flower board challenge

Another great library challenge. Harkin said it was his favorite yet. They colored in the vase on a foam board and then collected flowers from our yard and poked them through the holes in the board. It was a perfect day to be outside. Nice and cool with sun and a few clouds. A perfect summer day at home.

our garden

After 7 summers here we finally gave it a go. We don't have a ton of sun in our yard since we are surrounded by trees but the vegetables seem to be growing very well. We had our first lettuce earlier this week. We have a few finishing touches to the box still but for now we have vegetables!!

fairy house challenge

Issabelle and Harkin accepted another challenge from the library. They made fairy houses out of the materials that were provided.

This fit right in with our summer project of making fairies of our own, since we have finished reading the Tiptoes Lightly books. The two of them want to make all the fairies and gnomes from the books. We have been slow to get them all done but you can see Issabelle's Tiptoes in the bottom picture, hiding out in her new house.

the new bike

This is Harkin's new bike up close and the proud biker. He got it a few weeks ago and has been ever so happy about it. He rides pretty much every day. So happy that Landon made some neat trails in our woods. It is a great afternoon activity.

summit hike

We took a short hike this morning up to a summit that overlooked the lake. Harkin was super excited to have a backpack of his own and to be just like his big brothers. I was just happy to be outside and not overheated. The weather was perfect. Everyone had a nice time and we had the place to ourselves which is always a good thing.

spotted: masked super heroes

They were out protecting all the creatures of our yard.

building challenge

These two are participating in the libraries summer reading programs. Of course everything is remote. We can go to the library and pick up a bag of goodies for each weeks challenge or craft. This week they had to use recycled materials from the bag and home to make a house for a little critter that wouldn't get blown over from the wind of a fan or hairdryer. These were the first ones they built on Saturday and then they continued to make three more on Sunday. They just had so much fun working on them and testing them out. They even made boats to float in the pool. It kept them busy all weekend, and they were so proud!

sprinkler fun

92*. It was so hot you didn't want to move. They put the sprinkler on and just sat there getting wet. It was the perfect way to cool off for a tiny bit. Jaxson would go up close but was careful not to actually go in it. The kids would put his toys so close that he had to get it and then he would be wet. Trying to make the best of the weather and summer.

mountain biking : the jay area

We spent a great afternoon this week mountain biking. It was tons of fun. There were several parts that were a little challenging for Mama and Izzy but we stuck it out. We just pushed our bikes up the hill but then the fun part was coming down and hitting the bumps. Issabelle would screech with laughter. Harkin was able to keep up with his older brothers and they were so good to stay with all of us. It was so nice to be in the woods and having fun with all my kids.

We had a few falls but everyone was OK. Just a few bumps and bruises.

slime

We took a break from the heat and tried making slime. They thought it was interesting, a little too sticky. Our recipe was probably not quite right. It was fun while it lasted though.

early summer days

Trying to make the best of our days at a home and keeping cool. We were able to get to the lake one day and thankfully hardly anyone was there, so we could swim, while social distancing.😏

4th of july

We had a great day. Eric was smoking ribs all day, while I made cornbread, coleslaw, apple pie and berry shortcake, which Issabelle got to decorate. William was on fry duty. Everything was SO yummy. The kids played outside for most of the day. There was sandbox play, as always, and a little competition of backyard golf- using whiffle balls. It was pretty a relaxing day. We didn't do the Dad firework show this year but still managed to have fun as a family.

Hoping one day to actually see real fireworks up in the sky. We just haven't managed that since we have been to Vermont. mainly because we had two little ones. I was hoping this year but with Covid we stayed home and not really sure how many events were actually taking place.