and just in time!  I just finished printing out the last of the pages this morning and spent some time at Michaels this afternoon picking out a scrapbook album for it.  I purchased an 8 1/2″ x 11″, side loading sleeved one from the Martha Stewart line, however, I’m really not too pleased with the quality!  I bought two (because you never know and I didn’t want to be up the creek if something was wrong) and I’m so glad that I did because the first one I opened had a manufacturing boo-boo with the pages and the second one had a problem with the little posts in it…the screw stripped out so I had to actually use parts from both to complete one book.  It does look pretty though and I showed it to Sean’s girlfriend, Samone, this evening and she agreed.  *smile*  Our goal was to actually give my parents a finished memory book on Sunday but Col, Honey and I reconsidered and decided that we wanted to include in it the photos and written best wishes from everyone at the party too.  I’m not too sure though that we can afford to have it printed as it’s 74 pages and still counting.  *smile*

Now I need to start packing for our vacation to the Eastern shore.  Saturday, the boys and I will be sharing a nice little home on the Eastern shore with my parents, and sisters and their families.  Michael, Sean and my nephew, Cole, will only be able to be there on Sunday for my parents’ big 50th wedding anniversary party due to work and school.  There will be fishing, crabbing, swimming, boating, lazing about and of course cleaning up.  Evenings will be spent, I’m sure, eating steamed crabs, fresh tomatoes and corn, and playing cards.  I know they will be filled with the sound of our laughter.

Please Lord, bless my parents, my husband and my boys, my sisters and their families and our family and friends that will travel down to the shore to celebrate with us.

Summer brings us nice hot sun
For swimming, fishing, and lots of fun;
For finding seashells in the sand;
For sunbathing to get a tan;
To do all these things and so much more
at our little home sweet home
on the Eastern Shore!

~~ . ~~

I was at my parents’ house yesterday evening and the cicadas have already begun their end of summer song.

Hey, our homeschool co-op, the Southeastern Baltimore Homeschool Co-op, won FIRST place for decorated vehicle in the Dundalk Parade!!!!! Way to go!! I didn’t have time to join in the planning nor decorating (because of working on Momma’s and Daddy’s Anniversary book) but was there to cheer them on in the parade.

~~ . ~~

Momma and Daddy came over for dinner yesterday and though there was no room at the table as it is still full of old photo albums for everyone to sit down to enjoy dinner together we still had a wonderful time.  Quinn was quite the host and entertained us with his songs and little dances.  He loves watching the old Mighty Mouse and Mighty Hercules cartoons on youtube and knows most of the words to the theme songs.  *smile*  I served my old standby of pork bbq, rolls, and coleslaw with freshly baked peach and blueberry cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert.  Momma told me several times how delicious everything was…made my day!

~~ . ~~

Colleen is supposed to drop by today for a visit to help finish up our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary…I’m really running out of time as by this time next week I will be packing for our family vacation (the party is on Sunday the 22nd) to the shore so we really need to get it done by this weekend.  Say a prayer, please, that it gets finished in time…

And since you’re praying…say another one that plans for Sean and Samone to take the twins and Quinn out to movie and dinner this evening don’t fall through.  Michael and I very rarely get any time together these days and we sort of bribed Sean and Samone to take the boys tonight for a couple of hours so we could have some alone time.  *smile*

~~ . ~~

I took some more photos of the boys swimming yesterday and I’ll post them as soon as I remember to bring my camera upstairs with me to download them.

~~ . ~~

SUMMER IS…

~Connor’s Mom~

warm sunny days
cool starry nights
flowers and birds
and mosquito bites
a babbling brook
through a dark green wood
watermelon and sweet corn
they taste so good
celebrating our freedom
with fireworks, so loud
at a fair or a festival
getting lost in the crowd
dog days and thunder storms
picnics and hikes
outdoor plays and concerts
and riding our bikes
leaving windows open
getting tan in the sun
time to sip lemonade
and have some fun

a beautiful photojournal, Fragments from Floyd, Virginia.

I’ve finished up 7 themes (containing 2 to 4 pages each) for Momma’s and Daddy’s book. This has really become quite an emotional endeavor for me. I sit here at my computer in the early hours of the morning, late afternoon, or evening, working, drinking endless glasses of iced tea, trying to put order to the photos, write words that convey heartfelt sentiments…crying. How quickly the time has gone by. Below are the pages on Eastern Shore, where we spent nearly twenty years of family vacations. All of the journaling on the pages are our memories.

Memories

~Allison Chambers Coxsey~

Tattered ’round the edges,
And faded now with time;
Memories that linger still,
Are what they left behind.
Like a precious package,
Kept in a secret room,
Each memory a treasure,
A family heirloom.

On rare and quiet occasions
The package opens wide;
revealing then the memories,
That nestle there inside.
Faces etched in memories
Like photos from the past;
each snapshot printed in the heart,
Are memories that last.

Worn and ragged photographs,
So faded now with time;
Yet the lasting love deep in your heart,
Is what they left behind.

We had a wonderful 4th.

The weather was on the cooler side which made it nice for the twins, who marched in the very beginning of the parade…

and for our homeschool co-op. They did a great job on decorating!!!!!

My uncle, Dan, was again in the parade on Toby’s Dinner Theatre float. He doesn’t look quite as cute as last year on his horse but…

he stopped the float right in front of us so he could hop off and give Momma a big bouquet of roses for her upcoming 50th wedding anniversary.

It was a tad bit chilly so not everyone wanted to swim but there was plenty of crabs, hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, salads and dessert (and good conversation) back at Momma’s and Daddy’s house.

The FireworksChannel.com has some pretty displays to watch.

Better Homes and Gardens offers up tasty recipes as does FabulousFoods.com.

Have a pet that is terrified of fireworks? Helping Your Pets Cope.

Star Spangled Fun from FamilyFun.com.

Fourth of July Crafts, Games and more.

The twins have been helping out at Cub Scout Day Camp all this week and having a wonderful (but exhausting) time with the Cubbies and Webelos. They’ve even managed to make it into some of the photos (Connor a lot more than Cade) they’ve posted on the website. It does look like everyone is really enjoying themselves and that Mrs. Dawn did an outstanding job with this year’s Day Camp.

Quinn and I have been spending quiet days without them…visiting with Momma and swimming in the pool or just staying cool at home. It’s really hot and humid outside with daily thunderstorms.

(Not so) lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer around here. *smile*

~~ . ~~

Susan Branch has a bunch of delicious sounding recipes up at her website. Old-Fashioned Potato Salad and Lemonade and Homemade Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream.

~~ . ~~

I’ve posted three new images at Dani3D.com, “a soft summer night,” “I Love Faeries” and “I Spy.”

Sing a Song of Summer

When crickets sing
their evening song
and
fireflies turn
their lanterns on
and
spiders spin
at early dawn
and weave their cobwebs
on my lawn -
It’s summer.

~ Kay Winters ~

Old ones are Here.

State Bird Font and some other pretty ones at Fancy and Unique Fonts.

Olive Cheese Bread at The Pioneer Woman Cooks!  I made Marlboro Man’s Second Favorite Sandwich (with chicken and peppered bacon) for the boys yesterday and they loved it.

My Country Living, Martha Stewart Living and Country Home magazines are piling up a bit but I’m getting caught up with my reading while the boys swim.  Country Living recommends some great crafty blogs…

Pozie Gets Cozy

decor8

SIS BOOM Day Dreams

MarthaStewart.com has lots of summer crafts, cakes and decorating ideas!

Some websites for the 4th…

4th of July Project Ideas, Template, Clip Art and Fonts

Kaboose Holidays - July 4th is Independence Day

Wilstar.com’s Independence Day

Happy 4th of July 

Summertime here in the Herring household is mostly filled with days spent swimming, eating ice cream cones, syrup-y snowballs with marshmallow, and fishing…just enjoying living on the water. Since we spend so much time outside I’ve decided to focus on some Montessori concepts for Quinn this summer. Inspired by the Dear Ladies on the 4RealLearning Forums, I’m starting to put together a list of simple things we will cover this summer. I’m not ruling out creating a Summer Lapbook and probably will get one finished before the first tree starts to turn to autumn gold but I want to focus more on trying to expand Quinn’s fine motor skills, speech and learning in ways that will catch his interest.

At least we’re going to try to…Quinn may very well (and probably will) have different ideas. To help him develop the fine motor skills that he needs to put on his shoes and socks, I’ve been giving him my socks to put on. First off, he thinks it’s funny to wear Momma’s socks and second, he can actually pull them on, which he can’t do with his own socks. To further develop those finger and hand muscles, I also love the little lock box but am afraid it’s out of our price range so I did a quick search on Amazon and found a peek-a-zoo lock box and a Ravensburger lock and key puzzle that we can afford. The Farm Yard Hammering set is another item that I have on my wish list. Of course, Michael has questioned if we really want him to learn how to unlock and hammer things. *smile*

To work on his memory and cognitive skills I created a simple Summer Matching Cards created using the template (and some of the photos) from Montessori for Everyone. I saved the PDF document and then opened it up in Photoshop and customized it with half of our own summer photos. I’ve printed them (shown below) and all I need to do now is laminate and cut them out.

I also want to work on the Bug theme unit that I put together last year…the one that Quinn absolutely refused to even look at. *smile* Since we got the feeder crickets their own little house, Quinn really loves watching them so I’m hoping to be able to interest him with learning about insects, talk about their colors, body parts, and where they live. At Amazon I found an adorable little Klutz (Chicken Socks) book, “Tree House Bugs.” We have Usborne and DK books on insects and of course, a visit to our library will quickly add many more to our collection.

I’m going to hit the dollar stores and pick up items for the pool…plastic pouring utensils, brightly colored animals and sea creatures, small containers so he can sort his collections on the pool cap and a large container to store everything when it’s time to come out and dry off.

Catching lightning bugs, having ice cream runs (gathering the kids up at dusk and heading out to our favorite ice cream place), sleeping out in the tent in the yard, being in our local 4th of July parade, fireworks and cookouts…looks like it’s going to be a great summer. *smile*

Websites with ideas for summertime fun and activities for you and the kids.

The Kaboose Family Network

Family Fun

Better Homes and Gardens - Family & Crafts

Martha Stewart - Kids

Livin’ Easy with Your Kids - Summertime the Gershwin Way

Summertime Safety Tips

Parents.com Summertime Safety

What do you do in the summertime?

~Dorthy S. Anderson~

Oh, what do you do
in the summertime
when all the world is green?
Do you fish in a stream,
or lazily dream
on the banks as the clouds go by?

Oh, what do you do
in the summertime
when all the world is green?
Do you swim in a pool,
to keep yourself cool,
or swing in a tree up high?

Oh, what do you do
in the summertime
when all the world is green?
Do you march in parades,
or drink lemonades,
or count all the stars in the sky?

Is that what you do?
So Do I!

Standing this morning at my front door watching dawn arrive, changing the rain-filled sky from dark blue to grey, I reflected on how quickly the weekend passed.

We spent yesterday at my parents’ house. The weather was perfect, what my Daddy calls an Eastern Shore summer day. A nice breeze was coming off of the water but the sun was nice and toasty. My sisters and their families (minus Col’s eldest, Cole, who had to work) were also there.

The air was filled with the smells of steamed shrimp, steaks, burgers and brats cooking on the grill as well as corn on the cob and salads. For dessert there was fresh fruit, my banana and peach tea breads, cupcakes (of which Hanna is wearing in the photo below), cookies and cheesecake bites. Yummy!

The pool was freezing cold but that didn’t stop the twins (all three sets) and Quinn nor brave Uncle Rick from jumping in for one last swim.

~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~

Hopefully we will hear some good news today regarding Momma’s CAT scan. Please dear Lord!