Castle building 101

Life has been ridiculously busy and yesterday was the worst yet (of this week anyway) so even though I have a ridiculous amount of work to do (like say, get the house undone from yesterday's adventure~to be revealed, btw~ and prepare for our upcoming week long house guest), I am TIRED and it is ridiculously hot out so I can only muster the energy to sit in front of the fan and write a ridiculously long post about a recent project the childer have been working on and to see how many times I can fit the word "ridiculous" (in any form) into one ridiculously redundant paragraph.

Yes~this heat IS getting to me. Why do you ask?!

Andrew found this book at the library and, as is often the case with books, was spurred on to creating one himself. Of course, being the crafty gal that she is, Corynn jumped right on that bandwagon.


So the castle project began and I tried very.very.very hard to let the kiddos do their thing without taking over the project (being the crafty girl that I am can sometimes create a problem when Mama starts making things "just so").

So the children gathered the supplies. Glued. Colored. Painted. Taped. Folded. Drew bricks. Cut brick slits for the castle top. Strung the drawbridge. Cut and made flags. Made water. Grew grass. And generally took over. (I never knew my children could grow grass and make water~the things you learn!)

I wielded an Xacto knife and glue gun for the small bit of "tough stuff" and then sat back and let them have at it.


We haven't done every project in the book. We may NEVER do the people and horses, since Playmobile people work so lovely with it. (THANK YOU PLAYMOBILE!) But I don't doubt that there will be a church and battle tent in our very near future.

They DID make the stable, though.

What is a castle without a place to put the horses? Andrew took over the stable project...

while Corynn made the flags.

And Papa took over the popsicle stick catapult project (his own design, not the one in the book). The kids didn't help with the catapult but have sure made USE of it! Cheerios are great ammunition by the way, especially for catapults with this much....power.

It can take people out across the room.


So you boys had better watch out.


Andrew painted the grass and Corynn made water from aluminum foil painted blue and plastic wrap.

They both did an awesome job brick-laying. The key to good brick laying is two on one and one on two, by the way.

Andrew says we need some alligators for the moat.


And since I am a homeschool Mama, and since ANYTHING fun can also be educational~ I went searching for some books on the subject. Maybe the children will find a few MORE projects to do for their castle. ;-)

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle

Days of the Knights

Living in Castle Times

The Knights Handbook

Living in a Castle

Knights and Castles

Castles

Fingerlings

Little girl turning young lady.

She's been begging to learn to crochet. I kept delaying because I thought she was too young; it would be too hard for her to understand; she wouldn't have the patience to follow through.

Why do I always assume the worst, I wonder?

If it is too hard for her to understand, she will learn that knowledge needs to be sought after, worked towards. If she lacks the patience, what better way to grow it? And who am I to put an AGE on interests?! sheesh.


On a day that was about 98 degrees, when I had no energy but to sit and have a fan blowing hot air on me, I finally gave in and figured the lesson would last about five minutes.

Instead, she worked alongside me for nearly an hour while I was crocheting myself. I know my girl. I know that part of the drive she had was simply to sit and be with me (big girls still yearn for snuggles) and another part came from the deep, great desire to do something worthwhile, something with the distinct air of grown-up-ness.

She fills pockets of time by the window with her little tin full of pink yarn and blue crochet hook. She anxiously wonders if her tension is good enough to start the next step---single crochet.

She is becoming more full of grown-up-ness by the day.

It makes me proud and secretly, a wee bit sad.

Climbing Smooch Mountain

It's a doozie to get to the top...

but well worth the effort when you finally reach it.

7 more weeks to go.

Wedding Sneak Peak

Please understand that, while this post is excessively full of photographs, I showed enormous restraint in narrowing it down to only these.

I could say a lot about this beautiful day and beautiful people behind it, but I will let the pictures do the talking...

And true to fashion, I saved best for last.

My most favorite shot of the day~ call it "Photographers' Choice" if you will:

What I learned from shooting my first wedding:

* Weddings make me want to get married again. Same man, same dress....but again. Every weekend. (pretty please, Mattie?)

* Matt is not only capable of keeping our three children alive in my full-days absence, but thriving.

* Always wear reliable shoes (or bring spares). I found this out when my shoes broke within the first 30 minutes of the bride getting ready. I had to go barefoot through most of the wedding. Thankfully (and amazingly), it was an outdoor wedding and the family are all sorta free-spirited like that anyway. Talk about sweating it.

*I need another memory card. One is just not enough. I know because I didn't get to snarf any food because while everyone was eating, I was deleting excess photos to make room for the other half of the wedding pictures still yet to take. Talk about looking like the amateur that I am!

* You don't need to convince brides and grooms to pucker up for a picture. On the contrary, most of the time I was an uninvited guest into their romantic interludes.

*Excessive hand gesturing and many smiles work well at conveying messages to those who do not speak English.

*I need to research whether in the Korean culture it is taboo to kiss on cheeks. Didn't think anything of it until the bride's parents got all weirded out by my suggestion. oops.

* You can SEE love in eye sparkles.

* Timing never goes according to plan before a wedding. Plan to compensate. ( I knew this already from my OWN wedding, so I didn't get all panicky when the bride came 20 minutes before the wedding to get dressed. Not as much time to get bridal portraits and NO time to get groom portraits, but hey. I got getting DRESSED shots anyway!)

* Ladders are a photographers best friend.

* 8 month pregnant women who photograph entire weddings like they are not carrying around 30 extra pounds and get in all sorts of weird positions for the perfect shot will have very, VERY sore thigh muscles for three days afterward. Maybe four. Let's just say Matt has been calling my Grandma and I can't say as I blame him.

* ain't no way, ain't no how I can host a July 4th party on the heels of shooting a wedding. Thankfully, though I considered it long and hard, I didn't find this out the HARD way.

* Matt is way better than I am at getting stranded with a blown out tire in the middle of No man's land Pennsylvania game lands with three children, in 90 degree weather, and a donut tire whose rusty cable is making the release of said donut impossible, with only his muscles and a little leatherman. Thank you Lord, it wasn't me.

* Editing hundreds of photos is exhausting.

* Choosing FAVORITES from hundreds of photos is exhausting.

* I can proudly say I CAN do weddings, I DID do a wedding and I am happy with the results I got (and hopeful the bride and groom will be pleased too). A HUGE milestone for me. yay. (YAY being, of course, a huge understatement)

____________________________________________

I will post a FEW favorites from this weekends' wedding in a day or two-when I decide which ARE my favorites.

I do solemnly swear, though against my natural instinct, NOT to post all 600 photos.

You have my word.

And my word is my bond.

Things of Beauty...

...may your weekend be brimful of them.

Just....stuff

I planted this rose bush last year and it gave me two of the most radiant, jaw-droppingly beautiful blooms ever.

This year, I get two more.

I know nothing of roses but my guess is that the plant hasn't grown larger because I cut the blooms last year, not giving the poor thing time enough to acclimate? So this year I promised I wouldn't bring them in, no matter how much I wanted to... I have been having quite the inner struggle to keep from cutting these blooms, let me tell you!

Only two-but what a couple they are!

Rose #1 looked like this:







and Rose #2:

Started out looking like this~


and ended up looking like this~


Other randomness~

~I finally tackled the craft room, the last room that needed a good tidy. Now that THAT is under control, I am determined to start a crafty project this coming week, even if it is just cutting fabric out. Picking fabric. Picking a project-I don't care. I am GOING to do SOMETHING. It has been too long for my own good.

~I haven't posted a recipe on my kitchen blog in almost a year. That is just sad. I *will* be doing better at that. It hasn't been that I haven't been cooking. In fact, I even have half a dozen or so photographed foods-but I never wrote down the recipe, thinking "Oh, I'll remember until tonight when I post it" and then never did. And now I kinda sorta FORGET the recipes. But no more. Promise.

~You don't think I am serious? This morning I made tropical banana bread (oh my!), a batch of homemade bisquick mix, some no-bake cookies and some rolls. They will all be going in Kitchen Riches by MONDAY. (There a time limit!)

~I am crossing my fingers and toes that Matt and I can squeeze in a date or two before Smooch arrives. Dates pretty much don't happen these days. I am lucky to get 2 or 3 a year and those, only going out to dinner. But the rush always happens before a new baby is born. It got me thinking about places to eat out which got me thinking about Texas Roadhouse which got me to thinking about their bread and honey cinnamon butter which led me to a google search which then forced me to get all floury this morning. Just popped 'em out of the oven and they are just as pillow-y as the restaurant variety. Gonna make the butter in a bit and then I am going to eat more bread with dinner than anything else. I can't wait to try them. Do you KNOW how exciting it will be to be able to make those MYSELF?!?
If they work out, they ALSO will be going to Kitchen Riches.

~Blue and green look nice together, no? I started a sweater, this very one, except using blue and green HOMESPUN. I took the children to the park yesterday and laid out my picnic blanket and brought out the yarn and hook, hoping to get some crocheting done while children played. HA! How do some mothers do that? I have a 19 month old who tries to periodically kill herself on mammoth slides and firepoles and don't even get me started around water.

~Saturday is THE wedding. THE wedding in which I am getting paid to single-handedly capture the very essence and beauty of a union of two souls and two families. I am scared. to. death. On a good note~it is an outdoor wedding and the forecast says all golden skies. Everyone knows how I *HATE* taking photos inside with bad lighting. HALLELUJAH!

~Some of our tomato plants are nearly as tall as I am. Seriously, that says A LOT.

~I love fresh pineapple. And we are having some with dinner. YUM-o.

~We survived our first (and hopefully last) tornado last week. The week Matt was out of town. It wrecked havok on our road but didn't touch the house (though it felt like a different story at the time) and totally missed our trees, barns, animals, etc. Plan to get some photos but there are all sorts of wreckage clean-up men who will probably not find too much amusement in a shutter-happy pregnant woman getting in their way. Or maybe they would. Either way-I wouldn't.

That's all for now!