2/3

We're approximately two-thirds of the way through summer break and, of course, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!  Slow down!  We really are enjoying summer.  As school was finishing up in the spring I was dreading summer a little bit, but so far it's great.  (Ask me again in a few weeks...  Last year August was the biggest struggle.)

Since my last post we've been to Harold and Kara's cottage a couple more times, and my aunt's cottage one Saturday as well.  At her cottage we (Logan, Mike, and myself) had a blast jumping off the diving board.  Caleb was SO close to doing it, but then decided not to.  :(  We were able to hang out with Tom, Tera, Luke, and Jude a couple more times before they headed home to Kenya.  All the boys have so much fun playing together, I love it.  A couple weeks ago Caleb and Levi went to our school's soccer camp.  There were a couple hot days, and they (especially Levi) were worn out by the end of the week, but I think they enjoyed it.  Last week Levi was able to go to a friend's birthday party, and I think it was a good experience for him.  He needs to do more things where he's on his own without his big brothers to boss him around.  :)  Also last week I had a school playdate here.  I've been wanting to get together with some school families over the summer, and this worked out really nice.  About 7 other moms showed up, a whole bunch of kids, and we had a nice time chatting while the kids just ran around outside or down in the basement.

Jackson is just too much fun right now.  He's talking like crazy - Emmy, Roxy, doggy, woof-woof, ball, moo, thank you, more, please, down, all done, Mommy, Daddy, Papa, trash (he likes to put things in the trash - he takes care of his own diapers!), awwww (when he's hugging a stuffed animal or when he sees a kitten in a book).  I'm sure there's a few more I'm forgetting, and I wish I could catch it all on camera because of course he sounds so cute.  Jackson really seems to enjoy hanging out in his crib when he wakes up in the morning or after his nap.  Sometimes when he wakes up in the afternoon I'll let him play for a while before I even go in his room, and then when I do he still doesn't want to get out of his crib, so I just leave him in there for a while yet!

I need to be domesticated and start canning pickles today.  Our garden had a bunch ready, and Mike took the older boys to glean pickles from a friend (like we did last year).  At least it's cooled off a bit today so it won't be so hot in the kitchen!