April 8th - July 3rd, 2017

Hi Friends and Family, 

Happy summer to you! The blur of summer has officially begun and we are delighting in the bliss of the warm season festivities. That and, experiencing lots of bug bites, sunburns, occasional boredom, and other less-than-blissful things of summer. :) God is good though and we are striving to become more like Him each day through the grace He gives us. I say "striving" because we will never completely arrive at Christ-likeness, we can only keep our eyes fixed on that ever perfect example of Christ's life on earth and hope that we will in some way exude that God-love onto those we come in contact with. That's what it's all about, right? 

Here's a little of what we've been up to lately...

Our big home improvement project this year was to landscape our front yard. It's crazy how being a stay-at-home-mom can sound so limited in your exposer to various fields of work, but really as a home-maker, I get to dabble in all kinds of work. Not doing any one of them expertly by any means, but it's fun to try our hand at new things once in a while. Anyway, here's the "before" picture...

Our slave labor...I mean, cheerful helpers...

After! Micah did a great job and was so sweet to be willing to do almost all of it ourselves. Micah's brother, Caleb, did the lion's share of finishing the sidewalk for us. Thanks Caleb!

I think we are done with any more big projects this year. Whew! Seems like the more kids we have (or maybe it's the older we get) the more the thrill of conquering a DIY challenge begins to fade. Lol. Yup, our DIY itch should be satisfied for a while....at least until fall? ;)

Easter!

 One of the highlights of the boys' year is the Annual Homeschool Field Day every spring. Races, tug-o-war, bouncey houses, etc.. so much fun! I think they had a little over 200 kids from our county this year.

These next two pictures were just too funny not to include. This is a glimpse into my days at home... 

Finally sunny out after three days of rain...let's go outside...hmm...can't find Liza's coat...oh yeah, I just washed it...okay, have fun out there!...5 minutes later...(Liza's comes in looking like this)...apparently found the only puddle on the whole property and did a total face plant into it! Freshly cleaned coat and all. Sigh... 

...5 minutes later...all smiles...just being that dirty was the most traumatizing part. :P 

Speaking of Liza, she turned two! She's so much fun lately and is talking up a storm.

Being lazy parents, we decided to combine Liza's birthday with a end of the year piano recital with Blake and Seth. Maybe someday they'll forgive us for the pictures of their recital with pink streamers in the background. :P Blake and Seth have been doing a great job practicing the piano this year and it's cool to see them go sit and play something just for fun and not just when they are supposed to practicing. 

Liza...anything you can do I can do better...

Got a special visit from Dad as he was traveling through participating the "Ride for the Wall" motorcycle rally in D.C.. Here Owen is owning him in the matching game. :)

I've just decided this post is going to be waaay to long if I include every out of the ordinary activity that we've been up to the last three months. So a quick summary...we went camping with Uncle Jonathan in May in Virginia, had a great time! Liza was had a bit too much nature and preferred to spend large chunks of the time in the safety of the tent. 

Blake and Seth had a blast being on their first baseball team this summer. They won some and lost some, but enjoyed the game and getting to make new friends. 

I had the pleasure of flying down to Texas to visit Joy, James, Clark and Baby Charlotte a few weeks ago! She is just precious and it was so fun to spend more time getting to know my nephew and sitting and talking with Joy. 

Random pictures....bed time with Liza, baby and rabbit tucked in there too. So cute!

The Garden...

Our blackberry vines are in full production mode this week. So awesome to enjoy the rewards of our labors and harvest our own fruit from our property. Must be the Kansas side of me...

A meager offering, but maybe next year...

Owen at a butterfly farm we visited a few weeks ago. He's really growing up. Taught himself to ride a bike for the first time the other day.  :)

One of Micah's Father's Day cards from Blake. An accurate depiction I'd say!

Okay, I'm going to stop here. Liza and her "gasses". She is frequently heard wandering around the house saying "Where my gasses?"

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July tomorrow! So many things to be thankful for as we reflect on the uniqueness and freedoms we enjoy in this country. 

Love to you all!

Kari & All