Summer’s in full swing here. There’s lots of playing, DVD watching, and oh yeah… did I mention one of my girls has shingles?! Our summer hasn’t been dull at all! While we’re waiting for our Soulie to get better, I’ve been planning little outings with the girls in my head. The beach will be our #1 destination.

These are my must haves for summer: Straw (mixed with leather) bag… check. Hat… check. Sandals… check. Denim shorts… check. Sunglasses…check.

The hat is something I actually got last summer and it will get a lot more use this summer, especially since next week I’m suppose to go through a little surgical procedure to get a cyst removed from my face. There will be stitches and all, so the doctor says I need to keep my face covered and protected for at least a year to minimize scarring. I’m a little nervous!

Oh and I love my Ray-Bans! I got Ben a pair last year and was always trying to steal his, so when Sunglasses Shop asked me if I wanted to try a pair of sunglasses, I said, “Oh yes! Can I try Ray-Ban aviators please?!!” Happily they obliged and their shipping is wonderfully quick! They’re based in the UK, but even if you’re in the US, you’d get it in just a couple days. Plus, they have a really large collection of sunnies that though I wanted aviators it was hard to narrow it down to which one! Ben and I are often twinsies with our sunglasses (proof here) and I kinda think it’s cute when we match in eyewear. My aviators might be my favorite sunglasses and I wear them all the time as evidenced by here and here.

What are your summer must haves? Don’t forget to include sunscreen on that list, but you should be wearing that no matter what the season.

bag, vintage from ms. tips. hat, land’s end. sandals, piperlime. denim shorts, thrifted. sunglasses, sunglasses shop.

I’m a last minute teacher present planner. Maybe it’s partially because we homeschool and they only spend one day a week with another teacher other than me (so it tends to be an oversight), and partially because I’m just a procrastinator at these kinds of things. I’m totally always ahead of the game for Christmas presents for everyone, but these little here and there occasions pretty much slip by me. It’s almost always a last minute idea.

I had originally thought we could bake something, but who am I kidding, these days are busy and there was no time for that. Then, I thought we’d buy special pastries, but I really didn’t want to drive a half hour to pick them up, so our fave donut shop up the street was the way to go. I had the girls make a card with a play on words special message and there was that. Tada! Plus, presentation always makes the difference right?! So we wrapped them up in red gingham fabric and attached the cute message. Done, done, and done.

Dear teacher,
“Donut” you forget to have a great summer!

You can see here what we did last year. It was totally last minute too. Heck, we even used the same containers. Those little turquoise baskets have definitely come in handy.

You know how I was raving about the weekend starting off great? Well, it didn’t go as great as it started, but we had no choice but to roll with it. Ben and I decided to celebrate June 8, which marks the 11 year anniversary of Ben asking me to be his girlfriend, by taking the girls to the same restaurant he took me to 11 years ago…

It all started kind of bumpy because as we were going there, my stomach started hurting, and then really hurting some more. I turned to Ben and said, “I think I have to go bathroom.” I must confess, I have public bathroom phobia and if I have to go #2, I’d rather drive all the way back home to do my business. I considered asking Ben to drive me home and just forget about going to the beach, but we had reservations, and the girls were excited about the beach, so Ben said he would find me a nice hotel to do my business. I reluctantly agreed. Now, not only was I nervous about the business I had to do (in a public bathroom!), but I was wearing a 1 piece bathing suit under my shorts and top, so it would take a little bit more work than normal to get to my business. Oy! I turned to him and said, “People go #2 in public bathrooms all the time right?” He said, “Duh. Don’t think about it.” I was pretty much wincing from pain the whole drive until he found me that nice hotel (and I was getting scared I wasn’t going to make it!). Thankfully, it was really nice (and pretty dead), so I went in and did my business (oh that bathroom smelled strong of wonderful air freshener and it made this mama’s heart and mind happy) and I totally waited to come out of my stall when no one else was in the bathroom. I got back in the car, my stomach ache was gone, and I was ready for a yummy breakfast buffet.

We get to breakfast, my tummy starts hurting again. Ugh. I was so frustrated. I just wanted eat waffles and sausage to my heart’s content, but my tummy was preventing that. I ate slowly and tried not to think about it and prayed hard for it to go away. I was able to eat a decent amount, but then something happened that took the focus away from my stomach…

True and Brave were pretty much done eating, but they wanted some breakfast muffins, so I took them to get some. Brave’s was obviously blueberry and we assumed True’s was the same, because well, if it had nuts, wouldn’t it be labeled considering it is a food that a lot of people are highly allergic to? That’s where the restaurant failed and True took a bite and said, “Mommy, there’s nuts in here.” I grab it, sure enough there is. Ben runs out and goes to the nearest pharmacy to get her benedryl, I’m trying to get her to eat and drink to see if it will help lessen the itchiness, but nothing’s really helping. Ben gets back with the medicine, by this time she says her throat hurts, she takes the medicine, but then she starts crying saying it’s hurting more, so we go ahead and make the call to 911 from the restaurant. They come, check True, administer more medicine, and then they whisk Ben and her away. The restaurant takes care of the bill for us, which I’m glad they did because that was not smart for a food establishment to have unlabeled muffins with nuts, and the rest of the girls and I head over to the hospital. Thankfully, everything turns out fine and they administer True a few more medications, but after a little bit of observation, she’s released. Oh, we’re so thankful for health insurance and that True was okay! And my stomach ache never came back after that ordeal!

We go to get her more prescriptions, which included 2 epipens, and they tell us it’s going to take 20 minutes. It ends up taking an hour! Four kids cooped up for an hour, by this time starving for lunch, we were all pretty cranky. We get back on the road to go home, grab quick lunch on the road (yup, fast food!), and at about 4 in the afternoon we were finally home again. We had planned to be home by noon!

Later that evening, we have the girls ready for bed and they’re having their quiet reading time and Soulie comes downstairs to show us her ouchy on her hand. Ben and I both look at it and are I like, “WTH?!” She had clusters of blisters on her hand and her body!  Ben takes her to urgent care, doc says it’s a viral infection, sends them home with cream, and oh me oh my what a June 8th!

So much for our plans for a romantic evening to relax together and maybe get romantic. We were both spent and we just wanted to go to bed.

Then, Sunday night ends with the Spurs getting killed by the Heat in game 2, so there went that. And this morning we wake up and Soul’s blisters have spread, so we take her in to see the pediatrician and it turns out our big baby has shingles! We’re glad we have an answer to what she has, but so sad that she has to go through this, and nervous and praying the other kids don’t get it. What a busy weekend indeed!

11 years ago we became boyfriend girlfriend and 11 years later we’re still crazy about each other, but we just got a whole lot more crazy going on in our lives than just both being the 2 college students we once were. This weekend was filled with tummy aches (business in a public bathroom), ambulance rides, viral infections, and the Spurs losing, but hey! Ben and I love each other a whole lot, so it’s still all good. God is good! I’m glad I get to do all this craziness with him. I’m just hoping that next weekend will be a little bit more low key.

So, how was your weekend?

Whew! We survived another year of homeschooling. Oh me oh my, hurray!!! I got my undergrad degree in Child and Adolescent Development and then went on to get my California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, taught in a public school, but somehow being the teacher to your own children is a whole different ball game. It’s definitely more challenging! Though when I look at what they’ve learned and accomplish this past year, I’m so proud to be part of all that.

This week’s learned, link, and thankfulness…

Homeschool year 2 done and now we’ve got a 1st & 2nd grader! Woot! Woot!

I have various projects piling up, so though school’s done, it will be a busy June!

Love my t-bar clogs from Lotta. I’ve been wearing them everyday this week.

If you’re wear a size 7 shoe, don’t miss out on these vintage beauties!

I am more sane when I get quiet prayer times, so thankful for those moments to pray. I need it.

Tomorrow’s a special day for Ben and me. It’s the day I became his girlfriend and we’ve been together for 11 years now! I really should finish writing up our love story. How he asked me to be his girlfriend is a seriously good story. Well, at least it is to me.

We are VERY excited about last night’s San Antonio Spurs steal in Miami! Ben and I were on such a high after the game last night and I kept watching replays of this play this morning. Tony Parker is amazing and I think he looks like Ben. Our house will be full of craziness for the next week and a half until the NBA championship is settled. Go Spurs go! #beattheheat #3moregames

It’s Friday. School’s done. Spurs took game 1. June 8 makes 11 years. Game 2 is on Sunday (so nervous!). I think this weekend is starting off great! Woot! Woot!

Avocado Toast. This was the easiest recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow’s book and so I made it for lunch. We eat avocado tacos all the time, but I never thought about it on toast! I had it again later in the week without the mayo because avocado has enough fat already, and it’s still good. The girls even liked it, so this will be added to our lunch repertoire.

Meatloaf and Roasted Carrots. I make two loafs, one for the girls with no spice and one for us, with lots of spice! The meal looks boring because it’s a whole lot of orange, but I promise it’s a whole lot of good, even if the word meatloaf doesn’t sound the most appetizing.

Korean Style Burger and Sweet Potato Fries. My friend Jen Kirk instagrammed this yummy burger a couple weeks ago, and since then, I have been wanting to re-create it. It just sounded so good! Mine’s not as pretty as the one she ate, but it tasted pretty good, though I’m sure Jen’s tasted a million times better, but she’s on the east coast, so my guessing through the recipe will have to do. Soul didn’t like the meat, but the rest of the girls seemed to. I will have a recipe for you next week!

Week 6/10 – 6/14

Monday: Spaghetti
Tuesday: Easiest Posole (I didn’t get to make it this week)
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Black Bean Soup
Friday: Sushi/pizza night

I can’t wait for our summer tomatoes to grow so we can using those in our dinners. What’s your go-to summer dish?

So I’m a little behind in continuing the sharing of our backyard orchard, but don’t worry, you’ll get them. Here, we actually get to planting our trees (well, this is back in December). After we heeled the trees in while we were spacing things out on the dirt, it was finally time to plant the trees. Ben marked the center of the hole with a short rebar segment, then with a string, he made his own protractor of sorts and created a 36″ diameter circle (by the way, he said, not needed, he’s just anal!). He used this as a guide to dig out his hole. Mind you, there were going to be multiple trees planted in one hole.

He dug out the hole to the depth of each of the individual the root systems and all the way around the circle he created. He grouped fruits together that would be most compatible with one another and that would also allow for successive ripening. I know, it’s a whole new language. Honestly, I don’t even understand it all. He tells me and I just nod and say, “Uh huh, uh huh, yeah.” (He spends a lot of time researching this; says he gets MOST of his guidance from the fine folks at Dave Wilson Nursery, their site and their “how-to videos“).

Then, he covered up the bare roots with more dirt and then chopped off the tree up to the height of his knee. It’s feels like a daring thing to do and the trees end up looking just like sticks in the ground, but that’s what you’re supposed to do, so that’s what we did.

We have 4 groupings of fruit trees, which means 4 holes, planted this way: fig trees with 4 varieties, nectarine trees with 4 varieties, cherry trees with 2 varieties, and pluot/peach with 4 varieties. Now, it’s about six months later from when these were done and they look a little bit more than just sticks in the ground now (sticks with some baby branches)… we even starting to see figs growing! We’re totally not pros and while Ben does most of the research that goes into planning this, we both love working in our backyard together!

Go back and see part 2 here…