Stormy Skies

The sun graced us with her presence for most of the day today. Waking up to blue skies and sunshine always sets a good tone for the day. 

We don't have many more school days left this month and we are all eagerly counting down the days until Summer! I had to snap this picture of the boys this morning, looking all grown up on their way to the bus. And of course Ollie had to get in on the picture too. 

Grampa's greenhouse is growing so many yummy things! We harvested the first of our Black Hungarian Peppers today. They already smell so good!

With the extra sunshine I hung the cloth diapers over the railing to dry. They blew in the wind while greedily trying to catch a spot of the sun. All of the windows were opened and I loved listening to the sound of bird song as I played with Sawyer on the floor. 

Whenever the weather is agreeable, Daddy comes home early from work and hooks up the boat! There's already been a few days where we have picked up the kids from school and drove straight to the lake for a few hours of fun in the sun! 

Sawyer is starting the like this boating thing just as much as the rest of us!

It's always a treat when Grampa comes along! The littles like having him around and especially love it when he jumps on the tube with them.

Mr. Stannix got brave and tried the knee board for the first time this year. The water was still chilly, but he had fun!

Sometimes I look at my kids and they look older than they did yesterday. I wish I could freeze time!

It was such a gorgeous evening, but the storm clouds soon caught up to us. I loved the contrast of the dark clouds and the color of the lake while the suns rays peeked through the storm. It was so beautiful!

Soon it was time to head home for showers and bed. Our schedule has already started to relax a bit and we can't wait for more carefree nights like these!

Happy Father's Day

Today we spoiled our Daddy with breakfast in bed and lots of hand-made cards. We are sure grateful to have a super Dad around to love and care for us all. After six kids, he's a natural at this Dad thing and makes juggling them all look easy. He has more patience than I ever will and I love sitting back and watching him do the Dad thing. There is nothing more attractive than a Father who fulfills his role with love and tenderness. Those moments where he cradles a new baby, falls asleep next to a little boy, disciplines with love, and teaches with passion make me fall in love with him all over again!

We snuck a quick picture in before he left for his early morning meetings. All of these littles sure love their Daddy!

I had a friend make up this T-shirt for Father's day and it came just in time! We enjoyed a Father's day dinner with my parents and the kids even helped me make a special dessert. I hope this guy feels celebrated every day, and not just on Father's day, because he sure works hard and deserves all the love! Happy Father's Day sweetheart!

Slip n' Slide

It is so great when life slows down a little bit! Typically the children are up with the sun and I don't often get to 'sleep in' on a Saturday morning.

I cherished my morning snuggle with theses two this morning while the rest of the house slept soundly. 

When the sun heated things up Daddy and Grampa busted out some plastic and turned it into a homemade slip n' slide. I dumped half a bottle of dish soap all over it and the littles had a blast!

Camilla was the only one brave enough to go on her tummy!

The littles convinced Daddy to go down and he didn't disappoint! Unfortunately I will be washing grass stains out of his t-shirt for the next little while. 

Oliver was a little bit worried about going down, and after Daddy helped him out a little, the look on his face was priceless!

We finished off the day planting a few new trees in the orchard!

Rain Rain Go Away

It poured rain all day today! I enjoyed a quiet afternoon listening to the rain while the little boys all napped soundly. After cuddling under a blanket on the couch to read I may have dozed off for a little while myself while a cool breeze blew through the living room. It was a perfectly lazy afternoon!

Summer Scents

This morning the boys helped me with morning chores. Most of the time Gramma beats us to it, but today we were able to get outside nice and early thanks to the beautiful weather! Ollie dumped a few buckets of chicken feed into the laying hens and Finley fed the meat birds. When we finished we went outside to watch the chickens run around the grass. 

While Sawyer napped, I joined my parents in the garden to help with the weeding. I worked away on the North East corner all morning long. When it got really hot, I slipped out of my rubber boots and let my bare feet sink into the black garden soil. By the time I had finished my knees were dirty, my finger nails were black, and my legs and back were aching. It felt so good though to visibly accomplish something. Sometimes when you're in the throws of motherhood it can seem as though you aren't accomplishing much during the day. The dishes get washed and then dirty ones get thrown right back in the sink. The floor gets mopped and then someone runs through the kitchen with food. At least when I had finished pulling weeds, it looked clean! 

Finley and Oliver played so well today! I loved looking over at them walking around the acreage hand in hand in a world of make-believe. As the sun became hotter we retreated to the deck for a glass of rhubarb slush to cool us off. I opened the windows on the shady side of the house and Ollie quickly fell asleep as a gentle breeze blew through his room. These days I am enjoying the smell of freshly mowed grass, sleeping beneath blankets that have been hung outside to dry, and evenings spent at the lake with family!

Brace Face

Camilla got her braces today, and looks extra cute with her purple elastics that she chose. She's been such a good sport about it!

This afternoon brought us one of the first warm, non-windy soccer practices of the season! Joe loves running around the field and plays his heart out every practice!

Sunday Snapshot

All of the children were snuggled together on the couch before church. 

It had to be documented, no socks, too-big-shoes, un-brushed hair and all!

New Niece

We have another sweet new baby in the family and had to stop in for cuddles and a visit when we were in Edmonton! My brother and his wife just had an adorable baby girl and Camilla is pretty glad to have another girl cousin! Gramma has been helping Camilla learn the art of quilting and with Gramma's instructions she was able to sew and quilt this baby blanket mostly on her own! I'm pretty sure that my girl already sews better than her mamma. She couldn't wait to gift it to baby K!

Back and Forth

Today was a busy, crazy day! Everyone got off to school okay, but I got a call from Camilla part way through the morning asking to be picked up. She said she was feeling sick and needed to come home. I had just gotten Sawyer down for his morning nap and had to wake him to head into the school. I am a firm believer in letting sleeping babies sleep, so this was a hard thing for me to do! As we drove home she told me about how she volunteered to take someone's place in the relay at track and field that afternoon. They practiced in the morning and then she ended up feeling bad about how well she did and I think she also had low blood sugar and just didn't end up feeling well. She spent the rest of the morning napping and after a big lunch she asked to be driven back in to school. When I dropped her off she quickly ran off to find her relay team, worried she had missed it and let them down. I was so proud that she found her courage and went through with her commitment. 

When I got home I hung out in the greenhouse with Dad for a little while chatting and checking out the plants. This sweet little butterfly hung out in their for quite a while and it was so neat watching it! It's awesome to see pollinators hanging around. I even saw the straw mouth it has. Nature is so cool!

Once Ollie had gone for his nap, Fin requested a "mom date" and asked to make cookies. The afternoons always fly by after nap time! There were so many wet outfits and one too many pairs of shoes thrown in the kiddie pool. I also will pretend that I didn't hear about two of the boys peeing in the pool! Gross. 

Camilla was excited about her ribbons from track today and came home happy! I was pretty much at my whits end as I left for soccer. We were missing socks and shin guards and barely made it out the door in time. 

Most of the practices this year have been bitterly cold and windy, but I'm glad to watch the boys give it their all on the field! Afterwards they changed in the van and then we headed over to the piano recital for the older three. I ended up chasing two little boys down the halls and peeking in only when one of my kiddos was playing. We snuck home after Camilla's performance leaving Daddy and Gramma to bring home the big kids. After a very late dinner I enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of rain dripping off the eaves and the wind blowing through the trees.

Birds Nest

 We are already getting into Summer mode over here! Our morning routine leaves much to be desired, and the kids even missed the bus once because we weren't paying attention to the time. Morning cartoons are already beginning and home reading has become more of a last minute thing before school. While therre is much to love about the month of June, I can sense that we are all eagerly looking toward the slower paced Summer days running barefoot around the acreage and eating fresh garden berries and juicy water melons.

For now I am enjoying watching Oliver discover new things around the acreage. He couldn't wait to show me the little birds nest that he discovered while mowing the lawn with Grampa. My guess is that it blew out of a tree during one of the recent storms. When Ollie isn't exploring you can find him in the kiddie pool fully clothed (ugh!) or playing with the hose. Grampa went out to investigate after hearing "cold! cold! COLD!" to find Oliver laying down in the cool water in his overalls. Half his wardrobe is hung over the deck railings and will hopefully be dry by tomorrow.

Hyrum's teacher sent me the sweetest message today to let me know that he was one of only three students to complete his work today and she was very pleased with him. It made my mamma heart happy to hear that he is respectful and kind at school. Sometimes it can be hard to send our little birds out into the world. I spend a lot of time worrying and wondering, so it was nice of her to write home and let me know!