That brown thing on the leaf is a giant ass spider. |
My two traveling companions always willing to scope out first what is yet to come. |
That brown thing on the leaf is a giant ass spider. |
My two traveling companions always willing to scope out first what is yet to come. |
The windows are open for the first time in months. The temperatures yesterday and today are well below the average for this time of year, and I gladly welcome the respite from the oppressive heat and humidity summertime brings. Like laundry hung on a line, one of my greatest homemaking joys is opening the windows for the first time after a long season of intense heat or frigid temperatures. There is something so satisfying in feeling the air make its way through the house supplying it with a deep gulp freshness that swallows the staleness stagnating everywhere.
To see my curtains billowing and to hear all of the everyday (and night) noises that exist outside the confines of my home is a welcome change that always lifts my spirits.
How I love open windows in my home!
The heat is returning though. In a few days the temperatures are expected to be in the low 90's again. With that will come closed windows again and central air turned on, but for now I will relish in the feeling of fresh air filtering its way through the confines of this house. Thankfully, summer is almost over here. The days of multiple open window days (even weeks!) is almost upon me. For now, I will cherish these two days that gave me an unexpected glimpse of what is just around the bend.
Thank the gods that summer is almost(ish) over. Y'all know how I feel about summer in the South. It is usually uncomfortably hot through September with a day or two of refreshing temperatures towards the end of the month. I feel like fall doesn't truly get here until October, BUT the fact that I can say that I made it to this point means that I have made through half of May, all of June and July, and the beginning of August. so I can safely say that I am almost through it.
With August comes Elizabeth's birthday and a rush of that back-to-school chaos that I love. Soccer season begins too, for both Josh and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is playing on a club team this year. She finally decided that she wanted to get more serious about playing soccer during her final year of eligibility (go figure), so we'll be traveling a bit for her and a bit more for Josh who is also entering his final soccer playing season.
Josh moves back to school in less than a week while Sarah moves back to school in a little under two weeks. I am excited for both of them to be moving forward and being one step closer to their goals of receiving degrees. Andy is finishing up his first class at the aviation school he is attending, and appears to be doing really well, so although he began classes in July, it is still so new that it seems like he is beginning his own 'back to school' experience as well.
Pretty soon the house will be quiet(er) again. With Andy gone Monday - Thursday evenings and then working some of the time outside of those days, it will just be me, Bobby, and Elizabeth here most of the time. It will be a new normal to get used to, but one in which we can adjust to.
Decorating her binder covers. |
This year's schoolbooks. |
My last Erin Condren school planner. |
Meet Heron |
At her graduation ceremony at the end of the two-week bootcamp. |
Playing tug-of-war. |
Miles happy as a hippo with his new best friend. |
We arrived home last night after a brief trip back to Ohio. We drove up north to attend the wedding of a cousin on Bob's side of the family. The groom is a young man of just 22 and his bride is 20. He chose to get married at 4 pm on a Tuesday which isn't the most guest friendly time or day considering that most people would have to take time off of work to attend, but it was what he and his bride wanted, and so those of us that attended made the appropriate arrangements to be there.
The young couple had a small wedding budget, so I knew that this was not going to be a traditional American wedding where gobs of money is spent on a party that lasts just a few hours, but I wasn't sure if it was going to a very guest friendly wedding having only the inconvenience of the day and time of the wedding to try and foretell what the rest of the event was going be like.
I am happy to report that their wedding was a beautiful, perfect event made of all of the things that a wedding should be - family and fun, love and laughter. The young couple was glowing - especially the groom - and it was evident that they will make a good match for life if they should choose to grow together and commit to life as a married couple.
The vibe of the wedding was great. There were times during the afternoon where most of the guests were up on the dance floor enjoying themselves immensely - which says something considering that it was a dry wedding, and most people did not have the liquid courage we usually rely on at weddings to get ourselves out on the dance floor.
The bride looked so beautiful. Her wedding gown made her look like a princess. The decor was rustic which fit perfectly with the venue which was a lodge surrounded by woods. White lights hung in the dark wooden rafters both at the ceremony space and the reception area. Burlap and mason jars with origami birds made up the table decor completed with greenery snaking its way among the mason jars. The groom's sister made the cupcakes and the single tiered wedding cake that the bride and groom cut.
There was no garter toss or bouquet toss - which I don't think anyone missed or even noticed the absence of. There was a father-of-the-bride dance and a mother-of-the-groom dance along with a maid-of-honor speech (given by the bride's sister) and a best man speech (given by the groom's brother) all of which was sweet to watch and listen to.
The wedding was exactly what a wedding should be. It was a celebration of the beginning of a new life for the young couple without all of the unnecessary frills and expenses that make up most American weddings today. Nothing was over the top, but it was still a comfortable guest experience - which I think is equally important.
The crazy thing, for me, about this wedding is that this young man is the oldest of four children all about 2 years apart - the same as my children. My kids and their cousins spent a good amount of time together when we lived in Ohio - especially when they were all toddlers and preschoolers. The groom was born one month after Josh, Sarah and the groom's oldest younger brother are nine months apart, Elizabeth and the groom's sister are two months apart, and the groom's youngest brother came two and a half years after the girls were born. Their family and ours spent many an afternoon playing together, hiking, accessing nature parks all the while expanding our families together until they were complete.
To see the groom side-by-side with his three siblings - all grown up - was pretty emotional for me. He is now going to go on and create his own nucleus - his own family - and will leave behind the one in which he was raised by. This hit me so hard because I know that this journey will also happen in my own nuclear family sooner rather than later. To look up at those four kiddos all grown up was such a visual reminder that time does indeed march on. So often time seems invisible until we come face to face with something like a wedding, and we can see very clearly, that while time seemed hidden, it was very much there growing these babies into children, and now young adults ready to begin their own lives in their own ways. And while I may think that time only affected these four cousins, I know that my children have also grown, and one day it will be my four children standing side-by-side at a wedding or commitment ceremony for one of their own.
I cannot believe how they have grown. It seems like just yesterday they were babies, and in the blink of an eye they have grown into these eight unique, amazing humans. It is such a bittersweet thing for this mama heart. I am both so happy for these eight children and yet, so very, very sad that this part of our lives is coming to a close. These eight little babies are getting ready to fly the nest and take some of their mamas' hearts with them.