First Week of Summer

It's the first week of summer, and Bionic Man has already had to go out of town twice.  That does not bode well, me thinks.

The good news is, over the last three days, the children and I have been extremely productive.  I'm totally taking advantage of their enthusiasm at being home for the summer, and working them like slaves in the salt mines.  It's such a change from school routines that they haven't complained yet.  Obviously, I have no time for blogging this week because I have to capitalize on enthusiasm like that while I can.

Mid-May Madness

Hello, Friends!

While I am happy to report that May 2011 is not half so crazy as May 2010, it is holding it's own.  Last year, our elementary school was closed after the last day of school, so we had all kinds of sentimental memorial stuff going on, plus 5th grade graduation and middle school orientation and a long list of assorted other events.  But this year, we do have Endeavor's track meets and a few other upcoming end-of-school activities.  Good times.

Check out Endeavor after her last track meet:

I'm pretty proud of Endeavor.  For the life of me, I cannot remember how we convinced her to run cross-country and track this year.  She wasn't too sure about it, to begin with.  Practices are tough.  But Endeavor stuck with it, and she's seen some major improvement in her running times.  She's also found that she feels less stressed about school on the days that she runs.  I'm just happy she's found something she enjoys doing for exercise that she'll be able to do anywhere, anytime.

And here we have Justone at the district art exhibition.  His art teacher selected some of his work for display.

Aren't the fairies lucky?

This post was originally published in September 2009.

I love the pictures.  Enjoy! 

On Wednesday night, I discovered my girls playing in the front garden. Upon closer inspection, I found they were busy creating something.

Not just something. Something magical.

They told me it was a fairy spa.

As the seasons come and go,

Here's something you might like to know.

There are fairies everywhere:

Under bushes, in the air,

Playing games just like you play,

Singing through their busy day.

So listen, touch, and look around--

In their air and on the ground.

And if you watch all nature's things,

You might just see a fairy's wing.

- Author Unknown

One more picture. I had to put this one in because of the spider web. I didn't see it when I knelt down to take this picture. (I was holding the camera in between my porch railings to get this angle.) Isn't that funny? What if the spider had been home? Yikes!

Fall Garden

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

I am an intermittent gardener. That means I don't spend everyday in the garden. Sometimes I even go weeks without remembering to do anything to my gardens. But when I'm out there, I love it, I really do. I must have Gardener's Attention Deficit Disorder. So I purposely design my gardens to be very forgiving. (The results are disastrous and expensive if I don't.)

So, here are some pics of what my front garden beds do in early fall when just left to their own devices. Note: this requires lots of bark mulch and pulling out the stalk of corn growing randomly near the birdfeeder before taking pictures in order to achieve a similar outcome. Enjoy!