Peach Pie

Today was peach pie day. The girls made pie this afternoon for dessert after dinner tonight. We now have 14 peaches left out of the 25 pounds we bought last week. Next time the peach truck comes we are going to buy 50 pounds since the kids have loved eating and baking with them so much. 

Sunday

I had a long post thought out and a lot to say but it has gotten late and now I am just going to try to get our day documented and some pictures up of what we did. I had promised the kids we would make ice cream so today was the day we did it. We mixed all the ingredients together and heated them on the stove for a few minutes, chilled it and then put it in the ice cream maker on the porch. I guess it took about 35 minutes and then it was done. It turned out great and we all loved it. I think we will make it again next weekend. 

We also made peach cobbler with some of the peaches we just got. We are going to use them in the ice cream next weekend. Anyway, the girls did just about all the work on the cobbler and it turned out great and they loved it. 

Bethany and Tess have really gotten into knitting and I have gotten them yard and needles finally. They are having a lot of fun knitting and talking about all the scarves they will knit this year for Christmas. I'm really happy they are loving this so much. I have always wanted to knit, but never learned - I guess they could teach me now. 

It was also a great day as my daughter brought over my new granddaughter, Kennedy, to visit and we sat on the porch and rocked and talked. It was really nice visiting and I'm hoping we will do more of that this summer. This is actually Abigail holding Kennedy - not her mom. Abigail is getting married in 6 days - Saturday the 27th. 

What We Are Reading

We pretty much stopped school the beginning of June, though we will be doing a little school in July this year. We will probably just do a few short unit studies and we will, of course, always read and read. 

We have read quite a few books lately, but I will only mention two as I have gotten behind and don't want to go on and on. We read The Curious Clubhouse by Christine Govan and the kids really liked this one. A group of neighborhood kids decide to try to find a clubhouse for the summer and to take their treasures there and store them away from home since they are constantly being told by their parents to clean their stuff up or get rid of some of their junk - treasures to them. They search the neighborhood and find an old abandoned house that would be perfect and the mystery starts. I think I just like books with clubhouses and abandoned homes and cottages that kids find in the woods, etc. I guess most of my kids are like me cause we have seemed to read a lot of books lately about old houses. We definitely enjoyed this book. It is a nice summer read. 

We are now reading The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes. We just started this book and it looks like the kids will enjoy it as they keep asking for me to read. It is the story of the Moffat family and in particular Janey - who wants to be called the Middle Moffat to distinguish herself from the rest of the family. She likes to think of herself as mysterious and does have a knack for getting herself into funny situations. This is a pretty easy, simple read but the kids do seem to enjoy it. We may try to read a few more from this series this summer. 

We have bought the ingredients to make homemade ice cream this weekend and and the kids are excited about that as we haven't made any this year. We will do the vanilla first, but we just bought 25 pounds of peaches so I think we will also try to make some peach ice cream. We have peaches in all the kitchen windows getting just a little riper so we can use them - for ice cream and pie. I guess we will have homemade ice cream this weekend as we finish The Middle Moffat. 

Summer Evening

Summer evenings outside on the porch watching the girls have fun is one of my favorite things to do. And they love me to watch them and time how long they can jump rope or do the jingle jump or just watch them as they play games together. It does not matter how old they get I still have them saying - "Mom, watch this."

I will remember these beautiful evenings together and hopefully they will, too.

Another Funeral

Today we attended the funeral of a wonderful man and great friend. He passed way too soon and he will be missed so much by everyone that knew him. He fought a brave battle with COVID19, but unfortunately it took his life. We will miss you, Frank. 

Iced Coffee

Today I strained and put all of my iced coffee in jars - ready to refrigerate and drink tomorrow morning. Last night I put all the coffee and water in a large container to sit for 12 hours for a delicious iced coffee. Making the coffee kind of signifies the beginning of summer for me. I was actually a little late this year - mainly because I could not find my large container that I make the coffee in and since I make approximately 16 quarts at once I need a pretty large container for it. But, we finally found it and I got it all made and now it is just chilling in the refrigerator.  

Funny how all the girls like to help me make it - though they don't get any. You would have thought I was making ice cream. They crowded around till it was actually hard for me to pour and strain all the coffee grounds out. They all just had to help. 

I was going through old pictures today - June of 2016 - the year Piper and Tess arrived. It seems like yesterday, but at the same time so long ago. I look at their pictures and they look so small. I literally can't believe how much they have grown in 4 short years. They look so big now and are growing up way too fast for me. But, I sure have enjoyed these girls. This picture was taken exactly 4 years ago in June. 

The Weekend

The kids decided to put up their new badminton set this weekend. I bought it months ago and we just had not gotten it up. Today, Bethany and Tess were very anxious to get it up so they could play. They did most of the work, with a little help from dad and myself, and got it up in time to play a few games before bedtime. They really enjoyed playing it tonight and we actually have some birdies that light up so you can play as it gets dark. They think that's really fun. 

Our garden is doing ok. We do have lots of green tomatoes right now and hopefully we will get them before the deer or any other animals do. 

The other garden was not as lucky as this one as the deer ate all of our green beans - well, most of them. So, it's not looking too good. I don't know how we will keep the animals out as we have so many around here. There are probably 5 or 6 deer in our yard almost every morning. I bought something to put around the gardens to keep them away, but it does not help much. 

Tess loves to help in the garden. I think I said before that the first picture I ever saw of Tess was in a garden in China. And she still likes being in a garden - she lasts much longer working than the other kids. 

Hopefully we will get a few vegetables this year - though, I don't think I have much of a green thumb. 

1,776 Hours

Well, another vest machine has died here. I'm not even sure how long we have had this one, but I know that she has done 1,776 hours on it. That's a lot of hours. It died over the weekend and we got her new one today. We have been doing hand PT while we wait which is really a pain to do at her age. When she was a baby it wasn't bad. We were so excited that the new machine arrived today as it makes our lives so much easier! 

Bethany wanted a typewriter for her birthday - a manual one. She got one and has loved using it. She has been writing letters and stories and all kinds of stuff. Problem - this typewriter is horrible. It gets jammed and the roller will hardly turn and the space bar won't work. I'm really sad at how poorly it works - especially since she was having so much fun with it. I guess we will be shipping it back tomorrow, but I don't know whether to get another of the same or look for something different. There really didn't seem to be that many choices our there for manual typewriters. 

Bella's new nightgown arrived the other day so after her bath she put it on and ask me to take a picture to send to Katie. She always wants to send a picture of any new clothes to her big sister, Katie. 

Today - June 1, 2020

Today we buried a great man and father, stepfather, grandfather and beloved husband of my mother.