Summertime!

We're right in the middle of enjoying a fabulous summer!

We've spent lots of time at the cabin.

It snowed a teensy bit over Memorial Day weekend.

One morning I hear some munching coming from behind the bathroom door. Never a good sign. I found Ivy with a bottle of Melatonin...half empty. A call to poison control reassured us that it was nothing too serious, she'd just have some slight side effects...

We've enjoyed time at parks, splash pads, and Mamie's house with cousins...

Of course you're going to have a kid who wants to have a lemonade stand. I admit I kind of groaned to myself when Violet and Ginger asked. My mind went back to when I was 10 and tried selling juice in front of my house. The mailman gave me a dime. Oh, and I had to split the profits with the neighbor kid.

But apparently, these cuties have been blessed with some of their dad's business sense cause they got $40 in 2 hours. 

This is Violet's work. I can only do stairs on an Etch A Sketch.

Library trips, museums and Colonial days

And more trips to the cabin. (Jaxon is a sweet older brother)

We've had lots of fun together. :)

End of School Year

 Another school year has come and gone! Here's how it closed out for us-

Jaxon had his Chinese Yo-Yo presentation and they did a fantastic job! I'm glad he was able to try something new.

Violet read the most pages of the whole 2nd grade! She was so excited to hear her name announced at the awards assembly. She even got an Amazon gift card!

The dance festival was so much fun, although I couldn't have picked a spot further from where my kids ended up!

Violet is in the blue shirt and 2 braids. That's what I saw the whole time. She was super cute, though.

Ginger was probably the most excited of all the kids to be moving on. She was so proud of how she did at her preschool graduation. 

This was Miss Midge's last year of teaching. It has been so nice just sending Ginger to preschool across the street!

She's counting down the days till kindergarten! Really, she is.

Violet Competes

Violet had her first ice skating competition this past week. She did SO WELL! She said she was a little nervous, but once she got on the ice she felt comfortable again. She felt so happy and proud of how she did.

Reading and stretching while waiting for the results...

We took her to the creamery to celebrate before taking her back to school.

And she won second place in a school art contest for her grade level. Way to go, Violet!

Life Goes On

Meanwhile life goes on in our home. :)

Annual strawberry dipping with cousins...

Jaxon is in a Chinese yo-yo club at school. He really enjoys it! They're preparing for their end of year performance next month- can't wait to see it!

Kids still working at the laundromat, or just looking cute for the customers. ;)

One day Jaxon came home with a bag of waffles. Apparently, school lunch that day was popcorn chicken and waffles and he traded his popcorn chicken for his friends' waffles. Ended up collecting a lot of waffles, these are just what he couldn't eat. Sounds like something on the black market...

Travis has gone out of town a few times this winter but one night we had a lot of fun goofing off.

More Time at the Cabin

We've been able to spend more time together at the cabin. We love our time there.

They're are a lot of wild turkeys around, so the kids go on turkey hunts made a turkey trap (behind them).

One night we played Monopoly with the kids till pretty late, which the kids loved. Violet was the winner! Jaxon and Violet love playing Monopoly, which is strange to me since I always thought it was so boring as a kid.

I found out that a glue stick and pieces of scrap paper will keep Ivy busy for an hour.

Kids making English muffin pizzas. Hey, this is a vacation for me too.

When you can't see the valley that usually means a storm's coming in! Time to get nice and cozy. :)