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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Summer = Watermelon



I love Summer.

I love the sights of summer: the flowers and freshly manicured lawns.
I love the sounds of summer: sprinklers running and neighborhood kids playing.
I love the scents of summer: BBQ's, bonfires, and sunblock.
I love the heat: you know that kind that makes you want to do absolutely nothing but drink water and eat cold fruit all day? 
I love that people are happy because it's sunny out, so they'll give you a friendly wave as you pass by.
I love that days feel longer and more productive because it stays light outside later.
I love the Iced Teas, both Green and Sweet. 

But mostly...
I love the watermelon!

Watermelon

I used to know nothing about picking out a good watermelon. Oh, I pretended to know {like everyone else around me} picking one up, looking it over carefully {for who knows what}, and then of course rejecting it before continuing on to another. Really I would just find one that looked pretty and hope for the best!

However, my good friend Susan recently taught me the trick..

How To Pick The Best, Sweetest, Juiciest Watermelon- 101:

First, look for the big yellow patch on the side of the watermelon. This tells you that the melon was actually laying in the field long enough to ripen.

Second, look for lots of black specks, almost dirt-like, at the tip where the stem used to be.This is the sugar coming out and tells you it's a sweet one!


Okay, so maybe you're a pro and already knew all of this? Well, it was news to me... and proved tried-and-true twice this week! {Yep, we eats lots of watermelon}

{Thanks, Sue!}

How do you pick your watermelon?


Thursday, July 7, 2011

Baby Food and Trust

Hadley is eating baby food now; she has been for about a month.
And since that very first day in which we sat down, attempting to spoon bits of homemade brown rice cereal into her little mouth, Hadley has wanted to hold her own spoon.

Each time she would see a fresh spoonful of food heading her way, she would reach out and grab on to it. She would then give me a look as if to say, "It's okay, Mom. I've got this." So a few times I let her try.

One heaping spoon to the eye. Ouch! Try again. One more spoonful to the nose. Not quite, but closer. Baby food everywhere.

If I let her have it her way, she would starve... so Momma still does the spooning and feeding, and Hadley still tries to take over the spoon.


One day, while chowing down some of her favorite {organic peaches, banana, & oatmeal}, Hadley quickly figured something out. She realized that by grabbing on to my pinkie-finger she could guide my hand {and her spoon} to her mouth when she felt like she was ready for more food. Holding on to that same finger she could push the spoon away when she found some other object in our vicinity more interesting than taking another bite.

{Smart cookie}

It was as this moment I realized that though she may look just like her father, she has quite a bit of me in her as well. She wants to be in control.

Yep. It's hard to admit that, but she got that trait from me. She wants to steer her own ship.

I began to wonder- mentally stepping back and looking at this parent-child encounter- how closely this may relate to my communication with God at times. Not the communication that comes via conversation, because we all know that as Christians we are good at saying, "I trust you, Jesus. I trust that You know what's best for me."

But what do my actions convey when I attempt to guide His hand? Maybe give Him a little "nudge in the right direction"? {Ha!}
What am I telling the Lord when I push away from what He is offering? Do I even recognize that what I am pushing away from is really Him?

No, I do not let my 6 month old daughter feed herself, because I know what is best for her.
And I, in turn, need to trust the Lord. Even when that means waiting, waiting, waiting... {that's hard to do}.. Or even when that means accepting what He has placed in my life or taking me through.

 Because He knows what is best for my growth.

"As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all." - Ecclesiates 11:5


"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." - Jeremiah 29:11

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Catching Up

First day of vacation and I'm up at 6:30. What's wrong with this picture?

Nick and Hadley are still asleep, so perfect time to catch up!

Where to start?
Almost three months have come and gone since you and I last chatted. {I wrote; you read} So much to tell you, instead I will just highlight some things I have worked on.

Hadley's baby dedication was beautiful! And it meant so much to feel the love and support of family and friends,.
Here is a little picture of Hadley Grace in on that day:

Looking at this picture now, she seems so tiny then!

Now, for projects...

I am mostly a DIY {Do It Yourself} kind of gal- when and IF possible.

Learning to be a wife and mother who willingly "works with her hands", I've taken up the art of sewing.

I had fallen in love with "knot dresses"and the cute little matching pantaloons. My options were A) buy one dress, or B) for the same price make three! Guess which I chose?
       
{Forgive the not-so-professional blurry photos... this little girl is always moving}

I found a pattern on Etsy and then just made adjustments to my liking. :) See here.

Last week was our church's All-Congregations Camp-Out, and even though we are well into summer the greater Seattle area apparently hasn't received the memo. The weather here is not to be trusted. Thank God for hoodies!

Would you believe I searched high and lo and there were no baby hoodies to be found? And then just when I had almost given  up, I found some on the back clearance rack... on the BOYS side of the store! 

So, how do we turn a boy's hoodie into something girlie? Well, I got inspired by my new friend Amy, over at Evy's Tree... and so I added a little pink owl.

Super cute with her matching bow! Not perfect, but it got the job done. ;o) I may try my hand at one for the 4th of July!Now, before I say goodbye...Since my last post I have stumbled across a few more blogs that I really like... here's one definitely worth sharing:

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