Summer Bliss

The days of summer fly by as I entertain at least twice to four times per week, take care of my kids, take them to swimming, tennis, soccer, playdates and work on the farm.  I am also hosting an Italian girl, Marianna, who is trying to learn English and is a great help in many but also much like having another child around that needs help with just about everything.  She is darling though and my kids love her.  My sister Lucy is coming home from her mission in Japan in one week. HURRAY! And we are leaving for Italy in less than three weeks with all the kids and Lucy for one month(pang of fear mixed with joy.  Is that possible?)

Anyway, here is my summer in pictures so far...

Our Friend Eric Orton from NYC came for a reading of his play, "The State of the Union" and it was absolutely wonderful.  We played music, ate good food, hung out, reminisced, and hoped he and his amazing family would move in next door to us someday.  Please oh please!

We were finally able to entertain Justin's colleagues, who had invited us over multiple times.  Justin Landfair and Angie Song(who is totally preggers, Yea!) Bev Guo, Tim and Sarah Judkins with their darling boy, Luke. 

We ate watermelon Salad:watermelon wedge, goat cheese, arugula, jicama, red onion, tomatoes, cucumber and lemon juice/olive oil/mint dressing(this picture is before I put on the mint).  This is my favorite new salad. Yum!

Justin holding one of our favorite chickens, cowboy

My mom, "Nana B" or "Num-any" as Clementine calls her comes often, this time she came to watch the kids play tennis at their lesson.  Henry is doing awesome!

Trip to Connecticut and NYC! We are at Mystic Seaport, which is an old whaling village restored and still functioning as a tourist attraction.  They're restoring old ships here and do recreations of how things were back then.  The children's museum inside was really cute.  Here I am with Burnell and Violette.  She had a fever that day, poor thing

How much to I love this photo? Justin holding the hands of his darling little daughters and wearing Clementine's owl backpack.  He's left "cool" in the dust:)

Inside a chapel where we listened to an old school sermon and Bea did ballet to the old shapenote music. 

These two could really be twins.  The green matching outfits were unintentional.  Clementine and Eli sharing a bonding moment.  Adorable

Once again...I love this man:)

Ramming speed! drum, drum, drum, drum(recreation of Ben Hur)

We love Gammie so much.  Clementine loved snuggling her sweet grandma after a long day

Self proclaimed gourmet chef Teri Tingey preparing bruschetta(bru-sket-ta) for the family party

Teri and Ilene(Teri's sister-in-law) with my two little ones relaxing on the grass together

Shelly, Erica, Stacey and Alex Tingey at the Tingey Family party after my cousin, Lindsay's wedding

My dad was obsessed with our pond.  He bought us 6 fish and a salamander to put in it.  They're loving their new habitat!

My kids with the Wann Cousins: Taryn, Aiden and Tristan(holding Vivi).  These kids are seriously the PERFECT combination of ages and get along extremely well.  We're glad they're here:)

One advantage of having an Italian at your house is that you get more Italians at your house.  This guy, Hermano, is cooking some delicious pasta that my children devoured.  I still need that recipe!  Thank you!

Marianna with Kai, the puffiest and biggest headed dog I've ever met

My mom's poor dog Oliver was about a 100th of the size of this dog and he was really afraid.  haha!

Our ultra marathoning neighbor and his enormous dog.  This dog was insanely large and had an inordinate amount of fur. 

Congratulations Lindsay! Nick is a doll and we love him!

We went to Justin's graduation dinner at SLCC, which is a pretty fancy venue.  He's officially not graduated until the 31st of July, which is the day we leave for Italy.  His fellowship director said, "Justin is leaving on a trip to Italy this summer after graduation, or slightly before I hear".  haha.  Yes. After 10 long years, I think he can ditch his last day of training. 

My dad and step mom spent almost two weeks at my house.  My dad had reconstructive surgery on his nose and here he is after they took the bandages off.  What do you think? He's actually on high doses of medication here and so we totally took advantage of his compromised judgement and took this hilarious shot.  He always makes me laugh my brains out! lol. 

Of course every meal we eat is gourmet! This one is a Jalapeno cheddar bagle, toasted with some Havarti cheese on top, prosciutto crudo(raw cured ham) avocados, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh mini basil and flowers, plus olive oil, real salt and my gourmet pepper blend.  I love food!

I hosted a few Birthday parties, one of which this little guy, Lincoln, had a smash cake for his first Birthday and dove right in.  He was adorable! Way better than Clementine who screamed when the frosting touched her fingers!

The kids having fun in their raincoats and umbrellas out in the back yard.  Henry is a pirate and Bea is a lotus flower

We have had many neighbors over including this darling boy, Samuel James(same as my long lost brother) holding one of our baby bantam Silkie chickens.  Look at that adorable face!

We have all sorts of flowers in our yard.  This one was so delicate and beautiful.  Bea crushed it shortly afterward, as usual.  I'm glad I immortalized it with this shot.