rachel's continued ramblings

Well, thanks to COVID, we had some extra time on our hands this year (with all the lack of activities and school and commuting and all), so we did what everyone else did and planted an extensive garden. Dave built me these fantastic raised beds, we filled them with compost, added plants and didn’t do a lot else. One of the things we wound up with an abundance of is green beans. I planted both bush beans and pole beans. We eat beans at least once a week (with our pizza, because we’re weird like that), but at the height of the season, there’s really only so many green beans one family can use. Now, because I’m old-fashioned like that, I have long held this delusional fantasy of something along the lines of homesteading… living off-the-grid, if you will. I have this idealized, Little House on the Prairie idea of how we should live, not dependent on the grocery store, or really anyone, to aid in our “survival”… But, let’s face it, I’m not exactly cut out to be a “prepper”, much as I w...

Snow, snow, more snow, orthodontics, random fevers, a secret gift for someone, Top Gun team challenge, and Hannah seeing snow!

The first week of the year is done! We traveled home from CA on Wednesday. It was awesome to still have 4 days left of break to get our wits about us before heading back to school. I decided to use the time to do a huge batch of freezer meals. I am absolutely loving the Cinnamon Edition. I've been eyeing this one for awhile.

Halfway through the book means halfway through the year! Sunday: Father's Day! Dave's one request for the day was going to see the new Incredibles movie. It was good, but not better than the first. Monday: The weather has been pretty decent recently, which means the lawn isn't getting naturally watered. Tuesday: Last day of school!!!!! (Finally.) Wednesday: Starting my first day of summer break the right way. Thursday: Somewhat of an impulse buy. I decided to try out a Kindle again. I had one several years ago and I hated it. But things have improved somewhat, and with our upcoming trip, I decided it might be wise to be able to bring a lot of books without bringing a lot of books. Friday: And it's been commandeered. Saturday: We took a trip to Kat and Cole's to visit and borrow their tent trailer for our trip. And the spread...

So, in preparation for our upcoming road trip, one of the things I've been thinking about is wanting to blog our adventures and have a place to dump pictures, and all of that, AND to be able to do it all from my phone so I don't have to worry about uploading and stuff like that that may be difficult to do from the road and/or various campgrounds. That was a heinous run-on sentence. So my fabulous IT guy (Dave) got a new site set up for me and managed to pull all my old posts from blogger over, too! I'll, no doubt, have to do a bit of housekeeping and figure out where all of my stuff is and what other stuff I want there, but for now, I have a new venue with a phone app and I'll be able to do what I need to do. Departure is less than a week a way now. Our "tenement on wheels" (borrowed tent trailer) is currently parked in the driveway. I have "to buy", "to pack", and "to do" lists going. We are getting ready to live on the road for ...

sunday: cats are weird. monday: ah yes, it’s time for our yearly fence-blowing-over wind storm. these sections have been barely hanging on for at least a year now. tuesday: “uh, mom? i think bonez is going to steal your spot!” yup. stolen. and not really sorry, either. friday: torture conditioning, courtesy of coach anne. also friday: “micah and i are thinking about making a blizzard run.” “gymnastics is almost over. we’ll meet you there.” saturday: in the process of fixing the fence, dave also found it necessary to fix the electrical line to the shed. because he hit it with the shovel. also saturday: shane, looking sharp in dress blues, ready for the marine corps birthday ball.  

sunday: comfort dogs cubby and ruthie came to church! everyone was so excited to meet them and learn about their ministry. monday: layla, heading to jazz band at dark o’clock in the morning with her flute and saxophone. also monday: i finally got some triple A batteries for the remote, so everyone was excited to try out micah’s new drone. tuesday: gorgeous sunset when leaving the gym after practice. also tuesday: halloween 2017. shane is MIA since he went to bailey’s (and didn’t dress up anyway). layla decided to reprise the “mexican banana” and micah is a red ninja. our neighborhood group of trick or treaters. and the traditional candy sort/swap. wednesday: all. the. time. with the nail polish with this one right now. friday: SNOW!!!! it freaking snowed on november 3rd!!!! bonez was beside himself with excitement. as was micah. before school and then after school was the annual search for snowpants that fit. also friday: practicing for team pictures on sunday. also also friday: comp l...

sunday: dave took micah and a couple friends to the sounders game (and got him a hat) as an early birthday celebration. monday: these are the school pictures shane brought home. notice the “normal” shots they evidently took… but someone decided that THESE were the ones we wanted. this was the stupid pose he did for his asb card photo… also monday: layla was very excited to make micah’s birthday cake. they had it all planned out. vanilla cake, purple frosting, crushed jolly ranchers sprinkled on the top. also also monday: everyone just chilling. also also also monday: micah’s last day to be 9! tuesday: 10 years old! all the fingers. and birthday breakfast of lucky charms. presents. cake. nerf war. wednesday: layla turned to the internet to find more flute music to play. friday: micah’s party. what he wanted to do for this big 10th birthday more than anything, was to have a sleepover party. and so we did. 14 boys in our house, 9 slept over. so much ice cream, so many video games, so many...