June = Summer = Adjusting

June 6 was the last day of school.

Everyone was excited. Even me! 

Sometimes when I'm reading my Bible, Van decides to "read" his too.

Eden received some pencils (among many other art supplies) from her Great Grandpa Jim. She decided to try them out right away and put his tips to use as well.

We went creek stomping the week school was out. PERFECT weather.

And we built a dam! So my friend and I were really into it, and finally the kids caught on to our awesomeness. She took this with her itouch.

Look who I caught helping his little bro put on his shoes. These moments are the best.

Father's Day. After lunch, naps, an outing on his own to peruse Home Depot, steak, potatoes, & asparagus dinner, we went for a walk. Well, the kids rode, we walked.

Beautiful golden evening.

Watching the older kids race down the hill.

This guy. He probably won't even see this and if he did he would probably be perturbed that his picture is on here. However, let's talk about him for a sec. He works harder than most anyone I know, he loves me, his kids and desires to obey God even if that means adopting more kids (heaven help me).  The kids adore him and he's definitely the favorite when it comes down to it. I'm okay with that. Number One Dad indeed.

Van agrees that daddy is worth jumping up and down about.

Adjusting. Over the past couple years I've noticed that after a few weeks of bickering the kids chill out and become bff's for the rest of the summer. It has not totally kicked in yet. It feels like there is so much going on right now that they are bouncing off the walls and I don't have time to deal with it.  But that's my job. Not even just dealing with it, but shaping these little ones in to loving beings instead of selfish beasts. So in the middle of my taskiness I had a good mom moment and we made a fort. See how happy they look? That lasted 10 seconds after this picture. I kid you not. Luckily it was nearly lunch time. So I fed the littler ones and  put them to bed. Then the older two ate and started acting like civil humans again. Maybe they were just hungry. I had them have some reading time with a timer on and I went upstairs to do some other work.   After a while Jesse comes up to ask me how to start the washing machine. Turns out they had swept and mopped the floor, put laundry in the dryer and folded the rest. I nearly cried with joy that they thought of this on their own. He said they were bored and so they thought they'd help out. YES!  And then the rest of the day was perfect. Not true. There was more bickering and screaming and crying and the like. But today I learned a lesson. Normally I group a day into either good or bad. Either everything was great or it wasn't.  But that's just not reality. Everyday has good and bad and it's not always even. But what am I going to choose to remember most? The bad was there, learn and move on to tomorrow where everything is new. The good....yes. What I will choose to remember most about today is that my kids decided to help their mom out, without being asked and do a good job of it. And then they asked for a treat. :)

 

May

They love each other.

Somebody refused to give me a normal smile...I'll let you guess who.

Washing the car on a HOT day.

Water balloons = 10 mom points. No throwing them at mom = -5 mom points. Still in the black.

We know what the camera is for now.

Snack time.

Later I found out that there was water in this boat. Wet pants was the big clue.

Swingin'

I don't usually drive, but when I do it's in the nude.

Flasher.

Another example of safety first on the farm. 

Uncle Dwayne got a turkey, and the girls found kittens.

We were picking berries...can you tell what kind?

This one was not feeling his best that day.

Niece Ella was a HUGE help with the boys while I picked.

Strawberry Fields

We stopped at the park where Eden and the whole 2nd grade was having a field trip. This is her current school BFF.

Lunch with sister.

Tuckered out.

Strawberries make you feel better.