growing up

This past week I have again noticed just how insanely fast time goes by. Setting the timer for an allotted number of playtime-minutes before it's time to clean up turns into a half hour having flown by....the hours of the day from when we walk Sol to the bus stop in the morning until we greet him home seem to vanish in a blink....seeing Greg pack his lunch on Monday morning is suddenly seeing him pack lunch on Friday morning.....celebrating (or rather being to busy and forgetting it until a week later!)the one year anniversary of living in this wonderful house...where were we through Autunm, Winter, Spring and now Summer?!?!?....sending Sol off to first grade and now we are four days away from congratulating our Big-Guy-Second-Grader!...wow, good thing for pictures because I can't believe how fast time goes. I am just ever-thankful that almost all our days, as quick as they go, are filled with smiles, love and gratitude for the time we do share together and with our family and friends.



....our poppy and the poppies are growing up




our little Sol-man kindly said to me at the bike rack, "Mama, you don't have to walk me in." And there he goes, such a big kid now!




our first trip biking Sol to school!! I can't believe we haven't done it before!??!?!? We all look so forward to biking season and what a great way to start the day! I think it only took about 10 minutes too. Not much longer that getting ready to wait for the bus.



After dropping Sol off at school, Poppy and I had made a plan to bike on over to our Middleton Farmer's Market, held only about a mile from our house. We mingled with the handful of vendors who we are on a first name basis with, bought our grocery bag worth of goodies (pictures to follow!) and then sat down to have a Market Picnic. We both agreed that a strawberry could never taste better than when it has been kissed by the warm morning sun and full of the juicy sweetness of spring.








My latest rice bags....this time I even printed a card/label...with instructions and a disclaimer! They are for Sol's two teachers.




Greg is getting acquianted with the sewing machine by READING THE MANUAL! He is preparing to hem the suit's pants he bought for the wedding we are attending in San Fransisco this weekend! (Yay!!!, and more to come on that later!) He had already found a great YouTube Video on "How to Hem Pants."



I only had to help to zigzag the bottom of the freshly cut pant legs. I now get to admit that Greg had to teach me how to program the zigzag stitch...I really meant it awhile back when I said I only sewed STRAIGHT LINES...but I guess I didn't think to add to that STRAIGHT LINES with A STRAIGHT STITCH! You learn something new every day...or you should!




Herbed Hamburger Buns

I made the dough in the bread machine (only after I wiped away the 'thin layer of dust it has been collecting since the discovery of the Sourdough loaves...refer to previous posts!!! :) ) The last part of shaping into small bun shapes and baking in the oven were a sinch...it will be very hard, if I can ever bring myself to do it again, to buy storebought buns. These were a real treat! We took them to our friends' house where they had made a fabulous Carolina BBQ dinner -- Slow cooked Hickory-Smoked Pulled Pork, coleslaw, & cornbread...we brought salad and the buns. Very good and lots of fun to hang with friends.




Sol's favorite Blueberry Muffins for Sunday morning





And last but not least...even the chipmunks are growing up!








ps...really it's a woodchuck that we recently discovered in our yard but don't tell the kids.....!

We will post again when we return from our California adventure! The kids are over-the-top-excited to return to their homeland...or close to it! We will be in SF for the weekend, followed by a week of beach-style relaxing with family in San Diego. Aaaahhhh, yeesss! See ya soon! xoxoxo