Just Checking In . . .

Our first sunflowers are blooming!

The weather outside is . . . 
Splendidly summer. Around 80 degrees.

I'm listening to . . .
the dishwasher and "Stack the States."

The kiddlings . . . 

Mace:
Hilarious! One of my favs is when he ejaculates "Ewwww!!!" at something gross or "Mmmmmmm!!" at something he finds delicious.  Like raspberries. Or popsicles.

Nutmeg:
At this very moment is attempting to play "Stack the States" and has the counter littered with her craft projects. Ahem. Must do something about that. Soon.

Sage:
At this very moment looks like Christopher Robin. I'm sitting at the kitchen table and can see him out the window on our NEW PLAYHOUSE.  We have a swing set up. When he goes out there to swing and gets his legs swinging high up in the air looks just like Christopher Robin. If I were an artist, I'd make a watercolor of it and post it here. It's quite charming really.

Yeah! I can finally say here we have a new playhouse/set that is amazing. Doug designed it and we had a friend build it. Doug helped here and there. We had it built around the same time we put in the garden, so he didn't work on it as much as I'm sure he would have liked to. It's amazing. Huge. Doug has added some new accessories to it in the last couple weeks and plans to do more next summer. Including a zip line! :)  I'd post a picture here but I try a bit to keep a little anonymous online.

Basil:
This kid is something. He tells me that I need to give him more chores and work to do. He's probably right. This morning he vacuumed the house and then proceeded to take out the couch cushions and vacuum under them. I could get used to this.

In the garden . . . 
We are thrilled with the garden! I think Doug is solidly on the same page with me when it comes to the garden now. He's as stoked as I am about everything we are getting out of the garden. Every few days (or even every day) I go out to the garden in search of something for dinner and come back to the house with a 5 gallon bucket filled with vegetables. It's amazing. The big problem, as you can imagine, is trying to keep up with it all. Our counter is piled down with vegetables.  Come help yourself!! One of my projects over the winter will be to come up with some plans on how to process it all to preserve much of it for winter. Always learning right?  We do have MUCH to learn. A few items on our list to learn, prepare, or build for next year. Taller and sturdier structures for our tomatoes. Many of our tomatoes plants are over our heads! They are HUGE. Many days they look like Leaning Towers of Pisa. We need to learn more about growing onions. Getting our beans to climb the trellis. Big but maybe too lofty goal of canning cukes next year. We'll see.

I counted about nine melons this morning. New for us! Wahoo!

She loves to pick produce.

Our first year to have eggplants thrive.

In the kitchen . . .
As you can imagine. LOTS of fresh produce in our meals. I'm scrambling to figure out how to use it all (or most of it?). I'm even figuring out how to get cucumbers made into popsicles. We had kale in popsicles in the other day and the kids loved em. Oh yeah.

If you have access to some fresh basil and tomatoes you must try Baked Caprese Chicken from the "Damn Delicious" blog.

Okay, so I have to tell you. These are the fulfillment of probably a leftover pregnancy craving that must not have been satisfied. :)  It must be. For the last couple years whenever I see a picture of eggplant in some sort of an Italian dish, I start salivating. We've had eggplant in our garden for a couple years now but it never amounted to much. This year our eggplants are doing beautifully. So last Friday I found a recipe that looked tasty, picked up the necessary ingredients, then made it for lunch today. Just what I have wanted all this time!  Yes, yes, yes.  Thanks so the "Annie's Eats" blog. Eggplant Marinara Flatbread.

On my nightstand . . . on my mind. . . in my prayers

Still reading the Sienkiewicz trilogy about the Polish Commonwealth in the mid-17th century. This is the second volume of the second book, The Deluge.  I'm still amazed.

"One Line a Day."  Still trying to journal a tiny book about our daily lives.

Lord, Have Mercy by Scott Hahn.  My fourth Scott Hahn book and two more in the drawer waiting to be read next.  What's it about? Well, I think it is time to start to bare my soul a little bit. It's about the biblical and historical roots of confession. Yep. There ya go. My big news. In April I had some big happenings in my mind and heart. I am following Jesus into the Catholic Church. The balance of evidence I discovered was just to much to "protest" anymore. I just can't in my conscience be a "Protestant" anymore. It isn't easy to say it out loud to some of you or write it here. I know most of the people I love think the Catholic Church is bad or wrong or misguided. So I do have to say I am nervous about being disregarded, looked down upon, cast aside, etc.  Even more, it almost makes me ill to think of offending anyone, especially those I love dearly. But I do believe one has to follow the journey of truth no matter what.  My thought is to share my journey on this blog. I hope to share my heart. I don't know if anyone is interested in this. Boring? Offensive/scandalous? Hurtful?

In the meantime if you are curious as to what tipped the scales for me, it was this youtube video. "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist."  There is also a book of the same title (both by Dr. Brant Pitre). I haven't read the book but the video blew me away.

Moving right along . . . .     ;)  

Maybe time for some pictures,  huh?  

campfire and treats with friends

working with Sage to clean up fallen apples

Hiking on Sunday. We showed Dad a new spot.

"That's moss, Mace."