Watermelon

1. Buy watermelon.

2. Slice watermelon on tray.

3. Bring tray outside and watch children devour said watermelon.

4. Smile and enjoy.

Oh, For the Love of Summer!

Wax Paper Leaves

When I was a young girl, I had the privilege of knowing my great-grandmother. She taught me how to sew lavender pouches and how to take the seeds out of money plants. And... she taught me how to iron wax paper sheets together and trap pretty leaves between the sheets.

I thought she was brilliant.

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After Morgan and I went to the arboretum and collected our leaves, I knew exactly what we would do with them.

I took a tea towel and put two sheets of wax paper on it. I put the leaves between them.

And then I ironed them.

I quickly learned that ironing them at TOO HOT a temperature will make the wax UNSTICK. A medium temp will do just fine. And I cannot stress enough that the tea towel must be on BOTH sides of the wax paper sandwich or else wax will stick to the iron or the board.

The Gingko leaves were my favorite.

It's so neat to observe the different shapes of leaves.

We labeled the leaves and put them in a binder for safe-keeping.

These are a little fragile. You'll want to "leaf" them alone.

*Sorry... had to add that pun.*

Leaves- Activity 3

I'm not a homeschooling Mom. Repeat: NOT a homeschooling Mom.

However... I am giving Morgan themes for each week she is home for summer vacation. And this particular week, it was leaves.

We have a membership to our local arboretum, so I took the kiddos there. They have really cool sculptures there right now:

Morgan and I took leaves from trees and wrote down their names as we put them in our Ziploc baggies. (Don't look too enthused, dear.)

After our "homework", I took the munchkins to the Children's Garden.

It was blessedly hot, so I dressed Eve in the shirt/dress I made her this year out of a vintage tablecloth.

She enjoyed herself very much and didn't even mind that she was dressed in table linens.

I had to show Morgan the snapdragon flowers. As a child, I was enamored with them.

After Morgan and I have a field trip, I try to stretch it out by drawing upon that theme all week.

So the next day, I taught Morgan how to make a family tree. I cut out a tree shape and then we cut leaves with family member's names on it and put them in the appropriate place.

I wish I had an "after" pic of the tree with the leaves, but -alas- the tree didn't last for too long. I forgot to take pics immediately.

And the baby ripped off leaves. *Serenity*

So you'll just have to imagine little leaves with names of family members taped all over it.

But... I can tell you that making a family tree was really fun. And even though my family is a little splintered right now, I still want my children to value their roots.

So there you have it: A day at the arboretum and a family tree project.

Summer Coma

Oh Bloggy-land... How I have missed thee.

I had every intent of blogging, but life came in big, fat, indigestible chunks. I'm not sure where time went, but here's what I do know:

1. I have small children and a wonderful hubs. And they come first.

2. I feel guilty for writing a blog about how to do home improvements and still maintain a family life. I'll be honest: the pergola installation kicked my tush around the block. T'wasn't easy, friends.

Meanwhile: Our church is doing Vacation Bible School. And somehow I thought I could breezily make a city skyline for our sanctuary in my "spare" time. (Enter psycho laughter here.)

Here's what I've done with the help of MANY people:

Five 14' tall buildings and two 10' tall ones. In a week. With small children.

Again: MANY people helped me.

Call me crazy.

The weekend of the pergola installation was crazy, too.

We took measurements for two days before we cut a single board. Nuts.

Morgan helped us with nails:

It was hard work. (Rolling eyes.)

And then our friends Steph and Piet came over with their two delightful offspring.

Eve and Kai cheered on their daddies through the screen door.

There was a lot of measuring. (Boring.)

This pic is for me: I have a thing for Dan's calves.

I swear I could marry this man.

Oh wait... I already have.

Hard working dude.

It was a hard day, but Piet managed to smile.

And this is my friend Steph at a different venue, but I pinky swear she was this smiley all day during the pergola installation.

T'aint finished, but it's nearly there. Gorgeous. A dream come true.

Stay tuned in the near future for sparkly lights and outdoor curtains. :)