June

I love June. It's always been one of my favorite months because, hello! Summer vacation! But also because it's my birthday month (I'll be 33 a week from today!). I still remember being very, very excited every year to get my little postcard in the mail from Baskin Robbins, entitling me to a free scoop on my birthday. (Darren cannot for the life of him understand why I always chose pink bubblegum). And oh hey, look! Guess they still do it! I'm totally signing my kids up. :)

Anyway, I love June for so many more reasons now than my own birthday, including (and especially!) my husband's birthday! Darren's big day was about a week and a half ago, but we've been so busy that I just haven't had time to post pictures. He said it was one of the best ever, though, even though I didn't buy him any gifts (sorry, honey!). We spent much of the day outside, which was awesome, and even had a wonderful (but too brief) thunderstorm late that afternoon. Breakfast was a huge success--fruit salad, coffee, and the most delicious cinnamon rolls at our patio table.

This month has been absolutely perfect. It's so nice to be on break from school, with more relaxed days and virtually no agenda. Last week my sister-in-law decided to come down for a visit with my niece and nephew, which was an absolute blast! Totally spur of the moment and totally fun. On the day they left, Darren's mom, sister, and nephew arrived from Texas for a weekend visit and while we loved seeing them, our time with them went by much too fast! It had been six years since we'd seen his sister and nephew, but I sure hope it won't be another six years before we see them again!

We've been spending much more time outside than I ever remember doing at this time of year, but at the right time of day and with the right circumstances it's really so very pleasant. Mornings in our backyard are just lovely, and evenings can be quite nice, too. Our gardens are doing so well right now and we are just so pleased with the wide variety of little critters who are frequent visitors to our yard (especially the quail--so cute!). I laughed recently to see that Darren and I had taken nearly identical photos of our garden at different times of day, his in the morning and mine towards evening:

We're amazed every day at how tall our sunflowers are getting. I can hardly wait to see how beautiful they'll look later this summer!

I've set a few goals for myself this summer, including (but certainly not limited to): learning how to pickle; learning how to grill; making Dylan's 2nd grade and Caitlyn's Kindergarten scrapbooks; and maybe, possibly, re-reading the entire Twilight series (ugh, I can't even believe I just said that. It's my SIL's fault!). Also I'd like to get a much better start on planning our new school year, including actual written plans for both school work and liturgical celebrations. And, I'm really, really itching to rearrange rooms again. (Honey, just pretend you didn't see that!) Oh, I'm just dying to make some of these darling hanging book displays, except that I broke the needle on my sewing machine a few days ago and I have no idea how to change it. Maybe I should just ask Dylan to take a look at it for me. He could probably figure it out. ;)