Answer Me This: On Summer, Sleep and Pie

I was planning an Answer Me This/What I Wore Sunday link up extravaganza post today, but by the time I thought about taking a picture of the outfit I wore to Mass it was already covered in some mysterious food that I think we can probably blame on this person, although I don't actually remember it happening:

 

So I'll stick to questions and answers today and throw in a few of the pictures that I snapped this weekend to keep the grandparents happy!

1. What do you still want to do this summer?

Today's bit of summer fun
involved running around
campus with Patch trying to go
over and play Frisbee with
the college kids.

When I read this question I feel like a list of fun things should pop into my head, but in reality it reads more like a list of What-I-Desperately-Think-Should-Be-Done-Before-This-Baby-Decides-It's-Time-To-Show-Up... which includes things like purging our basement of all the things we don't need (and maybe having a garage sale), deep cleaning every room of the house and hearing the happy news that Paul has gotten a job (he's applying all over town at the moment). 

Still, since the bar has ended, it kind of feels like summer just got started and we're finally getting to go out and do fun things with Daddy without worrying about getting home to study for some horrible test that's looming on the horizon. 

It's sweet, sweet freedom. 

So finally going to zoos and parks and museums without the Bar looming over our heads is high up on the list right now, for at least a portion of our days, slipped in between Mae's daily therapy sessions and sewing and that check list that I just can't seem to put out of my mind of things that I'd like to have done. 

2. What's your favorite kind of pie?

I love just about any pie that involves berries... especially raspberries. 

Since 3 out of 3 kids in the house can't have wheat or dairy of both, however, I usually get my berry pie fix with berry cobbler.  Somewhere around here there's a recipe, but basically I make a berry base with berries and a little bit of sugar and then make a topping by mixing almond meal, shredded coconut, brown sugar and that vegan butter that really, really tastes like real butter.  I bake it all until it becomes wonderfully mess cobbler goodness that can ruin a toddler shirt in about ten seconds flat!

3. How much sleep do you need each day? How much do you get?

Right now I need a ridiculous amount of sleep... like ten hours.  I suspect that the anemia I had for the first time in my life during my last pregnancy has returned, and have boosted my iron and vitamin D (because I definitely notice I have more energy when I take extra vitamin D, which is among the things I found while convincing Mae to take her vitamins), and I think that totally unreasonable number is finally sliding back into the realm of normal again. 

When I'm not pregnant, seven hours from bedtime to morning time is okay (although let's face it, that usually involves getting up at least once, or when co-sleeping, half waking up a number of times).  When I'm pregnant eight is the bare minimum to keep me from falling asleep during the day in the middle of the play room floor.

4. Do you prefer to swim in a pool, lake, river, or ocean?

I am definitely a pool girl at heart.  I have an over active imagination when I'm swimming in lakes/rivers/the ocean and always imagine an alligator/shark/lake monster about an inch away from my toes.  Living and surfing in South Africa and seeing so many alligators out the window of our car in Florida probably didn't do much to help my paranoia.  Nor did a particularly memorable surfing trip in San Francisco where a bus pulled up and I read the side that said they conducted shark watching tours as tourists began to pull out their binoculars and stare in our direction. 

I think that was actually the last time that I went surfing...

On the other hand when we were at the fish hatchery a couple of weeks ago Mae tried to rip her hand out of mine and throw herself in to just about every single fish holding tank that we saw.  So she apparently has no problem swimming with large numbers of not-so-little fish.

5. Do you know any poems by heart?

Finally!  Someone who likes memorizing poems
as much as I do!

Dozens.  I'm pretty sure I've annoyed the majority of my friends over the years with my love of poems.  And one of the things I love about doing school with Sadie is that the program that we're using has room for daily memory work and one of her strengths is definitely her memory so we've spent quite a bit of time this year reciting poems.  My favorite poem to hear her recite at the moment (which I've memorized too after hearing her repeat it so many times) is "The Mountain and the Squirrel" by Emerson. 

6. Do you use the public library?

We do!  Although I haven't been nearly as often in the last couple of months as I had been before the final semester of law school arrived.  For quite a while Sadie and I were making weekly trips after her ballet class on Saturdays.  Hopefully we'll be able to start those trips up again now that things are a bit less hectic!

For more Answer Me This head over to Catholic All Year!

Also, this post needs a picture of Maggie and so here it is!

Maggie doing what Maggie does best!  Climbing!