Lazy Days of Summer

July 16, 2015

Here's a little smattering of the summer activity we've got going on in these parts.

Outside fun!

Grandma got us this sweet slip and slide. All four of the kids are big fans.

One day I sent the three oldest to the garden with scissors and told them to trim down our spinach and lettuce plants to prevent them from going to seed. After quite a while of trimming, we had a TON of lettuce and spinach! So we tossed it to our little hens. The chickens were excited.

The kiddos called this "chicken salad." Hahaha!

Lots of art. Bryn made this with Aunt Bri.

Asa has begun turning all sorts of things into phones.

Also a good bit of construction. I think Bryn made this zoo. Leah's the model for the picture.

Reading lots of books.

Asa discovered the lazy susan in the kitchen and disappeared into it one day. I got to spin it around to get him back out.

Some stir-craziness.

A current favorite game.

Plenty of make-believe. Thanks for the hat kits, Grandma!

Nate went to Canada for a week in June. While he was at his conference there, we sent lots of pictures back and forth. We tried to snap one each night at scripture study. We really covered quite a range of emotions.

Cuteness.

Peace and love abounding.

Insanity.

More insanity. We really were glad when he came home. That said, those of us back at the ranch coped more successfully than ever before while Daddy was away.

Friends and visitors here and there.

We've done quite a bit of this:

Popsicles! Oh, the popsicles. I love Asa's little streaky potbelly in this picture.

It was a tough adjustment for Leah when she suddenly had more siblings at home full-time, but I think she's gotten used to it and enjoys their company.

Heaven help us all.!

We've been doing a "summer challenge board" this year. Each week or two I'll put up a new challenge on our door. If the kids complete it, they get a small prize. I was so proud of Addison's response to "serve someone outside our home." He planned it all out on his own. He gathered up his joke book, some airplanes and some cookies, piled them all in his bike basket, and rode by himself(!!!) to Brother Grove's house, where he told some jokes, showed his planes, asked Brother Grove to tell him an airplane story, and spent at least 45 minutes over there just chatting and wiling away the afternoon. He felt great when he got home. As a bonus, Brother Grove had just gotten home from the dentist, and gave his new toothbrush (along with two pockets full of chocolate) to Addison.