit of peacefulness. Olivia had refused a nap all day, so she was tired beyond reasoning.
I was finally in the shower, girls playing outside the restroom, I thought. My loofah was all nice and sudsy, and it was that wonderful feeling of “all will be well with the world.” I don’t know about you other moms, but when I get in the shower, I just like to to be nice and quiet, and a chance to be all alone. For five minutes. I love my children dearly, but the shower is off-limits when I’m in there.
There were repeated commands of telling the girls to close the door and hey hey hey, play nice with each other. I lathered up one leg, ready to shave, when I heard the door swing open and both girls came in, Olivia needing to go potty. She hoisted herself up on the big potty, and I looked out the shower door just in time to see a stream hitting not the potty, but shooting out over the seat, onto her pajamas, and onto the floor.
Lathered leg or not, I was out of the shower, adding more wet (though of a different kind!) to the floor as I assisted the ending of that bathroom use. Then, because she had messed herself up, I just stripped her completely and brought her into the shower with me. First time for that, and she was thrilled.
Zoe saw the excitement of the moment, and before I knew it another little girl joined us in the shower. First time for her too. There were lots of giggles and squeals and they were really so happy and excited about how the day was turning out that I tried to join their mood too. :)
But that’s sort of how my days have been… I would not make a good single mom! And I’m so thankful that I’m not!
Zoe.
Zoe brings a different kind of style to the family. She’s big into getting herself dressed, and after I questioned this particular outfit and the matching ability, she assured me that “It matches just right! See, there are flowers on the top and flowers on the pants!” Oh, yes. Weak laugh. Flowers and flowers. Why did I not catch that? Real laugh follows. Oh well.
I won’t even stick a sign on her that says, “This child dressed herself!” :)
Pancakes.
We love making pancakes… We found a wonderful recipe that uses all whole wheat, and they are wonderful!
Lemonade.
The fresh-squeezed kind.
We absolutely love this, and keep it in the frig almost all summer long!
Recipe:
4 lemons
2 cups sugar
1 gallon sized container
Slice lemons very thinly, taking off ends and throwing away.
Put lemons and sugar in the gallon pitcher.
Taking your hands, squeeze lemons and sugar all together and until they are a sticky mess and it smells delightful. Do make sure your hands are freshly washed.
Let sit at least ten minutes, and up to a half hour. This helps the flavor be strong and sweet.
Mix with ice and water, fill to one gallon.
Sit on your front porch, or have a friend over, or just sip it alone. Delicious!
Note: be sure to take the lemons out of the lemonade before you refrigerate it. Leaving them in will result in a very bitter rind taste.
Also, if you’re trying to watch your sugar intake, you can cut the sugar to one cup and add 1/2 teaspoon stevia powder, and mix as directed. I personally don’t care for this as much, but it does still give you fresh lemonade if you can’t have much sugar. Or you could use only stevia and increase it to 1 teaspoon.
This is also just wonderful if you slice a few strawberries and let them float on top. It gives a sweet lemony strawberry flavor and colors it pink without much effort.
And this was a very short post, for once in my life. :)
Happy week and weekending to you all! We’re off to a fun-filled week – first time out of state all summer
[very rare for us!]. Time with my dad’s side of the family, that I rarely see with living so far south. Time with friends that we love so much. Time with a dear aunt and her family. Friendship is such a precious gift!
Excitement reigns high!
And we’re off!
~clarita
