Roofing Crew

Summer "vacation" came in with a BANG this year and it didn't start with vacation.

It started with a roof job.

We've needed a new roof for a several years.  We've had tax return money set aside to do it since last spring.  But the job seemed too big to squeeze into life for quite some time.  

With the prices of building supplies (everything!) going up so quickly these days, I knew we needed to make it a priority before the money we had saved for supplies wouldn't be enough to cover them anymore.  

Easy for the person who is NOT working on the roof to say we need to make it a priority, I know.  

But these guys are some of the hardest workers I know and when they decide to do something, they do it.  They got the whole job (except a few tiny loose ends) done in a SINGLE DAY.  They were absolute BEASTS.

I love that our boys are growing up to emulate these fine, hard-working men.  

I love that the young guys keep up with the older fellas (and vice versa).  

I love that three generations were all helping out; one big, happy family.

I love the exceptional work ethic and dedication they all show to get the job done and done well.  

I love that Corynn's fella, Kemuel, is gifted at swinging a hammer and wanted to be a part of things.

I love the practical knowledge of how to maintain a home on your own that is so abundant around here, a home culture that the boys drink up daily.  

And I love not having to strategically place bowls around the house when it rains. 

Now if only animals would stop eating it...

All the photos from garden-getting-in-day look entirely too chipper to accurately represent our feelings at the end of the day.  Probably because I only had the idea to snap photos within the first hour of working.  

But the end of the day, ain't nobody was about to ask for a free hug from me...

That's exhaustion, not rage.

Putting in the garden never takes just one day- more like a week.  And it happened to be the hottest, driest week (and month to follow) of any spring I can remember.  Very few (if any) seedlings even sprouted.  I never got to plant potatoes, instead opting for a profuse (Lord willing) pumpkin patch.  I think I will have to rely on storebought corn this year which leaves a large chunk of the garden useless at this point, but planting corn three times is a bit much.  (I might though.)  My cutting flower gardens may wind up just being weeds and already animals have eaten the tops off of almost all of my pepper plants and some of my tomatoes.  (Turns out, having a dog cuts down on the wildlife.  I knew it!)

Ah, the trials and triumphs of garden season.  And, of course, the oft-needed reminder that even our best efforts to grow and flourish things are still entirely contingent upon the Lord's will and good graces.  It is HE who makes the harvest and not we ourselves.  

It was awfully cute seeing Moses pushing around Matt's childhood wheelbarrow and thinking on how the Lord made a harvest of children from one little towheaded, wheelbarrow pushin' country boy, many years ago.

Speaking of Moses- he asked if he could have a piece of paper in order to write his name and I, being the distracted and busy, hastily shoved the companion planting reference paper at him, knowing he would likely scribble the thing to bits.  "Great idea, Moses!  Go for it!"  I had too much to do to care (gardening Mothers understand) and zero expectations of him forming a single letter on his own as he hadn't ever done so in the past.

And then a bit later he showed me the paper with perfectly formed letters that he had written out himself (and remembered the spelling order!) and boy howdy was I surprised!  What a little genius!  He doesn't even need a homeschool mother!  :-)

Procrastination is Key (and an Evening Stroll)

This week is the finish line for the homeschool year.  Portfolios must be done by Monday and paperwork submitted by the end of next week.  My goal every year, of course, is to set things aside for the portfolio as the year progresses.  Wouldn't that make things so much easier?  Why yes, yes it would.  A novel idea, for sure.  AND YET, never have I ever done that.

So, like the haze left from the Canadian wildfires, I search through the smog of this past year for proof that this was a year full of learning and growing, knowledge and maturation.  (I don't remember what I did last week, let alone last year sooooooo....)

It only makes sense, then, that I procrastinate from this very  necessary (and fast approaching) deadline by blogging photos of an evening stroll.  Incidentally, I didn't want to do that either- (I was so tired.  It was a long day.  I just wanted ice cream. And to put my feet up.) but I was better for it in the end.  

Maybe portfolios are like that too?

WHO taught him that trick?

(Oh, he thinks he is SOOOOOO hilarious.)