summer snapshot - week 3

treating ella to ice cream because she watched d for me while i took lc to the doctor.
we were cracking up at the way darrel was eating an ice cream cone.
he was biting it, and just devouring it - he couldn't eat it fast enough!

drew reading to d in our bed, he loves taking him in there to play and read to him.
stopping by the comic store on the last day of the sm bball camp,
and the last time before the comic store moved to its new location.

watching d play croquet out the window as we were finishing dinner -
he knew just what to do even tho we have never played, we were impressed.
reading my book while finishing dinner-
chris was working late, it was nice to be able to just sit, read and eat!

early morning walk with john john.
he brought along his basketball and had fun shooting on hoops in the neighborhood.
little d using a toy skateboard, cracked us up.

summer snapshot - week 2

summer breakfast: skillet potatoes with a fried egg on top sprinkled with salt and paprika.
ella's dance recital- her bff elise took a class with her this year, lyrical.

summer snack: strawberries with greek yogurt and brown sugar.
we used to use sour cream and have switch to healthier with greek yogurt.
first you dip the berry in the yogurt then dip it into the brown sugar.

sm bball camp- john attended all week. darrel loved playing in the gym on the last day.
andrew was a leader at the ssj vbs camp this week, lc was supposed to be also-
but was unable to because of his knee injury, he had to ice and elevate all week.
he also started physical therapy for it this week.

morning baths with this little cutie.
oh how we love having this little guy in the house, we all want to eat him up!

summer lunch: fresh greens with cucumber, tomatoes, and salami -
the kids love this and it's one of their favorite lunches to take to school during the year.
donut holes made by john and ella...delish!

sumer snapshot week 1 (for the other kids)

surf camp: ella missed the last day of school along with all the other girl scouts.

the last day is going to mass and receiving report cards and they are done by 9:45.

we headed to san diego for the weekend to go to surf camp - it was a great trip.

the set-up was beautiful: cabins and dinning hall right on the beach.

ella got up on the surf board and all of the girls got to give it a try.
it was a great way to start the summer, i just love that ocean air!

leander hoop academy 2 nights a week for the month of june-
john and ella are attending, chris and andrew are coaching.
this is our neighbor's camp and he has wanted the kids to go for years,
so glad it finally worked out.

summer drawing - ella and john working on their covers.
trip to the library - lc on crutches because he tore his acl during basketball :(
d really loved the library and now gets mad if we just drop books off to be returned-
and don't have time to go in.

ella made a dessert we saw on the today show - a chocolate stuffed pizza, yum!
poker - the kids have started playing, using the chips we have.
john loves it and loves playing card games, he's always asking to play.

summer dinner before basketball camp: southwestern chicken tortilla salad.
morning cuteness = d wanting his stuffed animals to eat with him in his high chair.
and pretend feeding them some of his waffle...too cute.
that one is mufasa, named by andrew, and d's favorite - thanks tia santa!

trip to target, i had lc use a scooter...made us laugh, but was very helpful.

the little cutie eating popcorn while wearing the bracelet he wanted to try on.

coming home and john immediately building the lego set he bought.

taking the kids out to dinner for good grades to our favorite restaurant: little cleos.
crab legs in drawn butter served with grilled bread, oysters, shrimp cocktail, hush puppies.
it was all delicious- we are so lucky to have such good and adventurous eaters.
and so proud of them for an extremely well done school year, we couldn't be more pleased.

summer snapshot weeks 1-2

christopher got done with his first year of high school a couple weeks before the other kids.
the weather was beautiful and he and i cleaned out our side yards.
he mowed lawns and rode his bike to pick blackberries from his great grandfather's yard.

he went a couple times and brought me home some...i made a yummy cobbler with them.
every day he would ask me, 'mom, what can i do to help you' - it was wonderful.
he is such a hard worker and so motivated and never complains at helping -
and does whatever i ask right away...
i told chris i don't know what i'm going to do when he goes to college!

he had one week off of basketball after finals and then he had practice every day.
the three of us had a good time hang'n out in the car on the rides to/from practice.
one day d was laughing so hard at lc's singing and his own singing too...

fresh o.j.

these pics are from last spring when d was just a baby, probably about 7 months old.

we had wonderful citrus trees at our last house - orange, tangelo and lemon.

and we are so fortunate to have two orange trees now that produce a ton of fruit.

last year i would peel half the orange for d and let him hold the unpeeled side,
he would suck out the fresh juice - he loved it and still loves his fresh oj.

and i am so lucky to have some good pickers and good juicers in the house.
the older boys do the fruit picking and john and ella do the juicing.

i know i have a more current pic of them working hard, but here's one from a few yrs. ago-

this little guy is a power house with the juicing - he doesn't stop!
and his sister is a tremendous help with it too.
there is nothing better than fresh oj, especially made from your own trees.