July

July is somewhat of a blur. I suppose it's a good thing that I take pictures along the way to remind me what happened. 

Like the following. One day I walked in the house to see this: 

When I went over I saw that it was attached to this:

We finally got to see our good friends Sarah and crew so it was to break down the 3D globe puzzle they let us borrow back in October. 

When we got to Sarah's I had to go back to the car to get something. When I walked back inside I heard much commotion so I looked up and saw the following. If you look closely you'll see Rebekah, Grayson, and Hannah up there.  

One - I repeat - ONE of the spinach seeds I planted came up. But it was the plant that kept giving. Most recently it went to seed and I pulled it out, but this picture from back in July reminds me of the good leaves it gave me. 

A friend from Utah posted about a STEM class her daughter took. Looking at the pictures I felt it was something Rebekah would love, so I asked Don then we asked Rebekah and she was up for it. The day for the class finally came. I wanted a picture to commemorate the event but Rebekah said she was too old for that kind of stuff. So I suggested that I could pretend to be one of those "always-on-my-phone"-moms and she could lean in to see what I was doing and bam! we had our picture! 

Although Rebekah has 1.5 hours of screen time a day and can earn more time if she does certain things, she seemed to spend a lot of time on the iPad this summer. Unfortunately I saw this much more than I wanted too. She looks like such a teen. 

Our garden started producing marigolds. I need that to be earlier in the year next time. Maybe I need to plant them indoors and then bring them out. 

Rebekah showing off our carrot harvest. 

A good day at the garden. That may have been one of the last zucchinis we harvested; the squash bugs were bad this year. We tried really hard to reclaim the plant but finally decided to pull the plant. "If I couldn't have it, no one - or no bug - could" kind of mentality. 

Rebekah's favorite donut shop went out of business, so I got her one last one. 

Then there was the day Rebekah's shoes seemed too tight so I went in my closet and pulled out some of my shoes. 

They seem to look better on her than they do on me. 

My little pre tween. Look at all that attitude just oozing out of her. 

More harvest. Tomato sandwich on freshly made bread. And yes, that is a tomato; it's an heirloom variety that turns a darker red color. Still very good. 

Getting ready for Rebekah's 5th grade year I came across this note: Last snack note as a 4th grader. Sigh.... 

Rebekah was invited to a pool party at an old friends house. 

My first eggplant. 

A tomato and little mini peppers. Unfortunately the peppers didn't get much bigger. 

Rebekah asked for banana bar's (Mel's recipe). She had a friend over and I came back down to this. Who are these people! I'm somewhat surprised they didn't cut a piece right out of the middle. 

We got our hair cut. Rebekah asked for waves. She says they make her look 18 and wants me to teach her how to do it. If it wasn't for that "18" comment....

Don got his race car out and worked on it.

He's teaching Rebekah how to drive. 

A late July after rain storm dance. 

We had one last play time with a friend (Anna) from 4th grade.

A beautiful sky for sunset. 

I read this book about healthy eating which was basically a series of rules. I really liked this one:

And I still love this owl. The eyes are solar charged and light up. If only it wasn't $60.

This cat. Living in our bushes is one thing but it's tearing up our plants close to the house. I think it's relieving itself there and burying the evidence, destroying the plant in the process. I have been shooing it away but it's starting to hiss at me. We have purchased some spray that's suppose to keep cats / dogs away but it's only so effective. Now the cat sits in his / her front yard and watches me with its evil eye staring me down as I do any yard work. Like it's personal. So I've since covered the area the cat most frequents with small pointy rocks. And so it continues. Stay tuned for more updates.