Random Summer Happenings

Wowzers! I am so far behind. Summer just keeps flying by and I very seldom even make it to the computer (which, I have to admit, has been kinda wonderful). Whereas I use to be on this puppy every day, I think it's been . . . well, since my last blog post. . . since I've even sat down at this thing. It's been fabulous to not be tied to it, the down side being I have missed recording some things. Oh well, here are a few random occurrences floating in my head today.

You know how your kids will sometimes show up after church or school with a little bag of seeds to plant? It's usually because they had a lesson in Sunday School that tied into faith or planting seeds, or because they are learning about photosynthesis or something in school. I decided a long time ago I'm not a fan of these little bags of seeds simply for the fact that they always get my child's hope up that some miracle is going to grow from them, when in reality, we're lucky to even remember to water them once or twice in a month's time.

Anyway, Nate came home from church at the beginning of the summer with a bag of the dreaded seeds. I didn't think much of it. I've learned to act excited, then conveniently get rid of them a few days later when my child has forgotten they exist. This time, however, he was so excited, he found a little pot and was determined to plant his seeds. Thankfully, Hallee reasoned with him that if his seeds were what he claimed them to be--watermelon and zucchini--they would probably need to be planted in something larger than a little pot. I thought this was the end of the story.

I was wrong.

About a month or so later, I was weeding in the back yard when Nate rushed to stop me from pulling what I thought were two rather large weeds, claiming he had actually planted his seeds in the side yard, right by the downstairs entrance. I was surprised, to say the least, since I had thought the matter had been closed long before and that the seeds had magically disappeared. I avoided picking his plants and moved on.

Well, another month later, and this is what we now have:

Those are two large plants, let me tell you. This all happened with absolutely no care. Apparently, the sprinklers water them (my husband also almost pulled them out as weeds a couple of times) and they get enough sunshine to thrive. Who knew?

To top it off, one of them is actually growing zucchini!! It happens to be the plant Nate told us was the watermelon, but who's keeping track:)

One of the zucchinis was pretty darn large (this coming from someone who's never grown anything before, so maybe I'm naive).

Here's Nate with his proud zucchini (I mean, here's proud Nate with his zucchini--the zucchini probably isn't too proud:)

Boston picked one up and said, "Doesn't this look like my smile?" I loved it so I had to include it.

Then here's another Nate moment. I realize I've blogged a lot about this 10-year-old kid lately, but he happens to take a lot of parenting energy, even though he's a great kid. So, I feel like I've spent a lot of time and energy on him this summer. Anyway, he went to the gym with Dan and me the other day. In the process of our work-out, he happened to make a comment about my thighs. I didn't actually hear him, but his dad did and got after him a little bit. Now, I absolutely don't want my son saying negative things about anyone's body so I was grateful Dan immediately pointed out that it was disrespectful, but I also have to admit he was right about my thighs--they are flabby--and knowing his sense of humor and the mood he was in, I wasn't offended.

However, when I went to bed that night, this is the note I found on my pillow.

Sorry this is sideways--I changed it but it didn't stay, for some reason.

A closer look

In case you can't read it, it says, "To Mom, I am sorry that I said that you have fat thyse. You look great for your age. Love, Nate."

I love it! His spelling cracks me up, to say the least, but the "looking great for my age" was the kicker. I learned long ago you can either cry at the things your kids say or laugh. I try to laugh most the time. This one definitely brought a chuckle and smile. That kid is a corker but he sure has a good heart and I just love him to death.

On one of our trips to Cokeville this summer, I got such a kick out of Regyn and Boston and their darling cousins. I mean, these kids are ingenious. Most kids would come up with the idea of selling lemonade or having a little yard sale or something to make a little money, but not these kids. They came up with something much more unique. Selling rocks.

The part that really makes me smile is the sign. It doesn't just say, "Rocks for Sale," but rather, "Cool Rocks for Sale." What makes them cool? Well, I'll tell you. They colored them with markers and crayons. These are no ordinary rocks, mind you. These are cool rocks!

It looks like they had trouble spelling the word, "sell" but finally got it almost right. It just makes me smile.

I just love the randomness of summer. After nine months of tight schedules, it's so great to enjoy the spontaneity of summer life. I can only handle about three months of it and then I'm ready for a better routine again, but for now, I'm so glad it's summer!