Time With Him

With Sister at school for most of the day, I find myself experiencing some of the sweetness in this bittersweet change for our family- time with Henry, just the two of us. With no older sibling to play second fiddle to, it's been amazing to watch this Little blossom.

He talks so. much. It's been eye-opening to hear what goes through his head, now that he can express his thoughts without being interrupted by his Big!

He plays amazingly well on his own, and seems to relish being able to claim a spot in the living room and do what he wants to do for as long as he wants to do it.

He's an ambitious helper. With no turns to share, he's by my side all morning long watering plants, feeding animals, vacuuming, pushing the shopping cart, and asking to help with every task that comes our way.

He's a love bug. He hugs my legs whenever I stand still for a few moments, sits as close as possible to me whenever he gets the chance, pats my back when we're reading, and tells me he loves me all the time.

Now, all this is not to say that Audrey is a drag to have around, of course. But it's an interesting development in this change in dynamics in our day. It's hard not to feel a little guilty, really, for not providing him more opportunity up to this point to spread his wings.

Ah well, it all comes out in the wash, yes?

What a guy he is!

Right Now

Right now, I'm loving a weekend that saw...

...'sleeping in' until it was time to make breakfast, gymnastics, yard work, and four racks of ribs cooking all day long.
...friends over til late, kids up til later, birthday cake (it's based on the Settlers of Catan), and fireworks.
...homemade gifts as soon as the last mouthful of pancake was swallowed, good naps, and sushi.

Right now we're still feeling the love for the oldest member of the four of us (ehehehe) who completed another trip around the sun this weekend. He is our rock, our provider, and our beloved. Happy birthday, Kyle!

And happy Monday!

Weekending

This weekend kicked off with a Saturday morning slightly cooler than the norm of late, so you might just find us hanging out in the garden... all of us.

Happy weekend!

This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

An Apple Season Teaser

I scored a huge bag of organic Granny Smith apples for two bucks the other day. They had blemishes on their skins, but were otherwise fine, and spots don't scare me anyhow. I let 'em sit on my counter for a bit while I planned what they would become. The funny thing about apples is there's never "too many," because there's about a thousand million things you can do with them. Granted, a produce bag isn't even close to "too many," but this apple season teaser felt like a bountiful harvest to me!

A while back my mom gave me an apple peeler/parer/corer (kinda like this one), and I knew even while standing in line at the grocery store to pay for the apples that I'd be trying it out.

So today, after picking Audrey up from school, we hauled out the apple peeler, washed up all the apples, and set to work (we're still seeking a decompression period in our new school day rhythm, and what seems to work best is a project of some kind, or so it seems at this point).

Side note: you'll notice we actually had to haul Audrey's little table down to the kitchen for this project- because the clamp on my antiquated peeler wouldn't open far enough to clamp onto the thick edges of our granite counter tops, we had to rack our brains for something thinner and stable and this was our solution! 

Now what are we going to do with all the peeled/cored/sliced apples and the mound of tubular cores and ribbons of skin? Well, the apples, after a quick splash of lemon juice, are currently dehydrating on my counter, destined for something I've always wanted to try ever since reading the Little House books: dried apple pie! I mean how could you not want a slice after Laura's intensely nostalgic description of her Ma's?

And the 'waste' of all that apple processing- the cores and peels- are going to become apple scrap jelly. I made a batch last year around this time with rosy Fuji apples and it was delish. This year we're going with what we have: tart green Granny Smiths. Hoping it'll be a hit!

Oh how I love apple season!

Nom nom nom.

They Be Loose!

They be loose, y'all! This morning while working in the garden with our customary 2-3 girls out and about, Henry looked up and said, "Mama, there's a chickie out!" Then I said, "Yeah, Henny, we have three out!" aaaand then I looked over my shoulder... and there was a girl out of the garden, halfway to the house.

Once the seal is broken and they know they can fly over the fence, it's all over.

So with Henry's help and my kitchen scissors, we cut all their flight feathers on their right wings and let 'em all out. No more onesie-twosies- now the coop is open. Might as well, no? I'd been meaning to clip them so they could forage, anyway, but had been putting it off. Now my garden has a better crop of weeds than anything else, and it's crawling- er, hopping- with grasshoppers. They need to get to work for me!

Our new rhythm will now include letting the girls out in the morning and shutting them in at night, and that, my friends, feels like we're on the right track.

Right Now

Right now, I'm...

...prepping for more school-morning breakfasts with some breakfast cookies, blueberry pancakes, scones, and muffins... we figured out last week that having something like this ready to go is a great strategy for coping with a kindergartner who is not a morning person.
...keeping my eye on our friendly local orchard, awaiting their announcement that the apples are ready for pickin' (which is making me wish so hard for our own apple trees.. soon, soon).
...planning our fall garden, and crossing my fingers that the weather will come down out of the high 90's so I can get out there and make it happen!
...finishing A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances by Laura Schenone and finding a new appreciation for a bit of the mundane.
...loving the way my kiddos play together like they never missed a beat while Sissy went to school, and at the same time like they're soaking up as much togetherness as they can before she goes back.

Right now, we're wrapping up projects, cleaning up messes, and warming up leftovers in the quiet glow of the end of this three-day weekend. Tomorrow it'll be back to our New Normal- work, school, grocery shopping, laundry, phone calls and business- but not yet. The weekend isn't over yet, and no one over here is in much of a hurry.

Happy Monday!