Baseball and softball season went off without a hitch. This year was the first year that we didn't have overlapping practices and games. It was really nice even though it meant some weeks we were all the ball field four nights in a row.
Doodle Bug primarily played catcher and outfielder. She was one of the best batters on the team - frequently being one of the only players to hit off of the other team's pitcher. All of her playing skills improved and I'm hoping to work with her between now and next season to keep some of them a bit sharp.
Little Man is a GREAT second and third baseman as well as outfielder. Near the end of his season, while playing outfield, he had some amazing catches and throws. Parents on the other team often commented "Wow, what a throw." Makes my mama heart proud. I'm hoping to keep his skills sharp during off season as well. We'll see how that goes.
School is winding down for the kids. They've actually finished my subjects (writing, math, and science) and only have the subjects Ryan teaches left. Little Man will finish his work this week while the girls will finish their work next week.
Lulu absolutely LOVES playing teacher with Buddy Boy. Whenever he has a craft, worksheet, or lesson she just LOVES to help him with it. She says she wants to be a teacher and I think she'd make a wonderful one. She has the patience and gentleness to work with little ones.
While we're on the subject of future careers, Doodle Bug wants to be a fashion designer. Ryan got the girls some fashion books that come with clothing templates to use as a reward during afternoon school. They LOVE it. They both come up with fabulous designs and great color schemes. Doodle has even sewn some Barbie clothes for her dolls and they're not too bad! I told her we need more designers to make tasteful clothing for girls. I'm having a hard time finding tasteful clothing for her. She turns 11 soon but is wearing juniors sized clothing, a lot of which is inappropriate, so it's getting harder and harder to find clothes for her.
Makes me wish I was better at sewing so I could make some cute clothes for her, but I'm not. God has gifted me with other hobbies instead like gardening and bread baking.
Our garden is doing wonderfully. Many of our tomato plants are taller than I am - I have to keep cutting off the top stems in hopes of deterring further vertical growth. So far it's working. I started spraying aspirin water on the plants (one 325mg of aspirin to 4 cups of water) to combat powdery mildew on the tomatoes and it worked! It's actually making the garden thrive - I never would have guessed it. The cucumbers and the sugar snap peas are not too fond of it, so I'm trying not to spray these plants.
Over 4th of July weekend I hope to pull up our potatoes and carrots and to harvest some cucumbers, sugar snaps, and lima beans. So exciting!
I've also taken up bread baking again (ok, well I've only done it once - this weekend.. but I hope to make it a regular occurrence again). I have some sour dough starter from my aunt and grandmother and have pulled out my old sour dough recipes. Three years ago I made sour dough every single week. It was wonderful to have fresh homemade bread in the house and to be able to gift the bread to the neighbors. I even started making cinnamon rolls, pretzels, pizza crust, cookies, and cakes. I never realized I could do so much with sourdough! So now I'm starting it up again and hoping to make one additional recipe (along with the fabulously soft and yeasty bread) each week. This past week was pretzels. Next week I'm going to try cinnamon rolls (which freeze amazingly well).
It feels so wonderfully domestic to tend a garden and make homemade bread and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I never thought I would say something like this when I was 13 or 14.. but honestly, what do 13 or 14 years old know anyway? (I can see myself saying this same thing when I'm 40 or 45 - "What do 30 year olds know anyway?") Anyways, I'm thoroughly enjoying life and hope that you are as well.
God bless.
-Mary
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