Home...

After 29 hours of traveling, it was lovely to walk through this door and be "home".  

Does anyone else notice that their house has a distinctive smell after being away from it?  As I walked through the door and took that big first breath it just felt like I'd inhaled everything I love about our cottage.  It smelled faintly of clorox (thanks to hubby cleaning before I got home),  lavender, cotton, puppies, and just love.  I have been inhaling deeply since last night!

After an eleven hour sleep I awoke to the faint humming of our newest addition to the family.  A Roomba.   When it comes to gift giving my hubby knows me well!

I've wanted one of these for a very long time, and I have to say after watching it take a few passes around the hardwood floors I am pretty impressed!  It's even able to get over our low pile rugs and slows down to clean the edges of the floors next to the baseboards.  It was an expensive purchase, but my time is valuable too ;)

I have so many stories of Australia to share,  both touching and funny, so I will share those over the next few days as I get readjusted to Texas time.  I also had an interesting conversation with my dad about where my business is going.  I may be using this sign sooner than I thought!

So much to share, but I am exhausted and neck deep in laundry!

Summertime...

This has been a very hectic and busy week!  Kids finishing up their last week of school, projects to complete at the shop, consults to do...

Hunter and his sweet 5th grade teacher, Mrs.Rooker...

Peace out!

Not going to miss seeing this for the next few months...

I am going to spend many summer evenings on my patio, drink in hand, looking at lots of these...

The view from our patio...

Also on my summer to-do list....

Playing with the fur babies...

bread making...

decor-ranging...

tending to pots of lovely flowers...

cooking for my family...

Some projects to tackle this summer:  

The library.  I know, the start of this one is a bit like spotting big foot or the Loch ness monster.

The garage- it needs to be purged, cleaned, and organized.  I'm tired of feeling embarrassed every time the garage door is open.  

For homeschooling:

Summer of "de-schooling" (I will be doing a post on this soon!)

Planning ahead/lesson design.  Still trying to decide if working in thematic units will be best for Hunter, or if we should do more of a Waldorf method.  Still researching with our child's needs in mind. 

Meeting with other moms/dads to talk about homeschooling, share ideas & collaborate on lessons. 

Traveling:

I am assuming this includes schlepping kids to and from camps...

A week in Wimberley, Texas to go antiquing.

A weekend down at the Guadalupe river to go tubing with the kids.

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That's about it!

How about you?  

Any big summer plans?

Gardening & a winner...

I love this time of year in our garden!  Blooming hydrangeas, gardenias bursting with flowers, and my poor dill in the herb garden.

This is NOT my dill.  My dill is gone to the nub, so nothing to photograph!  However, if I could grow dill without a certain rabbit eating it I am sure it would look like this!

The culprit?  Rabbits.  Wah, wah, wah...

I've read that planting lavender around the other herbs will keep the bunnies away.

Not so much for my garden it seems.  I picture fat rabbits, bellies full, but sleeping beautifully because the entire time they were eating my herbs they were inhaling the sweet scent of lavender.

In other news...

This kid is beyond ready for summer break!

Last night Travis and I stumbled onto a garage sale at the Extreme Home Makeover house in Kemah.

The people whom the home was built for are moving.  We spent quite some time talking with them and their lovely children.  Also, I bought this...

I literally sat down on it and said SOLD!  It was built from doors in Galveston after Hurricane Ike.  Love.  (not the hurricane, the bench!)

And last but not least, congratulations to Andrea of Willow Wisp Cottage  for winning the Sew a Fine Seam bag by Jill!  Sending it off to you this morning :)  If you have not visited Andrea's blog- go now! She has a newly styled living room by the lovely and talented Holly Mathis.  It is just gorgeous!

Have a lovely weekend!

Hunkering down...

Storms rolled into Texas last night.  Temperatures dropped, rain fell, and we kicked the heater on.  In short, we hunkered down.

perspective

A storm of a different sort rolled in as well, one that comes without warning and usually blindsides you. Being a parent is tough because just when you think you have it down and have it all figured out, a curve ball gets thrown your way.  You stumble back, regroup- and sometimes you just have to hole up and heal.

my comfort food:  homemade meatballs & marinara sauce

I am taking a few days off from blogging.  I am staying home, cooking comfort food, and staying close to my kids.  I need a minute to catch my breath and figure it all out again.  I need to savor the next few days and create some happy memories- no matter how small.  We need to regroup and reconnect as a family.  The ebb and flow of life- full tilt to slow crawl.

Have a good weekend...I'll be back on Monday.

Puppy sitting....

Yesterday I got to spend the day with my neighbors new puppy.  She is a beagle pup.  My grandparents had two beagles, Snuffy and Missy.  They were such sweet dogs.   My grandmother thought they hung the moon!  I remember how they would howl at us and the snoring they did while they slept.

Meet Daisy:

Almost made me want another doxie pup!  I say almost, because puppies, like babies are a LOT of work.  It was fun to play and spoil her and then send her home ; o )