weekend wonderful

the birds....the garden....the deck

these are the things that tell me i'm home.

we drank up some weekend wonderful over the past three days.

peach was wiggling out of her skin to get to my parents' house.

and so was i.

we got there late friday night after J's track meet.

after tucking the girls into bed, J and i sunk into the deck swing and breathed a sigh of "finally...the weekend is here"

next morning, the squeals from the neighbors' house had us curious.

so we meandered over to check it out.

turns out, they rescued a coupled coons from a fire.

and we got to see them up close and personal.

after a good hand washing, it was out to the garden to gather a few ingredients for a phenomenal salad.

this has been a stellar year for butterflies.

and peach found a few that were friendly enough to let her touch them!

one of Peach's favorite jobs at grandpa's house is helping him feed the orioles.

she takes her mission very seriously as you can see....

after all that work, it was time to kick back and enjoy some games on grandma's i.phone :)

while my momma and i chatted over sunshine and coffee....delish

my brother made it over for the day on Sunday

the girls loved hanging out with him and his pups.

auntie H was working, but she sent a few sweet treats to let us know she was thinkin' of us.

among them was this insect viewer - perfect for my bug huntin' girl

with it, she found a rabbit hole - there's a whole tribe of baby bunnies livin' in there.

and wouldn't you know, Peach discovered it

a few rainy spells left us inside playing with some of my old faves that my mom has hung on to just for days like this

 

and when the sun peeked out, we were right back out on the deck, soaking up the last hours at our happy place.

weekends like these make me so grateful for all the memories these girls are building with their grandparents.

it also makes me wonder what things they will love most about coming back to our house.

what are the pieces of our home that they will long for when they're gone?

what am i doing to create an atmosphere that makes this place a haven - the spot they want to run to when life stirs up a storm?

on the way home, J and i were all, "ooooh, it was soooo good"

and "it feels like summer should be here!"

it was just the weekend i needed to energize me for the last two weeks of school!  

8 more days with students.

8 more opportunities to love the kids that come through our classroom doors.

and 8 days away from summer vacation with the three peeps i love most - bring it!

pitter patter

Here are a few things that made my heart go pitter patter this weekend:

dresses that twirl when she spins

reading the same three books fifteen times

her first words...

the way those curls lay soft on her neck

tulip practicing her momma skills

80 garage sales in our town...

and the 4th of july shirts i found for my girlies

a new game...for 50 cents! :)

dress up

...'twas a wonderful weekend at the Wacek home :)

home.made.patch.work

this probably goes without saying, but:  i'm a do it yourself kind of girl

while there are many modern conveniences that I would not be without, I also thoroughly enjoy the learning that accompanies making something on my own.

and it's a very rare occasion when I find myself doing things the same way twice.

variety...yes, that's the spice that I love. 

I've tried homemade pop-sies a number of times before, but always ended up with a glorified ice cube of sorts.

flaky

watery

not at all like the smooth, juicy, sweet store-bought kind.

But...

The girls got these fun molds for Easter.

They were too cool NOT to try.  I mean, just LOOK at those awesome juice catcher/straw doohickeys!

I love it when something or someone inspires me to try again...go further...make it better.

a certain little someone just could not wait for the frozen version :)

this time around, I think I hit the nail right on the head.

they were scrumptious!

I even snuck a little flax seed in there and no one was the wiser

yeah, that's me - I live on the wild side like that.  :)

but, seriously - this practice of being intentional...

knowing the small amount of ingredients and large amount of love...

patiently waiting to devour something delicious...

well, it totally won over the instant gratification of store-bought yumminess.

and the mess, oh the mess!

i'm learning (slowly) that messes in this house usually accompany memories.

so, the floors are sticky

and i could have gotten by cheaper and a whole lot easier with a box of 12 from the store

but, that would have included nasty ingredients

and excluded the laughter and the love.

speaking of love....

i am in L.O.V.E. with these strange-looking little creatures

home made wool dryer balls

I was having some trouble with drying my diapers.

Found out all the despicable things that were coating our dryer drum from the softener sheets we had been using

Dialed up google and found out that I needed to replace those nasty dryer sheets with wool balls

but, who, in their right mind, would pay $35 for something they could spend $6 and 25 hours making on their own?

me....that's who :)

it took me about 15 you-tube videos to figure these babies out.

i got the wool straight off the sheep from a co-workers' neighbors' grandmother

complete with straw, sheep poo and all other manner of random junk

i washed the wool

dried it

picked through it
(did not spin it...no wheel here..but i thought about it:)

wrapped it

felted it

admired it

forced J to ooh and aah over it, too
asking him not once, or twice...but probably at least a dozen times if he was proud of me

my diapers are now drying quite nicely

and my husband's dress pants are static-free

two birds.one stone

which brings me to more laundry love....

my momma always used to say that laundry was her life.
i didn't understand it...until we became a family of four.
and i'm now regretting all the times i rolled my eyes at her.
because, yes, laundry is my life as well.
and i can't even complain - J does most of the laundry and folds it - all i have to do is put it away - but even that is an endless cycle.  at any rate, finding something fun about the monotony of chores is a little trick that seems to help slip a little joy into the ordinary-ness of life.  and home made laundry soap does just that.

i've been making this for quite a while now.

1 tablespoon cleans a whole load

in one evening I can make enough to last us 8 months

it must be noted that I sacrifice the muscles in my left shoulder a hundred times over in order to grate that much goat's milk soap, but it provides for good prayer time and I can usually talk J into a back rub afterwards, so I figure it is a win/win situation.

 

as long as we're talking detergent, here's a new friend:

recently, i introduced my dishwasher to this lovely little homemade blend.

and it has been well-received.

these little lovelies were inspired by my dear friend, Jen...who also likes the do-it-yourself, put-in-lots-o-love, craft-it-up version of life

she and i agree that a few stray hot glue strands here and there add just the perfect touch to any project we tackle.

for this reason...and at least a hundred others...i love her heaps and heaps

all that to say this:
the teacher in me is constantly thirsty for learning, creating

knowing a little about this and a tad about that

being passionate about all kinds of things

 i guess that's me in a nutshell...

flowers with plaid

a lot of wave with a smidgen of curl

mismatched plates on my table

garage sale finds in every corner

walls decorated with no rhyme or reason other than that the things upon them make me happy 

make my life a patchwork quilt, please - put in lots of color and texture don't make any one square quite the same as any other...that's how I roll

it's who I've always been

and part of who this tribe is becoming.

home.made
patch.work
mis.matched

and, in my humble opinion...
down.right
love.ly  :)