Sweet Summer Days

I can count on one hand the number of times that these four have woken up at the same time.  I was still in bed yesterday when they all four came in the room in a little line.  They were so proud of themselves.  Benjamin had heard Stella was awake when he passed by her room so he got her out of her crib.  They sang, and hugged and piled on top of each other.  I love summer mornings!

 Stella kept laying her head on Isa's shoulder.  Precious.

The boys had their championship baseball game last night.  They ended up surprising us all and beating the undefeated team.  They played hard and were so proud of themselves.

 Benny the Jet

 Sam the Sweeper

 "Storage Warriors!"

 Drew is such a great coach.  And he loves it.

 Nana was the grandparent representative this year.  Thanks!

This mama deer and her two fawns have visited us three times in the past two days. The kids followed the fawns all over our neighbor's yard today.

Art Camp

Benjamin and Eloisa had Art Camp last week taught by some elementary ed and art ed majors.  They had a blast and were sad that it was only one week.

"Snowman with his snake" was my favorite piece of art from the show.

Another Season Ends

The boys have tournament next week but a few from our team will be gone so I took a team picture last night at their last regular season game.  It was fun to watch four different brother pairs play together, encourage each other, and celebrate together this year.  Sam got hit by the pitching machine last game and Benjamin came straight out of the dugout, put his arm around him, and made sure he was okay.  Thanks to the coaches/dads for all of their encouragement and investment in these boys.

Father's Day

The kids and I tried really hard to take a photo for Drew's office with everyone looking without a fake smile. It was impossible.  But I love what they came up with.  It was hard to pick which one to blow up because the silly ones were my favorite.  Drew, you are one of the best.  Your children adore you.

We went to Indy over the weekend.  Drew's parents were gone so we picked their strawberries.  The kids kept saying things like, "Jackpot!" when they would uncover a grouping of good strawberries.  Sam found a few that were flawless and perfectly shaped and he would hold them up and yell, "It's a beauty!"

Sam loves, loves smashing balls off the tee.

Drew mowed his dad's huge lawn for him as a surprise for Father's Day.  You can see he had lots of help.  Probably took even longer than it should have because of all the help.

 Love this photo of these two.  Thankful for good fathers...

Exciting Week

Isa and Benjamin finished up school this week.  Their teachers' notes on their report cards made me a little teary.  Isa's teacher stopped me to say how proud she is of Isa and the improvements she has made this year.  Her class performed a little song for their parents that again made me a little misty.  

I absolutely cherished the time I had with Sam at home this year.  He is calling himself a Kindergartner now.  I started to tell Drew on the last day of school that I was really going to miss Sam next year and couldn't even finish the sentence.  He smiled and said, "Come here."  I'm not usually such a display of water works. Why won't these kids just stay little? :)

 Stella has had some really good hair days this week.

 My first and third graders.

Each day this past school year after I would put Stella in her crib for a nap, Sam and I would hang out together while we waited for Benjamin and Isa to come home.  I loved our little chats.

Benjamin and his friend, Philip, were both awarded the Great Attitude Award for Mrs. Jones's class.  I might have gotten a little choked up.  They are such great kids.

 Last day hanging out just the three of us.

After school, we took the kids to Ivanhoes to celebrate the start of summer break.  

And we also went to celebrate this guy turning in his dissertation.  He defends it in a month but it is written and we are so proud of him!

 The kids asked me to take their photo with Garfield.  These are the best of all the photos I took.  Oh my...

Also exciting was a bat in our house and pulling a tick off of each of our daughters.  Isa's had been hiding and feasting inside one of her braids for who knows how many days.  It was repulsive and disturbing.  No more braids. Ticks are at the very top of my Most Disgusting Things list.  I have an unhealthy fear of them.  I also hate bats.  So...that was fun.