Rain

It has been raining lately and my children have been playing inside more than usual. I broke out the colored rice yesterday morning and it was a hit for most of the morning. The girls were the "bakers" and my son was the delivery guy who picked up and transported his "load" of "baked goods" to the appropriate place. They all go along and played for a few hours at this. The mess that was made was worth it as I watched them enjoy playing together and using their imaginations. My son even broke out his maps and mapped out his truck route. Much fun was had by all. :)

Here are my two girls "baking". < >

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Below is my son delivering his "load" of baked goods with his little helper. < >

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Below you can see them all playing together. Notice the hand mixture that my littlest one is using? I still use this at times. They love to get it and play with it. I did too when I was their age. :) < >

Gardens and other such stuff

One of my favorite things to do is gardening. The whole process is just awe inspiring to me. I love planting the seeds with my children and then watching them grow into delicious veggies. I even find weeding calming (weird I know). The whole process is a reminder of how awesome our Lord is in his creations. I also enjoy canning and freezing our bounty to enjoy during our cold winters. The kids always ask, "Is this from our garden?" This year we have had to fight with both the weather and the animals. It is a battle I am determined to win, but can honestly say I cannot guarantee I will succeed. Unfortunately, our beans suffered from deer who devoured the whole row. Fortunately, one of my son's friends mom's had an abundance of beans and gave us some. I spent a good part of the day yesterday canning them. Here is my first batch cooling on the counter. < >

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My two youngest have been having some "girl time" and have enjoyed playing with play dough. Here is my 6yr old's creation. < >

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They all also went out and picked blackberries for our muffins that we made. The leftover blackberries were used then as paint and ended up being used as make-up. Just goes to show you what a little bit of imagination and some mashed up blackberries can create. My son created the blackberry paint and painted a picture. My daughter decided to use it as make-up. :) < >

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They are so cute!

Summer

Where have I been? I have been enjoying my time with my family. I have been too busy enjoying life. I just have not had the time to blog about it. I chose to cherish each day and try to enjoy it to the fullest. We have been to museums, gone to our cousins, have been swimming in the river, enjoying the parks, catching fireflies and camping out in the yard, and also spent some time at the beach. Amid all this we have been travelling about for my oldest softball season. The games were over an hour away at least once a week. She started off the season with beautiful weather and basic skills and ended it with a hail storm with thunder and lightning which we played in between the storms, and much improved skills. In her final game she made an awesome catch for an out. What made the catch so hard was the water logged ball and field. Her team played a great game and led the majority of the innings. The game was supposed to start at 6:00pm but it was hailing with torrential rain and thunder and lightning. The weather cleared so they played at 7:00. Unfortunately they had to stop the game 2 more times due to the lightning and when it was all over it was almost 11:00pm and her team had lost. We were a soggy cold bunch when it was over. I think all the stops, the weather, and the late hour all contributed to their losing. I wish they would have just rescheduled it. One of the things that has been the hardest for me was keeping all my little ones safe at the games. Their were so many foul balls that I was constantly on the alert. I was so scared one of them would get knocked in the head with one that I tried to be vigilant in keeping them aware of the danger and in reach of me or out of reach of those crazy fly balls. At the final game I warned my 6yr old to watch for "pop flies" so she wouldn't get knocked in the head. I did not stop to think that she would not know what "pop flies" were as it was late, cold, and I was exhausted. The next day while we were eating lunch I made a comment about all the pesky flies flying about our food. She piped up and said, "Yeah, ever since you warned me about those pop flies I've been scared that one is gonna pop me on the head!" This caused the rest of us to erupt in laughter while she just smiled away and continued to eat not knowing what was so extremely funny to the rest of us. When we could catch our breath's we informed her what "pop flies" really were. It still makes me laugh thinking about it! I can picture her covering her head whenever she spotted a fly flying about! :) Now that softball season is officially over and my oldest starts high school in a few weeks. It is amazing how fast this summer has flown. We are trying to enjoy the last few weeks by just spending quality time together. We have gone on walk/bike rides, played outside a lot, explored together, just enjoyed our time. We were also blessed in that their dad has been able to be home on a more regular schedule with a surprise trip home in the middle. We enjoy having all of us together and hate it when he goes back on the road. Our son is looking forward to going out with his dad for a few weeks. It is all he talks about. We are trying to work out the timing of this. It will all come together I am sure. < >

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Here she is up at bat.

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Here she is right before she made that awesome catch! The bad lighting is due to the rain and darkness.

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My 6yr old at the Museum of Life and Science in Raleigh, NC. She became a butterfly! She dressed her little sister in a squirrel costume. They had a blast.< >

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I had to include this shot of all of them in daddy's truck. They love to get up in it. They are in love with daddy's home away from home.

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Here they all are yesterday on our walk/bike ride. The weather here has been beautiful. It has been in the 70's and great for long walks exploring. I hope it stays this cool for August. It feels like the NY summers I grew up in. Nice summer days with cool nights. I have even had to use my comforter the last few nights! I love this weather!!