Summatime!

You probably can't read it all, but at the beginning of summer Piper made a list of activities she wanted to do over the summer. Let's just say, we have had the rockin'est summer ever!

Number 0 on the list: Have Fun! Check.
Number 1: Go To the Zoo. Check.

Number 2: Eat Popsicles. Check. Check. And check.
Number 3: Trail Run with mom. That would require us to get up early to beat the heat. We've been sleeping in like teenagers instead.
Number 4: Go to the Cabin. Check. 2 cabins in fact. Arrowhead and Grand Lake.

Number 5: Go the lake. See above. Grand Lake is just that, Grand. Thank you Beesons!
Number 6: Oh wait, there's a second Number 5: Slipin Slide. Check.
There's a second Number 4. (We should put "work on math" on our list, but it's summer so nah.)
Number 4 (again): Play in the Pool. Check. Every single day! Tallie is swimming underwater like a fish and Piper is doing backwards somersaults! And then Maddie fell in and I had to dive in to rescue her. Kinda scary, but she's better for it now that she has a little fear in her.

Number 3: Graden aka garden. We celebrated Tallie's 6th birthday by planting a fairy garden. Plus Piper did plant those peach pits in the clay next to the tramp, and waters them everyday. Check.

Number 2 (twice): Gelato Junction. Check. It was decided that lemon and peach gelato are by far the best.
Number 1: Splash Pad. Check. Good thing we did that early on because the city decided to close it this week because of the droves of people frequenting it in this heat. Seems a little ironic.

Number 0 (again). 0+0=0 after all. Main Street Bagels. Check. We ate cinnamon rolls as big as your face. It lasted all of 5 minutes and then we made wishes in the fountain outside with loads of pennies.
Number 00: (Seriously, should talk about how to number lists.) Go shopping. Duh. And Water Balloon Fight. Check. The girls have great aim!

We have also gone to the Aquarium, went to the dollar movies to see Epic, hosted a backyard summer BBQ, tie-dyed T-shirts, had a sleepover with some sweet friends, a camp-out in the backyard, enjoyed cherry lime-aids from Sonic, celebrated Jack's first birthday, celebrated our first full year in the House on the Hill, celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary, and spent the day in our jammies watching movies! Oh! And our chickens are laying eggs now too!

And Tallie lost her two bottom teeth!

Like I said, it's been the rockin'est summer ever!

Piper and Jack

These two are fast friends, but tonight's cuddling was particularly cute.

Lion's Leo

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/Om8ltJFoPyM

School's Out For Summer

Praise The Lord! I don't think I could've handled one more day of straight partying. Neither could my girls. They were absolutely exhausted from the Talent Show, field activities, family picnics, potlucks, retirement cakes, hikes, park events, science walks all packed into the last 3 days of school!!

And the fire department even made an appearance to start off the events by spraying everyone down!

Our Lovely Lexi Lou

We have known this beautiful lady since she was a baby, and now she watches mine. We absolutely adore her, but had to say goodbye yesterday so she could head off for her summer internship. She has helped us every morning this year with the littles so I could drop and participate in "early bird reading" with Piper and Tallie. She was truly a lifesaver with a newborn and we cried when she left yesterday. In fact, Maddie said, "I love you Lexi. You're my best friend."

Our Third Turned Three

In the midst of our busy month, we failed to post pics of Maddie's 3rd birthday party: A Mickey and Minnie event!

Three fingers are so hard!

As she opened every present, she said; "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!"

And proof the boy existed since he slept through the whole thing!

Happy 3rd birthday, Maddie Lion!

A Few of my Favorite Things

Jellyfish clouds out my window

Always, sleeping babies.

The horse stables we can see from our living room, where we will be taking riding lessons starting in May.

Old barns.

The vision for our property taking root.

Old cruisers. Not the FJ variety.

Garage sale treasures.

Our sweet girls.

The orchard my amazing husband has been working tirelessly on. Isn't it a dream? God is so good to us!


Psalm 103:1-5
"Praise The Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise The Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."