So, summer just started a few days ago and it’s already August! Weird! I am feeling a slight sense of urgency on the homeschooling front, but I’m trying to ignore it for a little bit longer. September is going to be busy, and I just don’t want to think about it yet. Thankfully, it isn’t going to be quite as busy as it could have been. Keats and Gabe were offered spots on a new travel baseball team, one that does a good bit of actual travel, and that practices nearly an hour away from our house twice each week. Why we even considered that for more than a second, I have no idea. It’s hard to turn down opportunities, but it really would have been difficult for our family to manage that commitment. Thankfully, they are instead joining a team that has a very laid back fall schedule, exactly what I was hoping for (and yes, I plan to sell dishcloths again!)
We are working so much on our house (pictures later this week!), getting some things finished in the kitchen, and finally switching some bedrooms along with making some unexpected changes that I think are going to be really good.
Job is growing up so much, and he and Silas are becoming sweet little friends which makes me happy. Seth and Keats did a good bit of playing together when they were younger, but they weren’t “sweet little friends.” Not at all. One thing I do remember clearly is them being a little older than Silas and Job, 5 and 2 1/2, and both climbing into bed with us sometime in the middle of the night, every night. It was sort of a competition for them: who could wake up first (in the middle of the night) and claim the best spot in our bed (between Jonny and me). I was pregnant with Larkspur and we wanted to break the habit because we assumed that she would need to sleep with us and I’ve never been super comfortable co-sleeping with a newborn plus other small children. Call me crazy. I don’t remember how we convinced them to stop, but I do remember that Larkspur slept happily in her Moses basket next to our bed, and never actually slept with us as a baby. I think we were grateful to have our bed to ourselves for awhile. Our current pattern involves Job waking most nights and crawling from his crib, which is next to our bed, into the bed next to Jonny. Oftentimes Silas wakes early in the morning in the next room and comes running in to ours and climbs in next to me. I don’t sleep well after that. But remembering Seth and Keats doing similar things when they were little makes us happy to be doing it all over again.
In other important news, I am growing cotton in my garden just for fun, and it is beautiful! And, Little John has a goatee. I now fully understand the origin of that word.
We take a break from homeschooling each summer, and every year at this time I get all, “OH NO. THE DAY OF DOOM IS COMING.” and I freak out about school starting.
Every year, it turns out to be ok.
This does not prevent me from freaking out at the beginning of every August, though.
Job’s tummy……Love! Beautiful pictures Ginny.
Goatee!! I just got it, too!
Oh how I loved seeing this glimpse into your life. That photo of the children sleeping is so precious. Such a lovely place to stop and visit.
Love the co-sleeping siblings pic- it a lot like it is here! I can get SO HET UP at bedtime sometimes but as soon as they are asleep my desperation/ crossness / despair (!?) vanishes and I almost want to wake them to smother them in love. (Almost)
Also: triumph
Ooops I meant to say – a triumph of matching bed linen there- I aspire to managing to get the linens on and matching! Teehee…
our son loved to crawl into bed with us especially if he had scary dreams. All I remember were bony elbows and knees piercing my sides and sleeping on the edge 🙂 I am surprised that summer is almost half way over! Each day I walk to get my mail and I look for acorns that drop usually around this time. It will be soon.
Love your photos! Laughed out loud when I saw the cat in the piano. I understand your sense of urgency concerning how fast Summer is advancing. Just the other day I posted on Facebook that all my friends/followers should enjoy it while it is still here because the Autumnal Equinox will be here on September 23rd at 4:22a.m. I can’t believe this year is so far along already. We set another 100-degree record for Tuesday here in Charlotte, NC and we still have the Dog Days of Summer to go through!
There’s a cat in your piano! Did he get back out on his own or did you have to rescue him?
Also, love the photo of the sleeping kids. My youngest, who will be 3 in October, sleeps like that too, all sprawled out. No idea how someone so small can take up the better part of a queen bed, but he manages when he has the opportunity. 🙂
I am growing cotton as well! I ordered mine from Baker Seed Co- its green and brown. It is so beautiful growing- I plan to spin it!!! 🙂
I grew cotton years ago from seeds purchased at Roxberry Mills. I have often wanted to try it again it turned out so beautiful. I use quite a bit of natural decorations on the Christmas tree and cotton was just lovely sitting on the branches.
What a great idea for the cotton, Karen! I didn’t have a plan for it. I’ll save you some. 🙂
Looking forward to the home photos. We are reworking our bedtime routines and middle of the night arrangement sharings. Glad to know it’s not just us! And I am starting to feel a little anxious to have my planning finished but am still reading through the materials. I guess that will be during summer vacation. Haha.
beautiful photos!
These photos are beautiful. I love the cat in the piano shot.
Dish cloths – I need dish cloths! Can you offer cotton ones this year? I need ones that can sop up a spill 🙂 I don’t shop for things like this often so I am trying to make you do it for me. Very lazy me.
Love the cat and the goat, my 8 year old comes to our bed at least 3 times a week and takes over the hole bed.
Isn’t it funny how children are all so different. My oldest two boys (now 7.5 and 6) do not play well together at all (they are 17 months apart). My next two boy (4 and 1), however, play well together. I am always trying to get my older two to play better, but I am learning that I need to let it go and that I can’t make their relationship be the way I want it to. So hard for a momma!
Hi Ginny, long time reader here (like since 2010, give or take). I just love your blog and the way you write which also helps me practice my english, we are a argentinian-mexican family (just my husband, our kitten and I for now). I love your pictures! It’s quite common that I’m looking through your blog and telling my husband “See! told you we should have goats/chickens/dogs/cats/bees/etc.” we are both animal lovers! Anyway, going to keep you and your family on our prayers. Love from -for now- Mexico, Damaris y Franco.
Ginny – This post just absolutely warmed my heart! I always love your photos! They always tell such stories!
I love the cat in the piano……and I’m not sure I want to know how he got in there. Also, the photo of Lark (or is it Bea – I can’t tell!), Si, and Job crashed in the bed is adorable 🙂
He climbed in himself! You know how cats like to try to fit in strange, small places. We find him all over the place. Always have to make sure he isn’t in the washer/dryer! (and that’s Lark!)
So glad you are growing cotton, even if just a little patch! I live in Alabama, and all of our cotton fields are disappearing to make way for big box retail stores and houses 🙁 I’ve thought it would be fun to grow some too.
The cat in the piano is priceless! Almost as cute as the children in the bed!
I have to know–how did the cat get in the piano?!
He just squeezed himself in! The cover is broken, so there is a big gap.
Ah, broken cover. Now it makes sense. I was trying to think of other ways a cat could get into a piano and I was stumped!