Family

Toddler snuggling with mom on couch

Summer Sniffles + Why I Love Our Neighborhood

I loved all the comments on my last post! It made me feel a lot better to read about your kitchen mishaps and hear that a few of you thought the melted carrier looked like art. Jimmy and I were thinking the same thing! He thought we should name it “Sunday Afternoon in The Zottola House.”

I’m happy to report that my $77 mistake is all fixed! I ran a self-cleaning cycle on the oven yesterday and the new racks came in the mail. I even did some baking and nothing tasted like plastic. I thought all was right until Malcolm knocked my beloved milk frother (which was still plugged into the outlet–eek!) into a pan of sudsy water in the sink. When will I learn to wash dishes ASAP?!

I slept in a bit yesterday and was reading my Bible before Sadie woke up. I spent some time in 1 Peter and read the chapter that our monthly memory verse is in. Since becoming a parent, I truly treasure any quiet time I can get with my Bible and prayer journal!

Bible

Once Sadie woke up, I realized she had a case of the sniffles. Poor girl must have sneezed 50 times yesterday. Her nose was running and she was pretty miserable unless I was holding her. 

Toddler snuggling with mom on couch

We made it through the day and did one of my most favorite rituals: we took a walk as a family in the evening.

We were walking past a house that has beautiful landscaping and a garden when we came across this bag taped to their fence. 

Bag of free jalapeño peppers from vegetable garden

The homeowners were sitting on their porch when we grabbed the bag, waved, and thanked them. That is one of the many reasons I love our neighborhood 🙂

What should I cook with the jalapeños?

Noodle Hair Confession and Harvesting Vegetables from the Garden

Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes for Sadie’s nose to heal up. She is looking much better and is her happy-go-lucky self! The swelling has gone down and she just has a cut and a tiny bit of bruising by her eye. She’s a champ, lol.

Toddler painting Abeka homeschool craft

We spent some time painting a picture from her arts and crafts book yesterday and she was loving it. We also went out to the garden.

We harvested two different varieties of yellow squash and some swiss chard, micro greens, and arugula. Later on, we also picked the first cucumber of the season!

Yellow squash and greens from vegetable garden in Pittsburgh

We have a few watermelons, green peppers, and jalapeños coming in, tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and the strawberries are being eaten by birds before we can pick them. They must be good 😉

These two behaved fairly well yesterday. Sure, Niva stole sweet potato fries off my dinner plate when I turned my back while Malcolm went for the chicken, but that’s child’s play compared to their usual antics.

Siberian Husky and black cat together

Sadie, on the other hand, went on a little breaking spree.

She broke the hanging succulent Jimmy gave me as a Mother’s Day gift when I was pregnant with her and the coffee mug my sister-in-law gave Jimmy for performing their wedding ceremony.

Broken coffee mug and glass succulent holder

When sentimental things like that break, I try to remind myself that they’re just things. Material possessions are nice and a blessing, but I never want to be so attached to something that when it breaks I flip out, you know?

I’m sure it’s easier said than done with it’s bigger and more important than decor and a coffee mug, though.

In the evening, we headed to church and I found a noodle in Sadie’s hair when we got there. I have to confess: I took the noodle out of her hair and gave it to her… and she ate it.

Noodle in toddler's hairFamily picture of mom and dad and toddler taking a selfie

Have you ever found something random in your hair? (True story, I once found a mini drone in my hair.)