embroidery, cousins, what's happening on the land {just pictures}

{along with some herbs, so far we've enjoyed strawberries, spinach, ruby chard, radishes, beets, and any bits of lettuce the rabbits leave behind}

{undivided care and attention from a grandparent is precious. H and grandma M reading in the tree house.}

{the eerie, beautiful sunset of a smoky horizon. this fright hit too close to home about a week ago when 2 homes away a pasture started on fire due to a knocked down electric fence wire. i called 911. about an acre burnt before the fire crew squelched it out. can i say, these colorado, wildfire summers make me want to hug every fire fighter i see!}

{hankies made for our 3 throughout the last couple weeks due to coughs and sniffles abounding}

{aren't cactus blooms lovely}

{these darling wildflowers are adding smiles to our window sills, tables, and bathrooms right now}

{at dinner one night, we asked each of the kids what they'd like to do for the evening. H said watch a "little house on the prairie," AD said play a computer game, and our middle said learn to embroider. that night (above) she drew a picture on the opening edge of a pillowcase, and i showed her the backstitch to get started filling her drawing in. she caught on pretty well.}

{H requested a violet initial decorated with yellow buds and a couple daisies for her hankie}

{yucca blooms are surprisingly attractive}

{the girls embroidering the next day together}

{harvesting the last of our radishes}

{several years ago our neighbor propagated her pink and yellow rose shrubs for us to enjoy on our land, too. i look forward to their blooms each summer.}

 

{those darling pink wildflowers come in this deep red, too}

 

{AD air guitarin'}

{i am actually giddy about growing beets for the first time this year. loving the greens and baby beets already!}

 

{off roadin'}

 

{so embarrassing when this happens aka that toy jeep doesn't do hills}

{my very favorite sight in the garden, reaching and clinging sweet peas with their delicate flowers}

{when grandparents or a grandparent visits, that usually means more cousin time}

{love these 6, big, small, and in between}

{i took on monopoly for the first time in like 25 years. for those that hung in there, the game totaled about 5 hours over the course of 2 days. impressive, to the 2 that stayed til the very end.}

 

{they don't look attractive, but these gluten free corndogs never disappoint...unless your eyes happen to be bigger than your stomach.}

{family evening walk}

 

{took a close look at some sad pasture with some very cute goats}

 

{once we realized we had an abundance of what they wanted, we stayed for awhile tossing in grass by the handfuls.}

{the following day, my niece took on the backstitch and the french knot for the first time and did wonderfully threading away with her cousin by her side.}

 

{her hankie in progress}

{shortly after cousins left from their 3 day stay, the house was unusually quiet. i found this...}

{...and this. you know it's a serious tired when one doesn't care what they are sleeping on or whose bed they are lying in (her sister's).}

{at breakfast this morning we were in awe at this huge butterfly resting on one of our lilac bushes. it made our monday morning.}