Reading...and reading, and reading!

Over the last couple of months Joel has shown an interest in learning to read, so we went to the library to get some beginning reading books. We joined the summer reading program where for every hour they read they get to enter a raffle for prizes, and after 10 hours, they get to pick out a free book! (It also counts to be read to, or listen to books on tape.) In the last 12 days, Joel has read a total of almost 13 hours! A good portion of this is him reading easy reading books! We are amazed at how well he is doing at learning to read words and sentences and whole books! He is also doing great at recording his start and stop times and adding up the minutes he reads.

Here is Joel reading at bedtime...he reads every night for anywhere from 20-40 minutes!

Maren has caught the bug, too! She will "read" books that we have read so many times she knows the words! We are also spending a lot of time reading all together. (Maren has clocked about 10-11 hours.)

As an avid reader and proud mommy, I love to see these kids be so excited about reading.

Summer Days

Summer has FINALLY arrived here in Washington...we are spending as much time outside as possible!

This is breakfast one morning last week...they are even still in their jammies!

Greg started sugar snap peas from seed several months ago but it had been so cold that I doubted we would ever get any peas...I was wrong!! The kids picked about 10-15 peas last night and we had them for dinner. SO good. And so fun to have food on our table that came from our backyard! We are looking forward to getting some tomatoes and cucumbers later in the summer.

I am so glad Greg has a green thumb and is persistent with it because I think it is so great for the kids to learn to appreciate and enjoy home-grown produce!

Strawberry Picking!

Last weekend we found a U-Pick berry farm and went strawberry picking! This is one of our favorite summer things to do and it was so fun!

This is the fun part...

Fun family times.

We also ended up buying a half-flat of raspberries from the berry stand...this is a TON of berries!

Maren had woken up with a bunch of HUGE bites on her arms and legs that day...and see her fat eye? (Sorry about the sideways pic...darn blogger.) Anyway, I had given her Benadryl and it knocked her out...she slept in the car on the way to AND from the berry farm and then slept for another 3 hours after that! I had to wake her up!!

So we decided to make raspberry-lemon sorbet with some of the berries. There were just too many and they don't last very long...so into the blender they went!

Yes, it's a bit loud... :)

After mixing it all together we put it in containers in the freezer and voila, we have sorbet! Yummy!

(PS We ate ALL the strawberries and the rest of the raspberries -5 pints - in about 3 days!)

The "Island"

This island is in our neighborhood, very close to our house and we spend a lot of time here! There is a sidewalk all the way around so the kids can ride their bikes and scooters around and around and not have to go in the street. They also have fun playing on the rocks and climbing in the trees.

4th of July Weekend...

Despite the cold and gray weather, we had a great long weekend. Saturday we actually got some sun in the afternoon! We headed over to Point Defiance to go to the Zoo and the "beach". These cute kids had so much fun together...and the adults had a great time, too!
All dressed up for a safari!

Friends...

The water was FREEZING - but that didn't stop Conner from going all the way in! The rest of the kids stayed close to shore and played in the rocks (where is the sand? they asked when we got there...um...it's a rock beach!).

Sunday after church we set off some little fireworks with our friends (thanks McMullens!).

Joel wasn't too crazy about the loud ones...

He and Kylie wore ear "muffles" to help with the sound :)

A few sparklers...

and don't forget to clean up the mess!

We went to a BBQ in the late afternoon and then came home and watched our neighbors setting off huge fireworks (the kind that are illegal in Oregon, so I only ever saw at the big organized foreworks shows!)! We had a perfect view from Joel's window, so I scooted his bed over and they fell asleep like this.

On Monday Greg took the kids out for a bike ride and came home with a FLAT of raspberries! I knew immediately that I had to make a pie!

It turned out SO good. It was my first time making or eating raspberry pie, and I think it has become a favorite. I have never seen Greg so excited about pie!

June Pictures

June was a busy month, and since it's almost over, I thought I would do one big post with all the pictures...enjoy!

While Joel was in school, Maren would fall asleep on the way home from dropping him off almost every day! This was nice, because then I got that down time three days a week. She isn't really taking naps anymore, so I miss this time! And I miss seeing her sweet peaceful face in my mirror. :)
We had a Starbucks date one day when Greg got off work...things are always more fun when daddy is around.

Safety first!

This is a skate park not too far from here where the kids like to go and ride their bikes and scooters.

There are also these dirt paths that are fun to ride on, too (mostly for Joel). We had a rare beautiful day!

This is also near the skate park. Greg has taken the kids here several times, but this was my first time. Greg caught a snake and the kids had fun throwing rocks in the water (while I tried not to say "be careful" every two seconds). PS don't ask me why Greg is holding Maren's ears in this picture...

Experimenting with the macro setting. This is a tree by our front porch.

Love the maroon and blue together.

Joel got to bring a special treat to school to celebrate his birthday during the last week of school. We made these cupcakes in ice cream cones. They didn't end up tasting very good, but they were really cute!

Joel's school put on a farm themed program at the end of the year. It was so cute!

My little graduate. Kindergarten, here we come!

Doing a painting project together - we painted plain ceramic planter pots to jazz them up a bit. I don't have a pic of the finished products, but it was fun to do this together!

Joel & his friend Ben on their last day of school.

This is the strawberry happy dance!! These came out of our own yard! I have to admit that I was very skeptical when Greg planted a bunch of strawberry plants in March (especially with the cold spring/summer we've had), but they are growing and getting berries and they are SO GOOD!

On Joel's acutal birthday-day, he got to use his birthday dishes, and for dinner we had home made pizza. He also got a special crown for the occasion! Happy Birthday Joel!

The day after Joel's birthday, I got to go to California to visit Emily, Brian, Violet, and new baby Jack! I went by myself and got to stay for four nights!! I didn't get any pictures of Emily & I but she has more pictures on her blog if you are interested (click on the "McCutchen" link on the left). We had so much fun talking, walking, running, doing errands, playing, eating, talking and watching a chick flick...and talking some more. It doesn't matter how long we are together, we never run out of things to talk about!!

Jack is such a sweet, mellow, content and CUTE baby!

This picture was taken on Father's Day, which was also the first day of the camp season for Brian. I got to go to the opening ceremonies and the first campfire of the summer! It was very fun...isn't this a great family picture?!

Violet was a little ball of energy! She never stopped talking, playing, running, and just being silly! She is a really sweet girl and has such a zest for life. It was a joy to be around her.

Once again, I didn't get any pictures, but I (with a lot of help from Brian, and Emily's friend Robyn) threw Emily a surprise 30th birthday party! She was very surprised and had so much fun. It was a FULL house, with 19 kids and 17 adults...wow.

It was such a fun weekend and leaving was so hard...I always wish that we lived closer, but am also thankful that we live as close as we do! Thank you Emily! Last weekend we went to Joel's friend Oliviah's birthday party...

They had rented this blow-up water slide, and despite the chilly weather, the kids had a blast sliding and getting wet. Burrr...

Happy Birthday Oliviah! (PS those are 3D glasses that Joel is wearing...)