Scrub a dub dub two kids in a tub

My kids love getting in this green bucket filled with water when I fill up their little wading pool. Not sure what is so great about it, but glad to oblige. We had some fun in the backyard last weekend enjoying the last few weeks of summer!

Outer Banks

We went to the Outer Banks (Duck, NC) for a short vacation with my family to celebrate my dad’s 65th! My parents rented a house with a pool and hot tub and we had a really great time relaxing and exploring the outer banks. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid. But we loved it and definitely plan to return sooner than later. Honestly there were so many good pictures from the weekend it is really hard to just pick a few. So, I’ll do my best to pick the highlights for each of us.

Pierce’s favorite parts of the week were:

Catapulting himself from our bed to Sydney’s blow-up mattress.



The hot tub!



Making everyone (and there were a LOT of us) read him The Bears and the Great Big Storm.



Exploring the dunes.

Spending time with Nana and Papa John.

Sydney loved:

Swimming in the pool.

Climbing the dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park, and then RUNNING back down them multiple times until her cheeks were red and our water bottle was empty.

And playing with her aunts and uncles back at the beach house!

For me the highlights included carrying thirty pounds while I ran up and down the massive dunes.

Spending time with my mom and dad.

Consuming way too many (no need to disclose numbers here) Ducks Donuts on Saturday. They were rolling off the donut-making machine when we got them. Hot and seriously delicious. Seriously.

Brett enjoyed running up and falling down (yes, falling) the dunes with Sydney! Oh, how I wish I’d snapped a picture of Brett tumbling in the sand! It occurred about 2 seconds after this picture!

Seeing a light house (Bodie Isalnd). Not the one he really wanted to see (Hatteras), but it was only ten minutes drive as opposed to 90 minutes, so in my opinion, worth the compromise. Still old, still black and white stripes.

And consuming and equally insane number of Duck Donuts with his wife!

Thanks for the great vacation, mom and dad. Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

I'm so ti-red!

Pierce has the funniest way of pronouncing "tired." Actually he pronounces it the way it is spelled "tye - rud." Which makes me wonder why we adults switch the "e" and the "r" when we say it.... hmmm. Anyway, we just got home from a great week with my family in the Outer Banks (more on that soon). The kids (and the adults) are really beat from all the playing and travel. At lunch today, Pierce had finished eating and was playing around and under the table. Brett and I were engaged in an actual real adult conversation and not really paying any attention to the kids! Brett stopped at one point and said, "Where is Pierce?" I answered, "He's playing under the table... I think." I had just felt him at my feet a few seconds ago. So I leaned my chair back and there he was, snuggled up with Lamb on our not-so-clean kitchen rug, fast asleep. We both started cracking up! Sydney never did anything like that because she has way too much energy. But, this is the second time in the last week Pierce has fallen asleep at (or under) the kitchen table! So funny!

CSA Box Ideas: Fresh Salsa

I don’t know why I have never made my own fresh salsa before this year! It is SO easy and SO delicious. There isn’t really a “recipe” in the traditional sense of the word, but just a flexible list of ingredients to use. Brett and I can easily consume a large cereal bowl of this salsa in one sitting. You have to try this if you have access to fresh/local tomatoes this summer! The only danger: you will likely consume an inordinate amount of tortilla chips while enjoying this fresh and nutritious salsa!

Ingredients:
- Tomatoes (I’ve been using two romas and a large handful of sweet sungold cherry tomatoes. Or one large tomato and a handful of sungolds. Use any kind of tomato you have on hand. Mix and match if you like. The orange and yellow cherry tomatoes add some wonderful color and sweetness that I think is really fabulous. Rinse, coarsely chop and seed the tomatoes as best you can.)
- Peppers (I’ve been using about a half or a quarter of a green pepper depending on the size, and a half of a hot pepper like a jalapeño. It depends how HOT you like it! Mine is pretty medium. Rinse and seed – careful with those jalapeño seeds. Owee! Don’t touch your eyes!)
- Onion (about a half an onion, no need to chop)
- Cilantro (a small handful, rinsed)
- Fresh lime juice (about a half or a quarter of a lime)
- Salt and pepper

(Oops... I took this picture before I added our beautiful sungold cherry tomatoes.)

Dump all your ingredients into your food processor, pulse until it’s all chopped up (about 5 seconds) and you’re done! Enjoy! I promise you won’t have any leftovers, but if you do, they’ll keep for a few days in the fridge.

PS - If I don’t seed the tomatoes very well, mine is a little watery, but you can just drain some of the juice off really quickly before you serve.

The naked dance

What's more fun on a hot summer day than stripping off your wet clothes from playing in the water table and dancing around (almost) naked? Nothing!

First day of Kindergarten!

(That's Sydney's bus behind us. She didn't ride today, but next week.)

Sydney started kindergarten today! It was the first day of a staggered entry week for kindergarteners, so she will not go back again until next Monday when they place her into a class. She had a great day today and was (thankfully) all smiles when I picked her up at the carpool line. I left a little note in her lunch box this morning, and the first thing out of her mouth when she got in the car was, "Thank you for the note you left in my lunch, mommy. I kept it. I did not throw it out." So cute!

She read for her teachers and did some patterns and numbers so they could evaluate her and place her appropriately. She told me she read all the words they asked her to on all the pages. She knew every one.

She got a new backpack in the mail today (arrived too late for school, of course), so she'll get to use that starting next week. It's blue with butterflies and it has her name on it! I let Sydney pick out the outfit she wore today. It's one I bought last week at Naartjie (they have some really cute summer items on sale, FYI!). Very light-weight, cute, comfy. Perfect for the first day. I was so thankful she didn't chose a ridiculously fancy dress, because I told her she could pick the outfit!

We are both SAD to not have her home with us all day anymore, but time marches on, and we've just got to go with the changes each stage of life brings. Knowing how Sydney will thrive in school makes it easier to look forward with joy instead of backwards with sadness. She loves to learn, to read, and to be challenged academically and creatively. Here's to a great year, Sydney Lou!

Next week's adventure: the bus!