Hello, friends! I have a few snapshots to share this week but without any kind of theme like I sometimes do. Just some of this, some of that. I’m going to begin with the highlight of our week which was time with our small group!
Graduation Fiesta
Our small group met at our house this week to reconvene after our summer break and honor one of our sweet girls who’s been a precious friend to my girls and graduated high school this past May! We celebrated with a belated graduation meal–a taco bar! Many in our group have been traveling this summer so it was so good to have the whole gang back together.
I found some cute cactus paper goods, a pinata, and a cactus garland at Target, and added in several other items from my party cabinet. We had candy for the pinata (a few of the graduate’s favorites) but late in the day it was looking like we were in for a rainy evening so instead of hanging the pinata outside for the kids/teens to smash, we put the pinata on the dessert table as decoration and I had my son package the candy into individual goodie bags for a party favor. And it never rained, ha!
I provided the taco meat and shells and each of the women brought several items to add to our taco bar. I say it all the time, but we have the BEST cooks in our group. Look how colorful that plate is! My daughter made a big cookie cake for dessert–yum!
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Mom, Come Look!
In one of Sally Clarkson’s books, she told a story about one of her children calling her outside to see something at a moment when she was busy and didn’t feel she could stop. After much pleading from the child, she let him lead her outside to see a beautiful sunset and then she recognized the gift he gave her in showing her something special. I realized that I was not doing a good job of this, so I decided that I was going to practice the same as Sally. If one of my kids wants to show me something they find exciting or interesting or funny, even if it pulls me away from whatever I’m doing, I’m going to stop what I’m doing and give them my full attention. One of several surprises I stopped for this week was a rainbow my son called me outside to see as I was finishing up a few tasks right before company was to arrive. Channeling my inner Sally Clarkson I said, “Thank you, son, for giving me the gift of a rainbow tonight!”
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Family Yard Day
Last Saturday we all got out in the yard for a much-needed cleanup. Cutting the grass, pulling weeds, taking out dead plants, scrubbing the patio furniture, annnd….my husband took down the old swing set. This was a little bittersweet, as you mamas can imagine. Joel built that swing set for the girls when they were little, then took it down piece-by-piece 9 years ago to move it to our current home and put it back together. That swing set has been everything from the children’s reading loft to their Little House cabin to Fort Washington in lots of battles. It has entertained not only our own kids but many little friends, nieces, and nephews. Hey, and this mama loved swinging out there in the middle of the school day for my unwind time! But, it was rotting and infested with carpenter bees, so it needed to finally come down before any little ones got hurt. So it had to go.
When we have yard days, I take lunch out for everyone at one time since we’re all too filthy to eat inside. I make the same sandwich for everyone, stack them on paper plates and add fruit or chips. This particular day I had cups of watermelon which we all found so refreshing. I also take a bottle of hand soap and paper towels so we can wash up outside before we eat.
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Front Door Notes
My son has a couple of guy friends in the neighborhood that he gets together with a couple of times a week. We found out they’d come up with some secret signals with their bedroom window blinds to send each other messages when they couldn’t play–so funny! He learned that from Barney Fife, y’all! He’s also been leaving notes on our door with secret messages or special knocks so they can feel all “mission impossible”. Someone came to our door by mistake the other night and when she told me who she was looking for, I walked her over to the house where she was supposed to be. As I walked back to my door, I saw this sign (above) on the door! I laughed so hard thinking she must have wondered what in the world! Or maybe she has little boys and totally got it!
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Sushi Date and a Surprise
My husband and I had a date night to enjoy some sushi and pick up some back-to-school goodies for the kids. We love sushi and it’s always been one of our favorite date night meals. We each get a cup of soup and share a plate of a few different kinds of sushi. This sushi date had the added surprise of someone covering or ticket! We don’t know who, but the waitress came by when we finished our meal and told us our dinner had been paid for–what a treat! I doubt the special person who gave us this gift is reading this blog but THANK YOU to the very generous person who blessed my husband and me with a delicious dinner!
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Scotch Eggs
I’ve wanted to try making a scotch egg for a while now and finally did it this week! I assumed that it would be tricky and that I would need to experiment with a few recipes before landing on a winner. But this first recipe I tried was a home run! It was delicious and easy, and I’ll be sharing the recipe with step-by-step instructions very soon so watch for that!
Hope you have a fun Saturday and a restful Sunday!
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