To the beach

Well my friends summer is almost over and not only was it a break from school but I also took an unintentional break from this space.  We had a very full and fun summer and the reality of it soon coming to an end is making me a little sad.  I am back ready to recap our summer adventures and share the excitement and great big huge wee bit of anxiety that I am feeling over kindergarten starting for Hannah on Wednesday.  I am working on a post with some summer highlights but in the mean time I thought I would share some pictures from our recent trip to the beach...it was slightly too eventful as you will see.

The first few days at the beach were full of family and typical beach fun.  As we usually do in the summer, we shared a beach house with Mom, Bekah and Rachel and several of my mother's sisters and their families stayed in houses close by.  Hannah and Lily played with their cousins pretty much from sun up to sun down.

They spent lots of time digging in the sand, splashing in the waves, and just exploring the beach.

Then (cue the screeching record) a few days after we arrived we had a little accident...

Hannah fell on the porch of our beach house and we ended up at the local emergency room getting our worst fears confirmed...she had a broken arm.  They put a splint put on her arm and told us to have a cast put on when we got back to Birmingham.  Hannah perked up once she heard that you can choose the color of your cast and bright pink was an option.  Thankfully we did not have to cut our trip short but we did have to get a little creative with what we could do since playing in the ocean was out.  My sweet Hannah was such a good sport about it and did not let a broken arm ruin her fun.  She flew kites, scoured seaweed for little sea creatures, and even shook hands with a dolphin.

It was not a perfect trip but we made the most of our time at the beach, broken arm and all.

Puddles, parades and a graduation

Last week, before this awful heat wave hit, Lily, Hannah and I sat on the porch and watched an afternoon thunderstorm roll into our neighborhood.  The rain didn't last long and after it stopped Hannah and Lily asked to go outside to do some puddle jumping.  Happy to enjoy the cool breeze and to not have to water the garden that night I told them to grab their flip flops. 

They found some water to splash in and I watched as daredevil Lily jumped in the water and mud while Hannah, in true Hannah form, decided to keep herself dry and clean and drop rocks in the water instead.

From puddles to parades...I forgot that I have not shared the pictures that I took earlier this month at our annual neighborhood parade.  The parade is held right down the street from our house and afterwards the street is blocked off for a neighborhood band party. It is always a good evening visiting with neighbors and friends and enjoying the music and rides for the kids. 

We also recently celebrated Hannah's graduation from her 4K program.   It was in the church and included prayers and songs by the two 4K classes at her school.  Hannah sang her little heart out and kept me smiling with how she rounded her mouth like a professional (you can see this in one of the pictures below :))  Afterwards they had a little reception in the parish hall with cake and punch. 

I had such mixed emotions over this day because I know that next up is real deal 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. five day school. Life is changing and I know that there will be so many wonderful things in our future but I have to tell you that I am really having a hard time getting ready for this next step.

I was grateful that Lily had Mother's Day Out the week after graduation so Hannah and I could have a little time together.  I left it up to Hannah to decide what she wanted to do with our time.  She had some birthday money and wanted to buy a new book so we ended up at the book store having hot cocoa and scones before we made her purchase. Afterwards we bought new flip flops for both Hannah and Lily and had lunch at Zoe's.  Our next outing started with a breakfast of pancakes and french toast at Another Broken Egg Cafe (can you tell we don't get to go out to eat much these days?) and then it was off to visit the dinosaur exhibit at the McWane Center. I took a few pictures on my phone...

It was nice to calm my heart a little with these two "Mommy and Hannah" dates as Hannah calls them.  Thankfully I have the summer to prepare for kindergarten and I am going to try to make the most of these next couple of months of being at home with both of my girls.

Jam packed weekend

We had a jam packed weekend literally full of making jam, planting our garden, fishing, farmer's markets, and homemade playhouses.

We woke up early Saturday morning and while Lily and I went to our local farmer's market for some fresh strawberries and peaches to make jam, Hannah and Matt left to spend the morning together fishing.

The fishermen came back empty handed but they had a great time and Hannah did get a few nibbles.

Lily and I collected all our necessities for making our jam Saturday morning so Sunday afternoon we were ready to go.  Hannah and Lily helped me cut up the strawberries although I really wasn't sure that we were going to have any strawberries left with these two assisting.

I love having homemade jam in the fridge for morning toast and we will keep some for gift giving throughout the year.  Later this week, if I can keep Hannah from eating all of our peaches, peach jam is next on the agenda.

In our "spare" time over the weekend we finally planted our garden.  I have been meaning to do this for many weeks now but just have not found the time.  I promised myself it would get done and so we pulled on our gardening gloves and got to work.

We started by adding some compost that we have been preparing in our little backyard composter for months now to our soil.

And then we planted several types of peppers, tomatoes, okra, eggplant, herbs, cucumbers, cantaloupe in the garden.  We left a few empty spaces that we will fill with other veggies that love the summer heat in the coming months. Here is the finished garden.

In the process of working on the garden Hannah's imagination took over and she decided she wanted to take some of the wood slats we were no longer using as dividers in the garden and turn them into a playhouse.  Matt thought this was a great idea (can we say two peas in a pod) and immediately got out his drill and a dropcloth.  The playhouse had more of a tent look but it was a fun spot for Hannah and Lily to play.

A fun and productive weekend...I couldn't ask for much more than that!