My Five Year Blogiversary!

So funny, I thought it had been only three years since I last painted that bedroom. But looking back at my first few posts, I realize how much has changed -- and how much has stayed the same! -- in the last five years.

I am still a hypoglycemic parent all too often. And my eldest child is still a sensitive, persistent soul with a lot of strong feelings, and a unique love for all of God's creatures.

I began this blog five years ago today, just a few months after Scott's dad passed away. Just a month before a good friend of mine filed for divorce and moved in with us with her two-year-old. Now, we're just a few months past the loss of Scott's paternal grandmother. And, sadly, another close friend's marriage is ending. So much of life is circular, isn't it? With its many endings...

And beginnings! How many baby showers have I been a part of in the last five years? Countless! So many sweet babies born and already walking, talking, playing at the park with us. And two more new little lives are expected to join our circle of friends very soon!

Speaking of birthdays, I have several friends and family members celebrating this week -- funny how the ones we love so often have certain things in common. Happy birthday to Melinda, Harvest, Jamie, Claudia, Carla, Patti, Penny, and Emily!

And happy 5th blogiversary to yours truly.

Life is good. God is good. All the time.

Celebrating the Fourth

I hope you've had a fun and freedom-filled Independence Day weekend! Ours was full of everything red, white, and blue...


Fruit salad with blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon... Rainier cherries...


Tomatoes from the garden for our bbq'd burgers...


Sprinkle cookies...


Fresh blue paint on the walls of the boys' new bedroom...

And new red curtains...


I celebrated our country's independence by staying home alone Saturday night to clean and prep the bedroom, while Scott took the boys to a Fourth of July celebration for games, treats, fireworks, and to see our friends perform in a play.

For the last 20 years, I've spent the morning of every Fourth of July at the annual neighborhood parade on the street where I grew up. It ended last year, and we missed it yesterday. We might have to begin that tradition anew on our own street next year.

Sweet summer day

A summer day filled with swimming, sweets and good friends... what more could these boys ask for?

We were invited to a tea party this afternoon, where we each got to decorate our own votive candleholders and tiny jars. We lit the candles, learned a little color theory, sipped tea, frosted cupcakes -- and then burned off the sugar in the pool!

We finally dragged ourselves away from our dear hosts, and headed to another swimming invitation! After a week of mostly indoor play avoiding the extreme heat, we were indeed in need of some cool outdoor fun

Creative purging needed. Now.

Ideas and plans are bloating my brain.

I've gorged myself on too many awesome books and blogs and movies, etc., lately, and my mind is feeling a little like my overburdened tomato plants look right now. Loaded down with big, beautiful fruit that just can't seem to ripen fast enough to keep the branches from breaking and outer fruit from scorching -- now that it's finally hot, it's TOO hot.

I am desperate to COMPLETE something. So many projects, so little time... I have a dozen or more blog posts half-written, waiting for me to finish my thoughts/take the right photo/sit down long enough to commit to something. I'm in need of some creative purging.

It's not just in my head. We're also in the middle of a major overhaul to our garage.

During the last two weeks, Scott and our good friend Alif, a contractor, been working their tails off (and neither of them have much tail to spare!), even when it was a sweltering 107 degrees outside. They've reinforced the roof, added a ceiling and created attic storage, installed outlets and lighting, and insulated half the space to make a workshop for Scott.

They're close to finishing, and now the pressure is on for me to do my part in our Great Summer Project.

I need to swap all the clothes in the bedroom closets to get ready for the big room switch, get rid of everything we don't need anymore, and then paint our old bedroom for the boys.

Scott's hobby stuff will be going out to his new workshop. His hobby/storage room will become the boys' playroom. We'll trade bedrooms with the boys, and then the little playroom off their old room will become my craft room!

I am so excited! And so grateful that we're able to do this at all, and that Scott chose to spend his summer this way.

In the meantime, I've been brainstorming with my homeschooling co-op buddies, making plans for the fall, gathering project ideas, ordering books, preparing surprises for the boys -- and trying not to get too carried away!

I do love a good plan. I also love to throw the plan out the window and stay home to putter in my garden.

For now, I need to get moving. I've got stuff to get DONE.