playing catch up (story of my life!)

this boy and his sparkly water.  he LOVES it!

watching this kid tuck himself in.  it never gets old!

seeing shania twain for this one's birthday.  he was more excited that i was!  

(and sang louder at "man, I feel like a woman" than i did!!!)

hard at work.  great grandpa gave him a catapult wood-working kit.  we finally put it together... and j has now decided that he will only do wood-working crafts!  

this girl.  grew up so fast!  and is so much fun!  she has been such a help in this move.  and such a joy in my life!  

her sweet smile!!!

strawberry picking on the fourth.  

(nora told me that daddy wasn't approving any of her pickings!  he takes it seriously!)

the big two did sailing camp in jamestown last week.  it was a BLAST!

found some black raspberry bushes in our backyard!

cornhole.  

thankful for friends that last through several moves!

boys.

grandpa and his boy!

mini-cornhole!

roasting mallows!

safety brief before sparklers!

it has been a fun, busy, hectic, crazy few months (or years!).  we packed up our house and moved a mile away to our "forever-ish" home.  the one we bought.  and went on a week-long vacation with a 13 hour drive each way.  and flew home for a wedding.  and found out good news.  and not good news.  and finished another school year.  and got promoted (me this time!).  and the days passed.  far too quickly.  

i am loving this time.  it's so fun.  the kids are growing and doing new things and playing games with us and so much fun.  we have a house, and d dug a fire pit.  it was weird to NOT have to ask permission to put a hole in the ground!  (and he is currently on day 3 of yard work this weekend...  but it looks so nice!!!)

i LOVE blogging.  i love remembering our life, especially as it's happening.  i love looking back on it.  when we are trying to remember when something happened, we go back to the blog!  BUT, life gets in the way.  and technology has changed.  we have instagram and Facebook.  some of the reasons i started blogging (to keep in touch with family), have changed with technology- i can post to the other things faster and family can see it faster!  

but it doesn't change the fact that I LOVE THIS PLACE!  i love writing down my thoughts, our lives.  

so, don't give up on me!!!  

in the meantime- enjoy the pics of the weekend and happy 4th!  so thankful for the freedoms that we have and praying they continue!