summer lovin'

happy summer solstice everyone!

summer is just barely starting here, but i reeeeaaaaaaalllllly appreciated the sunshine and warm temperatures we had today. the kids and i were outside a lot (as long as j could stand it with his allergies). i did a little weeding in the garden and picked some strawberries, and photographed our growing bounty. we repotted some plants, marley made a paper sun for our nature table and i am now off to make homemade whip cream to put on our yummy strawberries! we said a blessing to the fathers at dinner that we had outside with candles. after strawberries we will attend a solstice bonfire down the road. i'm ready for the warm temperatures, but feel a little sad, as i do on summer solstice, about the longest day ending and our shorter days to come.

this week isn't as busy as last week so i have found myself cruising around the internet more. i so appreciate an updated chock full of ideas blog. of course, because of my life, i am attracted to the crafty/mom blogs. i love getting ideas for craft projects for me as well as the kids, or good recipes, or find out about a good book, etc. some recent finds that have me smiling are:

***this awesome hat pattern by betz white. perfect for marley and i, and maybe even a certain almost 12 year old boy :)

***this family friendly music festival blog post on hip mountain mama

***this blog, skip to my lou, has a craft camp to do with kids, yay!

***i'm really looking forward to making strawberry freezer jam again thanks to house on hill road, mmmmmmm........yummy

***thinking about recycling t-shirts, possibly to make a reinvention skirt by maya made (again a great pattern for me and my sweet girl!)

we're looking forward to another friend visiting this summer, and taking that opportunity to see more of oregon. i would love to try our hand with camping again, nothing says summer like camping. we will also hopefully rev up our letterboxing/ hiking. hope you all had a lovely summer's day :)