Summer continued....

Whenever you try and give a summary of an entire season of life you are bound to forget things.  Until you look at pictures.  So what I thought would be a quick summary with just a few pictures is turning into a multiple posts kinda of summary.  I try to delete some pictures but then I think about how much I loved that day or seeing the kids do something or a special event.  And then I remembered, this blog is for our family to remember! 

One thing I have learned this summer is I cannot do it all.  I do not know how some of these professional bloggers can take such amazing pictures, still edit them, write tutorials about them, oh and have a family, make amazing meals, bake, organize their homes, and they probably homeschool too!  Anyway, like most of my activities, everything is feast and famine. When its the right time for me to garden, I try to garden.  When I am getting a sewing bug, I sew like crazy.  And right now, I am motivated to catch up on the blog.  And hopefully this will be my motivation/incentive to not get so far behind and actually stay semi-current.

So as I went through the hundreds of pictures on our computer, I remembered more great things about summer.  The kids went to the All Comers Track Meet that is put on for free by the Oregon Track Club.  It's a great way to introduce kids to Track and Field, to be outside, to be with other families and to have fun competing.  They really enjoyed it.  Also, we spent a lot of time with family.  We had cousins from California, Wisconsin, Iowa, all over.  The kids love playing with them and Grandma Jo out did herself entertaining everyone for 4th of July.  Fourth of July is a neat weekend where we all get together at the La Pine house, play games, eat yummy food, fish, swim, decorate the house, and just hang out.  It's a great time!  This year the highlights from that weekend were the slip 'n slide and the sno cone maker that Grandma Angie brought.  Huge hit amongst kids and adults!

One major highlight for Jamon this summer was going to Safety Town. Safety Town is a week long day camp put on by the Kiwanis club of Springfield to teach five and six year olds a variety of safety skills.  They covered everything from playground safety, fire safety, crosswalk safety, stranger danger etc.  Jamon being very rules oriented loved it.  He sang different songs, told me new rules and he really enjoyed teaching Josie the new safety rules.  I love how responsible he is.  It was his first time being dropped off somewhere other than at Grandma's house and he loved it.  He reminded me multiple times not to worry.

And like I mentioned earlier, summer was a lot of playing.  Playing outside.  Playing at the playground.  Playing at the football field watching daddy's practice.  I love that my kids can literally spend hours outside running around, feeding the goats leaves, climbing trees, swinging, or making up their own adventures.  It was a great summer.

I love a lot of things about this picture.  But, it is really hard to get a smiling picture of Jamon.  He loves wearing Jeremiah's old Seahawk's jersey and I think it's so cute how alike they are. 

This was a great s'more making night.  Jolie took her s'more apart and chose to just eat the graham cracker.  

Doughnut Day with Aunt Jennifer

Well this particular week we were lucky to have Aunt Jennifer visit!  She even stayed to come to doughnuts.  I love how these pictures capture how different each child is and their personalities.  I am so thankful for supportive and involved family who are truly invested in the lives of my children. 
One of the traditions I love most is doughnut day.  The ironic thing is I don't even eat doughnuts!  The tradition started with Jeremiah's Grandpa Jack taking a coffee break from the glass shop.  They would rotate between Master's Doughnuts & Rose's Diner.  When they sold the glass shop a few years ago I actually thought what would happen to doughnut day?  Before we had kids Jeremiah and I would show up to the coffee break time on days off from school or work.  Jeremiah has very fond memories of working with his Grandpa and having coffee breaks. It was a tradition I was excited to continue with Papa Jeff.  We used to faithfully go on Tuesdays, but with Classical Conversations on that day we have become more sporadic in our visits.  I love that our kids refer to old fashion doughnuts as "Papa's doughnuts" and both Josie & Jolie eat their chocolate doughnuts top down.  It's fun to sip a diet pepsi and just watch the kids.  Well, who am I kidding I am pretty busy preventing a spill, taking someone to the bathroom, opening a milk carton and just being a mom.  And it's so appropriate that I am writing about doughnut day because we get to go tomorrow!

Summer fun

This really is the last of the best of summer pictures.