Weekend Togetherness

What a full weekend we've had! I just sat down to transfer pictures to my computer, planning to write about this evening, and I found I had forgotten small, wonderful things we did as a family together. I wonder how many of these tiny, seemingly insignificant moments we experience and forget in our conscious memory, but which hold us together on a much deeper level.

We bought some antique swings a while ago and I've been asking John to put them up. After a trip to Home Depot, he's got one out of the two up, and the children are both loving it! The swing's a little bulky, so they can't go too high, but you wouldn't know it by their squeals of delight! Isabella thinks it's hers, so we have to work with her when it's John Marshall's turn. He's quite understanding, for a big brother. Bella would sit and swing all day if she could...

We've had afternoon showers both yesterday and today. Last evening right before baths John invited the children to join him outside in the rain, and then they were boomed back into the house by a huge clap of thunder!

I've also been somewhat prolific this weekend - I've finally gotten some embroidery floss, after unknowingly using thread and not quite understanding how something so thin could produce some of the beautiful, rich works of art I've seen. I chalked it all up to the colors others used, not the thickness of the thread. Oh, well! I've ordered a book, at Ellie's suggestion, that I'm waiting on. It's called Doodle Stitching. I also got one (don't remember the title) that has lots of knitting projects for use with one skien of yarn. But while I'm waiting for these books I couldn't keep from experimenting a bit...

This one is just for fun - maybe I'll find something to put it on in the future.

This one is for a felt block that I'm making for John Marshall. I copied the owl from The Creative Family. This project seemed really attainable and John Marshall's excited about helping me. He embroidered the other blue square in the picture. We're going to fill it with rice and make it a sort of bean-bag-block. It's really fun to see something actually turn out alright!!

The thing I came to write about in the first place is our pre-bed-and-bath ritual tonight. John was gone playing a soccer game with an over-30 league (snicker, snicker) and I took the children outside to dig in the ground for our garden. It's slow going (we've got plants that are waiting for their places in the ground!) but it's been so much fun having something to go to together and work on. I dressed them in long sleeves and pants because the mosquitos are SO bad right now (Bella's little legs are truly chewed up!) and they both looked so cute I had to take lots of pictures! Here are a few.

We're digging in the backyard in a spot where John spread mulch. It was intended for a play area, which the children never use. So we're moving the mulch to the beds in the front and using the space in the back for the garden. This is all so new to us. We'll see what we can make grow!