Of course, we got her dress here. I tried talking her into a Mom-made dress, and she vehemently declined. She’s loved this one since she laid eyes on it…

Spud Harvest

It was a slow process, but we finally finished!

Sugar Beet Harvest

Defoliator:

Beet Puller dumping into truck

Baby Kay has loved riding in the truck for many weeks now. Thankfully!

My view.

Scale house.

Long lines.

Haul on,
Truckin’ Mama (Kayla)

Miss J asked me to teach her to sew this afternoon. As much as I’d like to, my desk and sewing area are a disaster right now, and I’ve got a long list of other critical things to do tonight. So we settled for a quick lesson with needle and thread: Shoney-the-Horse was threatening to lose her stuffing, so we mended her. Following the fix-up, Miss J decided her horsey needed a hat, and a sleeve I cut off her favorite T-shirt last week made a perfect visor. We pulled out the glue gun to add a little bling, and VOILA! One project down…we’ll see what happens to all the fabric scraps the girl is cutting into as I write…

Loving my girl,
Audrey

You can learn more about this custom heirloom art here…what do you think?
Audrey & Kayla

Oops! I disappeared there for about a week…that went fast! Here’s what I’ve been up to: helping my hubby finish a major remodel on a camp trailer to take on our annual family-reunion-camp-out. It was a race to get everything ready in time. We spent a lot of late nights at my father-in-law’s shop, cutting, caulking, welding, stapling. We had a bunch of picnic suppers, and the kids enjoyed zipping around on bikes, climbing on everything  and watching movies while we worked.

Somehow, we made it to the finish line and took them camping for five days. It was so fun to relax in our new space, have fun with cousins, and eat lots of yummy food.

Still catching up on laundry,
Audrey

I’ve always admired girls who can pull off a carefree, bohemian look with confidence…free from rigid rules of matchy-matchy primness. Truth be told, I’ve always considered myself a member of the latter class, with a secret yearning to be more adventurous. Both my girls started expressing strong wills in clothing at what I considered to be a young age, and I’ve often cringed at the combos they put together. I’ll even admit to some butting of heads over wardrobe choices. But I’ve worked to let it go (easier in the summer) and let them wear what they want to wear…for the most part. I find that they’re more open to guidance when it’s necessary if I let them be in the driver’s seat most of the time. So, this is what Miss M put together today, and I giggled when I saw her unexpected punch of personality…can you see it?

Turns out, there is a use for the cut-off hems of holey-kneed leggings. And maybe I’m getting more relaxed with age, but I think it’s kind of genius!

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings,
Audrey

Afterwards, we wrangled Kayla into shooting some photos of our new looks, and she didn’t disappoint:

Feeling like a new woman,
Audrey

Poor Miss J…she is my “Mini-Me”. Which means that she needs to know what to expect every day, to be able to mentally map out her day ahead of time. We can be flexible, us silly girls, but we like to know what’s coming up. Besides that, we need to do what we can to avoid as much of the ‘summer slide‘ as possible, because these are the kinds of things wierdos like me worry about.

Last night, she and I sat down and talked about the tasks she needs to accomplish each day (once they’re done, the day is ALL HERS!). She picked out some colorful paper, and I put this daily schedule together for her. We shall see if it’s helpful!