During these busy days of summer I am finding myself drawn to simple. Simple meals and easy routines have been the theme. Thankfully, this is the time of year when eating simply could not taste better. Over the weekend, we made our usual trip to the farmers’ market. I was amazed at the amount of produce filling the vendors booths. Beautiful, French Breakfast radishes, baskets full of salad greens, piles of asparagus, spring garlic, green onions and our favorite snap peas.
Yesterday marked the end of another school year. I can hardly believe how fast it all went, seems like we were just buying school supplies, and now here we are making our summer bucket lists. It’s all good though. We are ready. Ready for a slower pace in the mornings, summer adventures and time at the pool.
While I look forward to warm summer days, and time together at home, there’s usually a bit of trepidation too. It’s only a matter of time before the bickering sets in along with, ’Mom, what are we gonna do today?’ followed closely by the ever popular, ‘Mom, I’m hungry!’
It finally started to feel a little like spring around here this week. And by finally, I mean that there was no snow in the forecast (yes, we had SNOW in MAY) and the temperature reached a balmy 72 degrees with sunshine.
Our whole neighborhood seemed to emerge in celebration of the sun. The rumble of lawnmowers and children’s laughter filled the air. My boys have started asking when we can fire up pizza on the grill and eat outside. My answer? Not soon enough!
The sun in finally shining here today. Finally. Despite the thin layer of frost, it feels like maybe spring is going to try and make an appearance. It feels like we’ve been waiting and waiting…counting down to spring days, waiting for the our favorite parts of this season to begin….
Crossing off the days until my oldest boy turns 12 (that actually might be him more than me) ….
Beginning the taper days leading to my spring half marathon…
Counting down to the opening day of our local Farmers’ Market…
April is birthday month at our house. 2 out of 3 boys will be celebrated for turning a year older. Birthdays at our house have turned into an all out food fest as they have gotten older. Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a favorite meal at supper and a special dessert.
For dessert this year, the birthday boy requested a 3 layer cake with lemon curd and whipped cream frosting AND he wanted to make it himself. I’ll let the pictures do the story telling, but let me just add; I never realized how much one can concentrate on cracking eggs, how far flour truly can fly and that if making a layer cake was always this fun, I would make them every week.
