{this moment}

Try not to be too jealous…

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

JUST picked

 

Look at these beauties Paul wrangled from the apricot out back only a few moments ago!  They’re yummy, too.  :)

3rd Grade Grad

Bunny & Mrs. J

It’s already been 1 1/2 weeks since Bunny’s school let out for summer recess.  As always, she was sad to leave her class and teacher behind—she always comes to care for her teachers like family, a sure sign of excellence on their part.

She received her report card that day, and I’m happy to say she’s done great again.  With the exception of writing with clear, legible penmanship, she’s mostly excelling beyond the grade standard.  Here’s the comment on the report card:

Bunny did an excellent job on both her math benchmark exam and language arts summative assessment.  I know she will impress her fourth grade teacher with her work and super attitude next year!

In the past year Bun has learned and grown so much as a person, and we’re very proud of our big girl.

Return on Investment

I have a good friend who claims spending an hour preparing a meal her family tears through, picks apart, and is done with after 5-10 minutes is not a good ROI for her.  I don’t fully agree with that, but we all have our things we put more and less time and effort into.

It took me about 45 minutes to fill 100 water balloons the other day.  It was not such a chore, really, because I let the boys play in the front yard while I sat and filled, twisted, and tied.  I did start to get a tender spot on my two twisting fingers, though.  :)

Later that day after Bunny was home from school I let ‘em have at it.  4 kids go through 100 balloons in about, oh, 5 minutes, and that was with me saying things like, “Take only one for each hand, and WALK AWAY FROM HERE to throw it.”

Not sure about that ROI!  However, we spied some ‘team’ water balloons, with 100 of two different colors, and I have a feeling I will be sitting and filling more soon enough.

Oh well, they do love ‘em!

I’m also on a quest for the perfect ‘fun’ sprinkler.

This one was fun for about 10 minutes before a seam split.  :(  I patched it according to directions, but the thing is like Humpty Dumpty.  No bueno.  Total fail.

Just sayin’, if you see this in the store (it’s at Target now) skip it.  I bought it on a whim when I was picking up some floats for the pool, so I didn’t get to see the glowing 1 1/2 star rating it’s earned on Amazon.

We have high hopes for the continued fun of our new sprinkler, which has at least lived through 2 uses.  No, really, it seems pretty sturdy, and the kids enjoy the ‘wiggly water sprays'.  Bring it, heat wave.  We’re ready.  :)

{this [late] moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

Running Man

In a living example of “don’t judge a book by its cover,” we have the living contradiction that is my middle child, Carter.  He looks scrawny.  Pick him up, and you might be surprised he’s not feather light, since, when he turns sideways, he all but disappears into jutting ribs.  But this boy is strong and f-a-s-t.  As soon as he stopped toddling and began to truly run, Paul and I laughed, saying, “He’s the fastest kid alive!” just like the cop in Super Bad.  Carter has the same, high stepping run as Michael Cera’s character.

He’s really fast.  Paul will chase him on a scooter, and Carter can still outrun, out-zig, and out-zag—for a while.   Then Paul really sounds like the bad cop from Super Bad, panting out that line.

Carter isn’t just fast – he loves to run, and run, and run.

Running in the surf is pure joy to him, and beyond joy for me to watch.  The same kind of receding wash that is perfect for skim boarding is Carter’s favorite running medium.  Splash, splash, SPLOOSH.

Good thing they both like it… because Bunny’s first summer of Junior Guards looms in a few weeks.  :)  They’ll have 4 weeks of beach days, lucky kids.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

Co-op Cookin’: Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese

We’re back in the thick of our CSA’s summer share season, and, having been blessed with a really good amount of rain—rain that won’t stop coming because apparently we’re getting Seattle’s weather for a while—it looks like it’ll be a great season.  In recent weeks, we’ve been receiving everything from fava beans and sugar snap peas to beets and cabbage, as well as lots of delicious lettuces, strawberries, cauliflower, and broccoli, plus more types of greens than anyone would want to see written out… I even finally tried roasting fennel, and the dreaded licorice flavor is really tamed down that way, making it nice along with roast chicken.

A few days ago I spied a recipe I just had to try out that very night.  Normally risotto is not a dish I’d make because it’s so time-consuming with all that stirring, but this one takes only a few more minutes than making plain white rice.

I liked this so much, it was all I ate for dinner that night.  Find the recipe HERE.  Yum.