Summer's End

 The pool closes tomorrow. Our homeschool starts on Monday. I guess this means summer is coming to an end; and it's going out with a bang!

We had a week of VBS at church. 

Then Jonathan's Birthday (18!!!). 

And then Harrison and I left to go on a cross country trip with my parents. 

I'm gonna have to think about school tomorrow. Today I'm still relaxing and catching up from travels.

Franke Photography

Jonathan was an assistant group leader for VBS. 

He helped the kids with games and food and singing and everything.

The man he assisted is named Mark, and Mark has been helping Jon get set up with a good bow and arrow and accoutrements.

Franke Photography

Back to VBS.

Franke Photography

Harrison and I helped cook and serve the meals in the kitchen. 

Franke Photography

Phoebe also helped a few nights in the kitchen and with the babies.

Franke Photography

VBS went super well. 

We had ..... well it feels like it was a year ago.... I think we had up to 60 different kids. I know we fed between 50 and 90 people depending on the night. 

Paul giving a communion meditation. Phillip has his turn tomorrow.

Jonathan wanted to have a simple get-together with his friends for his 18th birthday. There's an empty shop in town that one of the friend's family owns, and they let the kids hang out there and play video games and what not. We served tacos and cake, and then Phillip and I left them to have a good time together.

And on his actual birthday, my parents had arrived from Louisiana. So his grandparents and Gabry got to be here to celebrate again.

My parents and Phillip's parents together! 

This doesn't happen very often, and it was delightful to have them all here.

His "cake" was strawberry pretzel dessert.

Early the next morning Harrison and I joined Mom and Dad on their trip to Spokane, WA for a family reunion. So many pictures from that trip, that I will do a separate blog post. 

It was wonderful to spend several days on the road with my parents. It gives you lots of time to talk and just be together. Our trips to see them are often hurried, so this was very good.

Jonathan made peach jam while we were gone. It's delicious!

Phoebe was in charge of the kitchen for the last 8 days. She made all the meals she planned, and there are hardly any leftovers, so I think it went well.

I found freshly picked corn in Farber, so I made frozen sweet corn today. This recipe comes from Mimi and Grandma Phoebe, and we crave it every year.

We wanted to see what the corn looks like when you get in between the rows. 

Our lane.

These sulphur butterflies were just hanging out in the mud of our ditch. 

Is it salty? Are they eating something? Is it cool down there? 

Our cats are still goofy and a little more tame.

This is Pickle next to Basil.

And Frog hiding behind a bush.

I think we should have named the pair Frog and Toad.

Hunter Photography

This is The Friend Group:
a great group of church kids who have welcomed and embraced Jonathan and Phoebe since we moved here. They've planned a lot of gatherings and had a lot of fun. Five of them are leaving for college, so this is probably their last picture all together.
A sweet melancholy. 

Summer Breeze, Makes Me Feel Fine

School planning is practically done. I fit all the books without us having to buy new bookshelves. Woohoo! That is always a concern. I don't think I'll be able to do that next year. But you never know. Maybe Jonathan will take some books to college which will give us some room. 

I was most proud of my book collection when I went to college. Not that I had that many, but I did have to buy a bookshelf. 

Well.... I made a bookshelf. 

Mr. Browning was getting rid of bricks and I bought some cheaply from him (or did he give them to me?) And Justin DeVries was working at the lumberyard in town, so I gave him money to buy me a board (which was much cheaper back then!). I stacked bricks on my bed shelf above the bolster and put the board down and stacked more bricks to keep the board from moving. Bam. I had two shelves of space for the books I had brought from home. Simple and effective.

Anyway, lots going on around here! 

We do get a lot of Summer Breeze around our house and it does Feel Fine.

Look at those crazy cats.

We sent 4 of the black kittens to a farm down the road to live in the barn and catch mice with another kitten from Christy. We haven't seen John Quincy or the Male Black lately. Could be they've taken off for other lands. Yay!

I believe Phoebe named this one Bubba. 

We have a striped one she named Pickle, and the one with white paws is Frog.

I think we've figured out how to tell males from females now, so our male-named cats will stop turning up pregnant. Or rather, our cats will still turn up pregnant, but they will have generic names. 

Phoebe is taking after her sister in that she likes to draw on herself. 

The girls do some beautiful work. And it washes off ~ win-win!

Mexico, MO opened a new aquatic center a few weeks ago. I met a friend and our kids took friends, and we had a really good time. 

VBS decorations were what was happening last week. We are doing cactus of all sorts - paddle cactus, agave, barrel cactus.... Harrison worked for many hours tracing and painting those pieces of styrofoam. 

It's pretty cool to use the heat knife, but it's also really hot outside. 

The kids and I stayed in.

Colored poster board cut down, folded, trimmed....

.....and glued onto water bottles, to be shaped into agave later. 

I figured up that we cut out over a 1,000 spikes and made over 80 agave plants.

Phillip did so much work on the porch and it is done! It looks so nice. We love sitting out there in the evening, in the morning. On coolish days (when there's a breeze), Phillip works out there too.

We are planning to rip up the sidewalks and push in the cellar, so the boys got out there and pulled up all the landscape bricks. Phillip sold them online, and we met a guy from St. Louis area who knew a guy from our church. Always seems to happen. 

We tried to include a free cat with purchase, but the brick buyer wasn't having any of it. 

Like father, like son. 

They truly don't plan to match.

Jack photography

Jonathan is at CIY this week. 

He and Gabry are sitting together there in the back of the bus.

Phoebe didn't go because her older siblings' spouting about loud music has scared her off.

Phoebe and Harrison got routine vaccinations today, and then we found a cute quilt shop off the main road and behind an old farmhouse. Phoebe and I are going to work on a small quilt this year, and we found the three prints and colors we needed.

This was on the door, and I love it so much! 

The owner was actually there when we arrived. She was watching her grandkids and was still able to be helpful. 

I'm learning from Phillip about corn. The corn is tasseling on top.

And now it's getting silk (silking?).

The pollen from the tassels will reach the silk (helped by wind or insects) which then fertilizes the corn cobs. I think each kernel has its own silk strand. The lady in charge of VBS decorations was talking about using the corn silk for her Barbie doll's hair when she was a girl. 

I see why. It's pretty.

🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

See the smile awaitin' in the kitchen
Through cookin' and the plates for two
Feel the arms that reach out to hold me
In the evening when the day is through

Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowin' through the jasmine in my mind

                                                                  Seals and Crofts             

 

'Yes' to the Dress

 

Look at the corn! 

Jonathan said the leaves (leaves?) are pretty sharp. He lost an arrow in the field and tried to find it. 

Lanaya Elizabeth came home for the weekend so we could go wedding dress shopping!

Phoebe curled her hair with tight little curls. She kept it up mostly because it was so frizzy.

But it's pretty adorable down. It reminds me of the girl in Encanto.

We girls (Mimi, Phoebe, Lanaya Liz and I) went out to eat at The Brick Oven in Hannibal. We shared a large salad, a small Garlic Lover's Pizza, a small Margherita Pizza, and a chocolate lava cake.

And then away to 8th Ave Villager in Quincy to look for a wedding dress. 

We waited on the couch while Lanaya Liz tried on all the dresses. I got pictures of each dress so we could look at them side by side. 

After about a dozen changes and wrangling some sleeves off of one dress and onto the other, she found one! 

Then we went to a new coffee shop to end our day. 

Lanaya Elizabeth has been working on socks while she's been home with us.

My girls and I.

Mimi and the girls.

This was Phoebe after we got home. She was dead. 

It was pretty tiring, but I'm so glad we found a dress in one day!

On the way to church. 

We were almost all together. Jonathan had to drive separate since he had to be there early for greeting.

Out at the Junction for Sunday lunch.

The Fourth of July was pretty quiet. 

We had lunch together with Mimi and Papa, and then we just watched fireworks from our front porch.

Evening glow on the front yard.