Cyanotypes

A little science project today that I found absolutely, totally, amazingly cool.  The boys and I made cyanotypes, which are an early type of photography developed in the 1840's, using natural light to expose a sillhouette on to photo-sensitive paper.  We started outdoors, hunting for the perfect foilage.  Then we laid our subjects out on the paper, exposed them for the prescribed time, rinsed the paper in lemon-water, and viola!!!  Awesome prussian blue prints, worthy of framing.  Well... I can't see me hanging the skull/snake combo the boys insisted on making.  I thought the flowers were beautiful, though!!!  Special thanks to Aunt Diane and Uncle Tom for the birthday gift!!!  It's a winner!!  I think Mom liked it just as much as those boys ;).

In other news, we spent another fabulous evening at Rob's parents' house on the lake.  I didn't bring my camera, because how many pictures of kids swimming at the beach can one blog hold?  But I honestly regretted not having it there.  The lake was gorgeous, the kids played with their cousins beautifully - lots of Kodak moments that will now be relived only in our little brains.  OK.  I'm not going to apologize about overdoing the picture taking any more.  If the summer keeps presenting beautiful days, I'm going to record the heck out of them.  If you get tired of seeing pictures of my kids frolicking in the gorgeous summer weather, well then.... too bad.  Read someone else's blog.   

Dog Days Of Summer

The quintessential summer Saturday....

The boys have begged for years to do a lemonade stand. Today, we just did it. We made the signs, went "gourmet" with two types of lemonade (standard, and pomegranate), popped some popcorn to make the passers-by thirsty, and set up shop in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house. In two hours (which was longer than little attention spans could last), the boys made $6.10. Not bad, not bad. Of course, they had one $4 tip from a random, incredibly kind young man who didn't even want any lemonade. Still, at $.25 a pop, they didn't do too shabby.

Afterwards, we borrowed the pontoon boat, and went out swimming in the middle of the lake. Well, at least until a thunderstorm brought us back in a hurry. 

Reagan is a cherry-aholic.  As her face clearly shows.  You shoulda seen her HANDS.

Have I mentioned before that I love summer?  Maybe once or twice?  That might be because I do, and I don't care if I repeat myself over and over and over and over and over.  Love love love LOVE summer.  Yes, I do.

Surprise Fruit

We have lived here eight years. Eight years.  And last night, I discovered for the first time that we have raspberries in our yard.  I have spent eight years coveting my neighbors blueberries and blackberries, and turns out... we have our own berry garden as well.  HUH.  Who knew.  It was just behind a flower bed trellis  that I never bothered to go behind at mid-summer before.  Luckily, my daughter went wandering in the woods at bedtime, and I had to go fetch her.  VIOLA!  And JUST as the boys were complaining about not getting desert.  Here you go, boys!  Fresh RASPBERRIES!  Knock yourselves out!

They were tiny but delicious.  Not enough yet to make anything jam-ish or pie-ish, but... maybe we'll get there!  I'm excited!!!

When I shared my discovery with the boys, they said "Yeah, we know.  By the trampoline."  When I shared it with Rob, he said "Yeah, I know.  By the Treehouse."  Why was I the only one in the dark about this????

I don't what kind of wildflower this is, but I think they're so pretty.  They're everywhere right now...

Sleeping Outdoors, Trial 2

Quinn and I had tried to sleep outdoors earlier this summer, but made it only an hour or so.  Quinn and Dad's camping trip lasted until about 1 am.  Tonight, the boys BEGGED to try it again.  They took every last blanket off their bed, and every last stuffed animal they had, and set up on the swing out in the yard.  I asked them what they were going to do when they got cold.  "Wear heavy jammies".  What would they do if they got scared?  "Sammy will protect us."  What would they do if wolves came to get them.  "Stab them with our pocket knife."  Pocket knife?  What pocket knife?  They went to get it.  Their pocket knife is a set of finger nail clippers.  That'll get those wolves.

They seemed to be prepared for the long night, so I let them attempt to sleep out there.  They were showered, jammied, and tucked in by 8 pm.  They didn't sleep a wink, but played quietly with their stuffed animals for an hour or so before beginning the "run around the yard like wildmen" gig.  Which means I had to go all prison guard on them, and bring them back inside.  They were disappointed, to say the least.  Quinn actually told me, and I quote...."This is the WORST day of my life."
It will get worse my son.

I guarantee it.

Random Thought

In all my weaknesses as a mother, my constant failings, my insecurities, my wondering if I'm doing even HALF the job that needs to be done to raise these wildmen into civilized adults.... I had an epiphany this morning.  

See, before I had kids, I SWORE, loudly, to myself and anyone who would listen, that my offspring would NEVER watch Barney, the world's most annoying dinosaur.  NEVER.  And, despite PBS being the only channel in our media-challenged house, my kids haven't.  Not even once.  7 years into this Mommy gig, I've upheld that vow.  It's the only pre-child-Mommy-vow that I've actually kept.

So.... at least there's that.

Let's not talk about caving in at bedtime, giving in to a tantrum, bribing with candy.  I'm just not willing to go there right now.  I'm basking in my anti-Barney glory at the moment, thank you very much.

Daddy Quinn Camping Trip

Quinn's turn! Dad and Quinn are spending the night on the pontoon boat, anchored at a lighthouse!! That iPhone is an amazing thing--- I'm getting real-time pictures as it's happening ;). All looks well. All looks well.

NEXT MORNING ADDENDUM:  Looks are deceiving.  Quinn just informed me that the above trip was NOT fun.  He and his father drove home (in the boat with no lights!!!) in the middle of the night, and collapsed in their beds at 1:30 am.  What could POSSIBLY have made them risk life and limb to get out of what looked like so idyllic a spot?  Bugs.  Evil, Hitchcockian bugs.  Rob's still crashed, so I don't have the details.  When I prodded Quinn for info, he just said "All I did was eat, and play with rocks.  Then the bugs came. And the rocks were WAYYYY far away from the boat."  Well, shoot. 

Daisies

I was visiting with my neighbor today, and said "I love the wildflower field across the street from you.  I often think of taking pictures of my kids there, it's so pretty."  And as soon as I said it, I thought to myself "WHAT are you waiting for????"  So, I called the kids outside, and decided to take some pictures in the daisies.  Little girl is easier than her brothers to photograph these days, as she doesn't run away screaming and hide from the camera.  I'm finding a renewed love of photography, now that I have my good camera back, and now that I've discovered Adobe Lightroom.  Let me subject y'all to our evening.