Hello Rosy: Week 13


Hello rosy friends! I changed the name of the weekly post up, seeing as it's Monday and not Hello Fri-YAY and here I am just now getting my fingers to the keyboard.  I intended to do this Friday and was already scrawling little notes to myself about what I wanted to say and share on the blog.  Then the rain came.  Oh, how it came!  Thursday evening it just rolled right in with gusts, spraying drops of rain all over the front porch.  The girls squealed and ran about, then cuddled up on their Daddy's lap to warm up against the cool August temperatures. 

The next morning we woke and as always with our rural internet, it wasn't working due to the rain.  One missed moment led to another until here we are on a Monday and I feel like I should wish you a happy week ahead! 


Perhaps the weather is a boring topic to write about or shows my age, but truly it's worth talking about!  Normally an Arkansas August is so dreadfully hot.  In fact, I've admitted to Brett on many occasions that August and February are my two least favorite months.  Both seem to be a bit of an outlier, neither fitting here nor there, or in any season really.   August is typically brown grass, everything looking and feeling absolutely parched.  I don't remember a cool August at all.  

Except for this year.  Cool temperatures and rain have been present day after day.  I've even had a chill.  It has felt like the biggest treat in the world, totally unexpected.  We have been delighting in front porch time for just about every meal, sitting down with a stack of books, and walking around the yard and admiring how lush and green everything still looks.  
This sweet six year-old starts kindergarten in ONE week! We have been asked at least a million times if she's excited and am I ready.  You can never really tell by her answer to the general public how she's feeling because my gal has a lot of introvert in her.  But at home when it's us or when we're talking about school or shopping for school supplies-yes, she's very, very excited!  Last week she complained when we still had 11 more days to go.  We get to meet her teacher and go to a special kindergarten open house this week that we are all very excited about! 
As for the "are you ready?" question, the answer should be so obvious because it's a no! I have truly loved being a stay-at-home mom and wouldn't have had it any other way!  Everyone told me it would go fast and back when the girls were both such little babies at the same time I couldn't imagine I would ever leave the baby stage.  But here we are, one girl going to kindergarten this year and the next the year after.  What everyone said is true, it really does go by fast!  This year will especially feel strange because I know the girls will miss each other so much during the day.  They play together constantly so Betsy and I will have to find a new little rhythm to help with the change. 
I've still been distraction free on my phone, which means I took Safari, Instagram, and Facebook off my phone.  It has been truly wonderful and so very freeing.  I find myself with spaces of time I wouldn't have ever had before because I would have been scrolling through Instagram.  Now I can do things like sit and type my true thoughts out on my laptop, for my eyes only. 

I've been holding back a lot on the blog the past few months of what this season of life is really like.  I'm finding that I like to share less publicly now than I ever have before.  That's not to be fake online but instead it seems in this world of over-sharing it's best for my personality to share less with the world and get the thoughts and emotions out in a more private way for now. 

Can you relate?  I just find it gets so noisy sometimes when I look around at other people's opinions, voices, and thoughts on what I (or we) should be doing as a family.  God and Brett make much gentler guides. 


We've been spending time on the front fence row, feeding these cows from our hands! We have even named this cow Rosy.  

The girls continue to find all sorts of ways to amuse themselves.  Someone asked them last week what they liked to play with and I found myself kind of stumbling over the answer.  They certainly play with toys but much prefer things like blocks, plastic or stuffed animals, or being outside.  They prefer toys that they can use their imaginations with! 

I'm finding myself delighting in the small things more with less of my phone around to distract me as well.  Things like this plate of seashells from our two beach trips this year.  


Brett and I have been trying to be more intentional about community and being present to get to know people.  One evening we sat on the front porch for dinner and then got to visit with our best friends who live down the road.  One was on a walk and one was driving home from work.  Both stopped to chat.  Another day recently a neighbor saw us outside and brought a homegrown watermelon over to share.  Then there was the time we saw a neighbor outside shucking his corn so we stopped to say hello and he invited us in to visit for a while.

These are the rich moments of life. 
We're still picking tomatoes and peppers from the garden! The girls have started eating sliced tomatoes with salt this year, which is something new for them.  Especially for Anna!
This night felt just magical.  We watched this rain move in and parked it on the porch to enjoy it.



It wasn't all cuddles with dad.  There was plenty of squealing and running about from the sheer excitement of the rain. 



I do have a few phone snaps to share.  Sometimes it's the only thing around and still so handy to capture a moment with.  This dresser is my desk and I added this lamp from Target for only $5.99! I stand at this little spot a lot to write lists, put things on my calendar, edit photos, or blog. 
My big girl school shopping! 

I've been lighting candles at night lately and also making a cup of hot tea.  One night in the dark really, I poured a bit of water on this candle to make it go out.  The next morning I awoke to see a heart shape in the wax.  
I've still been working on a lot of little organizing and house projects. 
Last week I took our photo wall down, all 366 pictures of it!  It had been up for a year and a half and as I told the girls, it was time for new memories to hang.  We sure do enjoy printed photos! 

Between our photo boxes of loose pictures and our photo books we just adore sitting and looking through all the wonderful memories our life has given us.  And really my life is as ordinary or extraordinary as anyone else's.  We just look a little harder than some for the rosy. :) 

I am currently working on a BIG summer photo book and using Blurb to make it. 
Last week I got the girls' closets as well as mine purged and organized! This always makes our getting ready routine smoother.

Someone asked yesterday what we'd done this summer and we replied a bit of everything!  Between the pool, library, beach, swim lessons, playdates, local field trips, going to Kansas City, and more we have really had such a fun summer.  Last week we crossed another item off our summer bucket list by visiting the Wal-Mart museum in Bentonville.  Next door to the museum is this old-fashioned soda fountain and ice cream shop.  It is just dreamy! The girls each got a cone for $1.  They also quickly made friends with two other children while we were there.  Kids are cool you guys, they do this being friendly thing way better than us grown-ups!

After the cones we explored downtown Bentonville! We just loved it here! Of course it helped that the weather was in the 70's.  But there were so many sights, sounds, smells, and shops that were fun to explore. 

We ended our morning fun with lunch at this food truck I'd heard about from my parents.  Yeyo's Mexican food is amazing! We got so much delicious food we took the leftovers back to Brett at work for a treat.  The only thing that would have made this day better would have been having him along too! 

And now here we are, down to our last week of summer.  We have several fun things planned like a birthday party, kindergarten open house, and a trip to the library.  If I don't blog for another week or so it's because I'm savoring every last bit of time with Anna Ruth home! 

What are you up to?  Do you have a good book to read?  Something to look forward to? 
Prayer requests? 

I am reading my 19th book of the year, 
drinking homemade tea lattes, 
am excited to try and see The Glass Castle in theaters (hopefully),
ready to spend some time in the kitchen this week, 
and hopeful about the school year ahead. :) 


6 comments:

  1. I always love stopping by your blog as I really feel like I'm catching up with a friend. Your perspective is so refreshing and I can see that it agrees with every one in your little family. Enjoy this last week with your big girl, believe it or not they will go even quicker now that she's in school.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi sweet Patty! I'm so glad you always stop by. :) I totally enjoyed that last week because you're right, now that we're a few weeks into school it is going SO FAST.

      Hope you are well friend!

      Delete
  2. Thank you for your lovely blog. I enjoy reading about your family and how they are growing up. My daughter is 23 and it seems like we were just preparing her for kindergarten. Have a lovely week. Julie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Sara! I was drinking my coffee this morning and longing for the days when I had a whole list of blogs to check in on and of course, yours was one of them. I completely relate to the whole getting off social media thing. I was explaining to my husband recently how we've gone to writing in snippets and how I miss reading blogs, where people actually write with substance.

    Anyway, I'm glad you're finding some peace there and having such a great summer enjoying your family.

    It will feel different to go back to having only one at home during the day, for sure, but school will add new and exciting things to your schedule.

    Enjoy your week and thanks for catching us up on all the "rosy" :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Debbie! I totally agree with you about the snippets! I miss the longer posts and the drawn-out thoughts. There is something quite relaxing and almost healing about sitting down to put real thoughts in real sentences down on the laptop or paper, isn't there?

      Delete

I've got a new blog! Come see. :)

Room for the Rosy  is my new blog. I hope you'll come see.