We are halfway through summer! Technically, summer only began 9 days ago on June 21st and shouldn't end until September, but here in Missouri school gets out near the end of May and starts back up mid-August which means our family only has about 6 weeks left of summer.
June was so busy for our family that the month flew by. I worked a lot more hours than normal at the library because Matt was off work and could take care of things at home. It was so strange for me to work four 8-hour days in one week! It gave me a good understanding of how Matt must feel being away from home all day and how good it feels to come home. I just wanted to come home, eat some dinner with the family and then REST after a long day. Of course, it never happens that way with 5 kids in the house and each of them have several questions for me and there are diapers to change and sheets to wash and chores to do, etc, etc.
Working so many hours has also made me more grateful for the AMAZING husband I married. What I have always appreciated about Matt is how he never criticizes me if the house isn't tidy when he gets home from work or if dinner isn't ready he doesn't complain impatiently but instead happily waits for it to be ready. He never judges me; he is always supportive. But the first day I came home from working an 8 to 5 shift and dinner wasn't ready when I got home (and I was so hungry for dinner!), I was so angry and disappointed that I cried! Matt had left a few minutes before I got home to attend a Boy Scout meeting and do the grocery shopping in St. Joseph. As I ordered kids to tidy up the house and pacified Klaus who was as hungry as I was, I had to look around for something to fix and then get it ready. I certainly was NOT patient or supportive. What an eye-opening experience it was for me in terms of recognizing personal faults and being even more grateful for a loving husband.
On top of working a lot of hours at the library this summer, our family has started Harvesting Heroes, a simple business opportunity selling produce and baked goods at a local farmers market. It takes up our Fridays and Saturdays; and with Sundays being full of service in our church callings, we feel like we're laboring all weekend too.
So far, our family business has not earned much in the way of profit. We certainly won't be earning the $2,000 we were hoping to earn to pay for our family vacation at the end of July. However, our kitchen has been full to bursting with extra produce. We have chopped and frozen trays of peaches, mangoes and strawberries. We have so much zucchini and yellow squash, cucumbers and tomatoes that we are eating healthier than we ever have before! Every day I cook meals and make salads to try to use up the veggies and still we have boxes and bags full of more. What a blessing this is for me and my vegan family! The other day I harvested 14 pounds of lettuce! Do you know how long it takes to wash and dry and bag 14 pounds of lettuce?! It was ridiculous and hilarious! There were pieces of lettuce all over the kitchen!
I am so happy that my garden has been successful this year. We've had peas, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, collard greens, kale, swiss chard, carrots, and radishes. The potatoes and green beans are now coming on! The squash is growing, the tomatoes are blooming, the cucumber vines are climbing up the trellis. Just being in my garden and witnessing the process of growing food brings me so much happiness. I am a wannabe farmer.
Summer has brought with it our first sunburn of the year. Poor Felicity's shoulders were so badly burned one day (I just completely forgot to put sunscreen on her!) that even after the first skin peeling, her skin underneath was redder and sorer than before. And silly Mommy tried to help by lathering them with aloe vera gel with lidocaine. I didn't read the part of the bottle that said do not apply to raw skin! Felicity was crying, I mean really crying in pain, for several minutes about her shoulders burning with the aloe vera gel while I was busy cleaning up a nasty, poopy Klaus mess. Finally, I could help her get the medicated aloe vera gel off and put some of the natural gel from the actual plant on her shoulders which didn't hurt.
We've had a few tick bites this summer but what's been worse this year are chigger bites. I counted 36 just on my midsection this morning. These are like mosquito bites in that they are itchy and red, but multiply the annoying symptoms by 7-10 days! They are itchier and redder than mosquito bites. Sometimes they itch so bad I can't fall asleep! The kids and I have used up a bottle of hydrocortisone cream already. Kian came home from Boy Scout Camp with so many bites (and his might have just been mosquitos, I'm not sure), that after he put the cream on each of them he looked like he had measles! In addition to the bug bites, I think Felicity had a few spider bites the other day as well because three bites on her leg were swollen and hard.
Along with the sunburns and the bug bites, we've had rashes as well! While at a friend's house last week, Ella got hungry in between meals and decided to find a snack on her own. She munched on some berries (she called them nuts) that she found that looked like unripe grapes from a vine in our friend's yard. She shared them with her friends too. The next morning all of the kids woke up with full body rashes, most prominent on their cheeks! The rash resembled poison ivy and was itchy that first day but over time has slowly resolved.
This summer is busier and this summer is itchier than previous summers, but summertime is still my favorite!
