Our Summer So Far. . . .

Our summer so far has been filled with projects and activities for the kids along with the Big Centennial in Michael's hometown. Tanna and her family were able to make it back plus Jeremy and Dusty came for the festivities too. The weather cooperated and we had a good time visiting, taking in the activities, and of coarse the kids loved playing with their cousins.

• Andrew is playing soccer again this year. You can really see his improvement from last year. They have played one game so far. He had a really good play where he brought the ball over half way down the field, kicked the ball really hard, and . . . . . almost scored.

• He has also been reading A LOT!! He has found multiple sets of DC Hero chapter books at the library. They are the perfect level and size of chapter book for him. Discovering the ODIN system and requesting books from other libraries has kept him reading more and more.

• All this superhero reading has lead him to reenact adventures with his superhero toys. He can sit in his room for hours and create elaborate stories.

• During one of his tree climbing adventures, he found a robin's nest in our tree. He can climb with in a couple of feet of the nest and watch the mom/dad feed the babies. He says there are three baby birds.

• Logan has been able to visit a couple of times this summer too. They have so much fun together. Logan is also playing soccer this summer so they had a few backyard matches. Man, that little Logan is fast and really good.

• Grace has been my little shadow this summer. She helped plant the garden, and not just her row of beans or peas but the entire thing. She stuck with me the whole time and was having fun. She was very excited about the radishes coming up. She now has her very own watering can for all the flowers she helped plant. She gave some impatients so much love added with all the rain, we had to replant some of the plants.

• Grace also has been obsessed with going to the library. Her love is Dora, Princess, and bear books. We end up going a couple times a week to get new books. I think going to the library is kind of like shopping to her, but she can go as much as she wants and it doesn't cost a thing. She has had our library card maxed out for a couple of weeks now.

• This past week I completed two projects- A fence around the garden to keep the bunnies out, and a cage per-say around the strawberries to keep the birds out. I now have a love/hate relationship with chicken wire fence- very hard work with.
  

• Grace helped with these projects too. She kept saying that we had a factory and that no critters were going to get our delicious food (licking her lips and smacking them).

• Grace is holding Saturdays crop of strawberries. You might say woop-tee-d0, but this is an amazing amount compared to other years. The few strawberries we did get the birds ate quicker than we could get to them. Monday's pickings were twice as much- very exciting.

• Did you know that if you call your mess in your room a MAZE, you shouldn't have to clean it up. She takes after her mother for sure.
  

• I have truly enjoyed my summer so far too. It is so nice to get things straightened up around the house and be able to do the things the kids want to do too. Just one of the blessings of being a teacher- summers off for the most part. The other major project for the summer is to get things situated to move Andrew downstairs to a room of his own.