Snapshot Saturday: Lovin’ Summer

Good Saturday morning to ya! Here is a snapshot of our week with just a few of the summery things I’m lovin’!

Fresh Peaches

I think peaches are the taste of summer! We haven’t made it to our favorite Peach Park yet but it’s on our bucket list and I’ve been purchasing peaches from Aldi to hold us over until we get there. We are eating them on salads, yogurt, cereal, and just by themselves! And because I’m in such a peachy mood these days, I brought home this peach candle, also from Aldi. It smells so sweet and summery!

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Evening Glow

I love to be outside at the end of the day when it’s just about dark but not quite. The frogs, crickets, and cicadas are all singing their little hearts out and the evening lighting is dim enough to see the first flickers of lightning bugs and the glow of windows from our house.

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Fourth of July

We had a relaxing Independence Day at home with a leisurely morning, lots of cooking, a big afternoon meal, and our annual viewing of The Music Man. Our friends were supposed to come over that evening for desserts and watching fireworks but a few minutes before dark, just as we had everything set up, the rains came and we rushed to get everything back in the house. So, no pretty fireworks photos this year but my husband’s homemade poundcake was the bomb (pun intended). Yes, my husband made the poundcake! It’s his family’s recipe from his grandmother and it’s so delicious. I made a blueberry sauce to go with the poundcake and some vanilla ice cream. Yum!

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Pool Pick

My pick for a good pool read this week has been Seasons of a Mother’s Heart: Heart-to-Heart Encouragement for Homeschooling Moms by Sally Clarkson. I’ve read many of Clarkson’s books and they are always full of nuggets of wisdom and inspiration for my parenting journey! Each summer I have several books on my to-read list, but I make sure to read at least one book to motivate me for the upcoming schoolyear. So far, this one is doing just that! I’m a book underliner (are you?) and I’ve underlined a lot in this one already. At the end of this post, I’ll share one of my favorite quotes so far from this book.

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Citrusy Wreath

I was cleaning up my front porch and decided it was high time I put out a summer wreath (still catching up from the wedding!). I dusted off this old lemon wreath, but it needed fresh ribbon. I was going for my neutral burlap ribbon only to find there wasn’t enough, so I went with this bright green gingham I had in the cabinet. Not my usual go-to, but it’s kind of fun for summer!

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Necessity is the Mother of Invention

My son was working on a job outside while I was working in the kitchen. I glanced out the window to see that he had rigged up a misting system to cool himself off while working. Pretty clever! I was pretty impressed with his ingenuity.

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Porch and Popsicles

We are in the thick of the summer heat! These are the days I keep our garage freezer stocked with popsicles. After playing outside one day, my son asked for an ICEE pop and I said he could have one. He said, “Mom, will you have one with me? You would love the cherry. Oh, wait, the cherry has that dye you don’t like.” Well, of course I ate a popsicle with him, and the very one he recommended–cherry! We sat on the porch and talked about Looney Toons and watched the new trash truck come by. He commented on what a “professional job” the guy did collecting our trash—cute—and I thought about how I never want to forget these little conversations on the front porch.

Which brings me to one of my favorites of Sally Clarkson’s wisdom nuggets in the “Seasons” book when she speaks of choosing joy in the simple (and complicated) everyday life in the home with children and living every moment as a gift from God.

The best parts of life that matter most are the unexpected moments and memories that happen each day—the ones that we won’t forget.

Hope you have a joy-filled weekend with unexpected ordinary moments made into lifelong memories!