A nice visit

Last week my parents came to visit. We had a nice relaxing time, as I am anti-plan, anti-schedule this summer. We took many hikes (Brevard waterfalls & Mt. Pisgah), hung out at the homestead, and even caught a baseball game. Of course, we got wrapped up in a shenanigan or two as we rooted through a neighbor's trash to take home that perfect tap dancing stage! We also worked on getting our new addition, Violet, used to her new home. It was a good week.

Summer Un-planning

School just let out for the summer on Wednesday. Mya just finished kindergarten, Marlee- 2nd grade, and me- my 1st year back to work after a 7 year hiatus. 

The day was fun-filled with the usual last day commencements, and the after school party was business as usual at our neighborhood park:

Our neighborhood throws a full scale shindig with complete ice cream buffet and giant slip & slide. The kids welcome summer with great friends and great memories in the making.

 

Of course I had all kinds of aspirations of a bucket list, agenda, daily plan, etc., when we slowly approached the end of the school year.  See this post about all of our elaborate plans for last summer, then check out this humble post about what really happed by summer's end. I suddenly stopped to realize how much I've been slowing down and moving away from commitments and friendships that no longer served me well.  This past year was full of healing and reevaluating. I am learning (finally) that the plan for us is to maybe not plan at all, just let the days roll by this summer, see where the wind takes us. I have also learned not to keep my plate so full and to say 'no' once in a while. I have decided to consciously "un-plan" these next few weeks, in hopes of finding the wonder and appreciation of lazy summer days.

End of Year Gifts

With school ending this week, the gals and I decided to bust out our crafting supplies and make some gifts for our fantastic teachers this year. We have had several special teachers this year and because we actually started our crafts early, we were able to make a few different projects.

First up was an easy project.  We had all the supplies right here:  fabric scraps, empty wine bottles (of course!) and Mod Podge.
We cut up some fabric scraps, covered the bottles in Mod Podge, placed fabric on the bottles, and covered the fabric in Mod Podge.  The end result was a funky vase.

 

 

 

 

We also thought a few of our teachers could use a beverage (or three) after this long school year.  We decided to make accessories to go along with those beverages.  We pulled out and old favorite from our files.  You can click here to see the previous post I made that has instructions on these awesome alcohol ink tiles.  We had the ink and primer already and the tiles cost 44 cents each at Home Depot. I glued felt squares on the bottom of the tiles and they will make perfect outdoor drink coasters.

 

 

Lastly, I decided to reconnect with my Singer, as it's been some time. I made two casserole carries and etched the glassware with my Silhouette machine.  Oh how I love that machine...it makes me look so fancy ;)

 



 

 

We have been so lucky with the girls getting phenomenal teachers since they started school. We just wanted to show them small tokens of how much we appreciate their hard work and dedication. 

 



Community

We had a great weekend in our neighborhood, kicking off the summer season at our community park.  Our park is quite unusual from other parks in town, being that it is not a municipal park nor a park funded by a homeowners association.  Our park is a grassroots effort created and maintained by like-minded people that live in our neighborhood.

Egg hunt at the park

 

 

Just an early spring Sunday at the park

 

Our neighborhood is filled with so many interesting people and the park is the epicenter of it all. For the past decade Dave and I have built many relationships through volunteering and socializing with people supporting the same cause--community.



Volleyball on Sundays

It seems unreal that Dave and I have actually settled somewhere for 10 years.  Roots have spread, history is being made. We have seen friends move away, get divorced, get married, have babies, etc.  There have been many ups and downs in our lives as well as our friends' lives.  The ups are great, the blows from the downs are just a little easier, just knowing we have a network of support just right outside our door.  We did well, he and I, we ended up living in the right place at the right time.



Family camp out at the park

 

 

 



Memories are always in the making.  In years from now the gals' view of the "good old days" may be different from Dave's and my view of the "good old days" (drunken shenanigans, anyone?) but they will all originate from the same place. The place where we put forth the effort to make it a community worth living in, the place where we will go the extra mile just to have some fun, the place we are proud to call home.

 

4th of July at our house last summer











Wrapping it up

This past weekend the girls finished dance for the year. A recital at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium marks their last time on stage for the season. They did fabulous and are looking forward to both being competitive dancers next year.

I'm looking forward to the days ahead of slowing down as our activity schedule is becoming less demanding. School's out in 11 days and I welcome the days ahead of clear agendas, loose structure, days in the sun, and lazy afternoons. 

May Day!

Months ago I was reading a chapter book with Marlee and there was a little blurb about a girl making May Day baskets.  Marlee wanted to learn a little more about this day and those baskets. 

So we referred to our favorite book of holidays "Festivals, Family, and Food".  It's a wonderful book that explains holidays that nobody really celebrates anymore...except for us, it seems.  <insert eye roll here!!> Click here to peek at the book.

Marlee and her bud Hayden put a lot of work into this project the past few weeks. The baskets were to be filled with spring flowers (ahem, weeds), but pretty yellow and purple all the same.  They made little May Day greeting cards and slipped a few pieces of candy in each one.

 

We found some old baskets at a thrift store for 20 cents each.  When we were short a few baskets, the girls did not lack in creativity on how to make additional baskets!

 

 

 

 

According to tradition, the baskets are to be hung on friends' doorknobs at dawn.  The basket is meant to be a surprise, so our friends were not supposed to know who delivered the baskets.

 

The big morning arrived.  We left the house at 6:10(!!), in our PJs of course, to tiptoe through the yards of friends to deliver these pleasant surprises.

 

 

 







There was quite a stir by the time the neighborhood kids loaded the bus that morning.  All kinds of musings and theories were floating around.  It seems not only the givers, but also the receivers got a little lesson about May Day. 

Teeth and Tulips

 

 

This week some teeth came out and some tulips came in. Mya has been struggling with her last stubborn top tooth.  With much effort (an quite a few tugs from friends, teachers, and neighbors) it finally fell out.

In the photos below, she offers more poses of her missing tooth in her "Laura Ingalls bonnet" that she must wear everywhere.  I'm wondering when she will decide to wear the bonnet and glasses together. That should be a treat.

 

 

The tulips coming in every year is a big deal.  First, it the girls note the beginning of spring.  Second, we get to see the magic we planted in the fall.  Every October we plant a few new bulbs in different colors and place them strategically in our small fairy garden in the front yard. We are always pleased to see how our flowers grow each year. Mostly because we forget what we planted by the time April rolls around.

We are also enjoying the other spring blooms that our yard has to offer.  After the bleakness of winter, it is always refreshing to see everything so colorful and alive.