Hanging on to Summer

Summer is still here, despite the cooler weather, and the kids got in the pool today to prove it. I'm not sure who they were proving it to (the water was freezing!), but they enjoyed themselves. I spent the better part of this afternoon tackling the weed garden I have been growing all summer in the front of my house. Some of the weeds were as tall as the roofline...WAY OUT OF CONTROL!!! Anyways, as I was clearing I found two baby turtles, which we promptly removed to the garden since I uncovered all of their hiding places. Plenty of rotten tomatoes in the garden for them!

We also found several praying mantis and one female (who has a brown back instead of green) who had just laid her egg sac! Cool!



And nothing says summer like homegrown tomatoes for dinner. Check my other blog for the rest of the meal if you are interested!
We're getting all set for our big camping trip, so the blogosphere may be a little quiet till we get back.

I'm throwing in one more miscellaneous shot of Bay and Leah at the local Marine Museum from a couple of weeks ago. They are in the discovery room in a miniature sailboat...the way they put on those lifevests and took to the helm, you'd think they had been on a sailboat before!!! wink wink

Dress #2 Finished

I finished Leah's second dress with the same basic pattern as the first. I actually finished it last week, but am just now getting pictures of it. It is cuter on her than on the hanger, but you get the basic idea. My favorite part of these dresses is the tiered ruffle in the back, so girly :) Maybe you'll get to see it on her in some other picture later on! I got a new pattern for a fall/winter jacket to make for the kids here and it comes sized for all 3 kids! Amazing! So I need to make a trip to a better fabric store than our sad Joanne's for some jacket fleece and contrast fabric.

Summer Sailing

We took a spur-of-the-moment weekend sailing trip with Heather's parents. It turned out to be gorgeous, considering it is August. We sailed up the Bay to the Little Choptank River and anchored in Madison Bay for the night (get out your map and find it!). The wind was perfect (8-10 kts) and the temperature was in the low 80's. After last summer's trial run overnight with the kids, we dared to go a little further and they did great. It took about 7 hours to sail to our anchorage on Friday, and about the same time to sail home on Saturday (there was no wind for about 2 hours so we motored a bit). Bay is becoming quite the seaman. After quizzing him at the end of the trip, he picked up on several things...he knew port and starboard, stern and bow, jib and main sail, and of course, he always knew when we were in the Chesapeake BAY :)

Heather at the helm with first mate, Leah in the jump seat!

Dinner at sunset : hot dogs, bbq and chocolate chip cookies.
The grown-ups got to enjoy the sunset while the kiddoes chilled out with a movie (Finding Nemo) down in the cabin.
Doesn't Leah look awfully grown-up in this picture?

My gracious parents who are always so happy to take us and the kids out on their boat. It sure is lots of fun!

As a side note, my mom is laughing because I told her she looked old in the first picture I took, then I took this one. She definitely doesn't look old here!

Waiting for students!

I said that I was working on re-organizing and re-arranging the school room and here is proof that it actually happened! It looks quite different from last year. I am disappointed that I didn't take a before-shot, but it was really depressing anyways. The biggest change is the computer nook in the first picture to the left. That is actually a doorway that was unused space until now. We shut the door and put in a piece of formica Dennis found at the dump. Now Eric's computer is there and we can monitor all of his online and computer use from most places in the house. He put up a few shelves above and the space is perfect! The other big change is that we got that round kitchen table out of there and picked up one of those rectangular tables from BJ's that the legs fold out. It will serve more kids at once and it will also be great for crafts and art projects. The bookshelves were moved and stacked even higher on top of each other. With the added storage above the computer nook, I have just a little bit of EXTRA space which I am sure will not go unused for long!

I took some ideas from other homeschooling friends and got a large basket for each child. I put each of their curriculum for the year (core stuff, not supplementary reading, etc.) in the basket so we can just pull out the basket for the day instead of pulling books off shelves, trying to reshelve and then making a grand mess of it all. Hopefully this will work better. I also put up a strip of wood with 2 clothespins on it (in the top picture on the left) to hang our maps and other posters. Instead of permanently tacking them to the wall, i can cycle in/out the ones we are currently using and easily hang several posters at once and then switch them with ease. I think this will work better too.

Sewing Binge

I've been making up for lost time I think. I had two dresses cut out for Leah at the beginning of the summer and that is as far as they made it for several months. So I put them together the past couple of days and dress #1 is finished. Dress #2 is very similar and is just waiting for buttonholes tonight and it will be done. They turned out pretty good. So far no major mistakes which is monumental for me :) And of course, Leah loves her new dress.

Bay's New Robe/Cover Up

I finished Bay's robe after making a trip to the local lame fabric store and picking up some terry cloth. I was really hoping to find something more brightly colored (royal blue, red) but my only choices were baby pastels. The olive green and cream were THE only viable option, so that is how it turned out. It ended up turning out pretty good after all. Not what I had envisioned, but nice and just what Bay needs for his shivering little body when he gets out of the pool!
I added rows of stitching along the belt, hood and front and bottom band for interest.
Here he is in Leah's bathroom trying it on. Now Eric wants one too...go figure! Anyone know how to adapt a pattern to fit someone 8 sizes larger?

Fishing with Gramps

One of the really great things about living near family is the kids' opportunities to spend time with Grandparents. My dad has been purposefully taking the kids fishing one at a time as often as possible this summer. They usually just go down to the water's edge and stand on the bulkhead and cast. Usually they catch something in the shady areas under the trees. I have yet to actually get down there and photograph them actually fishing (don't want to break the Gramps magic!). Last evening it was Bay's turn and they evidently did well.

Poor fish...all Leah had to say was that now our picnic table is all yucky!