Starring Pender!

My second child definitely gets less screen time than my first born.  So here are some gems of my sweetest little fella!

 Eating his first hot dog last week from our very own backyard fire pit (the beer was not part of his meal)!

 Wearing his favorite "tiger paw" hat

 Being silly in mommy's glasses

 All of these photos are from his summer weekly sports "camp".  The 3 and 4 year olds meet once a week for three weeks for some t-ball and then once a week for the second three weeks for some soccer.  Very entertaining to watch but he's having a blast!

 This is his little friend Taryn who is also our through-the-woods neighbor.

 Asleep in his special bed at Cousin Camp

Look closely to see the raccoon eyes his goggles left on his face!  Cousin Camp photo highlights tomorrow...

For Dad...

for whom I have to thank for my wonderful organizing genes.  If I weren't a teacher, I'm sure I'd make a mighty fine organizing expert!  Looking at my house these days, though, you wouldn't know it.  I'll chalk that up to working full time, mommy-ing full time, and trying to squeeze in time with my main squeeze.  So in the summer, one of the things that makes me feel like I accomplished something (other than to plan 3,000 miles of car activities for my two busy ones) is to work on organizing my home - it makes the school year flow more smoothly when I can find what I need and don't have to waste precious time looking for things.  Plus, the cleaned out, cleared off spaces make me feel more at peace than constantly looking at a jumble of mess.

So this "little" project has been three or seven years in the making, depending on how you count it.  We've lived in our house now for seven years, which means we've been accumulating "stuff" for that amount of time without necessarily taking care to put things in their proper places.  I won't even detail the things we found in our garage since that would take up the rest of this post and would be too embarrassing, but Nate and I have been planning for the last 3 summers to tackle a garage clean out.  Nate has a different level of tolerance for messy than I do, and even he was itching to get this chore accomplished.  It finally happened!  I only wish I'd taken "before" pictures (although they would've been too awful to even post).  So without further ado, here are some pictures of proof that we really did spend HOURS cleaning it up yesterday!  Nate is off to the dump today with our cleaned-out messes, and though it will never be a thing of beauty to behold, it is now at least functional!

The gear corner: winter playthings, bike tires/parts, rooftop carrier accouterments,  life jackets, etc. Yay!

The kids' corner: all toys organized, shelved, and reachable.  They can finally get to their riding toys WITHOUT our assistance. Mom's potting bench cleaned out, organized, and accessible. Yay!

 The tool corner: hung, pared down to only working tools, and no longer a danger zone in our garage.  Yay!

The bike racks: out of the way storage. Yay!

I don't expect anyone to be excited about this little project except for me and perhaps Nate, but don't forget to admire all that floor space!  No more stumbling my way to the car in the morning rush - my bruised shins will thank me.

Tender Pender

Sometimes we affectionately refer to Pender as Tender Pender - he is a sweet, sensitive boy after all.  In this clip, though, Pender and Myrick sing "Tender Shepherd" from Peter Pan, acapella.

Slow Morning Rituals

Mornings around here are lovely and slow this summer and remarkably cool.  Myrick's new passion/obsession is playing the card game Uno!  She learned it while in Michigan, practiced it at Cousin Camp, and is honing her strategy skills these fine mornings.  Here she plays against Nate, and wins!

I also treasure peeking out the window at their first walk of the day, all still in jammies and off to feed the chickens.  This is often the view from my kitchen windows on many weekend mornings throughout the year and most days this summer.

My Sillies!

Veasey Playdate

We had some friends come visit today and went to Veasey for a day well spent at the lake.  My favorite summer "chore" to do is to make sure all wet towels, bathing suits, picnic blanket, and cover-ups get hung up to dry on the rack once we get home.  Looking at them all hanging up to dry makes me feel that I was able to give my kids another ideal summer day of carefree childhood and makes me see just how fast the time flies by with them.  Watching them splash, play, dig, and make up imaginary games and stories is the highlight of my days here at home in the summer.

The 31 Days Challenge

For Rachel, who faithfully "checks" our family blog on a daily basis: the month of August will feature a daily picture or two to capture the essence of our summertime routine.  Enjoy!

Since I went off and left my camera at home while we traveled close to 3,000 miles, I'm waiting on more family's photos to arrive so that I can post a few of those gems.  Until then, here is one from before vacation.  Note Myrick's rubber boots and bathing suit: a winning fashion combination for sure!