Summer's Last Hurrah!

Mid August we spent a lovely evening at the Morris Arboretum enjoying an evening of drum music and games for the kids.  Two musicians performed together on steel drums and drum set - a wonderful blend and so fun to listen while in the beautiful gardens.

Meredith played her first game of musical chairs with the other kids!

Visiting with Chickens

Earlier this month we had a lovely visit with Tim and Sherry Clippenger.  They live in southern PA and have many endearing pets - the majority of whom are chickens!  Meredith was thrilled to get a full tour of the chicken's home, meet all the hens and to get a chance to hunt for eggs. :)

Feeding them was also another highlight.

Meredith made sure the chickens literally ran for their breakfast!

uh-oh...all finished. :)

What sweet friends!

Behind...

Things always seem to be behind...

I am always behind schedule.

That juicy tomato is always hiding behind a large leaf.

Mosquitoes are always behind things ready to pounce when you pass.

But behind it all...

There's great satisfaction in knowing that the tomatoes and oregano in my pizza came from our garden.

There's great fun in watching Meredith discover those hidden tomatoes and pop them in her mouth.

There's great joy in learning how to work the land, grow our food, and see how God is using our garden to teach and grow our family.

Enjoy, these pictures from behind our house.

Look closely in the picture above, and you'll see some rare green beans hanging out.

Always great to have a volunteer cantaloupe in our garden.

(They come up every year from our compost.)

Kale - a great addition to morning smoothies.  

You wouldn't think, but talk about packing a vitamin punch!

The rooftop garden with melons, cucumbers and squash galore.

Jane's flower patch from whence cometh the means to bring color and freshness to our table.

Summer Eats

We've been overflowing with produce this past weekend and week.  This is what's been happening in our kitchen:

Peaches!  Jane picked up a bushel of peaches from our favorite farm, Ray's Greenhouse north of Philadelphia.  

This weekend we made: peach and blueberry cobbler, pickled peaches, peach salsa, peach smoothies, peach sauce for salmon, peach sorbet and we froze 5 quarts of peaches.

 Our tomatoes are coming in steadily and we've been making some tomato sauce as well as using them in a variety of ways for meals.

 Homemade quiche

 with raw milk, raw milk cheese, farm fresh eggs, homegrown kale and tomatoes!

Jane tried her hand at homemade butter this week with our raw milk cream.  

We enjoyed it throughout the weekend on scones and pancakes :)

This girl is a butter lover!

Meredith's phrases

Meredith is chattering away these days.  Lately there are a few phrases that come up fairly often throughout each day (oh, maybe several DOZEN times!).  

Here are her most repeated and favorite phrases... :)

"Itchy boo-boo, Mama!"
- yes, those mosquito bites are itchy!

"Come eat, Mama"
- an invitation to dine at her play kitchen (and, yes please, I'll always have another cup of tea)

"Play park...swing, and slide...and swings!"
- always that same phrase over and over again as we near the park.  So much anticipation!!

"Daddy, work, choo-choo"
- yes, Daddy is at work and he takes the train to get there :)

"Mama, come play people!"
- vintage fisher price people are all the rage around here :)

"Pink shoes on!"
- declaring that she put her shoes on ALL by herself, and she is ready to go!"

"Baby Ellie crying"
- said with a look of concern as she clutches her babydoll.  This statement is usually followed by her saying, "rock baby" and commencing to rock her baby for a few seconds.

25 Weeks

This weekend marked a full 25 weeks for me.  I'm nearing the end of the 2nd trimester and as you can see my belly is poking out boldly declaring that fact to the world! :)  

Weekend

We spent a long weekend in the Carlisle area (Jane's home turf) last weekend.  We had a lovely visit with our dear friends, the Cockley family.  Friday morning we headed up to their cabin deep in the woods of Perry County.  These photos are from the kiddos and Dads taking a dip in the freezing (!!) creek right outside the cabin.  This was Meredith's first creek experience, and it was positive - woohoo!  She loved riding on the tube with Olivia and having help from KC and Vivian too. :)

On Saturday night we performed a concert for the OP church congregation and friends.  It went splendidly and it was such a treat to see so many familiar faces again. :)

Bedtime Routine

We snuck a camera into Meredith's room recently to capture part of my bedtime routine with her.  The first clip is going through the Children's Catechism.  Listen closely, as she is getting many of the answers...at least in part.

In the second video, Meredith has just come in after saying goodnight to mama and we are singing Holy, Holy, Holy - Mer's most well-known hymn.  "Early in the morning..." is her favorite line, throwing her head back to reach for the high note.

Sigur Rós

Erik and one of his best friends, Adam Dieffenbach, just attended a concert of one of their favorite bands - Sigur Rós.  This was their first concert after four years off being off the road and back in Iceland, their home country.  Here's a good description of the band:

"Known for its ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals, and the use of bowed guitar, the band's music is also noticeable for its incorporation of classical and minimalist aesthetic elements into their music."

Besides your typical instruments - guitar, drums, bass - the members incorporate a whole host of other instruments in their songs including piano, vibraphone, reed organ, glockenspiel, bells, and electronics.

The band travels with seven instrumentalists, including a full string quartet, brass and wind players - all of which can be seen at the back of the stage, accompanying the band.

The outdoor venue, which stands at the top of a hill overlooking the Philly skyline, sold out both performances and the experience was nothing short of spectacular.  The lead singer uses a non-literal language called "Vonlenska" (Hopelandic in English) when he sings.  Void of any meaning, it focuses entirely on the sounds and articulations that the voice can produce, using it as another instrument in the mix.  Being free from language allows him to express that which can't be put into words.