Happiness. Lately. (Vol. 2)

Happiness.  Lately.  July.  My monthly collection of "Happiness" - appreciating God's goodness in the little things and seeing his grandeur in the simplicity of my life and "Lately" - what I've been into and up to (books, music, food, great finds, etc...)

(And hey, it's a link-up now!  Head to the bottom to link up your own Happiness. Lately. for July.  Hope you'll join me!)

Happiness is...

Some of our Australia family here for a summertime visit!!

The gift of "Flat Bear," made from Australian sheep's wool - the coziest, cutest teddy bear I have ever cuddled with.  (I mean, James.  It's the coziest thing James has ever cuddled with.  It's not like I bring it to bed with me or anything...)

Clare hair at the playground...

The best next door neighbor ever, who comes over to trim his/our bushes and doesn't mind when the kids swarm around him to chat and "help".  

Cut mint blooms at the kitchen sink... (trying not to be too upset that I lost the mint plant when it flowered) 

Aaron's Lowest A1C ever!!  (I was almost doing cartwheels in the endocrinologist's office.  Almost.) 

Refreshing summertime cucumber lemon water...

Lately, I've been...

Making a Christmas gift list of crochet and sewing projects so I don't lose track this year. (Tiffany inspired me.)

Exercising.  Need I mention that I *hate* exercising.  But I've been trying to stick with it.  And I'm doing pretty well because I can keep my mind off of what I'm actually doing on the elliptical by reading or watching "Veronica Mars" on Amazon Prime.  It's even better when I get to walk with a friend.  In addition to plain old aerobic exercise and eating well, I've started the Tupler Technique therapy program to repair my diastasis recti (care of being mostly out of shape for five pregnancies.)  So far, it feels great, however I'm very intimidated by the fact that the program is 18 weeks long.  Can I make it to the end???  I registered with a local Tupler licensed teacher to increase my odds.  I'll keep you posted!

Reading:

In addition to the reading I mentioned last month...

Perelandra, second book in the C.S. Lewis space trilogy

Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell  - a young adult novel highly recommended by Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy.  She loved it so much, and she's so classy, I'm going to try to get through to the end, but YA fiction is not my thing and so far this book seems to confirm that.  

Reading with the kids:

Extra Yarn, Mac Barnett.  We LOVE this book :)  (if only Annabelle was a crocheter instead of a knitter ;) )

Beauty and the Beast, Mary Pope Osborne - we read this then watched the Disney movie on a rainy day =)

Creating:

(speaking of extra yarn) Pink ombre mittens for Ruth... 

... as well as many other things which I will not mention here because they're either birthday gifts for someone who may be reading, or I'm hoping to give you a show and tell post in the near future!

Planning / ordering for the new school year.  As always, I love the promise and the "newness" of a new year, but I'm a little bogged down right now wading through a sea of spelling programs...  Once I get that sorted, I think we're set.  Exciting!

Winning the war against fruit flies with this apple cider vinegar trick... 

(it really works!)

Finally, I was asked to participate in a blog hop to promote the release of a new book by crafter Mariska Vos-Bolman.  The book is called Sew Cute to Cuddle: 12 Easy Soft Toys and Stuffed Animal Sewing Patterns.  I'll be publishing my contribution next Friday.  I hope you'll get to check it out!

So there you have it.  My happiness.  Me lately.

What have you been up to this past month? 

The Thing About Vacation... (and The Thing About Vacation Pictures)

The thing about vacation, for a person like me at least, is that it's hard.  When I say, "a person like me" I'm not simply referring to the fact that I have young children and the logistics of young children away from home are infinitely trickier than the logistics of young child at home.  I'm primarily referring to the me that doesn't "go with the flow" very easily and gets overwhelmed when there's too much "different" all at once.  Sometimes on vacation I get irritable and hyper-focused on how we'll anticipate hang-ups and manage what comes next and other times on vacation I just sit down and stare into space - it has the appearance of relaxation but it's really just overwhelm-ation.   (Yes, I did just make up a word.)  I recall from vacations even in my youth that vacation has always been hard for me.

But the other thing about vacation is that the "hard' is worth it.  Not "worth it" in the sense that we all got tan, had ice cream cones, splashed in the surf, and sipped mojitos (which we did thanks for my youngest sister's bar tending skills! yum!)  I don't even mean "worth it" in the sense that we relaxed (because as my mother said at the end of the trip, "I think we all had a great time, but it wasn't relaxing."  That's the "young kids" thing.)  The hard work of our vacation was worth it because I was given the gift of "seeing" my family more clearly, and appreciating them more deeply, given a week out of our normal, every-day "habitat."  Being at home all the time, it's almost as if the kids and Russ can start to blend into the surroundings, but on vacation they're easier to "see" against the backdrop of someplace unfamiliar.  I saw how delightful and polite my children are because I got to see them interact with our extended family and other Cape Cod vacationers.  I saw how creative and interesting they are as they built backyard fortresses and ocean-side sand-castles.  I was grateful to witness their curiosity and interest in new things - whales, crabs, and outdoor showers :)  I was reminded how fun and fun-loving Russ is and how he thrives in social situations, how at ease he is in groups and how much he enjoys family time.  My husband and children weren't different on vacation, but I was able to better recognize the goodness in them that's always there but sometimes gets a bit blurred in the day-to-day of the 51 other weeks of the year.  

Vacation is hard.  But vacation was good.  

We spent our week at Cape Cod with my parents, my three siblings, my brother-in-law, our nephew, and my sister's boyfriend.  I've tried not to include them in the photos here because I never think to ask permission before I publish these things.  And the other thing about vacation pictures?  Usually people don't really want to see all your vacation pictures. They're sentimental and awesome to you, but not so much to everyone else.  View further at your own discretion ;)  (They got out of order, but since you probably won't look at them that closely, I'm not going to knock my brains our rearranging things...)