shutters painted

heat and humidity

watercolors

watermelon

hot dogs

beer

good times with friends

kids in the pool every day

 bathing suits hanging on the line

new growth in the garden

s’mores!

popsicles

grilled corn with cilantro lime butter

long naps

evenings in the backyard

Nothing too crazy this weekend, we needed that. This week is going to be our first official week without going to school multiple times a week and I’m seriously looking forward to the change for a bit.  More time for friends and visits to the park, water time, berry picking and jam making, simple meal making,  birthday party planning.

How was your weekend??

It’s the official first day of summer vacation today and I was totally that mom this morning at the grocery store. Kids screaming in the aisles, mom barking at the kids to knock it off, dropping everything to run to the potty only to have him pee all over his pants anyway because he want some “pribacy” and didn’t pull his pants all the way down, getting to the checkout only to realize that my wallet was still in the car, old lady behind me shaking her head and making loud huffing and tsking noises, getting back to the checkout with my wallet and 10 seconds later Nick lets out a massive shriek because he sat on the window ledge and sat ON a piece of glass…it was a good one.  Got home, kids are wild, we eat lunch and head to naps early and no one will for what feels like for.ev.er. I’m kind of done with today.

Thankfully, though, they’re asleep.  Resting quietly for a tiny bit and I need it as much as they do.  I yelled. Took stuff away. It was a hot mess. We had all sort of fun planned, but sometimes it all needs to be put on a shelf for another day and I’m completely fine with that.

Some love for today to balance out the general grumpiness around here:

-All of the images above via Instagram. Maybe it’s getting old at this point that I keep defaulting to sharing them? It’s just so easy and I love them! Are you on there? Find me, I’d love to see you! @lillianranauro  Also – I got a bunch of my Instagram photos printed the other day and I love them so much.  I even showed my mom and she was all funny about how nostalgic they were because of the borders and the square format – that made me laugh. (She also made some smarta$$ comments about how it was “creepy” that I took pictures of my sleeping kids and how, “Oh, yeah, your kids will have pictures when they grow up! They’ll say, ‘oh look! I have  pictures of my mom’s feet!’”  but it kind of comes with the territory;)  I used Instaport to download all of the images, then uploaded to have them printed locally.  I checked my favorite local lab (a drugstore,  they do a great job and develop all of my film for personal work) and they had an option of 4″ x 4″ prints, so I went with those and it was perfect. It was easy and I’m glad I made the prints – they were so fun to see and hold outside of a phone!

- If you need some garden inspiration, you have to check out Diggin’ Food. So much great stuff there! I just found it via a link on Pinterest and I feel like I’ve been spending every night digging through everything on the site.

- If you aren’t living under a rock, you’ve probably had a conversation with at least one person about the recent TIME magazine article.  This article by Kristen Howerton of Rage Against the Minivan struck a much more important chord with me:

When it comes to issues of motherhood, there is one issue I care about: some kids don’t have one. All of these petty wars about the choices of capable, loving mothers is just a lot of white noise to me, Quite honestly, I’m often astonished at the non-essential parenting issues I see moms getting upset about. Particularly when there are so many kids in this world not being parented at all.

- Have you seen Jenny’s Sketchbook? A-MAZ-ING!  I just cleared out my Google Reader and got rid of a good 150 blogs so that I’d stop distracting myself with blogs all the time and/or not get to reading the blogs I really love.  This one is definitely added in there anyway!

- I KNOW you want to make pesto with the basil that’s growing outside your back door right now!

- We didn’t think we’d be able to do a vacation this summer, but John’s co-worker is renting out their cabin near a lake about 2 hours away for next to nothing and we went for it.  Our first real family vacation with just the 4 of us – I can’t wait!

What’s new with you? Are you ready for summer? Kids getting antsy? Are you itching for some time off from work? Getting your hands in the dirt and planting your garden?

Still confused on the comments, but working on getting them fixed!

Lately:
spring green
time with friends
thoughts of starting new home projects both inside and out
reading fewer blogs and it feels good
obsessing about different film
driving to other states for Birthday present requests
working way too hard to get my little guy to nap, but it’s worth it
A date night
Figuring out the new balance of working from home sooner than I expected
Only two weeks until the last day of school
Making summer plans already
Deciding if we’ll join the pool or lake
Signing them up for swimming lessons
Thinking about camping — SOON!
Almost all seeds and sets planted in the garden: peas, beets, onions, potatoes, strawberries, carrots, huckleberries, tomatillos, ground cherries, herbs galore and so many greens and lettuce varieties
Plus some lonely little tomato plants waiting inside and aching to get outside in the dirt and sunshine!

How about you?? What happening in your neck of the woods?

This sunshine is doing amazing things for all of us. Getting outside, running free, digging – so much goodness. We even grilled dinner last night! Plus, today marked my last full weekend of work EVER! I am so looking forward to weekends with my family again:) We might be a little more broke until we figure out all of our re-budgeting a bit and get to a new norm, but right now it feels so worth it to know that we have a whole spring and summer ahead of weekends together again for the first time in two and a half years!

p.s. In case you couldn’t tell, these pics are half film, half digital. Kind of crazy to see them side by side, isn’t it?

I keep thinking of how free it must have felt for their little feet to hit the cool grass today.  It was so warm that I decided to plant peas and organize the rest of the seeds and make a legit garden plan.  But then I went outside and got out the pretty sheet and felt the sunshine and chatted with the neighbor and my kids started digging in the dirt. And I looked into our sad little garden boxes and realized how much the dirt has settled and that they need a little love before I go and plant in them again.

Plus, I had to get an ingrown toenail removed along with a bit of my nail this morning, so I figured it might not be the best idea to be out in the dirt with my toe all bandaged and all. I know – gross.

Huevos rancheros for dinner, one specific child who just won’t nap, almond flavoring in iced coffee, so much laundry, reading a good book that is rocking me to the core, meeting a friend for some much-needed chatting, being a jerk to my husband about his lack of toe bandaging skills, ignoring the filth that is our floors and other such necessities for another day.  That’s what’s happenin’ here – how about in your neck of the woods?

Listening to Winter Song, World on Fire and Song For a Winter’s Night.

Hands cupped around mugs of tea for literal warmth.

Finally getting some undershirts for my kids, even if they insist on stripping and never wearing socks.

Days of strange spurts of warmer weather keeping us from the harshness of unending cold.

Eyes always searching for color outside in bits and pieces wherever I can find it.

Slightly longer days and watching the way the light changes and moves inside the house through the day.

Re-visiting are so happy’s lovely warmth posts from last year.

Facebook/blog reading less, actual books in front of my face and reading a lot more.

Catching up on the winter edition of Rhythm of the Home.

If there’s one thing that picking up my camera more and having kids has taught me over the past few years, it’s how to slow down and pay attention to the changing seasons. I know I’m in the minority, but winter amazes me. I love the cold, the quiet, the slower pace.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’ve already ordered seeds and started spring garden planning and chicken planning and that this art isn’t making me want a warm summer night to take the kids camping.

But, I’m good with winter and more than happy to curl up under a blanket with a mug in one hand and a book in the other for now. I definitely have a few more snowstorms and days of getting coats and hats and mittens on and off left in me for the season.

Watching movies on the phone.

Finally getting over sickness.

Cousins in town.

A busy week at work.

Sara Haze on Pandora.

A very chilly trip to the park.

Two too many errands today that stretched little ones past their limits.

Stew for dinner (rosemary skillet chicken last night from here via here last night was incredible. If you make it, add more mushrooms and thank me later!)

Two year old screeching tantrums that are driving us to the very edge.

Nothing got done on the list – not the laundry, not the picking up my bedrooms, not the cleaning the bathroom. We did, however manage to remember to get new toothpaste and new hair ties, so that’s a win.

Ecstatic that a roll of film actually turned out how I wanted (these are all Fuji 400h insanely overexposed for anyone who cares about that stuff.)

From the library: On Writing, Ansel Adams 400 Photographs, Snow Sounds, Brave Irene, The Search for Spring, This Year’s Garden

Links I’ve been Saving: {You can also check some out here. I started a Great Blog Posts Pinterest board to keep track when I find stuff that isn’t in my Google Reader.}

• 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself
• Unstyled Life – about your “stuff,” from the perspective of after you’re gone.
• The 4 Minute Marriage Habit
• Getting Rid of Just in Case: 20 Dollars, 20 Minutes
• 12 “Other” Life Resolutions/Habits to Consider
• STAY – Incredible, realistic writing and (the recipe is right up my alley.)
• snuggling on the couch – Love these photos from here phone and the words on changing perspective for a different picture.
• The Food of 2011 - please don’t lick your screen:)
• Also, the spice rack book shelves? On Apartment Therapy Family now as one of the design trends of the year for children – ridiculous! I figured I might include a picture of what’s on the shelves today – it rotates regularly. Go check out the rest of the trends, too!

How’s your week??

Snow last weekend managed to kill almost everything left in the garden. Almost.  When I went out to take some last pictures before we start putting it to bed, I realized that we still had carrots left that I had forgotten – yay! We also still have tons of herbs that I didn’t even realize were still alive. I planted them all individually since I didn’t have room for them at the beginning of the season, so they’re still all in pots that I think I will just bring inside to try to keep them going. They got lost amongst the nasturtium that took off like wildfire in the past month – a sweet surprise as everything else was one their last leg(and you can see a lot of their remnants in these pictures after the snow squashed them flat.)

Honestly, the garden was a bust this year. Between my work schedule and some major busts in planting and the learning curve of it only being my second ear gardening at all and a ton of rain and crazy heat at different points…it just never felt like it was in full swing. Certain things did well (beets, lettuces, peppers, carrots) and others just never quite got off the ground(the tomatoes were awful, beans, corn, melons, cucumbers, potatoes, strawberries, onions.)

The beauty of the garden – there’s always next year! A fresh clean slate to plan and order and be excited to grow again. I have big plans for a lot more flowers next year along with a few less attempts at lots of thing. More fine tuning of the things we really eat and more pretty to enjoy.

Any other November gardens out there still? How was yours this year? Any big plans for next year?

{All shot on my phone, so cut me some slack;) – I forgot my camera and there was just too much pumpkin goodness to miss!}

So I never really got to freeze anything major. And somehow it’s September. And I stoppedone day this week at a favorite\ produce stand to get some mums for our front porch and happened to see bushels of tomato seconds -  that she said were mostly just because they were so small – for $3 for the bushel. So I got two bushels and decided to make some sauce to freeze during nap time that afternoon while the rain poured outside(and the basement flooded, unbeknownst to me at the time.)

I used Barbara Kingsolver’s Family Secret Tomato Sauce recipe from Animal Vegetable Miracle and subbed fresh garlic for powdered since I was freezing, skipped the nutmeg because I didn’t have any in the house, sauteed the onions in olive oil and also added a dollop of butter after googling around for some favorite tomato sauce recipes.

The rain pelted the windows and my favorite  Pandora station was on and I got to work chopping onions and garlic and pureed tomatoes galore then threw it all in the pot with the seasonings and let it simmer away.  Easy and delicious and now we have at least a few meals worth of pasta sauce or pizza sauce ready and waiting.