Making lemonade

Life handed us some real lemons at the beginning of the month. I felt like things were really falling apart and I wasn't sure how the end of this month was going to look for our family. At the moment the potential outcome did not look pretty.

Jonathan is not taking the bar today as planned. Lemon. The last year of incredible stress caught up to him, and he decided a couple weeks ago that it would be best to postpone the bar until he could study adequately and do well on the test. Smart move. Better that than go in half-cocked and fail. Fortunately if you give advanced notice that you will not be taking the bar as planned the association will hold a place for you in future exams. If you give 60 days notice it is only a $100 fee. Lemonade!

So to help regroup the family I've been working hard to make a camping trip happen. We're going to Nauvoo, Il and touring sites and camping at a nearby state park. Then if Jonathan needs an afternoon by himself I can take the kids off to do something fun and he can relax some. Lemonade!

Also, I was presented with an opportunity to earn some money without all the stress and labor of a sewing business. I've started selling Pampered Chef, and I'm loving it! I went to a show a little over a month ago with every intention of getting ONLY a pastry blender. I walked out with the very strong feeling that I should become a consultant. Last week was my first two shows! I have never considered myself to be a salesperson but apparently I'm pretty good at it; I did much better than I expected with those first two shows, and I have three confirmed shows, and several leads I'm following, as well as my first recruit. I give all glory to God, there is no way I could have done it myself. Lemonade!

So for the first time in a LONG time I worked full-time hours last week. Between piano lessons for my ten (10) students, trainings for The Pampered Chef, a vendor sale, and two shows I packed my week and came home exhausted. I think it was actually hardest on little Peter, but I think he'll forgive me. This week I packed all ten (10!!!!) of those students into one day (yesterday) and am prepping for a road and camping trip this weekend. I cannot wait for this chance to recoup and regroup with my husband and kids. I think we all need it.

I am sorry for the sparse blogs. It is taking back burner right now.

Frogs on a Log

Harvest

Swimming

 A friend invited us over to her apartment complex's pool yesterday and the kids had a blast. Of course the first thing Andi did was fall off the noodle and she couldn't get back on the step (she was an inch away), and David was too scared to get her. I ran in still in my skirt with a fully-clothed Peter and scooped her out. She was fine, but did NOT venture past the second step the rest of the visit.

Peter loved the water. He is making a grumpy face in the picture because I set him down to take the picture and he wanted to be in the water. Water baby!

We had a ton of fun and the kids are already asking to go back. And I think we will!

Snapshots (or I Love My Phone!!)

Olive fingers!

Go Bruins!

Peter kept "hopping" his chair closer to that table and those cakes...

David vs. Mud

David vs. Garden Hose

(He gets so brown during the summer...)

David's perspective

Andi's perspective

We've been teaching David how to use the camera to take pictures of his tadpoles.

 Naturally that means Andi must take pictures too. ;)

Under the closest of close supervision she took these pictures the other day.

Garden tours (again)

Our 4x8 foot "bit of earth" (name the book) is looking green and alive. Here's another tour. Just let me know when you get tired of seeing our veggie babies... ;)

We finally filled our last square...

 Poor Thyme. It is really unhappy with me right now, I waited too long to put it in the ground. We'll see how it has done here when I go visit later.

We harvested Radish I's square and planted another batch: Radish III! Radish II is actually ready to harvest right now, too.

On with the tour!

 I'm not sure the peas are going to make it. They are growing very slowly, I might have to plant another batch in September as it gets cooler. The lettuce is super yummy, though! Did you know that red leaf lettuce is actually quite spicy?

Look who we've got here!

And ON that tomato plant (which grew a foot in a week, seriously) are these precious itty-bitty guys!

 Note the poor blighted leaves in the background. Apparently it is a bacteria in the soil. We're always VERY careful to only water at the base of the plant, but rain is not so fastidious. I pulled all of the blighted leaves off, but these few are still there. Hopefully we can prevent any more of the tomato getting blight and actually harvest our tomatoes.

So, the other side!

 They really do creep along everywhere. And we can't move the vines because they've attached themselves to the sting that sections off their square.

 Eggplant blooms are really quite pretty. I've been so happy that we added this one to our garden!

And how about that! Peppers!

And after pulling out the other zucchinis ours have been very happy and have started flowering.

Our cucumbers have also shot up (literally) the last little bit.

Cucumbers, like watermelon, have little tendrils that wrap around just about anything, including other plants. I had a booger of a time correcting these guys and getting them to go UP instead of OVER.

The beans are also doing well, though not as big as I would have liked. They have nice, lightly purple flowers on them and tiny green beans. I thought I'd gotten a picture, but apparently not.

So thus concludes today's tour. Not too much longer and I think we'll have some more yummy foods!

4th with Friends

Jonathan took the evening off from studying and we all went to the Davis' home for great company, yummy food, and fireworks.

The great thing about Michigan is that they are very lenient when it comes to fireworks. In the middle of the city, in the middle of a subdivision, we were setting of GIANT fireworks and enjoying the shows put on by all of the neighbors. It was like being a big display!

We had a lot of fun, went home very full, and even more tired. The sky doesn't get totally dark until around 10:15 here, so we were waiting a long time before we were able to shoot anything off. But when we did it was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed ourselves. It was a great 4th of July. :)

4th of July Parade

The kids and I got up a little earlier than normal to get dressed and ready to go to a parade. The parade route ended right at the park where we had Day Camp, so I knew right where to go and where to park. It was fun! Took a while for the parade to get to us, but the kids enjoyed getting the candy.

The kids each had their special outfits. Pinterest. I will take no credit for the design of those outfits.
Andi's came from here: No Sew Flag Shirts. The idea for the boys' shirts came from here: Firecracker Tie-Dye T-shirts.

 We waited for almost an hour after the parade started to finally see some of the parade. Boy were we glad when it finally arrived!

About half way through enthusiasm waned...

 The balloons were fun:

This float shot flames:

The candy was a real perk:

Then we headed home. I'd like to go back next year, but I'm definitely going to have us watch from the start of the parade rather than the end.