The Swim Princess turns Eight...and Mommy makes a Pool Cake!

My second baby had a birthday last Saturday. She turned eight...thankfully not fourteen! We let her open her family presents in the morning, because patience is still a hard-fought-for virtue in this house...and hey, that's just what we do!

My thanks was a kiss from the dog! (not really)

Actually, Grace wouldn't stop thanking her daddy & I for her presents...it was so sweet!

Then it was on to Grace's pool party, which she had been talking about non-stop fuh-evah! Which means that I had been cleaning and improving our home a little too much (can you say *cough* frustrated perfectionist *cough*) Well, I am much improved from my previous self...

So, the house was clean, except for the nasty, hairy cat chair (doesn't something always get missed?) and the kids arrived, and it was a wonderful party. The weather was windy and a little on the cool side, but the kids had fun getting in the pool, squealing about how cold it was, getting out of the pool, jumping on the trampoline, and then getting back in the pool. I edited the other kids out of the pictures to protect their privacy, but really, they were there! =)

The fun part for me, with a little anxiety thrown in for kicks, was making the cake. We decided to make a pool cake to fit the theme of her party. At first, I was just going to frost it blue and call it done. Then while looking for party ideas, I saw a picture of a pool cake with, of all things, blue Jell-O! Why not? So I made the cake, and we made cupcakes, too, because I had made this cute three tiered cupcake stand, so we had to have cupcakes to put on it! Rachel frosted and decorated the cupcakes (which came out super-cute...she even put bathing suits and sunglasses on the teddy grahams!) and I worked on the cake, which was not without it's disasters. Poor Craig got an earful the night before the party and I had to apologize to him later. But by the grace of God and the miracle of frosting, it all came together, and yes, I did get that Jell-O to become a pool. The 8 year olds were impressed, my 8 year old was impressed, and that's all that mattered to me!

What could make a day like that any better? Going out to dinner...to one of Grace's favorite places, "Good Times." In fact, we went there for her birthday dinner last year. It looks like a 50's diner, with lots of movie memorabilia and "I Love Lucy" episodes playing on the TV. The food is fantastic, too. We always have a good time when we go there (oh, sorry about the pun)!

So, that's Grace's birthday. She is eight now. Oh, how the years go by!

I love you, Boo!

I started it...she finished me

Me to Grace: "Just to let you know, you cannot turn eight this weekend. I forbid it. Seven is a nice number."


Grace to Me: "I could turn fourteen."

Our Garden of Promise

We have a garden again this year. I'm very excited. Last year, we planted a garden in the only spot our one acre will allow us to...a sloping plot of ground towards the front of our property. The garden did okay for a first effort, but this year, Farmer Beloved & I were determined to do better!


We borrowed our neighbor/friend's rototiller, and Farmer B got to work. Truth is, the work was hard, but I think he had fun with that rototiller! Then we, I mean he, surrounded the garden with chicken wire to keep out the wild rabbits that hang around here. They'll not be free-mealing off my veggies!


Here's Gardener Grace and Gardener Rachel helping plant the seeds.

Before long, Grace disappeared, and it was the three of us planting.

So far, we've planted tomatoes, green peppers, basil, carrots, red and yellow onions, radishes, garlic, green onions, potatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, green beans, corn, and an artichoke plant (we're told they do very well here). Later in the year, when the weather cools, we have lettuce and other seeds still to plant after we harvest what's in the garden now.

My favorite time is the very first veggie that is harvested to be eaten. It always tastes the best! Isn't it wonderful that even with our average gardening skills (well, I will say that Farmer B is awesome at most things), and soil that is nothing to brag about, yet God still blesses our efforts with these amazing vegetables, providing us with food from our own garden, that we for a season, don't have to go out and buy. I'm even thinking of learning how to can and store the excess so we can use it later on...isn't that a kick? 

Here's myself and Farmer Beloved after working hard in the garden (you can guess who worked harder!)

Don't you love our hats? Sooo stylish, and they protect our heads from burning. I wear mine every time I go outside now...I just wish I could keep it from blowing off my head when the wind picks up!

Oh, and for those of you that think you need a big space to garden, container gardening is the "in" thing to do right now. So go buy yourself a couple of large, cheap teracotta pots, throw some mixed seeds or plants in there...you could even have a themed pot, like a pizza pot or herb pot...and get gardening!

Berries!

These are homegrown berries. There would have been more in this bowl when I took the picture, but they were so delicious, some got eaten before I could get the shot!

Now, if we can only keep the pesky birds from snitching them off the vines!

They finished well...

School is out, summer has begun (officially this weekend, I think) and I am here to tell you that my girls finished well...very well. We pulled them out of public school with six more weeks to go, and put them in a Christian
co-op home school. What an amazing blessing! We had already made the decision to home school them next year, but being able to transition them now was such a gift. It was not without it's drama, tears and difficulties, but God just worked through all that in wonderful ways.


These pictures are of the last two days of school. The first group is where the school spends the day at this beautiful, local place with a large swimming pond, sandy beach, palm trees...hard to imagine such a place exists where we live! =) The kids had a blast, swimming, catching frogs, kayaking, just having fun with one another.

The last day of school was for graduation and awards, and for receiving their character quality certificates. This was all new for my kids...they never received character certificates with Bible verses from public school! Grace's character quality was "determination" and Rachel's was "joy" - how special that in just that short time with these teachers, they were able to see these qualities demonstrated in my girls!


Both girls also received Gold Level Honor Roll certificates, which means they each earned 4.0 on their report cards. They were super excited about that, Rachel for finally getting straight A's, and Grace for finally getting letter grades on her report card!


Here's what made their mommy cry, though. They showed a video during the morning's event, and in it, they asked the kids how they wanted to be remembered, or known by others as. Grace said, "I am a very sweet girl." Rachel said, "I am a fierce lover of God." How awesome that God is not only shaping their brains, but more importantly shaping their hearts as well!

(This is how sad they were that school was out for the summer!)

So, now I officially have a 7th and a 3rd grader. How do I feel about that? Ask me in August. For now, I'm going to enjoy my lazy, summer, swimming, reading, playing, loving, silly girls. Thank you, God, for entrusting them to my care. They sure are special!