Rainy Summer Day

It was a good day to go to the library and stock up. 

Fireworks

We did our annual fireworks show for the kids again this year. A couple friends from across the street came to join us.  The surprise and delight among them was sweet to watch. 

Silas loves the 4th of July. He does not get that exuberance for a holiday filled with loud noises from me. 

Bless this one's little heart, he hung in there with all the rest of the kids. But by the time the big fireworks show in town started, he was in my lap and fast asleep just a few minutes in.  One of many moments I would like to carry around with me forever...

Summer Memories 2015: Evening Swim

We went swimming this evening. It was a tiny bit chilly for Shane and I but the kids didn't care!  They played with their second cousins and went down the big slides more times than we could count. Thankful for family night that made it a lot cheaper!

After a quick stop for doughnuts, we had a snack at home and got everyone a bath. The kids were taking turns in the bath and watching one of their favorite shows, Chopped, when I came in to the living room to find this...

 

Kinda how I feel too...

Summer Memories 2015: Baseball

 It was Star Wars night at our local minor league baseball team game a couple Saturdays ago...

Anakin Skywalker, General Grievous, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader were all in attendance.  Along with a bunch of other Star Wars characters that our kids loved meeting...

Blaise doesn't like characters of any sort.  This Stormtrooper was so kind to try to win him over...

And the baseball was fun too!

Summer Memories 2015: Camping Out

On a whim this week we decided to buy a tent. The kids have been begging to have a fire and toast marshmallows so we thought we would go all out last night and do a whole camp out. It was totally worth all the time and investment. The weather was perfect for it and the kids loved every minute from the set-up of the tent and starting the fire to the tiki torches and tractor rides to the sleeping bags and waking up to the chorus of birds...

Sweet Summer Mornings

I have left for work the last couple days with these two already outside...

Unlikely

It was a rainy Sunday here today. But these days we pretty much play outside no matter what, so ended up with kids biking and stomping through the puddles, turning up their heads to drink the raindrops. 

All of a sudden Simeon (who always seems to have a plan) decided he would "bury treasure". Off he went and returned with one of Lieren's plastic gold bracelets. She then ran to get more while Simeon asked if we had a treasure chest. 

No chests were to be found and once we had made it clear they could only each bury one thing, we all tromped to the back where they picked a spot. 

We dug. We buried treasure. We felt more raindrops. And we used sticks to mark the spot. 

Then it seemed good to paint the sticks. 

It was dirty. They were messy. Everything was damp when we called it over. 

But they were happy. 

And I was pleased to be reminded that often happy comes in the unlikely of rain and mud and a bit of creativity unleashed by the reluctant yes.