{happy almost fourth of july}

Happy ALMOST Fourth of July!!!

To Henry and Eliza

 (I love you two so much I can hardly stand it!!!)

I am so grateful for this great country of mine.

 I am grateful for the opportunity to raise my children here.

  I love this land!

Please take care of it.

Please take care of the people in it.

Stand up for what you believe in with respect and honor.

Share your love for your country and keep patriotism alive!

Read about your country and why she is who she is today.

Know that your mother could never hold back her tears as she put her hand across her heart and sang our country's anthem.

You have been given so much, so very much!

Do not waste your precious gift.

God put you here on this land for a reason.

You have all the opportunities you would ever want.

What will you CHOOSE to do with it?

I love you...be great!!!

{a pirate}

Arrrggg!!!

I hear this sound a lot at my house.

  My kids sure do like pirates.

Eliza loves to dress up and does so on a daily basis.

Today she is a pirate head to toe.

{a hike with dad}

One of the kids favorite things to do with their dad is to go hiking.

  It is also something Chris really loves and looks foward to. 

 This year he picked out some hiking backpacks just for them and they were thrilled!

{nature class and hike}

I signed the kids up for a really cool nature class out in the wide open.

  I cannot remember exactly what our guide Abbie got her degrees in, but something to do with lots of nature stuff and teaching it to children.  She has worked for some really cool organizations. 

 She did such an amazing job!

The kids learned so much and we saw lots of little bugs and creatures I would have never noticed and been able to point them out to Henry and Eliza.  She knew every single fact about anything living that you could know...what they eat, how they sleep, what they do, who their friends are, special powers:), etc.  We spent a lot of time at the lily pond learning about all the things that live above and below the water.  We were able to use our handy tools and see what we could catch and then we talked about everyone's finds.  

{happy fathers day}

Happy Fathers Day!

I should have written down what we did and what we ate and what his presents were...I have no idea!

Thanks for everything you do...we love you!!!

They were climbing all over Chris and having a grand old time... I had to take a picture! 

 Cute jammies everybody!

{fondulac farm}

This is one of our favorite farms!

It is a beautiful drive and area and the kids love to go down the silo slide over and over again.  They have some animals to look at and also feed. Eliza loves the ducks and geese waddling around.  They even have a little old schoolhouse with antiques.  My kids always end up in the sand or dirt!  On the way home we always get ice cream at a place that is shaped like a big fat ice cream cone!

{summer fun}

We have been having so much fun and doing so much that I have hardly taken any pictures!

This is really a great time of year! 

 It is warm enough to do anything with water, but not so hot and humid you have to stay inside!  The kids and I have found one of our new favorite places to swim.  It has a great big pool and a fun playground in the water AND a big water slide that you go down in a tube.  The kids love this ride and I have to say I do too!

One day I was in the kitchen and Henry told me to come downstairs quick!  He had built Eliza an astronaut suit and she couldn't even get out (said with glee).  You can better believe I left dinner in a flash, and yep there she was all trapped up!  I could not stop laughing...this time creativity did not injure anyone!

We love to have friends and neighbors over, but sometimes all you have to do is turn the water on and they come running!  We had watermelon for snack and it was a great day!