More Summer Treasures

Saturday morning had come, and all the summer world was

bright and fresh and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart;

and if the heart was young, the music issued at the lips.

--Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The heartsongs we've sung this summer . . .

The Sunflower Festival (Angleton, TX)

Backyard Swinging

Blueberry Picking (Moorehead Farms, TX)

One of the sweetest songs of summer, Baby Noah

(my new nephew)

Dad's flowers

What a full and beautiful summer!

Meet Jack Blackberry

Last week over dinner my friend, Luciana, shared about the fun she and her daughter had this summer as they found a monarch caterpillar, brought it home, and watched it transform into a butterfly before their very eyes. Now, this is the stuff that homeschool moms live for, and I guess my excitement was evident. Luciana promptly offered to take the boys and me out in search of a caterpillar to call our own. Yesterday, as a prelude to our formal school year, we set forth into the Illinois wild in search of milkweed and monarch caterpillars.

Okay, okay . . . we drove to a field and searched the milkweed growing near the fence line. We knew we might be a little too late in the season, but we were hopeful. After searching several plants to no avail, we started discussing lunch plans. As we chatted, Luciana's daughter, Isa, took one more look under a milkweed leaf and found our little Jack Blackberry just sitting there.

We gently removed Jack and his milkweed plant to bring him home. He chomped away at his leaf while we ate hamburgers. He even gave us a scare--leaving his leaf and climbing a few feet away to a nearby cabinet. We fortified Jack's habitat to ensure we didn't lose him again and placed him near a window. And we waited.

In the meantime, we sketched Jack and his milkweed in our nature journals, checking on him constantly, inviting our neighbors over to see him, telling complete strangers like the grocery clerk and librarian about him, freaking out about whether his behavior is normal, and studying up on the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly, using books from the library. Our two favorite books so far:

Monarch and Milkweed (Frost and Gore) - A simply gorgeous picture book describing the life cycle of both Monarch and milkweed and how their lives intertwine. Simple, but informative. Great for younger readers.

An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly (Pringle) An in- depth look at the Monarch's life cycle. Beautifully illustrated. A lot of text so may not be suited to the very young reader. Includes instructions for caring for a caterpillar at home.

Also very good resources: Monarchs (Lasky) and The Life Cycle of a Butterfly (Kalman)

A very special thanks to Luciana and Isa for finding Jack Blackberry!

Summer Treasures

As I sit surrounded by homeschooling books and curriculum, I realize that summer is coming to an end even faster than I thought. Boys play outside in the dappled sunlight, their calls and laughter carried on the breeze through open windows. Swinging . . . sliding . . . the simple pleasures of summer.

One of my desires for this year is to live a seasonal life--to embrace each season as it comes, to delve deep into the treasure chest of nature. Perhaps this longing stems from youth spent in the Iowa countryside, seeing the seasons drift over the landscape. There is something beautifully rhythmic about the change of seasons. I want to capture that rhythm and dance along with it this year.

Here is a look at a few of our summer treasures . . .

Summer Treasure 1: Swimming

Both boys took lessons to improve their strokes, and with the added confidence, we couldn't get them out of the water! From water parks to neighborhood pools, they had a blast in the water this summer. (Hopefully, we'll make a few more trips to the pool before summer ends.)

Summer Treasure 2: Slip 'n' Slides (and other backyard fun)

With the combined space of Grandpa and Aunt Kelley's yards, the boys organized all sorts of activities--trampolining, soccer games, sprinklers, and slip 'n' slides. They even turned the regular playground slide into a "water slide." Micah and Kaden were inseparable for much of the summer--taking turns (more or less) with the cool John Deere riding toy.

Summer Treasure 3: Parks

What could be more fun than playing at the park with your cousins?

Summer Treasure 4: Sno Cones

With flavors that include pickle juice, lime and chili, and just about every other combination you can imagine, sno cones are a particular treat on hot Texas afternoons. My personal favorite: raspberries and cream.

Summer Treat 5: Car Washes with Great Uncle Mark

I'm not sure how this tradition got started, but for many years now, Ethan (joined later by Micah) has "helped" my Uncle Mark wash the car in the summer. The boys look forward to washing the car with great anticipation. Car washing usually morphs into getting extremely wet, running through the puddles that collect, and searching the storm drains for giant squids. Uncle Mark has other specialties as well like blanket rides and musical highlights (special viewings of rather strange clips from mostly obscure films). They love the car washes and blanket rides; we endure the musical highlights.

Summertime and the livin' is easy . . .

Note: First photo taken in my dad's yard--another summer treasure.

4th Annual Momster Weekend

As you may have gathered by the previous post, my sisters and I are really close. And it so happens that all three of us enjoy a special bond with our mother. (After all, she did bring us into this world!) A few years ago, we began what is now affectionately called "Momster" (Mom-Sister) Weekend. Momster was born out of the frustration of all being geographically close during the summer, but so busy we couldn't always get the time together we craved--essentially kid-free time with all four of us present.

The original vision included a bed and breakfast in Vermont, but was quickly scaled back to a weekend in Houston (only 30 minutes away.) We heard that Hotwire.com had amazing deals if you were willing not to know the exact location or hotel chain until after you had booked it. So, we booked our room and wound up at the Sheraton in Houston. We packed brownies, magazines, and games and headed out. And as they say, the rest is history. We had so much fun that we decided to do it again the next summer, and the next, and . . . this summer--the 4th Annual Momster Weekend.

Nathanael likes to joke that Momster is basically a gastronomical tour of Houston, but despite what you may see in the pictures below, we actually do other things too like . . . shopping. So, Momster is a big eating and shopping festival. We do manage to have some good conversations between all the stops, and room time in the evening can get pretty hilarious. We watch movies, play games, sleep in, and work on fun projects that we bring along.

I'm already thinking about Momster 2011, but here are a few pics from 2010 . . . (And remember, we do other things besides eat! It's just that I didn't really happen to capture those things on camera, and the few pictures I did capture were banned for public viewing by my sisters and mom.)

We always kick things off at Hungry's in Rice Village, a great bistro with an amazing wedge salad that we've tried unsuccessfully to imitate at home.
L to R: Kelley, Kristi, and Mom
This year we tried a couple new places, Nit Noi, a Thai restaurant where the spring rolls were either loved or loathed, and for dessert The Chocolate Bar, a chocolate/ice cream shop with the most amazing chocolate confections we've ever seen. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven!
Kelley and I at Nit Noi


The sign says "Indulge." We gladly obliged.


We took our dessert back to the hotel. My selection: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake (Notice it is not in the photograph--I wolfed that baby down!)

After a midnight run for someone's urinary tract infection medicine back home, we slept soundly and deeply until the next morning where we kept up with another tradition--breakfast at Le Peep.
A hot and steamy Texas morning outside Le Peep.

By Saturday evening, we'd had enough of wedge salads and went for steak at Taste of Texas. The hour wait was well worth it.
Sunday morning we had brunch at Sweet Tomatoes and hit a few shops before rolling out of town to meet our husbands and kids for dinner.

Until next year, Houston!