Cutie Pie Baby

 Nathan has been walking a lot this month, which of course 

means a lot of bumps and bruises.

He loves his bath time!

Just a cutie pie!

Summer Hairstyles

Margaret is having fun experimenting with new hair styles. 

I love when she actually wants her hair to be fixed!

Pretty girl!

So much fun- no matter what her hair looks like!

Handsome Hunks

Awesome Andrew

8 years

Terrific Tanner

11 years

Nathan

1 year 4 months

Happy Fourth

We spent the Fourth in Cape with our McMullin family. It is a favorite holiday for us and we love buying fireworks and setting them off with cousins.

Jason and Nathan sporting their blue.

Uncle David, Sterling and Harper

Miss Emma checking out cousin Nathan.

A pool full of fun!

Meg modeling her patriotic tie-dye masterpiece.

Ready to go!

Grandma Mc was so good to let us celebrate at her house even 

though she was living through a basement remodel.

All lined up-cousins and friends ready for fireworks!!

Kids Cooking

We had plenty of time to get busy in the kitchen in July. Here is Tanner with a family favorite- cinnamon pull apart, that he made himself.

Meg and Tanner separating eggs for me.

Andrew mixing up a pitcher of lemonade. Don't you want some?

Jam tomorrow, jam yesterday.....

After picking berries last week we put most of them away in the freezer to use in our favorite fruit salad throughout the next year. The kids also love snacking on frozen blueberries, so a lot of them will go to that as well. But we also made two jams that were firsts for us: raspberry and blackberry. Both recipes were easy, standard jam because I didn't remove seeds. 

  

This morning we decided to go ahead and buy more strawberries and attempt a big batch of jam with those. Somehow we never made it out to pick them this year and I knew I would regret it if I didn't make strawberry jam while good berries are still available. All the big kids helped wash and mash and we all love to wait and listen for the pings that mean our jars are sealed. My favorite part is lining up the completed jars of jam on the shelve in the basement and feeling like we somehow sealed away part of our summer sweetness, that we can open up throughout the winter whenever we need a dose of sunshine.

For sale:

Margaret is busy crafting away this summer. She just mastered the classic  weaving loom and is making some fine looking pot holders. She is taking color requests and will part ways with them for 100 cents each (because they are really special).

I am loving this relatively unmessy craft. Margaret works while I cook and there is no spilt paint to clean up!

Blueberry Hill 2013

Our summer isn't complete without at least one hot day of berry picking at Blueberry Hill. We had really decent weather this morning- hot and sunny for sure, but a breeze made it bearable. The kids and I picked a nice flat of blueberries and 4 pints of raspberries all while Nathan sat pretty happily nearby. He sampled more berries than I care to think of and was thrilled to play with everyone's water bottles. Thank goodness he was up for it all. Last year he sat in his seat and complained a lot so I don't think we even got a bucket of blueberries. In comparison, today was a breeze.

It was made even better because we met Grandma and were able to pick together.  That is always more fun.

It was also great to have this as our snack when we got home. What a great morning! Thanks Gma!

Christmas Traditions: Gingerbread Houses

Grandma is the Gingerbread Queen in my book. She has been making these houses since I was a little girl and I just love that this tradition is being passed down to my children. 

We set out our house as a decoration and save it for Christmas Eve.

Then the kids have free reign to eat whatever they'd like to.  The

poor thing gets demolished in minutes.

My Little Elves

We love to decorate for Christmas during December. We love the lights, 

the garlands and especially the tree.

The whole gang pitches in help with lights, ribbons,

and ornaments. By the end of the night with have a room 

full of pine needles and boxes. More importantly the house is

full of love and the one-of-a-kind Christmas spirit.