Jul 23
Everyone,
Today has been fun. We all desperately needed a down day, the boys especially. They went down for their morning naps without a fuss and then I went and took one too. Professor woke up about 4 times last night and I am beat. We all woke up about 2 hours later (too soon for me…I was still tired!) and had some lunch.
After lunch everyone had another nap (Butterfly included) and I got things ready to walk to the farmer’s market. Once Butterfly woke up (after having an accident on my bed…again!) and I cleaned her all up and got the boys up, we were able to go. Lala and Vinny came along. Flower pushed the boys in the stroller and Lala and I took turns pulling Butterfly and Vinny in her wagon. I bought apricots, nectarines, and green beans today. Half of the apricots didn’t make it home since Butterfly and Vinny and even the boys ate at least 4 each. It was really muggy with storm rolling in so we were sweaty and hot when we got home.
We ran the last half mile or so in big fat rain drops and made it inside just as the storm hit. Once Lala and Vinny went home, I tried to get our dinner started. We are trying to learn how to cook in our dutch ovens and I thought today would be a good day to do that. Well, it’s no fun to try and keep a fire going in a deluge, let alone cook in it!
Juice came home and tried to get it going again, only to create a big ball of flame and singe his eyebrows, hair, and take all the hair off of his right ear. I was watching and he looked up at me with a very surprised expression on his face, his hair smoking. Good thing it was raining and it put his hair out!
We gave up on cooking outside and cooked our dinner in our dutch oven in the regular oven. Dinner was about 2 hours late. Juice had gone by then to help one of my book clubbers move. Once dinner was done, it was very good!
The coals were still burning after dinner so we decided we should roast some marshmallows. Yummy! Butterfly had a great time and we saw the biggest slug I have ever seen. Juice came home and joined in the fun.
A great day!
Safire
Safirecooking, farmer's market, fire, Lala and Vinny, naps, roasting marshmallows
Jul 16
Everyone,
I am a boring blogger! Seriously can I be any more boring? I would stop reading me if I was reading this. I chalk it up to being out of the writing groove. Utah really threw off my groove. Will you stick with me while I get back up to being semi-interesting? Pretty please?
Today we decided to stick close to home and go to the Amish market for lunch. I made Butterfly cry three times. She was a princess today and “princess twirl mom. You should know that.” Well, my Miss Butterfly is not the most graceful child. Poor girl is going to be long and awkward for a long time. Anyway, twirling + awkwardness = disaster in a small shop. She was incredibly well behaved at lunch. All the kids were. Pirate was flirting with the waitresses, Professor was picking the cheese off of his grilled cheese sandwich and eating only that. And Butterfly was just eating. We bought bread and candy. We also all sat down at the table I really want to buy and I drooled over it again. I even found a china hutch that matches it with hand carved flowers and vines all over it. Beautiful.
We stopped by the farmer’s market as well. Boy I missed the farmer’s market here! It’s small (3 booths) but the fruit is amazing. We got blueberries which are almost all gone. And the peaches are so flavorful! Yum!
Book club was tonight for me. It was the last one for a member of ours and I’m going to miss her! She is moving far away (okay, to Utah…but it is far! I just drove it. I should know.) and we just needed to have time to be with each other. I love book club.
Safire
SafireAmish, book club, Butterfly, farmer's market, Pirate, Professor
Jul 26
Everyone,
Okay, I have really bad pictures (quality wise, there is no bad picture of Butterfly) to show you of our play time yesterday. We walked to the farmer’s market with Vinny as always, and then we stopped at a park near by. I had not been to this park and I was excited that it was all
fenced in, and had no big drop offs and a play house and train! What a great park! Vinny and Butterfly ran and ran and ran and ran. Butterfly came back covered in dirt. It was even in her eye lid folds. But she had a fabulous time!
Once we got home, it was straight to bath and she turned the soap bubbles grey. I just can’t get over how dirty she was. But she was glowing and rosy cheeked after her bath and just so cute.
Clean and dirty toes for your perusal.
Also for your perusal are a few new blogs I’ve added to my blogging list. The first is
El Cid and Girls. She is a good friend of Juice’s from college and made my
Ren Faire dress. Check her out and say hello! Next is
Keeping It Simple. This family just moved into our area and I have enjoyed reading her blog and getting to know her and her family better. Keep an eye out on my blog list as I am always adding new ones I like to read.
Juice comes home tomorrow! Yay!!
Safire
Safireblogs, farmer's market, Juice's Travel, play parks
Jul 13
Everyone,
I heart our local farmers market. It’s probably silly, but I get hyped up all day on Thursday to go there and see what new treasures they have for sale. Butterfly’s good friend Vinny and his mom, Lelo, come with us every week. We’ve kind of turned it into an exercise/dog walking party. Lelo brings her wagon, I bring Soot, and we trudge the mile or so down the street to city center and the farmers market. There is a lot of talking between Lelo and myself. There is a lot of “Hey! Keep the rope inside the wagon!” There is a lot of waving to the cars by the kids. There is also a lot of sniffing and peeing by Soot. A great time is had by all.
July is National Blueberry Month. And boy do we have blueberries! I buy quarts of them at the farmers market (one quart for $5, a steal in my opinion…at the grocery store they are one quart for over $8) and we have blueberries for snacks. We have blue berry muffins. We have blue berry pancakes. We also have blue berry poo which is black sludge. I have to lock the fridge shut to keep Butterfly out of them. They are big, juicy, sweet, and oh so good. We seriously can’t get enough of them here. Join us in the blue berry bonanza. Buy some from your local grower and you too can have black sludge as a result.
The gem this week at the farmers market was peaches. When we first moved here, I got all excited about being in the south and having fresh good peaches. I was disappointed when the peaches I bought in the store were moldy on the inside, and crunchy like apples. They had no taste. This week, I bought a big bushel of fresh picked (that morning) ripe peaches. They are about as big as your fist, and juice just runs down your arm. You really don’t even have to chew the flesh…it just melts between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. The taste is rosy and sunshine and makes me think of hot summer days.
Listen to me wax all poetic about fruit. Ending now.
Safire
PS- Butterfly waves at the cars like she is the Queen of England. She has the wrist wave down, and the look on her face is “Oh, hello good people of the realm. Hello, hello.” It is SO FUNNY. Lelo and I joke that her majesty is the royal carriage when she does this.
SafireButterfly, farmer's market, friends
