lake fun

My kids love to swim. We spent a few hours at the lake swimming and splashing.



Clover, Indigo, and Willow love to jump from the dock into the water. Daddy Tim is also a high jumper. Nova and I prefer to float and sunbathe!



Everyone enjoyed watermelon. They tossed rinds into the lake and watched the huge catfish come up to eat.


It was a beautiful day at the lake, and we are looking forward to many more this Summer...

flowers from our yard

Mia

My friend Vickie and her family moved to Texas over a year ago, and left Mia the nine-year-old cat with us. Sadly, Mia wasn't too excited to live with us. She ran off into the woods the very first day that we had her, and I thought that we would probably never see her again. I always put out food just before going to bed, and there were times when I would catch a glimpse of her eating. We have enjoyed her presence because she loves to catch mice, and there are plenty to catch around here because of the large field beside our house.

This weekend, for the first time ever, Mia decided to accept us. She just came meowing out from under the fig tree, and let us pet her. I gave her a little bowl of milk, and she purred and purred and looked so happy. Now she hangs out by Clover's bedroom window all the time waiting for some attention.

cucumbers!

This morning, we went out to check on the tiny Carolina Wrens. They just hatched yesterday and since their nest is on a fairly low shelf in our garden shed, it is easy enough to peek in at them. They were sleeping, so we decided to check on the garden. Indigo looked into the cucumber tents, and discovered lots of ready-to-pick cucumbers!



This cucumber grew right through the chicken wire! I guess that we will have to break it to get it free.

We also found a couple of zucchinis. It looks like we will be making pickles and zucchini bread this weekend!

blueberries

After swimming in the lake all day long, we decided to head out to our very favorite blueberry-picking spot for some early evening blueberry picking. We brought a picnic, and picked three gallons! Picnic in the RV/bus:

Blueberry picking:




As a wonderful end to a wonderful day, the kids chased fireflies as the moon rose above the pine trees. Clover said that it reminded her of an empty berry basket, so we called it the Berry Basket Moon. It looked beautiful hanging there in the dusky purple sky.

Indigo & Willow spent most of the evening running from the camera, and stuffing their cute little mouths and pockets with blueberries. So, I thought it would be fun to do a little flashback of when they stayed a bit closer to me during berry picking outings. So, here are a couple from blueberry picking 2006 (they're 2!):



And little blueberry faery Clover when she was five years old...

The years rush by so quickly. I hope that when they are my age and I am (hopefully) a grandmother, they will remember the berry-picking, firefly chasing, moon-watching times.

beautiful moth

We found a huge, beautiful moth stuck in a spider web first thing this morning. She fought free from the web while we watched and fluttered to the ground. Everyone took turns holding her for a moment, and then we put her on a sunflower stalk to rest.


In other beautiful news, our bath tub wildflower garden is in bloom! Hurray!!

Fathers Day/Summer Solstice

What a beautiful coincidence that Father's Day coincided with Summer Solstice. All of that male energy on one day...

We had a very nice lunch with my Dad and sisters. Clover helped with making ice cream and Willow made a recipe called zucchini moons from his cook book, _Pretend Soup_.



Indigo and Willow took a walk in the woods with Tim, and the kids all worked on this very beautiful project with him. They put the ferns between glass, and then framed the glass with wood and put it in the bus as the hinged door for CD storage.

We shared a delicious watermelon and some backyard water play. Nova's favorite food is watermelon. He was more excited about eating that than the ice cream.

And a very special Solstice and Father's Day gift from the Sun, the sunflower in Clover's garden opened all the way up! How beautiful!!

baby blessing

On Saturday, we had a Summer Solstice potluck with our homeschool co-op friends. It was so much fun. The best part was that the newest member of co-op was able to come for her baby blessing. She is so cute and sweet. It was beautiful to see all of the children so filled with excitement to see her!

We sang our Circle song as we circled around Tanya and Makenna. Then, all of the kids sat down and listened to a book called _On The Day You Were Born_.


When the story was done, everyone came forward and gave a hope, wish, or blessing for Makenna. They wet their fingers with rose water and rubbed a little on her head. She was very sweet and agreeable for the whole thing!


As an end to the ceremony, Makenna's three big brothers rubbed lavender cornmeal onto her feet (for grounding to the Earth). Nova helped a little, too.


All of the kids ran straight from Makenna to the Sun egg pinata. Carrie and her girls made it, and stuffed it with lots of good health food store candy. A fun time was had by all...

more EXCITING news!!!

Indigo is now able to ride his bike without training wheels! He was so excited to figure it out!! Every morning when Willow and Indigo are both awake, they come to me and ask "can we ride bikes together?" It has become their favorite activity, and ofcourse I encourage it since it is such wonderful outdoors exercise. It is really fun to watch them.


Indigo has even learned a trick - he can bump over the boundary plank and zip back down towards the house.

We are very proud of him!