Celebrating my mom's 60th at the beach

My mom wanted to spend her 60th birthday at the coast with her girls, and that's just what she did.

We stopped for pedicures on our way, and then spent Saturday eating, shopping, sipping wine, eating, chatting and relaxing by the pool.

On Sunday, my dad brought the boys over, and the activity level rose a bit...

 

Happy birthday, Nana! Thanks for sharing your special weekend with us!

Transitions... Back to Homeschool

It's been more than a week since the last major progress on the remodel.

Scott finished the floors, installed most of the quarter-round molding, and I repainted the baseboards. The electrician installed the new kitchen fixtures. Our friend Brad and his kiddos came over and helped Scott move the furniture back into the house. I still haven't unpacked all the boxes.

Last week I was busy with homeschool planning and prep -- rushing to get ready before spending a lovely, long weekend away at the coast with my mom and sisters for my mom's birthday.

(Bet you can't even tell who turned 60! More weekend pics to come...)

We had a gorgeous weekend at the beach, and I only broke out my planner once. *wink*

My goal before we left was to be able to eat breakfast at home again, so we could jump into our new books in the morning with no distractions.

We'd managed to avoid disposables and the microwave (mostly) this summer by eating at my parents' house, but I finally gave in for the sake of my sanity during this transition.

On Monday, our local public schools welcomed kids back to classrooms, while we spent the morning at a favorite park catching frogs in the man-made creek with some homeschooling friends to celebrate not going back to school. We saved that for Tuesday.

 

(Not my kiddo, but he sure was excited about the frogs!)

On Tuesday, we broke out the binders, the fingerpaint, and the new books...



Imagine my joy when I heard at the end of the day... "I can't wait to do homeschool again tomorrow, Mom!"

Phew.

Have you started your new schoolyear yet? How's it going?

31 days in July

What a busy, busy month! I may be too tired to think in complete sentences... but somehow I can still count.

1 red-white-and-blue Independence Day parade

4 forts in Nana's living room

1 inspiring local homeschooling conference
6 fun afternoons at the park with friends

5 long-anticipated tickets to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.” (We took my dad and left Littlest with his Nana.)
1 lesson in leverage

3 parties to celebrate friends' birthdays
At least 20 games of chess, checkers, Battleship and Dinopoly

4 weekly cello and violin lessons
3 days (for the professional) to hang and finish the drywall

Lots and lots of 100-degree days
A dozen evenings at the pool

1 day to move our living and dining furniture into...
2 Uboxes while Scott refinishes the floors
1 teary farewell to dear friends moving to North Carolina

4 rooms to paint (including ceilings)
11 days of prepping and painting

3 cans of Behr satin Cornsilk
2 cans of Behr satin Rainwashed

2 cousins visiting from New York
3 delicious dinner invitations 
1 visit with friends to a children's museum

1 lesson in using a table saw for Eldest

3 days to lay the new tongue-and-groove floor in the kitchen and laundry room

14 days until Daddy goes back to work his easier paid job as a teacher

Camping at San Simeon State Beach

A few of us took a break from the remodeling chaos to go play at the coast last weekend. Scott decided to stay home and get s'more work done instead.

Our campsite had a lovely view of the ocean through perfect pines for climbing.

 

The boys made friends with our neighbors, as they always do, and discovered that they were also homeschoolers, and from our same city!

Our new friends shared our excitement when several gopher snakes came out of the brush to sun themselves in the grass around our campsite...

Of course, we had to visit the beach, too. My dad took the boys down to chase the waves on Saturday. On Sunday, the boys and I explored the tidepools...

 

We spent lots of time just hanging around the campfire, reading, making s'mores, roasting hot dogs, and cuddling up together from the chilly breeze.

We were glad for an easy, yummy hot soup to eat when the wind picked up. Here's my recipe:

Easy Black Bean Soup

4 cans of black beans
1 can of corn
2 cups tomato salsa (I used one carton of spicy salsa, and one of pico de gallo)
2 boxes of organic chicken stock
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Put your soup pot on your camp stove or grill. Drain and rinse the canned beans and corn. Dump everything into the pot, and stir. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with cornbread. (I made ours at home, and brought it with us, but you could try baking on the campfire!)