Tonight's Performance

"The Fisherman's Daughter"
(Stage made possible by Ryan's cribbing)

Jackson's Quilt

Beach Season Is Here

At our favorite (Secret) Beach.

Home Again

Soon I will get up all the pictures from our annual up north vacation with my family.  But for now I will move on to being home.  It feels good.  Really good.  I love our July vacations and I am so grateful for them.  But I also love the slow, summery month of August.  There is usually not much on our calendar, a lot of food coming out of the garden, and (hopefully) plenty of sunny days for playing or just being lazy.

{ a play in progress}

It was such a fun surprise to come home to a garden full of food.  Tonight at dinner all three kids gobbled up roasted beats, tomato/cucumber salad, green beans and fresh peas and cucumbers.  I know they would have never eaten half of these things had they not helped grow them.  Yes I love our garden- it is health, happiness and even therapy all rolled into one wildly growing patch of earth.



I think it's important to note that not pictured in this photo are the fish sticks that went with all of this homegrown goodness.  Sometimes after spending all day gardening and then magically turning that garden into part of a meal I need some help with the rest of it.  Baby steps.

Jackson's Party

Party Highlights...
~ A very fun group of kids
~ A pinata
~ Building tool boxes
~ Jackson's favorite carrot cake
~ Simple and thoughtful gifts that he loved
~ Watching all of the kids run around long after the party was suppose to end
~ Ending the day with dinner in the barn with Kirsten, Tyler and Maren

Garden Lunch

Sunday Evening

Six

{Birthday morning}





Well of course I can't believe he is six.  Jackson's birthday was full of the usual birthday cheer and family stopping over and some really special gifts.  A bird house to build (which he did), a small rocket to launch (which he did), and legos to play with (which he has been doing all weekend).  But maybe the most touching gift he received was from his big sister (well and Daddy)- a kayak.  Grace really wanted to get Jackson a kayak.  Really, really, wanted too.  We don't normally spend that kind of money on birthday presents so we tried explaining that it wasn't an option.  But she insisted on spending her own money to buy it for him.  After all of us thinking about it for a month we decided that her and Ryan could buy the kayak together.  So she nearly emptied her piggy bank to buy this gift for her brother.  Then, to top it off, she made him a treasure hunt to find the gift.  I so, so, so wish I had it all on video.  Grace's genuine excitement at giving her brother this gift and his reaction to it brought tears to my eyes.  My mom did take a few photos...


{Before the treasure hunt}


{The end of the treasure hunt when Grace is reading to him what the gift is}


{His reaction}



We still don't have the kayak yet because we had to order it (we couldn't find any child sized kayaks in stores) so that will be another fun moment.



Another highlight for him was finally being able to try shooting his BB gun that he got from Grandpa Glenn (we had told him he had to be six to use it- which I was initially very nervous about but I have been assured that a BB gun would most likely not even puncture skin AND it will always be kept put away unless under the supervision of a grown up AND each time they do use it will be an opportunity to reteach gun safety, etc).  So Grandpa Glenn brought him some BBs and he got to shoot it for the first time.  He was able to hit a can several times.  I think we might have another hunter on our hands.


Happy Birthday to our lovable, hug-able Jackson!

A Quilt for Jackson

I think I started this quilt two years ago.  It has sat tucked away in a basket until a few weeks ago when I decided I was ready to finish it.  This seems to be the way it goes for me when I sew quilts.  Very slow (and very imperfect).  Now I've decided that it would make a great birthday present for him, but we'll see.  His birthday is in two days which really doesn't seem like it will work with my slowness.  Might have to be a belated birthday present...

Grace's First Sleepover

Grace had a friend over for her first overnight last night.  They played dolls, mud kitchen, jumped on the trampoline and roasted marshmallows.  They had such a great time together- I had fun just watching them have fun.
(Though we might need to work on the "sleep" part of the sleepover).

Off to Dinosaur Camp

Jackson and Tyler just after their first day of camp.  And excited for a three day sleepover at my parent's.

4th of July

Fishing, family, swimming and sparklers.  I think that about sums it up.  Many more pictures here.