10 Things I Love About Summer

# 10. Running around scantily-clad outdoors.

Seriously, maybe this should be #1.







#9. An emergence of interesting creativity.

Exhibit A.


And genuine creativity- Exhibit B.



#8. Staying up LATE!

...Let's have a shout-out for night owls! Holla'!



#7. Strawberries.

Fresh. Hood variety. Mine. Need I say more?



#6 Yard work.

Okay... not so much fun, sometimes, but definitely rewarding!

Doug has to mow the lawn with these crazies following right behind. Daddy even instigated a ritual lawn mowing conga-line that they mimic. It's great entertainment for Mommy. My favorite part is when he backs up and they all go over like dominoes. (Unholy glee.)


These guys are showin' some love. They surprised us by coming to fill-in yard holes for us on a Saturday morning. It was truly awesome. At least a day's worth of work done in an hour, plus some good fun! Can't beat it! And now it looks less as if we are testing missiles in the front yard.


Pretty sure Doug just won this contest... for whatever that's worth...
...Oh my gosh, really, if I had known this face was possible on my beloved, he may not have made the marriage-cut...



#5. Sibling rivalry.

Okay, not really my favorite, but an honest part of summer, no?
This is open, bruised skin from the combined ministrations of Evie and Bun-Bun. Seriously, that thing looks innocent, but it packs a punch. Sterling showed the neighbor and he asked Sterling if his Momma had walloped him. :) ...Well, not yet anyway...



#4. Fresh flowers.

I really wish your computer screen had scratch and sniff, because the lavender with this scent of rose is intoxicating. This rose bush is the only one that survived the yard razing. Can't wait until the planting phase begins around here, but there is much more work to be done before that day! I'm just thrilled with what I find actually growing around here.



#3. Fresh local produce.

We got 20# of fresh Bings last weekend and we ate- oh, lots! But I also canned some for fall-time Cherry Apple Crisps and froze some for smoothies. Really looking forward to the apricots coming up soon!



#2. Prolific herbs in my cutting garden.

There are no words to describe my euphoria when I cut some fresh herbs for dinner. It gives me warm-fuzzies... and happy taste buds...





#1. Fresh strawberry crêpes avec crème fraîche (click for link).

Maybe I could have linked this in with fresh strawberries, but no. This one needs a ranking all it's own. I don't generally love strawberries, but I am excessively partial to these and Doug can put these suckers down! I put the recipe link up there so you can see what I'm talking about, but please, use real strawberries, people.



Happy Summer!

Mathematical Formula on How to Get to Jesus

Sterling found a mathematical riddle online yesterday, which he copied out on paper and then asked me what the answer was, pointing out the fine-print caveat at the bottom that I only "get two guesses." He was duly impressed by my mad math skillz... He then stated his intention of leaving it out to ask Dad when he got home. Unfortunately, Sterling was in bed before Doug got home and didn't get a chance to show him and apparently, Doug didn't find it until the wee hours this morning when he was up getting ready for work. Thus, in my email box this morning was an email, entitled: Sterling's Plan to get to Jesus," from Doug:

"I found the attached on the counter and laughed out loud. I don't know what it's all about, but it looks like Sterling's math equation on how to "get to Jesus." Can you fill me in?"

I'm pretty sure my laughter was louder, and perhaps more unholy, than Doug's.

And apparently, the response to the great question of mankind and the universe is... nine.

Boy, Oh Boy!

This baby is trouble from the start! I mean, I really don't know what we were expecting... this is a Church Baby afterall. Church Babies are bound to kick up some dust; do exactly what they intend to do, not what is expected of them. Especially not what is expected of them; like being the final girl in a lovely pattern of boy, girl, boy, girl. That would be too much to ask of the average Church Baby...

Indeed, while our novice sonographer was zipping around my belly with the wand, trying to get the Church Baby to cooperate in a photo-conducive position, it wasn't hard to spot the tell-tale sign of a boy. I'm pretty sure Doug had to sit down to take in the news. He was so 100% convinced it was a girl, that he allowed no other thoughts to enter his mind.



This morning's shocking revelation was quite a blow for him.

Over the last few months, we've had several conversations that went more-or-less like this:

Church Baby Daddy: Can you feel her moving around in there? Is she kicking?
Church Baby Mommy: You realize it could be a boy, right?
Church Baby Daddy: No. It's a girl. ...Where is your faith?
Church Baby Mommy: Yeah... but what if it's a boy?
Church Baby Daddy: It's not a boy.

Thus, between his obviously convincing arguments, and his Jedi mind tricks, we began calling it "she." The kids have been calling it "she." I even bought a completely irresistible baby girl onesie at the store that had an attached tutu (how sick am I, right?). Evany even convinced me that, while we were buying a couple of plastic cups, I should buy another princess one for the baby. We were in too deep.

And so it was that we went blithely to our ultrasound appointment today, expecting to see the culmination of all our positive thinking, only to walk out completely bewildered. Our best-laid plans of two boys in one room, and two girls in the other crumbled to the ground.

And yet, despite all of this logical disruption, my heart was happy. I had felt that there was another boy for our family and the thought of having a daughter, and then being done, made me (in my reflective moments) incalculably sad and empty. For whatever reason we didn't get the anticipated double-X chromosome mixture, it was meant to be. This unexpected Church Baby was meant to be our Church Baby- and I am glad. Doug is glad. We have a "perfect" baby growing inside the Church Baby Mommy Motel and what more can we ask for than that?


During the ultrasound, the baby continuously had his thumb in his mouth. He also began the session in the typical head-down position, and then turned absolutely sideways in my tummy, and then flipped 180° and laid sideways the other way. The technician had a very difficult time getting a good profile picture. She said he is trouble. Like we thought otherwise...


His legs were up by his head for a little while too. Oh, to be so flexible again! While the technician was trying to get a profile shot, we saw his little mouth open and close two or three times and then he promptly inserted his thumb again. Now we know why it's so hard to get the kids to stop sucking their thumbs- it begins in utero!

Doug confessed that he'd had some clue it might be a boy when I tried to pin him down last week to come up with at least one boy's name that we liked. When I showed him the list, one name stood out, and he really liked it immediately (totally unusual for Doug, especially when they are names that I've picked). Within a half an hour, we had agreed upon a boy's name, but we were both still a little unsure about the girl's name that had taken all 5 months to pick. He was shaken, but not convinced, so he said nothing of these thoughts to me until today when his premonition was confirmed.

When I told the kids that the baby was a boy and told them that he was going to be baby Eamon, Sterling laughed and made a pun that neither of us had thought of (which, frankly, was rather a good one), and after all my joking about bad names to put with the last name "Church..." *sigh* Sterling said, "Eamon?! Like amen??" Laughter from all of the kids ensued, me included. Amen Church... How did it happen...? At least it is really more A-mun than a-MEN; hopefully the pronunciation distinction is enough.

Note: Last week's baby-gender guessing poll closed at 58% (14 votes) in favor of a girl, 41% (10 votes) in favor of a boy.