Catching up!

 The end of May and June are very busy around here - so here's a little catch-up post to keep you all up to date on what we've been up to.

We had a backyard campfire for Memorial Day

See those banana slices?  They're for the s'mores.  YUM!!

Gracie enjoyed her s'mores.

We met Brian at the park one weekday for a fruit picnic!

So yummy - highly recommended. 

Then Andrew's birthday rolled around really fast.  We all got up at 6AM on Saturday morning to drive an hour to the blueberry farm.  

After the long drive including some close-ups with cows along the tiny road leading to the farm, we got to work with our buckets.

Everybody's picking!

Gracie had a blast and did a really good job getting the ripe berries.

Brian tied his bucket around his neck.

Tired, but working.

We brought home about 16 pounds of blueberries. 

And wasted no time baking muffins!

:)

Then we celebrated Andrew's birthday. 

He got a certificate for football practice this fall.  He's excited - even though it's hard to tell in this picture.

Faith and Gracie baked more blueberry muffins! 

Then James' birthday was upon us.  We celebrated that evening by taking James out to Texas de Brazil (aka The Meat Buffet) for his first time.  

Here is my plate from the salad bar as I waited for the meat to start arriving.  

We had a great dinner. 

That night IKC (International Kids Conference) started at church.  

The next morning I dropped off some campers at church.

That week I went to several of the services. 

My small rose bush also bloomed -   

despite James chopping it down with the weed whipper a few weeks before.

My view as my tummy grows!

I had the three littlest kids at home that week - and Alyssa too. 

We took them to the park to play in the sprinklers.  They had a great time.  

Gracie helped me make sweet and sour chicken by playing in the corn starch. 

She also got a new dress and wore it to church that week.  

Nice! 

Finally, we had a chance to celebrate James' birthday on Sunday afternoon.  

Grace wants cake!!

Then he opened up the letters from family from his first birthday party.  

Pretty cool - so glad we did this for him so long ago.  

Stay tuned for more from this summer!