Living A Simple Renaissance

Okay, so we've been busy!

Really, I mean insanely busy!

See, I'm actually sitting at Starbucks, enjoying a lovely, sunny California day writing the captions for this post so that we can try to get caught up. Ben can do the next one, though, since his captions are always more entertaining than mine! So, here is a quick recap of what our life was like before the really fun California wedding reception! That post will be up soon, I hope. :) And then maybe a "tour" of our adorable home! So, without further ado....here you go!

With a cooler summer, the blueberry crop lasted longer this year. The Schroeder ladies invited me to tag along with them and we each picked about 12-15 lbs...or was it more? All I know is that my bucket was heavy! But we were allowed to eat as many berries as we wanted whilst picking....what fun!

Ben and I attended a serious hoe-down Texas party at Grandma Rose's church. They even had tortilla chips shaped like Texas!! How cool is that? So, I had to wear that hat for most of the party, and I finally passed it off to Ben, who then wore it for the rest of the evening.

Nic doing all of the hard, back breaking work while Thomas watches....*cough*
Naw, Thomas did his fare share! :)
They came down to bring some fresh manure for our garden and flower beds, help plant, roto-till, and all sorts of other guy projects that I needed help with. And yes, there are flowers there now!

What's this? A couch! Hurray! Something to sit on, other than the living room floor, that is! The living room looks great now...oh, but you'll have to wait to see pictures of the almost finished room. We're still waiting on frames for our artwork.

Wow...it was like Christmas gone crazy! There were so many things that had been sitting in the trailer that I had forgotten about! What fun to rediscover my treasures! Anton is waiting ever so patiently while I decide where to put things.

Mumsie made shelf liners for all of our cabinets. They were all freshly painted, and I wasn't liking the idea of putting our clean dishes on paint anyway...so shelf liners were a great addition!

The Reynolds dropped by to say "HI!", see the house, and then they went to work! Thanks, Mrs. Reynolds for washing all of our dishes!

Oh, and then we had a birthday party to attend. It was a nice warm summer day, so the pool was a favorite spot that afternoon. And the grilled corn on the cob was sooo tasty!

What else does one eat on the 4th of July but brisket?! We had this in the oven baking while we were at church, and then the family came over to celebrate with us.

The girls filling up for the day! We are serious foodie people around here!
I think that I carried on my mom's favorite pastime....feeding people. :)

BBQ brisket, potato salad, rolls, and a regular salad...mmmm, a delicious patriotic dinner!
Looks good, huh?

Oh, and you can't forget dessert!!!! This year we were very patriotic....
We had homemade French Crepes. :)
But hey, in our defense, the Tour de France was going on, AND they were red, white, and blue...
And I'm an American....and I made them, so that makes it better, right?

Fireworks!!!!!!!!!!! Or, the California version, anyway.
Boy, and I thought that we had it bad in Illinois! All of the big blewie ones are illegal. You wouldn't believe how many sirens we heard that evening!
And no, they didn't show up at our place. :)
Maybe Fourth of Julying in Texas isn't such a bad idea, after all.....

Our very first dinner, in our very first home. The table is set, the Italian wine glass are pulled out, the fine china is waiting to be used....

And dinner is served! Oh, and there was a salad too,

Ahhh!!!!!! A piano has graced our living room! I love this piece of furniture.
It's pretty, useful, and it is helping me accomplish my goal of learning all of Clementi's sonatinas from Opus 36. We'll see how long that takes...

Okay, now check back for another update soon! And maybe some news....if something interesting happens! :) Hopefully we'll get internet at our house soon...then I won't have to sit at Starbucks listening to their annoying music...
Then again, I'd have to give up the drinks, too...
Or I could just make my own......

But I should get lunch first...