We Have A New 6 Year Old!

My little Sweetie Pie is 6!!

I can't believe it.

It's actually hard to say, "She's 6"!

Why does that sound so old?

It means Kindergarten this year.

It means she knows how to ride a bicycle.



And she knows how to roller skate!
(in her pajamas!)

She's learning piano.

She's growing up right before my eyes.  

She learned how to ride a bike this summer

and ever since has wanted a "biking birthday".

OK.

We live on a hill, our driveway is a total hill.

I had no idea how to do a "biking birthday".

Then the Thursday before her birthday,

 (her b-day was Monday, the 24th)

I was sitting in my holy hour with Jesus,

I was not even thinking of this party, but it came to me.

(or Jesus told me, I think)

that we could meet at a parking lot,

she could invite all her friends and we'd bring cupcakes and lemonade.

Flatter me and tell me it looks like a bike tire. OK?

We met at our church parking lot!



Even though it was August, it was pretty darn chilly and really really windy!

Aren't they cute?

So windy, we decided to open gifts in the back of the van!
(I stole this picture from Christine!)

Anyone recognize this little sweet girl?

(she's my goddaughter)

 Christine's beautiful Ava! 

I had a pretty pink table cloth, but it was so windy,

there was no way we could get it to even lay down!

We also had a bunch of these orange cones for games and races, but they just blew away!

That's fine, the kids didn't mind at all!

There's a little playground next to the parking lot, so it worked out perfect!

This is my cousin's cutie pie, Samantha!

(she's a whole year younger than my 6 year old!)

Yes, I said YOUNGER!



We got these cute baskets, water bottles, gum and stickers to decorate it with!

Some bikes it worked on, 

Some, not so much.



All kiddos and any siblings were welcome to play and ride or whatever!

Sidewalk chalk time!

That's a lot of pink!

(the blue girl came later) 

She loved being sung to, look at the JOY, pure JOY on her face!!

And his concentration.

Eating messy cupcakes is serious business.

There's the blue girl!

I have to tell you a story about little Alice here.

She is a year and a half older than my little one here

and when I was pregnant with Sweetie Pie, Alice had the cutest little

head full of ringlet curls.

SO, I prayed for a girl with curls.

Well, she was born with only a little hair

 (my last 2 hardly had any hair compared to the others that had a TON)

She quickly lost her hair and then, around a year, new hair started coming in

CURLY!!

I then, remembered how a year and a half before I prayed for her to have curls,

all because of Alice here! 

Us mamas got to visit!

(Christine and my cousin Kristin)

More mamas....and babies....

Teens got to visit

Simplest party ever.

Meet in a parking lot.

Play.

Eat cupcakes.

Time to put the candles on the bike tire cake!

It's always so much fun to put the candles on! 

Next week, another birthday

and the next week, 2 more!

Fun times!! 

Far From the Madding Crowd

 I watched this last night.

Tom brought it home from the video store and thought I'd like it.

I'd never heard of it.

It was originally a novel by Thomas Hardy.

It will be available in DVD via Netflix September 1st.

 

I was pleasantly surprised, as I thought it was not going to be good!

I would not rank it up there with the 2005's Pride and Predjudice,

yet, it's very close!

I just might have to watch it again before Tom returns it to the video store!

 

Bathsheba Everdene is played by Carey Mulligan.

I like how they showed her character as a naïve, yet strong woman

with dreams that she knew she had, yet, had not really figured them out yet.

(isn't that the way it is for a lot of young people?)

 

Miss Everdene has 3 men pining for her attention and hand in marriage.

One gets it.

One gets dumped.

(twice)

And one patiently waits.

 

The cinematography is amazing here, almost makes me want to visit England!



 Matthias Schoenaerts plays Gabriel Oak.

You will fall in love with his character.

He is such a gentleman.

I felt sorry for him waiting, loving her from the sidelines,

yet, it showed his unconditional love for her,

even if it meant he could only be friends with her.

How's that for a proposal?



 Michael Sheen plays the older, wealthy bachelor, William Boldwood.

His character, though, hopelessly in love with Miss Everdene,

remains a gentleman and makes you want to help him find another woman to love.

It will also make you kind of  mad at Bathsheba for leading him on so.

 And the third suitor, Sgt Francis "Frank" Troy, played by Tom Sturridge.

He's the reckless young love, that leaves you wondering why she fell in love with him

and what his actual motives really were. 

 

 I loved the scenery, the dresses and clothing designs for that era of time.

Like this dress, isn't it beautiful?

And her hair. 

I love her hair.

I love how Bathsheba digs right in and works her farm,

she's not afraid to get dirty and is stern, yet loving to her employees.

This scene.

I want to talk about his scene,

after you've seen it.

I don't want to give away any spoilers here

so maybe in the comments? 

There is so much I love about this scene.

It's the scene you've been waiting for.  

Carey Mulligan sings this beautiful song in the movie and you'll be

wanting her to sing more, it's so beautiful.

(don't worry, it's not a musical!)

 

PG-13 warning, it does have one part that I wish it didn't have.

One of the suitors grabs her over her dress and it happens

off guard and so quick, almost as if the director wanted

the viewer to feel how she felt or something.

It was the only time anything like that happened and it didn't happen again

or even escalate.

After she marries, there is a consummating the marriage scene,

to, I assume let you know they did, in fact, get married.

It is short and she is wearing undergarments and it shows nothing

except tender kissing.

 

 

 

There is another version of this movie on YouTube

 You can watch it in entirety

HERE

 

Has anyone seen this?

Would you like to discuss in the comments?

 



Summer Kitchen

 First, I want to pass on this tip I found when I needed to have softened butter.

(I only had cold butter)

If you need softened butter quicker than the "leave on the counter for hours" way,

 

Place a stick of butter between

2 pieces of wax paper

and roll it out.

 

That's it!

Then, just spatula it off into whatever you are using it for!

I love Google.

 

We baked cookies today to take to the lake tomorrow!

Here's the recipe!

 

 

 

View of my kitchen

(as bare as it looks here)

(this is house-selling bare)

(even though our house is not selling)

 

It all happens in the kitchen.

I love my kitchen.



 A good friend has so generously given us a ton of cucumbers and zucchini!!

This makes me very happy!

 

A few favorite things I've been making with zucchini

is:

-Cut up raw with veggie dip

-Sliced and sautéed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper,

topped with fresh parmesan cheese

-Zucchini bread

 

Not my picture, got it HERE

 

And this delicious Chocolate Lover's Zucchini Cake

HERE

I made this tonite and will frost it for dessert tomorrow night.

 

 Now onto cucumbers!

When I was a kid,

 We would get cucumbers from my Grandpa

and I'd slice them and put them in vinegar and water. 

 

Refrigerator Cucumbers in Vinegar and Water

(original from me!)

 

Slice many cucumbers and put into an ice cream pail

fill with about two-thirds water

and one-third vinegar.

slice an onion...any way you like, smaller might be better.

Salt and pepper.

Lots of salt and pepper.

 

Here's the hard part:

Refrigerate for at least an hour.

(or hide it in the garage fridge until the next day like I did)

This will stay good for days.

If they last that long!

 

Optional: Add more salt and pepper to your bowl of these amazing cucumbers!

Here's a recipe from a fellow homeschooler.

I used a Strawberry Vinaigrette and it was too sweet, next time

I'd probably use a more mild vinaigrette.

 

Chopped Romaine Lettuce

(sometimes I add regular lettuce to make it go farther)

1 cup quinoa, cooked

(after it's cooked, there will be a lot more than 1 cup--use it all!)

Sliced strawberries

slivered almonds (I made this part up)

(I think maybe sliced almonds would be better...but whatever you have is fine)

Vinaigrette dressing (fruity or whatever!)

 

 

 And we can't forget summer mud-pies

 They're always happening around here

Enjoy!