Wow, this has been the most gorgeous summer I can remember. Actually, I've always said I hate summer because of the heat, but this is one of the first years that I've realized that summer evenings in Colorado are absolutely unbeatable. I would even go so far as to say that they make the hot days bearable. We've enjoyed almost every evening outside this year, until dark, or past dark, sitting on the porch talking, swinging on the swing (um, that swing is used almost every waking hour of the day- best yard improvement we ever made), sitting in the grass, watching bats in the sky, playing yard games, eating ice cream, reading books, talking some more, inevitably commenting every five minutes, "This is the nicest night EVER!"
Another fun thing we put up is the slack-line that you see Grace helping Clemmie to walk across. Some of the kids can walk across without falling, but most can't. It's not too dangerous, since it's in the grass and not very high off the ground. Grace also is the one that put Clementine's hair in to itty-bitty pig tails. Her hair is really too short for styling, but then again, the pigtails are the size of little paintbrushes, and who can argue with something as adorable as that?
We've also been trying to keep up pretty well with the reading this summer. I am officially in love with Audible. I'm so glad to have it on my phone, and we put it to so much use. Since the kids' piano lessons are often on different days, we usually have two separate books going. The favorite books Gideon and Evie and I have listened to are The Hiding Place (one of my favorite books of all time, and one I've read over and over, however listening to it with my kids was such a different experience than reading it), Little Britches (the man reading it, Cameron Bierle, is so talented; he made listening to what would probably not be my favorite type of story into one of my favorite audio books ever), and currently, Anne of Green Gables (Oh, Anne, you are probably one of the best characters ever written- I could never get tired of this series, and I've read it enough times to know this is a fact). Cate and Grace and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to The Boys in the Boat and Unbroken. It is so much fun to listen to these books with my kids. We also love dreaming and discussing what book we will read next. So many choices. I think the next two will probably be To Kill Mockingbird (yet another all time favorite book, and I've hear this audio version is incredible) for the older kids and Cheaper by the Dozen (probably the funniest, laugh out loud book I have ever read) for the younger two.
This summer, we have also had our share of broken bones, sprains, and the like. Jude's good friend broke his arm falling off a swingset that his dad had just built in his backyard. When Jude saw Conner's cast that was red with blue stripes, like Spiderman, he got a little jealous. I laughed at that. Well, I shouldn't have laughed. Also, I shouldn't have joked about how the swing could prove dangerous to little kids. Yes, you guessed it, Jude fell off the swing and broke his arm. Let me rephrase that. Jude was climbing off the swing, not even swinging, and somehow managed to land in just such a way that he broke his arm. I saw it happen and would have never guessed a little tumble like that would break a bone, but he ran to me, not even in great pain, but crying a little, and insisted his arm was broken. He told me that he heard it crack. I was doubtful, but decided to trust his gut feeling, something I did the six times I broke a bone growing up. I always knew when it was broken, and finally, by bone three or four, Mom trusted my instincts. Thank goodness there have not been many breaks in our house with seven kids. But, Jude's arm now goes on the list. He let a smile sneak through when the doctor said it was broken, thrilled that he and his friend would have matching casts. Jude did indeed get a Spiderman cast, though our doctor wasn't as talented at superhero casts as Conner's doctor apparently is. Jude gave the doctor a reluctant thank you, but I could tell his mind was envisioning something more spectacular.
So, yeah, we've had a few other injuries, too. I was certain Gideon had broken his foot when playing soccer with his friend after church one night. Gideon is a pretty tough boy, and his foot seemed to bother him far more than Jude's arm bothered him (and Jude is not exactly as tough as his big brother). So I took Gideon to the doctor, too. No break, thankfully, but a sprain and crutches to accompany that. He was in a lot of pain for several days, but healed up pretty quickly after that.
Finally, our poor dog Pepper (not the dog in the picture, that is Grace's puppy, Britta, who's shaping out to be as wonderful German Shepherd as Pepper is) somehow injured her front paw a few days ago. The vet wanted to do x-rays, to rule out a possibility of a break, but I decided to first see if we could try painkillers and get her to rest for a week. She seems to be doing relatively well, but it is so sad to see her eager to play with Gideon and not be able to, both because of her injury, and because we won't let her, so that she won't injure herself more.
I'm letting myself relax a lot more with schedules, staying up late to enjoy those summer nights, and letting all the school books collect dust. I always forget how much learning the kids do during the off school time, when their days are open and free and unstructured. Consequently, that's how my days have been, too. Nothing like open days with no routine to get the creativity flowing. It's been wonderful, for me and all the kids. So much to think about, so much to make and do. So far, broken bones and all, this has been the nicest summer I can remember.
