Any Similar Revival

That last one cracks me up.

On one of the two perfect days this past weekend, we went to our friends’ house for a princess’s birthday party. Her royal highness turned three.

Though she was the belle of the ball, her ladies-in-waiting were also as pretty as could be.

And the gentlemen and knights were handsome and strong. And noisy.

The queen mum was lovely, and the knight-mums and ladies-in-waiting mums were too.

The best part of all was when the castle collapsed! Some errant knave waving a sword somehow let the air out! How those ladies screamed!

Not to worry. This red-headed lass was on the phone, pronto.

It was a most wondrous party! The feast was plentiful and delicious, the company was boisterous and warm, and we even had a strange sighting of a superhero!

Who could it be?

From May

Yes, it is time once again for my annual county fair post! This year was a bit different from past years. Being the proud parent of a fearless 6-year-old boy means several things. First, we hang out at the rides a LOT. Second, we see NO farm animals. (I know!) Third, I don’t have time or inclination to take a single photo of any food! And finally, we hang out at the rides a lot. We bought wrist bands for the first time this year, meaning unlimited rides. Aiden rode 11 times! I only rode 3, but that’s because I wanted to die in a dark corner after ride number 2. Shudder. There is a good reason that most riders are under the age of 30.

Anyways. We’ll get to that riveting story in a bit. The first thing we did at the fair was to go to the zoo show. Aiden was one of the first volunteers, to no one’s surprise.

What made his jaw drop in amazement?

This did. (So glad I didn’t go up with him.)

We stayed to see chinchillas and lizards and tortoises and various other creatures. They even had a tame woodchuck. Dad, I thought of you.

We ran into lots of our friends! It is always fun to see everyone at the fair!
First, we saw Julie and her crew at the Ferris wheel. The kids all wanted to ride the jet skis together.

Then we noticed Christi and her kids at the merry-go-round:

We walked around with them for a bit, eating fries and checking out the junior railroaders exhibit in the 4-H building. It took some doing to drag Aiden away from those trains. I have a feeling that we will be joining the junior railroaders in a few years.

So, rides. Yeah, the Ferris wheel was my favorite.

Then, for my next ride, I made a grave error. I agreed to go on the “Down Draft” with Aiden, who was just barely tall enough and who danced and wriggled with excitement the whole long wait in line.

It looks like this:

Here we are, before:

I look so happy! So healthy! So not-nauseated!

This thing went round and round at alarming speeds. We were pressed back into our seats, barely able to move our heads or anything. I was worried about Aiden at first, because when I looked at him, he had his face pressed against the front bar, and my first thought was that he’d passed out from the g-forces and how were we supposed to stop this thing? Then he turned his face, and I saw his crazy-eyed, big-smiled face and knew he was fine. Kid was screaming and laughing and telling me how much he really loved this ride. I was praying to God that the ride would end early or that I would die immediately. God chose to answer this prayer with a “No.” So I sat there, pressed into my seat, my neck stiff, my arm (which I’d thoughtfully tucked behind Aiden) completely asleep. And then it was over. Dizzy, sweaty, green, and nauseated, I somehow got off the ride without falling on my face and we sat on a bench. Aiden asked, “Can we go on that again?”

Thankfully, Chad arrived from work right around this time and was able to help Aiden ride on smaller rides by himself while I willed my stomach to stop churning. It took me at least an hour to feel normal again!

More friends:

Cute boys

Our fair-going friends of long-standing tradition finally arrived, and after we’d eaten, I was feeling better. I thought about my beloved Musik Express, but the round-and-roundness of it all had me doubting the wisdom of riding it. Someone else was still too short, poor little dude. He felt it.

Hopefully, he’ll grow six inches before next year’s fair.

So then Aiden begged to go on the Down Draft again, and Liv and Mike rode with him. Kristen, Chad and I nearly died laughing watching their different reactions as they swung round and round. Liv looked ready to cry, Mike looked ready to hurl, and Aiden had his crazy happy face on sitting between them, hands raised in the air and waving to everyone watching below.

It was fun!

But I do rather miss those calmer days of years past when we cheerfully looked at stinky pigs and enormous horses and dumb bunnies, eating fried cheese and ice cream bars stuck through a paper plate.

I’m never riding that thing again.

I did, however, ride the hang glider ride. No pics. If it had ended just two revolutions or so earlier, it would have been awesome.

So, our friend Laura, whom my other friends and I have decided always looks like a movie star somehow, invited us to go the Akron Zoo with her and her boys a few days ago. I grew up going to this zoo, and it has really gotten a face lift in recent years! One thing is still the same, though. Remember this, Akron peeps?

I always loved this.

Anyways, it was a beautiful day for the zoo, and 50,000 other people thought so too, because they all showed up. While it meant that we had to keep our kids a bit closer than we usually do, it couldn’t put a damper on the fun!

See? Movie star. To get even, I made her walk with all the kids.

The boys have so much fun together.

You can’t see her, but there was a mom sitting at the table in the background of this picture, absolutely appalled that I was letting my kid jump across like this. I think she only had girls, or something. The child has springs for legs.

Little did he know that later this day, he would get his very first bee sting! And may I just say, it served him right?

Movie star and her friend with all those teeth, again.

So, the bee sting. Well, he’s been getting in trouble all week long for catching bees in his butterfly net. Not only could he get stung, but those bees are my garden helpers. Leave those bees alone, son! Last night, right after I bellowed out the door that it was time to come in for dinner, I heard the wailing screams of a boy who had just gotten stung for the very first time. I knew what had happened before he even told me.

You can see the pinky on the right is very swollen.

I did try to conjure up SOME pity for him, but after what happened this morning? No more pity. He lost his butterfly net for the day for, you guessed it, catching a bumble bee. Apparently, this is one lesson he may need to learn a few times before he gets it.

Don’t worry. I’m not doing another how-to. It’s just that these pictures are so pretty and  make me so happy. And I love any excuse to use the awesome, fabulous, gorgeous flower press that Heidi gave me years ago. It is one of the coolest things at my disposal.

First, we collected flowers from around the garden, and this photo, oh, this photo!

So pretty!

Then, we took the petals off the fat flowers and arranged them with the thin flowers on sheets of paper.

And then we left them in the press for several days.

When we opened it up, Aiden marveled at their lovely flatness!

We put them on a circle of contact paper:

And then we put another piece on top. Aiden is a huge fan of the contact paper. Huge fan. I put it in an old embroidery hoop and then we caught the sun!

I want to do this again in the fall, with leaves instead.

Little Mexican Globe Cucumbers. I’ve never had any luck with cucumbers before this! These are climbers, and I planted them with my pole beans, so they are climbing the bean stalks. Little magic cucumbers!

Two months ago, it was just empty dirt, but after I buried little magic beans into the earth, this appeared! Poof!

Pole beans, blooming. Hoping for actual beans in a week of so. I planted these woefully late, but they don’t seem to mind.

And in my driveway, the evidence of life with a small boy and his neighbor friends.

Train tracks!

Last week, I got to see some beloved old friends two days in a row! The kids I used to see almost daily for years and years are really growing up, and their busy schedules keep them, well, busy. We don’t see each other as often as we would like to, and that is a sad reality. When we do see each other, though, it is such a treat! Last week, we went to two of Ben’s championship baseball games! His team won the first one, and after a valiant effort, lost the second. But just seeing my Benny-boy play in such a mature and sportsmanlike way was a victory in my mind.

Ice cream after the first day’s game was absolutely necessary.

Absolutely.

The girls came to the second game, as did Chad. It was like a family reunion!

We are all going to the fair together this week, and I am so excited for more fun and games with them!

Saturday, a rainy slow day, saw us meeting up with more old friends. Julie, Billy and Ryan were in town!

Sorry Julie, I know this is probably not your favorite picture, but I like it.

See? This one redeems it!

I love friends.

This is not a how-to blog. There are plenty of those all over the interwebs, and I don’t feel the need to add to their number. I enjoy reading them, though, and I use the ideas I find quite often! This project we did for the first week of school was so fun and turned out so well, however, that I feel the need to blog about it!

I found this idea in Jean Van’t Hul’s book, The Artful Parent. This is a lovely book with lots of ideas for open-ended art projects.

We began with 100% cotton, white pillowcases I picked up from Marshalls on clearance.

We lightly drew our designs in pencil.

Then we drew over our designs with Elmer’s gel glue, the blue kind. Shirts are optional.

What a surprise! Aiden drew a TRAIN! Shocking!

We let it dry overnight. This was the hardest part for Aiden, the waiting for the glue to dry so we could paint.

We used watered down acrylics, just regular old craft acrylics. We didn’t put anything inside the case, and this worked well, since our design transferred to the other side. Pretty!

Then we had to wait for the paint to dry! More waiting! This was a 2+ day project. I did hang the cases on the line to dry during our heat wave, and this sped things up nicely.

After the paint was dry, I soaked the pillowcases in the kitchen sink in hot water for a bit to let the glue soften up. Then I used a scrub brush and scrubbed the glue away. Magic! The white outlines of the drawings emerged, and we were both so happy! This is how the pillowcases looked after they went through the washer:

I don’t know how long the paint will hold up to regular washing and drying, but Aiden insists on using his pillowcase on his bed, and that is where it is right now. This was a really worthwhile project and I plan on doing it again!

Hello!

We started school last week! It was actually great timing, since we spent the week living under a heat advisory and air quality advisory. Might as well stay in and learn stuff, right? Of course, learning around here looks a lot like playing and making stuff and having a good time.

It was hot. Southerners, if you won’t make fun of us for thinking this is hot, we won’t make fun of you for closing school when you get a dusting of snow. Fair?

We also got some of this, complete with thunder and lightning.

School stuff:

And yes, playing Memory with Daddy counts. Aiden is getting really, really good though. I’d think twice before challenging him to a Memory duel.

Home school goes really well when Mommy has all her stuff together and is present enough to hold the space. Aiden LOVES it, and I am rather fond of it myself.

Enjoy this cooler day, Ohioans!

So, it’s Monday.

We had such a lazy, marvelous weekend of nothing planned. It was full of slowness. It was full of staying home most of the time. It was full of being. We haven’t had a weekend like this since, I don’t know, April? Chad said last night, “I feel the same way I felt last year when we were in Victoria!”

We needed a little down time.

OF course, we still DID things. Like berry picking the last of the strawberries.

We finally figured out how to get Aiden to help out: Bribe him with ice cream!

Switching subjects. I love my garden the same way I love a person. More than I love certain persons. (don’t tell). It is beautiful and ridiculous and it makes my heart sing.

Do you see the single lavender plant that is eating the driveway?

Hope you are enjoying your July, dear Readers!

Fireworks are great and all, but the most exciting thing exploding around here is my garden.

kaboom!

Aiden took this one above. See his little finger? And me, trying to coach him with my claw hand. SO helpful, I’m sure. The lavender is taking over. And so is the cilantro. The beans are having a race to see which one gets to the top of the tower first. And the tomatoes have lost their minds. Probably because it has been non-stop rain and heat around here!

We went to Ontario, OH to visit my cousins and watch their parade. It was, of course, non-stop rain and heat!

And then we went back to Liz’s for a family picnic.

I have SO MANY teeth in this pic!

Yesterday, it was hot, and it rained a lot. I lay around on the couch with a headache and drank tea and read X-files fan-fiction on my Ipad. And I am not going to apologize for that. Nope.

Today, it is hot, and hey! It looks like rain!

I’ve taken like 10 pictures since last Thursday. Some of you may think this sounds just fine, but it is so unusual for me! I normally take at least 10 PER DAY.  Oh well.

I’ll post some pages instead of riveting your attention with the amazing goings-on around here the past few days, mostly involving many loads of laundry and doing things with foodstuffs.

Hi.

Aiden and I just got back from a quick jaunt down to Chincoteague for some fun cousin time.

These boys are so fun! So noisy too. And one of them habitually drives me nuts, but I love him anyway. We had a fabulous time!

And we had ice cream, of course.

I have many more pictures, and I also have photo fatigue. So maybe, in a few weeks, I’ll get around to editing and posting.

In the meantime:

(Stolen from Willow’s facebook. Thanks Willow!)

Unlike the drought conditions of last summer, this summer has been pretty soggy. I’m not complaining, though, as I prefer to see grass that is still green and not sharp and pokey when you step on it. Also, it’s good for my garden. But we had such a tremendous rain on Monday afternoon that our saturated ground just couldn’t take it anymore. We still need to work on drainage over by the new raised beds, apparently.

Aiden likes the flooding, though. It is fun with boats.

We dried out a bit on Tuesday, and so we started our annual epic strawberry project.

Acckkkk! Scary wide-angle face!

Hey there, gorgeous.

I picked roughly 15 pounds yesterday. And I say “I” because someone kept saying, “I am too busy eating them to pick any, Mom! I am starving for strawberries!”

And then we got into the van to go and he complained about a tummy ache.

Serves you right, kid.