Better Late Than Never. 2012 Summer part 2

 I was just reminded last weekend that I never posted the part 2 of my summer. Well here it is...This summer we finished our wall, and the fire pit is almost completely done (some pictures of it will follow)

 The kids have continued to practice Tae kwon do. They are now high-level yellow and are doing great.

Here is our beloved fire pit. We put down crush gravel, and got everything ready for the pavers, which we put down a few weeks later. We decided to enjoy it by having our first BBQ. Hot dogs and s'mores, delicious!

Aiden loves "his" mallet so much he even took it to his room to play with it.

Isabella is roasting the hotdogs. They had a subtle smoky flavor.

And then came the fireworks! Actually this was not on the 4th of July but much later, when Liz and Karston came to visit we lighted sparklers and played. It was fun, and we took some neat pictures!

 We were very glad that Liz and Karston came to visit us. It was fun to see him try to do everything that Aiden was doing. Aiden was so flattered that he decided to like Karston since playing with him was now fun (the last time there was a little jealousy)

...we let them play with fire too

The ring of fire!

We all tried to make a ring of fire, except Jared, he was just lighting the sparklers

...And of course the occasional ghosts that showed up playing behind the children

This summer, we had to say goodbye to our kitty. Sadly, he was sick with a very rare and aggressive cancer. Those were some very sad weeks but life goes on, and life is now again back to normal, although we miss him.

Lazy Summer 2012 part 1

It's mid July already! Time has pass by really fast. We have been here for 4 months and I haven't posted anything in even longer...but I feel so boring. We haven't done anything fun. We went to Florida but stayed put at my sister's house, by the pool (that was the fun part.) we have been to Nashville but only to the zoo. I have been desperately looking for something to do in town, but there is nothing less than an hour and a half away. Jared has been really busy, he has been away 3 times already, and when he doesn't work late he fixes our yard. Which is looking great (pictures will follow). The summer is almost over, not the heat, just the empty summer holidays, and I feel a little unaccomplished. So to make me feel better here are pictures of Summer 2012.

At home...

I made pretzels for breakfast one day

in the hot, hot evenings of Summer the children caught lighting bugs

 In Florida...

they played in the pool at Tia Katrina's house...

read books under the coconut tree

Helped Kc practice lacrose

played with electronic devises and spent lazy afternoon in the hammocks

 

 

Back at home...

deers are eating my tomato plants, bu they looks to cute I couldn't shoo them away

Jared builds our wall.

Soup, rolls, and kitchen helpers

I am sick today with a cold (in the middle of Summer). So I decided to make veggie dumpling soup. Since I had to clean the counters to make the dough for the dumplings, and plain veggie soup sounds a little too plain, I decided to go a step beyond and make mozzarella filled rolls to accompany the soup. I like making this soup because it is so easy. The dumplings are actually some thick homemade noodles that I make with four, salt and cold water. The hardest part was that I had to go and buy the carrots and celery which surprisingly I didn't have. They are a staple in my fridge, but not this week.

Despite the fact that Aiden looks like he is struggling, the dough was really nice and light. Bella was working quite daintily with the dough

 After making a few of them I realized that it was fun to stuff the dough so I called my kitchen elves who came quite readily. The end result looks amazing. Don't you think? They are light and fluffy with a chewy mozzarella center. Delightful!

I'm very happy with my elves. They are usually ready to help out in the kitchen, specially when I am baking, which is quite often since baking is my favorite thing to do in the kitchen, besides eating, of course. Aiden is always ready to come and put his hands into anything, Isabella only if she is not reading, otherwise I have to make her help and after doing what was initially asked of her she asks if she can go already. I want my children to love cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. I know that I should invite them to help more often, and not be so worry about messes. (I despise messes!) So one of my goals for the rest of this year is to have them help themselves more often in the kitchen.

The past few weeks--week 11 - 15

Week 11:  The Move

This picture happened actually before our move (about a week before). We got our maps out and looked at the places that we have lived. We looked at a map of the US and searched for Tennessee and tried to pinpoint where we would be living next. I don't think the children were too excited about going away, even though I tried to tell them about all the new friends that they will meet Isabella was sad for the friend she would miss, and Aiden, I'm not really sure about Aiden, but he wasn't looking to happy either. But the move happened, and it was very exciting to go to our new home.

Sometime after the move, the kids completely tired fell asleep on my bed. 

We got our furniture just the day after our closing day. It was really hard to decide were everything should go. All I can remember from those first few days is being completely stressed out, and tired.

Week 12: The new house

As for the house, it was messy, clutter that was all I saw everywhere I looked

there were boxes everywhere even a couple of weeks after we moved in

Isabella running down our creek

Aiden was set on fishing

 On that first week we did a lot of backyard discoveries. I think it was too stressful to be in the house so we spent a lot of time walking to the creek and looking at our trees.

the kids coming up the path from the creek

I'm coming up the path, back then I was not too aware of the toad (more to come on toads)

there are a lot of trees and tree stumps

The former owners said they cut 15 to 20 trees, really I can't imagine where those trees where, as it is now there is not too much treeless spaces.

There was also time for our kitty, of course

Week 13: My Pear tree.
Now this week separations are very loose since in reality I have no idea exactly which week it was when I took those pictures, what is for sure is that they happened between the 11 and the 15th week.

I'm extremely excited about planting my pear tree. I grew it from a seed out of a pear I ate

Jared was a little reluctant but everybody had to have a picture with my pear tree

Week 14: Our trip to the zoo

yes, I know I look crazy, it happens, especially on hot days with lots of walking invoved

Week 15: Finally, this past week, not much (exciting) happened this last week, except last night when we saw a moon moth or luna moth as the kids call it

an amazing looking moth, and huge!

It was alive, just resting, Bella took the opportunity to get close so I could snap this pix