Summer continued ...

Yep. Still loving summer!
 I'm getting projects done around the house that have been building up over the year. 
I'm having actual quiet times in the mornings all to myself because my kids no longer get up at 6:30am to hit the ground running. (Puberty has got to be good for something!) 
I've actually bothered to polish my nails after 16 years of motherhood. Now I'm on a quest to find what will last the longest.
I love that we have air conditioning but I also love that I can sit outside on the porch. 

I have been cooking up a storm! I'm totally in mother hen mode. I cluck around the house sweeping the floor, pitting cherries and making dinner. Sometimes I'll be making lunch and dinner at the same time because somebody already starts asking what I'm serving for the next meal before we're even done with the one we're eating!

We're also going for walks, bike rides and making sure to include fun outings in and around town. This week Zanna's in a half day art camp. Will enjoys having an excuse to drive and gets out of bed just so he can drive her the 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back home again. Too bad I have to go with - he's got a learner's permit essentially. But then we have some bonding time! 

These are a few of my favourite things:

After picking a ton of local strawberries, I was desperate to figure out what to do with them in a hurry. I made two batches of freezer jam, strawberry waffle topping, frozen pureed cubes for smoothies, and 3 ingredient no church strawberry ice cream. Take my word for it - totally worth it!!!

Neighbours who give you cherries from their cherry tree. So one Sunday afternoon unexpectedly turned into a pie making day for me. I went all out and channeled my inner Donna Reed and made homemade pie crust for the two pies I made out of those red and juicy lovelies. With cherries still left over, I boiled them down to make some pie filling that I used later in the week for cherry cobbler. 

My 16 year old gopher - who ran across the street at 10pm to buy ice cream to go with the cherry cobbler I had decided to make at 9:45 that night. 

Vanilla Almond Granola - mixed with Greek yogurt and berries ... yum!

SunBum Lip Balm- in coconut and key lime because why wouldn't you want your lips to taste like dessert?!!! 

Wendy's 99 cent Frosty deal. 'nuff said. 

The local stripper bar closed down.  My mama taught me to always pray: Lord, please let that den of sin burn down but not so anyone gets hurt. Your will be done. Amen. There was no fire (that I know of) but it closed last March after what was advertised as a special St. Patricks Day celebration. Now the building has been demolished completely. Yay! (hopefully not to be rebuilt bigger and better) 

So I guess that my favourite things tend to lean toward food - except for that last one. 

Just so we don't sit around and eat and drive each other nuts all summer, I was mean and put Zanna in a spelling bee. Thankfully she likes to spell! It was her first one and she did a great job - she won in her division! FYI - her final winner word was perhaps. 

And I'm an equal opportunity mean mom so I signed Will up for four 10 hour days of National Lifesaving Society training. He's now a licensed lifeguard for both NLS and the American Red Cross. Now he just has to get a job! 

I've tried to explain to the kids that boredom isn't a problem for me - I always have stuff to do like make their next meal, for instance. But I loved the mentor/accountability group I was a part of for 4 weeks and am working on a post from what I learned from that. 

And Wayne has a job that doesn't take a break in the summer so he keeps going and I send him iCal notifications when he needs to schedule a family outing with us. 

Yep. Still loving summer!