Thursday, August 6, 2015

{p,h,f,r} August 6 :: a new start

IMG_8896-3

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ with the lovely ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter

I am joining in with Auntie Leila and the girls today because she's right… it's hard to get to blogging. But I really do want to record some of the things happening here and move on from the tragic sadness that I posted about most recently (thank you for all the prayers). And sometimes, a little push helps. Thanks for being pushy, Auntie Leila! :)

{pretty}
 Pretty girl dressed up for Sunday Mass looking at her pretty collection of holy cards…

...and pretty new cutting boards that are useful and decorative. I'm really trying to embrace my newly renovated but tiny kitchen and learn to use the space that it does have for the best. Storage space is a limited, so why not store something beautiful out in the open so that its beauty can be appreciated?

{happy}
Miss Cupcake is our self appointed spiralizer around here. She loves to help, even if she doesn't really love to eat what she's helped make. Helping is her love language. It makes her very happy to have big girl privileges. We are having fun with our new kitchen gadget as you can tell. We've done zucchini, cucumbers (accidentally… they look so much like zucchini!) summer squash, sweet potatoes and russets. I'm thinking about trying a jicama next. Here is a great resource for learning what can be spiralized.  


Speaking of big girl privileges… even though she has started reading simple words, she's not reading for real right now. However, our library allows toddlers to participate in the Summer Reading Program by counting the hours that they spend listening to stories. Cupcake was so excited. She wanted to win a rubber ducky just like BigBoy so the big kids got together and kept track of the time they spent reading to her. We added on the time we spent reading to her before bed and… she earned her prize! Plus two gift cards for kids meals at local restaurants. Each sticker counted for an hour of reading and she was very adamant that she could put them on all by herself. I treated the big kids to some Firehouse Subs last night so that she could use her coupon and to thank them for all of the Ella Bella stories they read to her. 
{funny}


Sweet potatoes… fun to spiralize, not fun to eat (according to her… I liked them). Her fake smile cracks me up.

{real}
Finding things to do is hard right now. Yes, that is our real weather forecast. These are the dog days of summer… the time when we hunker down, keep hydrated and mostly stay inside. Pulling out boxes of saved toys from the garage is the most exciting thing we do some days. Iced tea parties are a thing, right?