Summer Blog Update Part 3 of 3: Nature Fun

The rose bushes we  planted last fall in front of our house were lovely earlier in the summer.  Now the blossoms have pretty much fallen off.

It was good that there were so many rose blossoms, because Mary and Joey needed a huge supply of them for all of their outdoor cooking.  Here is a sampling of a "salad" with rose petals, and rose petal "tea."

Here are the kids playing in our backyard.

Ta-da!  Sticks!

We went strawberry picking again this year.  My friend said she saw a sign that said not to eat the strawberries while you are picking.  Joey didn't see the sign.

We picked and picked and picked in the hot, hot sun.  Then I stopped at a farmer's market on the way home and doubled our strawberries.  We made and canned 25 jars of jam!

A giant mushroom sprouted in front of our house after a recent rainstorm.  Joey found it and picked it all by himself.

Mary thought it was pretty cool too.

And that concludes the three-part summer fun series.  Until next time!

Summer Blog Update Part 2 of 3: Water Fun

Summer is the season for fun in the water, and we've been having a lot of it!  The really hot weather is only here for a short time so we've been trying to make the most of it.  

Here is Mary playing in my sister Melanie's pool over the 4th of July weekend.

 

Later that week we took a trip up to West Bend to play at Regner Park with some friends.  It's a really nice water park, with lots of sandy beaches for the kids to play in. 

The water was fabulous.  Joey spent a lot of time in it.

 

Here he is working on his swimming skills.

 

They also have a little splash pad near the beach, which is nice for rinsing off the sand.

We also visited the beach at Muskego County park.  It was small and had a lot of silly rules, but we still had fun with our friends.  Here is Mary with a seaweed salad creation.

 

Whenever we go to the beach I am amazed at how much sand gets inside Joey's swimsuit.  He just loves the sand.  He literally rolls around in it.  And this time, he got buried in it!

 

We also recently bought a Wisconsin State Park annual pass and have been visiting the beach at Ottawa Lake.  It's a very nice beach - clear water, nice sand, not too crowded - and just over 10 minutes away. It's also nice because it doesn't have a lot of silly rules like a lot of other beaches do.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from there, but trust me when I say we go there often and it's very fun!

After playing outside all day in the summer the kids definitely need to be bathed more often.  One day Joey was particularly dirty and didn't want to take a bath.  So I asked him if he wanted to take a bath in the sink and he enthusiastically agreed!  It was a win-win - no fight to get him in the bath tub, he still got nice and clean, and he had a blast playing in the sink!

 And that concludes the pictures I have of us having fun in the water.  Watch for the third blog post of this series coming soon!

Summer Blog Update Part 1 of 3: Family Fun

The summer is flying by so quickly!  I can't believe August is nearly over.  Today we were talking about how summer was almost over, and Mary asked if fall came after summer.  I said that was right, and she said, "Summer, fall, winter, spring, summer, right?"  "Yes," I said.  She replied, "I knew I was an expert."

In whatever spare moments I can find, I've been trying to squeeze in crafty little projects.  I did some hand sewn little birds using a pattern from this site.  I was planning on making a mobile or something with the five birds I have so far, but the kids are having so much fun playing with them I'm not sure if that will ever happen!  Joey claimed one of them as "his" bird and carried around for days and days.  Mary liked to take them outside and build little nests for them.  And Lily likes to wave them around and suck on them until they are very wet.

We went to the 4th of July parade in Hilbert.  Joey wanted to open up and eat all of the candy right away.  He kept tearing wrappers off and shoving things in his mouth to taste them, and then discarding them for the next piece of candy he got.  He never actually got around to finishing most of them, but he sure had fun!

My mom came along to the parade with us.  Here is grandma with Mary and Joey waiting for the parade to start.

Grandma and Lily at the parade!

Mary and Joey had patriotic shirts to wear to the parade, but Lily didn't have any so I embroidered one of her white onesies the night before.  I did it last minute and without using a pattern or anything, but I thought it turned out kind of cute anyway.

 

My sister Malorie sent me a link for making these crazy spaghetti hot dogs and I thought it would be fun to try.  They sure do look weird.

Here is Joey investigating his lunch.

He and Mary both got a kick out of them.

Lily is able to pick her head up pretty well now.  

 

Ta-da! Four months old!

 

Napping in a hammock.  This is the life.

 

Lily is also reaching and grabbing for everything she can get her hands on.  She loves to play with her IKEA baby gym.

 

Last week we did a project with microwave puffy paint just for fun.  Here is Joey swirling around a big paint puddle.

Mary did some painting in the style of Jackson Pollock.

After we were done painting, we put our pictures in the microwave and watched them puff up.  The texture was really neat, and I thought it smelled a lot like pancakes.

Joey did the six on the left.  He was really liking the green and yellow.  Mary did the five on the right.  She liked the splatter painting, and I thought her face was really cute.

So that's part 1 of 3.  I had so many pictures on my camera I couldn't fit them all into one post this time.  Watch for the remaining installments soon!