strawberry jam

we made some at the end of the school year for the teachers and for uncle greg's birthday...

it was easy and fun to make.
ella helped me stem all the strawberries.
and chris helped mash them (as did john john).
i just love these little jars i found at walmart.
here is the recipe.

you should really make some.
it would be a fun activity to do with the kids because it's simple and quick.
not to mention how cute it looks in those little jars.
maybe you could give some out as 4th of july treats to your neighbors.
maybe we'll do that too...

pool tricks

got some good shots of the boys jumping in the pool and dunk'n on the b-ball hoop in the pool area.
andrew wanted to know why they hadn't been posted yet - they're from last week.
so, here they are.

all three of our basketball hoops sure get used a lot (hence the duct taped one for the pool area).
we liked this picture of christopher looking like he's standing on the water.
what would we do without our pool???
it has been so nice to have, and i'll be saying that a lot more these next two months.

summer snapshot - week 2

playing scrabble.

making naan bread at nani's...'naan at nani's' - ha! we thought that was pretty funny.

reading in the front tree.

reading under the front tree.

going on the waterslide in the neighbor's front yard.

a fried egg in a piece of toast.

playing catch in the front yard.

baking bannana bread with ella and eating it on our front patio.

john john decorating his room with items from his 'jesus school' folder.

basketball camp.

basketball in the pool.

basketball in the front yard.

ring-a-round a rosie in the pool with john john.

baking cookies with ella.

taking lady for walks down the street.

hangin' out in the front tree without a care in the world.

trips to the library.

building blocks with john john.

made to order omelets.

swinging in the front tree.

mowing the lawn.

it was another great week of summer, the lazy days have been really nice.

no early mornings rushing out the door, no strict bedtimes, no shuffling around to practices/games.

just a few fun activities and a lot of down time together.

it sure has been nice.

that daughter of mine

just knows how to make my day.
she was playing around with her typewriter yesterday, and made me this sweet note.

she is always creating, and giving things to others.
and is really so thoughtful, she sure knows how to make others happy.

she also left chris and i this sweet note in our bed the night before.
it was folded up just waiting for us.
she's always so sneaky, leaving us little surprises when we least expect it.

she's already thinking of father's day...yes, she is a thoughtful daughter for sure.

saturday morning lawn service

chris got the boys out front to help with the yard work on saturday.
i love when the whole family pitches in to do a job together.
they did a great job, check out these hard workers.

the little guy is always up for helping out.
especially if it means getting to use the dustpan.
there have been many a times that chris has been so patient with him letting him hold the dustpan while he sweeps into it.
and he couldn't be happier helping his daddy.

summer snapshot - week 1

so, i started taking pictures of what was going on around here last week.
i was so pleased with the things the kids were doing their first week off.
and i wanted to document it all so we could remember our summer.

the weather here was unseasonably cool at the beginning of the week and so we did a lot of entertaining on the back patio.  

dinner with family & friends

breakfast burros

playing games

fake nails

basketball games

it couldn't have been a better start to the summer...

swimming

reading

drawing

trading sports cards

playing basketball with neighbors

bike ride up to thrifty ice cream

chocolate chip pancakes

ok, so i went a little crazy taking pictures this week.

and there's still so much i didn't capture, but i did get a lot of our first week of summer.

we'll see how many pictures i take this week.