Full of Love and Protection for Us

We love you, Dad! Thanks for loving and protecting us so!

(The chalk inspiration originated from here.)

Good Night Proclamations and Good Morning Grub

AD is working on "The Lord's Prayer" at bedtime. He has aways to go, but what he knows he says with great passion, leaving everybody smiling:

Mornings are usually not so eventful for the cook. Yet, this morning H had a request for waffles. So I did a quick search for "gluten free waffle recipe with Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Flour." Found one. Made them. All children and Momma were very happy.

With the last of our salsa, I made huevos rancheros for Espi, one of his breakfast favorites.

Five out of five bellies were very pleased with the day's start.

Dad Through the Eyes of His Children

We have another maintaince house project that is well overdue causing Espi to keep hard at work this past weekend. By the looks of things, the next weekend will be full for him (and myself as I can help), too. So our summertime begins. And isn't that a good part of what summer is for, house projects.

Seeing Espi work so hard and so well at what he does, simply put, fills me with gratitude for him. As we near Father's Day, I asked the children what they appreciate and notice about their father:

What is something Dad always says to you?
H: I love you.

What makes Dad happy?
AF: giving him sweet tea

What makes Dad sad?
H: when we get in trouble

How does Dad make you laugh?
H: his dancing

How old is Dad?
AD: two? three?

How tall is Dad?
AF: like this! (stretching her hand above her head)

What is Dad's favorite thing to do?
AD: eat food
AF: go to Abuela's house
H: play with us

What does Dad do when you're not around?
H: works

If Dad becomes famous what will it be for?
H: building stuff and drinking sweet tea with every meal

What is Dad really good at?
AD: eating food

What is Dad not very good at?
AD: not eating food
H: liking different foods

What is Dad's favorite food?
AD: eating tortillas
AF: waffles
H: enchiladas

What makes you proud of Dad?
AD: He eats bread.
H: He builds very well.

If Dad was a cartoon character who would he be?
AF: Kung Fu Panda

What do you and Dad do together?
AF: play
H: talk a lot and play

How are you and Dad the same:
AF: We both are humans.
H: We both like sweet tea.

How are you and Dad different?
AF: We don't have the same skin.
H: Dad's a boy; I'm a girl.

How do you know Dad loves you?
AF: because Dad told me
H: because he cares for me

Where is Dad's favorite place to go?
H: Home Depot and Texas Road House
AF: Big R
AD: yeah, Big R!

Pinterest, rich with ideas, inspired this questionnaire. The original source is here.

First Garden Salad {Short on Greens But Delicious}

Made use of our strawberries tonight for dinner.

Picking a bowl full with the children this morning reminded me of a grill chicken and spinach salad I had at Cracker Barrel this spring in Texas. It was perfect. A top a bed of spinach was almond slices, bacon pieces, thinly sliced red onion, lots of strawberries, blue cheese crumbles, grilled chicken all mixed in a vinaigrette.

That was the inspiration.

We worked with what we had.

Marble-sized hail hit us a couple nights ago.

It is laughable how much spinach and lettuce is still in tact. I think the plants will bounce back just fine, and at least we had some. As you can imagine, the kids and Espi weren't complaining.

Our salad included

grilled chicken,

roasted walnuts,

bacon pieces,

thinly sliced red onion,

avocado slices,

strawberries,

feta cheese,

and

a small bed of mixed greens (chard, spinach, and bibb)

tossed with a vinaigrette.

How can you go wrong with such a combo? It was delicious.

Finding the Lovely {Starting Summer Break}

We are well into summer break and enjoying it fiercely in a pretty low key kind of way.

Our first week, I jumped right into painting, not for transforming but for maintenance. Lots and lots of trim, base boards, and doors have been eye sores for much too long.

It has been plenty hot enough for sprinklers and spray guns.

Gardening, reading, pretending, biking make up much of the new normal right now.

Thinking back to Kimberly Taylor and Jeanne Oliver's series in February, I shall carry on in the same tone as we start these easy days of June...finding the lovely in the everyday:

{left to right: wildflowers::::a bouquet of "pretty" grass from the girls::::strawberry season::::a growing garden}

{storytime with big sister::::fresh from the bath sillies::::make believe::::big sister letting the littles show no mercy and loving it} 

{discovering new abilities--"Look, Mom."::::sleepy head in sports garb::::Espi giving facial hair a go upon my wish and daughters feeling safe and content in daddy's arms::::country biking--"no clothes necessary"} 

{big, light browns working on pearly whites::::morning coffee in grandma's old dishes::::making time for simple homemade for the joy of it::::fresh blooms}