Just a Peek...

just offering up a small peek of what we've been up to this beautiful Memorial Day Weekend so far

mechanic in training...he changed out the voltage regulator on Dennis' motorcycle, changed the oil in my van, and added air to the tires
pool is finally up and swimmable...lots of that 'been goin' on!

a homemade water slide cooled them off till the pool was ready...they're still loving it

seafood feast...frogmore stew, rolls, lemonade, and if you look closely enough, a dozen crabs-

Breakfast and dinner on the deck all weekend...you can tell summer is on its way!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}
Today's post is again inspired by "Like Mother Like Daughter".

There are always projects going on at our house, particularly in the spring. The garden, flowerbeds, kitchen, house and even the sewing machine have been busy. But that does not mean we haven't had time for fun either!

{Pretty}

This spanish wall planter has been hanging empty on my brick wall for over a year now. I finally planted a trailing flower in it and it catches my eye every time I step outside our front door! Much prettier with something growing...we'll see if it stays alive all summer. I am horrible at keeping things watered in planters!

{Funny}

Eric had a friend over last week to go fishing in the morning. Fishing didn't last long, but an ensuing canoe ride turned water and mud fight soon followed! The boys were covered in stinky creek mud, but it was certainly funny to watch and they had a fabulous time!

{Happy}

I'm not real big on posting pictures of myself, but here goes...I have gotten two separate things sewn for myself lately, and that makes me very happy. I found two really versatile patterns, and I plan on making a few more of each of these with little variations. The first top is Butterick B5345, and the bottom dress is McCalls M5893. I used repurposed fabric for the purple dress-
that was a fun challenge!

{Real}

Many years ago as our first housewarming gift, my parents gave us a pair of these rocking chairs from Cracker Barrel. We used to love to sit on our porch and rock in them. Since moving, they have been neglected and relegated to the back patio, where the weather has taken a toll on them. When we built the deck out front, they came to mind as the perfect thing to sit on out there. Why is this real? Because it was a real lot of work! So I pulled them out of hiding, sanded them down....

....covered the seat and backs with paper and went to town. First a coat or two of primer....

....then the final coats. They look so much better and it always is such a joy to fix up something that was once loved and now is like having new chairs all over again!

Camping Season has started!

We enjoyed our first camping trip of the year this past weekend. We went up to Gifford Pinchot State Park in PA (actually made the same trip the exact same weekend last year!). Though the forecast was for rain the whole weekend, it actually rained very little.

We did lots of bike riding (lots of little trails around the lake) and Eric and Dennis did some actual mountain biking. Dennis taught Eric how to jump logs and go up steep hills-Eric worked on the same hill for about 12 tries!
We had a Friday morning adventure with this young man, but thankfully everything turned out alright.

Leah LOVES camping.

Other fun camping activities included: frisbee golf, roasting giant marshmallows, fishing, playgrounds, tossing the frisbee & football and otherwise relaxing.

This was our little bike ride to Boulder Point. Nice stop for a snack.

We also took a little drive to a nearby Amish furniture market. We enjoyed taking pictures of some upcoming projects that Dennis wants to take on-the main one being a chicken tractor. On the way there we stopped at a yard sale. It was mostly junk until I turned the corner at a long table, looked down and saw a crate full of large mason jars with zinc lids. Four of them were the 1/2 gallon size. I love these to store grains and other things in my pantry, and the zinc lids are usually pretty hard to find affordably. I got the jars/lids for $1 apiece...20 of them!

Strawberry Season!

The day we decided to go strawberry picking it was the perfect temperature...not the usual sweaty hot I'm used to. My mom and I took the kids and they each filled a bucket, and we filled more...38 pounds to be exact. It was not until we loaded all of those delicious strawberries into the car that we realized that we had to do something with them fast!
That evening and the following day our hands were permanently stained berry-red as we sliced, smashed and stirred. Leah helped the whole time too!

When it was all done, we had made: 3 batches of jam, 2 strawberry shortcakes, 6 quarts of sliced/sugared frozen berries, 3 trays of frozen whole berries for smoothies, and one extra large pie for mother's day...plus some just for eating!

Do you think I'm crazy if I'd go picking again tomorrow? Strawberries are by far my favorite fruit of all.

Bay has a birthday and other news...

Bay turned 8 this past weekend. He is such a handsome boy and the smile you see on his face is a true reflection of his heart. He is a joy to our whole family.


We went bowling for his birthday. Bay and Leah shared their own lane with the bumpers down. They bowled 2 games...the adults bowled too, but we had more fun watching them drop, throw and push the ball down the lane!

Poor Leah could barely pick up the ball!

In other news...my dad recenly retired from working. It has been so much fun for the kids (and me too) to get to see more of him during the day and evenings. He loves to take them out to breakfast, come over for dinner sometimes, go fishing, or just lay on the couch and read a book to appease a hungry lion!

He also has more time to do some other things he enjoys (besides all of those projects waiting at the house) like go fishing with a friend of his. They brought back 7 HUGE rockfish...he shared his fish with us. I made fish tacos with some of the meat---delicious!