Summer Sleep Over

What is that sticking out from that "tent", are those little toes?

What is that sticking out the top of the "tent"? Is that a hand and red hair?

Oh Marin is having a sleep over, a camping night in her room. Ahhh Summer reading in a tent until you fall asleep. Could there be anything sweeter than reading your self to sleep?

Well he can't read, but he sure is sweet. Little sleepy boy. He decided to stay in his bed he wasn't into sleeping in the tent.

Its always nice to take your blankie where ever you go in case you need to make a tent and take a nap. Owen is in love with his blankie and it does go everywhere with him.

We're Back Part 2

Upon arriving home from our vacation we hit the ground running. There was a lot to do...

First on the list: Finalize all parts for buying the home we have been renting for the past two years. Yes I said we are buying our house. We are now home owners! Whoo! It has been a long journey, and a lot of work for Todd (who did all the paperwork).

Second: we found a swing set. It had been loved by another family here in town and they were moving and it needed a new home. Some of our friends with a trailer showed up and took it apart,

and brought it over to our house and set it up!
It was quite possibly one of the most humid day of the month. It had just rained and our back yard-o-mulch holds in the moisture. Seriously the humidity was so thick you could feel it in your lungs when you were breathing. But...
They continued on...
And finished every last detail! And we now have the most wonderful back yard we could have ever imagined.
Thanks guys! We love it, and use it every day, many times a day. In fact we had lunch in the tower yesterday. We also must thank all our grandparents and great grandparents for all the gift money for the kids (Christmas, birthdays...) we have been saving and finally spent on this wonderful swing set. Thank you! Did I say that we love it?

After we finished our paperwork for buying the house and moved and installed the swing set, Vacation Bible School started up at our church. What? Yes it was next, and in the middle of VBS we closed on our house... and yeah it worked.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, advice, and input.

And We're Back part 1

...and we're back! Whew we might be finally catching our breath, maybe. Let us catch you up.
We went back to the Midwest to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They took us to creeks...
Taught us how to catch crawdads, float down the stream, and swing off a rope.
We had snacks on the banks and threw rocks into the water.
We got to visit some best buddies. Owen and J are only a few weeks apart. Its so fun to have little friends to play with on vacation.
Marin and JB loved seeing each other again and played all afternoon.
We spent the Fourth there celebrating with Grandpa Tim who shot off lots of good fireworks and let Marin pick out every one that was next. And Marin got to do sparklers for the first time!
Yeah for the 4th of July! Yeah for Grandma and Grandpa! We miss you so much and can't wait to see you in October!


We also visited Joplin, where the Tornado hit a few months back. It was sad, shocking, and indescribable - the damage that a single tornado can make. It looks like everything was thrown into a blender, or that there was a war there.
The building you see in the background on the left is the hospital that was destroyed. Normally from this neighborhood you would not be able to see the hospital because of the houses and trees. But because most everything was leveled you can now see right through the neighborhoods all the way to the hospital.

We heard so many stories of how people in the surrounding areas jumped in and cared for their neighbors in Joplin, how the farmers brought in their trucks and tractors and cleaned up the streets before FEMA even got there. How neighbors would dig their way out of the rubble and not run for safety but run to the house next door and start digging out their neighbor. The courage and bravery, the tears for all the loss is almost too much to understand.

Swimming Lessons and THE SLIDE

Marin took swimming lessons at our public pool. They were awesome. She was awesome. Look at the float!

Marin loved her teacher who was so good, and only had one other student, so it was a lot of one-on-one. They both got a lot of instruction. And they became really good little friends too.

This is the slide at the pool. And the first day we went, Marin asked if she could go down the slide. We told her she was not ready yet, and the slide was really big. But she kept asking her swim instructor and they finally told her she was swimming well enough to try it. (just look how high it is! Marin's mommy was freaking out on the inside but being very brave for her on the outside)

Well she did it! We are so proud of her because once at the top she was really nervous. But she went anyways and tried it! WHOOO! Way to go little Marin.
As soon as she got out of the water she said, "I'm never going down a water slide again!"

Little fish we are so proud of you!

New Sewing Project

I have some favorite old t-shirts from college. I don't wear them all that much but I just can't get rid of them.

This is an old K-Life shirt, and a Gap shirt as the bias around the edges.

This was from our church back in Missouri. Each Summer's Kids Camp has a theme and this particular theme was Space. This was my Crew Member (volunteer) shirt. I used an old night shirt with giraffes as my bias for this one (that's the light blue fabric)

Superhero shirt handed down from a friend. I use a simple pattern. Recycled fleece from jackets I pick up at thrift stores. So far my favorite fleece is Land's End.

This one was a infant sleeper by Carter's. I love how soft their knit sleepers are. This one got some stain down the front so I couldn't pass it on... But it made a really cute diaper with no stains. I was able to use the snaps down the front of the sleeper as the snaps for the diaper.

What Do You Make With All Those Berries

Blueberry Pancakes

With berry sauce

Cobbler and cream

Sooooo good!

Or you can wear it.

Berries Take III

I only ate 5 berries, and 4 green one's well maybe more but why are you asking anyways?

Todd's a good picker...

Hey don't let that little boy steal our berries! Who does he belong to anyways, don't let him eat all our berries!

Hope all of you are out gathering up the season's delicious things right now.
Cheers!

Blueberry Season part II

Pick those berries! We love picking berries.

Marin is showing Owen how many she has picked so far.

Owen can't show anyone how many he has picked because they are all in his belly.

Eight pounds later... She ate so many her eyes turned the same color as the berries.

Blueberry Season

Owen is a professional at picking berries. Every single one goes right into his mouth... well he thought the bucket was fun for a little while. But seriously why would anyone need a bucket when you can just eat them fresh off the berry bush!

Ahhhh Summer!

Not in any hurry to "drive" through the grocery store

Owen takes his "driving" very seriously. Beep beep coming through! Get us to the bakery for that free sprinkle cookie fast!

Bring home treasures from the beach

Sort through them when Owen is napping and they can lay out on a towel and be inspected thoroughly.

Skipping church with daddy... and taking time to drink some coffee... or throw your paci in daddy's cup. Oh that sneaky boy.

Marin got something out of the school treasure box...

Just when you think your kids are sort of normal, they choose green teeth out of the treasure box (when they could have gotten any number of things, like stickers...)

or you find a chicken bone... a what? A CHICKEN BONE in their room with their ocean treasures, then you know your kid might need therapy some day.

Kids in a Hole

We went to the beach for the weekend. Owen has a new suit, he needed to try it out

A good idea is to dig a really big hole and stick the kids in it...

That little boy always figures out how to get out of things

and this little girl got a few new freckles.