Sleepover

Noah had his first non-family sleepover last night. Several weeks ago we went out to lunch with some friends of ours who have 2 boys and one is just 4 months older than Noah and they really get along well. So, when it was time for us to part we asked if Will wanted to stay overnight with us so the boys could keep playing. It went really well and they had a great time. So, it was Noah's turn to stay over at William's house. He was so excited about it. I am sure he got very little sleep and woke up at the crack of dawn but is having the time of his life. My little boy is growing up...

The things kids say...

Lily, on the way to the park: "I'm so 'cited! We're going to park! I'm so 'cited! Yahoo! We're going to park!"

Lily after the fireworks at a barbecue: "I too scary!"

Noah at the blueberry orchard after Elias kept grabbing handfuls out of his blueberry bucket: "They should baby-proof these buckets."

Noah likes to play "the beat game" as in, "Can I beat anybody at anything?". We often race up the stairs, well, pretty much anytime more than one person is going up stairs at a time. Noah yells, "Let's beat Mommy!" and runs up the stairs. Most of the time he wins but every once in awhile I get there first. So one day he's sitting eating his lunch with a thoughtful look on his face and he says, "Mommy, I made up a new rule for the beat game. Whoever is first and last wins." I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with the Scripture verse that says the first shall be last and the last shall be first and everything to do with him covering his bases. The boy doesn't like losing.

A Blueberry Recipe

Well, since I have the blueberries, I'd better get baking , right? So last night I made my mother-in-law's Blueberry Buckle. I didn't know why it was called a 'buckle' so I looked it up and found this quote from an on-line recipe:

"What is a buckle you might ask? According to [a] recipe, a buckle is an old-fashioned, single-layer cake with a streusel-type topping. The batter is quite dense. As the cake bakes, the batter sinks to the bottom of the pan, which makes the streusel buckle on top. In other words, a coffee cake."


Here is my mother-in-law's recipe:

Blueberry Buckle

3/4 C sugar
1/4 C shortening
1 egg
1/2 C milk
1 1/2C flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C blueberries

Sift dry ingredients. In a separated bowl, cream the shortening, sugar and egg. Stir in milk. Add the dry ingredients then add the blueberries. Spread into a greased and floured 9x13 pan.

Toppings:
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C butter

Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle on batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

A New Adventure

Several weeks ago, Luke and I discovered a cute toy store near his office called the Creative Toymaker. It was so cute and had all kinds of toys that your typical chain toy store doesn't have as well as all kinds of homeschooling supplies. When I told my friend Jill about it she wanted to check it out too so, we piled all of our kids into her van and headed out to Glastonbury together. Jill is rather resourceful though and what was supposed to be a short morning jaunt turned into a blueberry adventure. She had gone on-line and discovered an orchard nearby that was picking blueberries so after the toy store that's what we did. We turned up the drive, piled out of the van, grabbed our buckets and got on the tractor-pulled-wagon that would take us to the blueberries.

On our way we could look out over miles of pretty fields and hills and off in the distance we could see the whole city of Hartford. We passed by an orchard of pear trees that were absolutely loaded with the almost-in-season fruit. The kids of course were more excited about the tractor ride than the blueberries at that point but were more than happy to start picking once we got into the rows of bushes. I had never been blueberry picking before so I listened too as Jill explained to the kids which berries were the best to pick and quickly got the hang of gently pulling off bunches of the round ripe berries and dropping them into the bucket that hung from my neck. We all of course had to sample the goods and even Noah, who has never really liked them, admitted that they were sweet and tasty. He picked quite a few by himself but I ended up topping off his bucket along with my own and Lily's, well, there were more crushed and half-eaten berries in there so I emptied it and handed it off to Jill to fill since she was wishing she had gotten a bigger bucket.

Once we had gotten enough we waited for the tractor to come back to pick us up to take us back down to the stand where we paid for our hard-earned treasure. Then it was time to head back to our house where we shared a quick lunch. It really was a great day. Time spent with friends is always really special but even more so when you can do something together as novel and rewarding as picking your own fruit.

The kids: Nicolas, Sophia, Noah, Lily, and little Elias down in front

Hooray for Blueberries!

Swimming Lessons

Noah's last day of swimming lessons was today. He had to take a test in order to go on to the next level next year. He passed it easily! The last couple of days he was finally able to go under without holding his nose and yesterday he executed a perfect 'dead man's' float and I was amazed at his progress! He was also able to swim unassisted for a few feet kicking and using his arms with his face fully submerged. He really improved over the past 2 weeks and it was so neat to see. I am very proud of him!

Almost every day was a beautifully sunny, if not sweltering hot, day. But today, the day that we all (me, Lily, Sophia's mom and dad, and her two brothers) went to watch it was cold and rainy. The kids shivered through their tests and the last class ended early, thank goodness. Here are some pictures (the sunny ones I took yesterday).

9 Years and 1 Week

This past Wednesday, Luke and I went out to celebrate our 9th anniversary. It was one week after our actual anniversary but that was when Luke's parents were available to watch the kids. Luke took me to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which has become our favorite restaurant since we went last year but it is only a special occasion kind of restaurant. We had an excellent meal and since it was our anniversary they gave us a little chocolate mousse cup and took our picture--a much more civilzed way of celebrating a special occasion than the typical clapping and singing and stupid-hat-wearing productions you get at most restaurants. After dinner we went to see The Bourne Ultimatum at the theatre. It was just as good as we expected it to be.

I cannot believe it has been 9 years since we were married. Even though a lot has happened in those 9 years: graduating college, 4 moves, buying a house, two dogs raised and lost, a layoff and a new job for Luke, and most importantly, two amazing children, to name just a few of them, it seems impossible that it has been that long. They have been wonderful years.

I love you Luke!

A Day at the Beach

Yesterday we decided to head to the beach instead of languishing in the heat for another day. Luke's parents were staying with friends in RI who have a "bungalow" (that's what they call their camper at a campground) near the ocean so we called them up and asked if we could join them for the day. We headed out nice and early to make sure we could get a parking space since the lots tend to fill up quite quickly. We hit the sand with our wagon filled with all the necessary accoutrements: towels, beach blanket, chairs, the cooler full of drinks and fruit, and of course, sand toys. Luke's parents and their friends, the Greenwoods, arrived and brought an umbrella and beach shelter for us to use and a boogie board for Noah.

The water was great--pretty warm and the waves weren't too big. The kids got braver and braver as the day went on though Lily wouldn't leave our arms she would let us go further and further out with her to enjoy the waves. Noah had a blast jumping the waves and even tried the boogie board. He's not quite big enough to actually stay on it though and got flipped upside down several times before calling it quits. When they weren't in the water they were digging in the sand and looking for neat rocks. We tried to build a castle but the bucket broke on one of the first attempts.

I of course managed to get a nice sunburn even though I put on sunscreen and spent a lot of time in the water. Somehow the sun is so much stronger on the beach--probably because it's not only beating down on you but also being reflected back at you from the sand and the water. I did enjoy swimming in the waves and even attempted to 'ride' some of the bigger ones in. It was a lot of fun.

I took a lot of pictures but a lot of them didn't turn out for some reason. Here are the ones that did.

The Greenwoods invited us back to their campsite for dinner so we headed out around 4pm. We got to shower and get all the sand and seaweed off and enjoy a great meal cooked on the fire. By the time we left the kids were more than ready to go to sleep, which they did shortly after we got in the car. They went straight to bed in their new bunk beds when we got home. The perfect end to a great day.

Another Scorcher

It's been a really hot week: every day a little hotter than the one before. Today it is 91 degrees and there is not a cloud in sight to break the intensity of the sun (even though the humidity is pretty high and they're calling for scattered thunderstorms). I have taken Noah and his friend Sophia to swimming lessons every morning and sweated it out while they frolicked in the water and complained of being cold. I would have paid money to be able to get in with them. It's a good thing the lessons are only 35 minutes long. Next week is supposed to be more of the same but Sophia's mom will be going to the pool while I will get to stay with her two younger kids and Lily at her nicely air conditioned house. I am so glad that we were able to get the kids in the same session because I can't even imagine having to take Lily with me. It would have been a battle every day to keep her out of that pool and I probably would have fainted from heat exhaustion. I met another homeschooling mom there and another who goes to the women's Bible Study I used to attend and will be again in September. As big as this town is, it's still got a small-town feel to it, which is really nice.

Today Luke had the day off but had to go to the doctor for a long over due physical (I really hope he gets a good report) so we weren't able to do any special day trips like we wanted to. Instead, he spent the morning putting together bunk beds for the kids. Gone are the Thomas the Tank Engine toddler bed and the crib that has been a constant fixture for over 5 years now. The kids are "napping" in there right now. And I say "napping" because I think they are experiencing the newness of the beds rather than sleeping in them. Noah doesn't even take naps anymore but he was thrilled at the possibility today. He has been so excited about these bunk beds for so long and now, finally, he has achieved the dream. It remains to be seen whether either of them will actually achieve a dream state in them however. So far, Lily has not been climbing in and out of her bed, which was my biggest concern, so that's a good sign.

I plan on remaining cosseted in my room for the rest of the day enjoying the cool of the air conditioner. We do not have any downstairs and it is rather steamy down there. Who knows what dinner will be tonight since I don't plan on turning on any heating elements in the kitchen. Last night we had pizza delivered and watched a movie on the laptop while we dined in the bedroom. You just can't do pizza every night though.

And here is Noah now--apparently he wasn't that tired after all. He reports that Lily is indeed asleep. Success!