Parade

In what is quickly becoming a favorite family activity, we participated in our little neighborhood parade and donut shin dig on the 4th of July...

 These two never shy away from a chance to decorate things...

 All of the littles, ready to ride like the wind... to the end of the road and back.

With neighborhood friend, Eleanor

South Dakota

We trekked to South Dakota a few weeks ago for a family reunion with Jamie's family and the chance to visit some great friends.  

Below are candids with Jamie's cousins and their children.  His siblings and their kiddos are mixed in the bunch, too.  There are a lot of them.  Jamie is the second youngest cousin in a slew of them so there are lots and lots of cousin's children.  That is a recipe for lots of noise but oh so much fun!!

 The cousins that were able to be there.  There are several missing...

 His cousin's children.  Wow.

We got to do double duty on this trip... family and friends.  Jamie has been friends with Andy for eons. I met Sara briefly at our wedding and few other times in the years before little people.  We have only spent time together, "in person", a handful of times.  She is a gem.  Andy is a gem.  They often comment that they are a "wreck" because things don't always go smoothly for their kiddos or the questions their precious kiddos ask would be a little disarming for most of us, but these two eyes and ears of mine tell me otherwise.  If they are a wreck... it's a glorious one.  Their family gives us glimpses of redemption and grace. 

 Josiah, Isaiah, Caleb and Jonathan

Andy and Sarah with us... we got a double date on our last night there. :+)

Field Day Fun

Wow.  I can tell I'm very behind with all of the summer fun.  Just downloaded these photos from field day at the end of May.  It was a gorgeous day and Big C and I were spectators at field day for the morning.  The kids all had a great time!  My little man is wearing his beloved orange shorts :+)

Fun with Friends

We went swimming with these friends.  They are the little people of our good friends, the Krugers.  We see them far too little, but I am thankful for our long-lasting friendship!  We have known them for 10 years.  Before any of these people were walking around... look at us now!

No particular order

I love summer fun.  And this summer, I also love the weather.  It's been just lovely.  Here are snippets of our days...

Swimming lessons with three of the best young gals.  They are delightful and the boys are becoming quite proficient swimmers!

 Morning of water fun with some friends

Our garden.  I love it.  I love going out everyday and seeing what amazing things are growing there.  Cucumbers can make anyone feel good about their gardening abilities, but this year we also have tomatoes, corn, peppers, beans, zucchini, WATERMELON (this is amazing... I've tried for four years to grow a melon plant), and asparagus that is on year two of growing.

Last summer I wouldn't have ventured to the park at 3:00 on a July afternoon... this year it was a beautiful and delightful day.  We diddled there with friends for two hours!

3,2,1 Launch!

What happens when a Physics teacher becomes a stay at home mom to boys (and has a husband who has good power tools)?  This...

It can launch water balloons to the tops of the oak trees across the street from our neighbor's house.

Car Tires + Phone = Bad News

I had some fun photos on my phone camera to post... however, I ran over the phone with the car.  The phone was unrecoverable so thankfully the plan that the hubby bought included insurance on the phone of some sort.  I have a new one for minimal cost.  However, all of the photos are gone.  Oh well.

So, here's the fun around here:
 - Visit to Iowa to see my parents for a few days and visit with Abby and family.
 - Swimming fun
 - Hosted our annual block party which is always great fun and some chaos.
 - Baby shower for our sweet friend, Darcey, whose little one is arriving in a month.
 - Swimming.  Did I mention that?
 - Garden is growing.  As in I could possibly have a large number of tomatoes, beans and cucumbers in a month or so.  I will be ecstatic if my efforts at growing things pays off.

Off for more summer fun and hopefully a few photos :+)