Scenes of Summer

At first I thought I'd never be able to continue blogging with the number of little people in our home, but Alysse and I have an occasional writing date here at the midnightish feeding hour. It keeps me awake and there's nothing like her sweet smell and milk coma grins to bring a little inspiration. Bottle her up and instantly cure writer's block, I guarantee it. :)

And speaking of bottling things up... isn't that the essence of summer? Forget the heat, the humidity, the sand and water and chalk dust gracing our floors. Forget those pesky flies (mostly because PopPop installed a screen door on his last visit-- hallelujah!) Forget the fact that these days I'm lucky to get out of my pjs by mid-afternoon... and by lucky I mean out of pjs and into some yoga pants.

Yep, I'm doing my best to forget it all.

'Cause like a trip down Michael's dollar aisle to load up on ways to spend hot mornings and heat storm afternoons... we've arrived.

Summer.

I may be a little slower and less able to get all out and about for now, but that doesn't mean that we can't change up the scenery even if simply in our own backyard...

Do you see that bracelet on Maddie's arm? I gave that to her when I took her out for a special little lunch (almost two weeks ago), and she just recently took it off... sweet girl.

Truth is I'm only about to get slower once Joe is back to a full work week in a few days! For now I choose to wade in the refreshing river of De-Nile on that one.

So, back to summer... :)

Crazily enough, thanks to the generosity of friends, I really haven't had to cook dinner in a few weeks! Still, though, some favorites are popping up on the menu thanks to the abundance of fresh produce. Mmm... homemade strawberry popsicles, tacos loaded to the hilt, all manner of pasta salad, green salad, corn salad. Am I the only one who could make perfume out of freshly grown basil? I couldn't be more thrilled that we have several varieties thriving in our old, hand-me-down wine barrel out back especially since all the storms did a bit of damage to some of our other plants.
Here's to you June, July, and August. Let's make this a great one even if we're more home-bodied than usual... even if Alysse is taking me at my word on enjoying her baby-ness. She just loooves to be held!

I remind myself that all too soon she'll be joining her sisters in pictures like the ones above, and I'll be pining for these days at home when snuggling up to my chest or nuzzled in a baby wrap ranks number one on her list of favorites. In fact, I'm betting that next summer's scenes will probably reflect just that. Can you even imagine?

Happy summer, friends, however you might be spending it!
~Katrina