wild and free

Wild and free: that's my kids on these summer days...  I'm trying to provide a little bit of structure (a few chores here and there, regular meals, and afternoon quiet time as long as we're home), but they're getting plenty of unstructured playtime, and as long as they're not fighting and no one's getting hurt, I love it!  :)  It's so fun to see them use their imaginations and see what they come up with to do.

A couple weeks ago we spent the afternoon at a pool with some school friends.  They have a membership at a country club pool, and it was so nice.  The boys had so much fun.  Jackson really liked the water, too.  And the next week I was able to take them to a friends house to swim, so they are getting plenty of opportunities for swimming.  Caleb, Logan, and Levi all did great in the water - they all went down the slide, but Caleb loved it the most.  Levi did a lot of swimming with his floaties on (he was too embarrassed at the pool the week before to wear them, even though tons of kids were wearing them) and kept saying that he wanted to stay there forever.  :)  Of course, last weekend we were up at the cottage again, so there was lots more water fun.  Logan and Levi swam to the raft.  Caleb went tubing and kayaking.

A couple weeks ago a friend who had preemie twins a month before Jackson was able to come over.  What a blessing to see those two little boys!!  They were sooooo teeny-tiny when we first visited them in the hospital (under 2 lbs, and almost 4 lbs).  One of them is having some health struggles, but it's amazing to see how far he's come.

I've been able to take Logan to a couple craft times at Michael's lately - he didn't want to do the soccer camp that Caleb is going to in a couple weeks, and this is more up his alley.  This last time I ended up letting Caleb and Levi go, too, as Logan didn't want to be alone (he was the first time), and that did make it easier for me to just wander the store (and spend some $$$...).

The garden has been keeping me busy this year!  Fun to be back at it after taking a hiatus last year.  Overall things seem to be doing well - keeping a close eye on the tomato plants right now as they just don't seem to be growing much, but they aren't dying either.  Broccoli and brussel sprouts are getting huge, cucumbers growing well, some peppers coming.  Might be able to pick a few strawberries tomorrow.

Mike started full swing with harvest this week.  Boy he works some long days!  So much better than last year with everything we had going on, but still tough.