Summer Happenings

Our summer has been off to a great start.  For the first time -- ever -- the kids were done with school before Memorial Day weekend.  Apparently they started earlier than usual (it's hard for me to recall because it has been a tumultuous year of ups and downs as we tried our best to adjust to ever-changing mandates and protocols with COVID).  Regardless, the kids were excited to kick off summer break early; they just haven't figured out that it means starting back early again in August.

We celebrated Jack's birthday with family the day after his "friend" party.  I made a cake for the party (and a few more cupcakes, of course).

The Birthday Boy (who still refused a decent haircut) asked for one of his favorite meals ever -- tacos.  It's such an easy crowd-pleaser and I added in some extra sides too.

And a pirate-ship fruit bowl!

There were lots of presents, including a well-treasured Minecraft ball cap from Aunt Minnie.  

This was one well-celebrated 8 year old boy this year!

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The girls (and our neighbor) set up a stand at the end of our driveway for the Annual Garage Sale.  The weather not very cooperative but the girls managed to each make over $50 selling lemonade, cider slushes, popcorn, coffee, donuts, cookies and apple fritters.  The stand was only open for about 3.5 hours before the strong winds and rain began to move in and we hurriedly took everything back inside.

It was definitely a nice profit for them and they only spent a little of it on other garage sales in the subdivision.  The rest of their earnings went into their bank accounts for safe-keeping.

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The three older kids have been enjoying playing the game of Life together.  I remember it being an extremely LONG game (like Monopoly) when I was a kid but they seem to like it and play with little arguing.

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Samantha despises bananas.  She always has.  In fact, her baby book shows that that was the one food that I could never get her to eat.

The other kids don't mind them and absolutely love them in either muffin form or as a dessert bar -- especially with chocolate chips.

One afternoon, while the other kids were out tubing on the lake, Jimmy helped me in the kitchen and we made a big batch of muffins.  Samantha still wouldn't eat one, but the other kids devoured them for breakfast, as a snack and even as a dessert.

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June means that it is Strawberry Month!  We had lots of strawberry shortcake and made freezer jam to last us for a few months.  And ... there might have been a few strawberries consumed right away.

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Jack's chain came off his bike and I found the boys in the garage, working together, to help get it back on.  Side note: they are both obsessed with tank tops this summer.

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Two of our friends moved to Rhode Island earlier this year.  It was the best thing for them, as they were adopted within the family and now would have a permanent mom and dad to raise them.  It was hard for my girls knowing that they would not be able to see them as regularly, but we promised to get them together whenever we could.

They were back in Michigan for a little while and we made sure to plan a fun play date for them.  It was supposed to be a 'beach day,' but the weather turned rainy and dreary so I went to Plan B (I find myself doing that a lot!) and put together a craft for all 6 kids to be able to do together.

That tablecloth though ... I bought a roll three years ago when I was planning Samantha's 10th birthday party and have gotten the most use out of it.  Plus, it was perfect for the upcoming 4th of July holiday!

I bought a ton of acrylic window decorations and let the kids use paint markers to color them in.  They had the most fun picking out their own special ones to decorate, mixing up the colors and designs.

This activity occupied them for quite some time.  Some of them even went back to do more after they had pizza and dessert.

Obviously I love any opportunity to make and decorate a cake, so I whipped up a quick red, white and blue one.  A few simple strawberries and blueberries and my favorite cream cheese icing and the cake looked really nice sitting on the stand.

But the best part was the inside:

The kids were so surprised when I cut into it and they saw the American Flag.

Now, we are counting down the days to one of our favorite holidays of the year.  We love the colors; we love the decorations; we love the parade and fireworks; and we really love the long, summer days ...

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