Family pile

Do you know what I just did?  I took a mid-afternoon bath.  I know that some of my readers, both male and female, are bath people.  Indeed, I could name a few who I'm certain have experienced the midday tubbie.  I myself, however, am not a bath person, let alone at a time other than night.  But armed with my newly cleaned tub, I took the plunge and it was glorious.  I am fighting a cold (please oh please don't turn in to a sinus infection, pretty pretty please) and I was dirty.  I find myself wanting for more excuses, but that's all I've got.  And that's okay.

I have discovered the best part of my family members attending college, pre-school, and daycare:  more and better family time.  When one parent's job was to stay home with the kids, the other parent was often rescuing the other parent from the job.  Now the only rescuing we do is of the kids from their respective daytime activities.  This leads to greater enjoyment of our time together.  It's wonderful. 

With this improved quality of family time we have had a most fabulous holiday weekend.  My only regret is that I have not taken enough pictures, although I am glad that I have experienced it with my own eyes rather than through a camera lens.  We grilled out with neighbors, we visited S. and her 4-week-old baby C., our dear friends Darci, Zach, & Sons came up for an overnight visit, and we went to the Gardens here in town.  So many great photo ops, most of which I missed!  But I did finish Eleanor's hat, and she modeled it for me.

We have a great abundance of tomatoes from our garden, and we are not (yet) canning people.  So we have been making all sorts of delicious tomato things to make sure we eat them before they spoil.  I have made vats of bruschetta topping and pico de gallo, and Ian has made four loaves of tomato bread (I can't link to a recipe because he just makes it up every time!).  While he was making the bread, the girls played with flour and made their own creations.  This is such a small fraction of the wonderful family time we had this weekend, but hopefully it conveys the message.