playing in waterfalls on the 4th of July

With the relentless heat we've been experiencing in NC this month, we decided that an appropriate way to celebrate the 4th of July would be wet. While I'm sure that the local pools will be nice and cool...and crowded, we decided to make an adventure of our quest for water. Because splashing through waterfalls sounds far superior to bumping into people at the public pool.

Aside from a some grumping from the littles about why it's not safe to rock climb soaking wet, we had a lovely 4th splashing about, floating sticks down the falls, discovering unique rocks, watching the wildlife and playing in the waterfalls of an amazing country. Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans and happy Monday to everyone else!

summer pants

Today while a couple of the kids napped and the other ones read, I found myself ignoring the pile of laundry and looking for something equally productive but a bit more enjoyable to work on during the quiet hours of the afternoon.

Fingering a few fabrics remnants from my stash, I decided to make Finn a pair of summer pants similar to his favorite babe-a-gogo pants, which you can see in yesterday's post. I was able to cut and assemble them, completing everything while he napped except sewing the elastic, since I always like to try that on little waists before sewing the last of the elastic casing.

Of course, when he woke up with his usual post-nap, crankypants attitude, he was not in the mood to model pants for me.

Miraculously, he had a change of heart when I brought out some mini-pops, Peach Party from Ice Pop Joy. (More on our love for that book to come soon!)

Originally, I intended to make the pants out of the black and white seersucker with the Rat Race fabric as the bottom trim and pockets on the front of the pants.

The Rat Race fabric was leftover from Finn's car quilt, and I quickly realized that I didn't have enough left to make pockets as well as a wide bottom trim.

I did have enough to make the elastic casing out of the Rat Race fabric though so I settled on using the last bits there. The overall effect has a bit of a "Hammertime" vibe, but they work pretty well on a 4 year old. He has plenty of leg movement room, and the seersucker is thin and cool for the summer heat.

I essentially traced a current pair of Finn's pants adding an extra 1/2 inch to each side for the seams but I did not add the extra 2 inches that I normally add to the top for the elastic casing, since I would be adding the elastic casing out of the contrasting fabric. I also cut the pants about 3 inches short to add the wide trim at the bottom.

The cuffs were originally a 7 inch band that I folded over, ironed, then I ironed a 3/8 inch turn-under on the pants and topstitched the band into place. I essentially did the elastic casing the same way. The casing was 4 inches wide which I folded and ironed then folded and ironed a 3/8 inch of the waist of the pants and attached the casing leaving the ends open so I could slide the elastic into the casing.

Voila! Summer pants to kick around in while he stays cool and enjoys eating mini ice pops.

Saturday lunch

Our Saturday Lunch today was actually at dinnertime since around lunchtime today I was busily picking blackberries and preparing blackberry jam. Saturday lunch was worth the wait though because we thoroughly enjoyed our farmer's market fare.

With our farmer's market finds today, I made field peas simmered with kombu and garlic, cornbread (made with locally ground organic corn and spelt), marinated cucumbers and fresh tomatoes and blueberries.

As a treat, this afternoon we made sun tea with a locally made Cranberry Harvest tea blend, and I added the juice of a single lemon and about 1/3 cup of sugar dissolved in a bit of water. What a delicious tea! Finn kept asking for more "juicy tea", and that's really a perfect description of the taste.

I love to see my children enjoying fresh fruits and veggies from our local farmers.

The goofing off after dinner is pretty cute to watch as well.

Our back porch table migrated under our backyard maple, and we've enjoyed most of our Saturday Lunch meals this year in this shady little spot in the yard. I'm so grateful that several of our backyard trees are now growing large enough to provide some late afternoon shade. The summer can be unbearable hot in the backyard where the afternoon sun beats it's retreat toward the horizon.

As a special surprise, our favorite neighbor, Mary, appeared with homemade peach ice cream and extra fresh peaches to make summery peach milkshakes for our dessert. Gotta love neighbors like that! As soon as she spread out her milkshake-making items, Finn dragged over a chair saying, "I can help! I always help my mom make things and that's why I need a chair because I'm little!"

Mary even brought her own blender, and as she began mixing the peach milkshakes, the smell of summer wafted through the air.

A hard-earned milkshake, the tastiest one of his little life!

Thanks, Mary, for sharing your summery goodness and bringing the perfect ending to our Saturday Lunch!

testing with sun tea

So here I sit on a lovely Saturday afternoon with children napping and blackberry jam simmering on the stove and I decide to tackle not one, but two, major computer projects in one day. I'm trying to figure out how to use the copy of Adobe Lightroom that I received for my birthday from my awesome husband who enables my art-fiddling hobbies AND I'm trying to redo the template on my blog to a larger format.

Whew...don't mind the dust while we figure things out around here!

a day in Todd

Elizabeth, Finn and I took a little day trip this morning up to the NC mountains to a little town named Todd. With a main street that leads back to the 1950s, Todd is picturesque and full of small town charm, and Elizabeth's grandparents own a house and a small piece of history here. I haven't been here since Elizabeth was small and when her grandparents kindly invited us up for a day trip, I jumped at the chance to visit them and this beautiful corner of NC again. Todd is a lovely, quaint town full of old railroad cars, the longest continually running general store in NC, and is wrapped by the New River and the predictable businesses that flourish on it's banks.

Finn first spotted the railroad cars, of course. He's been proudly bragging all day, "I got to drive a real train!"

I think the most popular spot in Todd, and likely the place that I've spent the most time, is in the New River. Although the river was moving a little more swiftly than usual, with the torrential rains NC experienced earlier in the week, it was as shallow, lush and beautiful as ever.

Elizabeth and Finn frolicked in the lawn of the homestead of her Nana's family

And slid through the section of river that wraps behind the house.

Meanwhile, I admired the dragonflies, butterflies, birds and flowers that graced the banks nearby.

We truly had a lovely time exploring this magical place and visiting family here.

Elizabeth hunted for rocks. (We're going to have to build additional space just for her rock collection soon.)

We gobbled delicious pastries at the Todd Mercantile.

And when Papaw mentioned a secret hiding in the shed,

Finn could barely contain his excitement over the old tractor he found there.

He was even privileged to inspect the engine!

Elizabeth largely explored the creek and it's banks in her own quiet way.

What a lovely day we had in Todd! Maybe Paul can commute an extra 2 hours each day so we can move here? Or maybe we can just revel in the beauty on the rare and wonderful chances we get to visit...

{this moment} - little boy play

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.