I Do Believe....

Summer.

Is.

Here!

Hope you are all finding ways to stay cool!

The Lake

When the kids and I were visiting my parents last week the entire family was able to get together for a day at the Lake. It was a perfectly, beautiful day! The kids had never seen such a large body of water. We had such a great time! Here are a few photos to highlight our day.






Click here to see some more beautiful pictures my sister took to capture the day. Her pictures are fabulous!

Cherry Pickin'

Great memories of picking cherries as a little girl left me pining for the same experience for my children. As far as I knew there were no cherry orchards near our home. Imagine my great delight and surprise when I discovered a You-Pick farm about 30 min from our home. (Google, I love you!). I did not realize how much I would enjoy myself. It brought such feelings of contentment. I wish I needed more cherries so I could go pick again!

The kids were a big help ....

and lasted much longer than I thought they would.

(My sister-in-law and her little boys joined us for the day)

The taste of fresh sweet cherries is out of this world!

And this mini sour cherry slab pie.... was divine!

(Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Summer Kick-Off

Yesterday:

*2 families and one brave friend, 5 kids
*30 lbs strawberries, picked, washed and prepped
*9 batches of jam, berries for the freezer and fresh eating
*berries waiting for at least one fresh pie

*one chaotic kitchen/ living area

*one focused supervisor

• 

*one partially assembled swing set for the birthday boy
(and early birthday present for one little girl)

*lots of fun

*a song or two to pass the time

*absolute fatigue

*a stolen moment to snuggle

Total satisfaction with a day well spent!

Our Last Hurrah!

(Warning: This is a little photo heavy. They are so darn cute! I can't help myself!)
Yesterday was our last official day of summer. The school schedule is upon us. So we spent some time at the local splash park enjoying the afternoon hours. It wasn't oppressively hot so we did a lot more "park" and a little less "splash". There was a breeze that kept creating a fine mist that was rather chilly, so I can't say as I blame them for not being too keen on getting wet.
Here we are upon arrival! Ready to conquer all that awaited us!

Such a fun place!


Playground fun:

Pretending their towels are capes!

Be still my beating heart! I love this picture of Lucas and the dappled light on his hair and skin.

Time to go home! I am so thankful for the lazy days of summer! We had a great time!

Lazy Summer Days...

...blowing the last of the remaining dandelions...

...hanging out in the shade of the trees...

...and making mom chuckle at post-lunch artwork...

Mama's Helpers

The faucet in the back of our house is out of commission for the summer, so the kids and I are bringing buckets of water from the front yard to the back yard. I hope we get a lot of rain this summer!
I love this little dress. So light and airy... and a great bargain at Target on a clearance rack last summer.

Nation Celebration

We took the kids to their 1st parade... in the pouring rain. I've been trying to make an effort to plan more fun outings with them, so we decided to stick with the plan despite the rain. I'm glad we did. We met up with our neighbors and the kids did really well. Although Brian and I were pretty wet and cold, we enjoyed our time with the kids.

After the parade we headed home for a good cup of coffee and lunch. The kids took a nice long nap and then we headed to Brian's sister's home. "K" and "C" put out a nice spread and even had an inflatable jumping area for kids to play! Lydia would've set up home there if we had let her.

At home we could see a few fireworks over the trees to which the kids kept exclaiming, "Fireflies!". We had a great time celebrating our nation with family and friends!

**I guess i need to wrap this up... I told Lucas this would only take a minute. He has now informed me that there are "too many ABC's, mommy!"**

Bountiful Harvest

This week the kids and I harvested the first batch of blueberries from the four blueberry bushes at our new home. They are SO good! Lydia ate every berry I tried to put in her little pink bucket. I'm surprised she didn't get a tummy ache.

Brian, his mom and myself spent an hour or so putting up the cage and netting to keep the birds from eating the berries. I was glad to have some help. It wasn't something I could do by myself. The cage is a little rickety, but it'll be fine for this summer. I think Brian is planning to build something more sturdy next summer.

This afternoon I went back over to the house to mow the lawn and was able to harvest another over-flowing pint of berries. It looks as though we will have that much or more ready to pick on Monday. What an abundant blessing!!! I am ready to pull out my recipes and whip up some pie, muffins and cobbler. Oh, I'm so excited!