As I sit here blogging I can hear birds chirping in the trees, the water hose running, David, Emma and Samuel laughing and playing in the water, and the oscillating fan running on the porch to help keep me cool! I am loving this summer! I am thankful that the kids are able to resume activities too. We have been careful and cautious about entering back out into the world again after spending the last fifteen months social distancing. I am very thankful for science and modern medicine, and we are feeling more comfortable going out since both Andrew and I have been vaccinated. In an effort to help the kids feel at home and make friends here, I decided to enroll them in some activities this summer. David is taking piano lessons again! I am thankful that we live in a community where there are a lot of musical opportunities. I am enjoying listening to him practice again, and without having to be the one giving the instruction and critiques! Emma has started taking gymnastics! She loves doing flips on her bed, and so I decided she would have fun learning to do some proper flips. 🙂 Next month I hope to enroll all three in swimming lessons. David loves swimming and could benefit from further instruction. Emma likes to think she can swim, but needs lessons. Samuel will probably out swim them both once he starts. Plus, I want him to feel included since I found a place where I can schedule them all at the same time. He feels desperately left out when we go to Emma’s gym class, and the first class broke his heart because he couldn’t also jump on the trampoline! 😅

We have also become acquainted with the library here! I can’t say how happy I am to be able to take the kids to the library again! We have signed up for the summer reading program, and the kids have been watching the virtual story times. Also, once a week they have a program outside for the kids. Last week was a magic show, and David and Emma had a blast! David is reading so well, and I love listening to him read to Emma and Samuel.

There is nothing like playing in a good summer rain! I love these pictures of the kids in action. David and his buddy were in the garage playing, but Emma and Samuel were loving it!

We have been able to get together with Leah and Brandon lately! Sunday we went on an outing to Uncle B and Auntie Leah’s house! The kids were ecstatic! Emma was showing off her cool shades, David was eager to play video games with uncle B, and Samuel was his exuberant self. 🙂 We are feeling thankful to live so close to them!

I missed baking while we were on our in-between adventures. I have been wanting to try Ree Drummond’s blueberry scone recipe for a long time now. I finally mustard up the courage to give it a try, and I am so glad I did! They turned out beautiful! Almost as good as the ones from the Mercantile! (I was missing the fancy sugar they put on top.😉) The hardest part was grating the frozen butter. I put my butter and fresh blueberries in the freezer a few days before making the recipe to make sure they would be frozen. Also I used sour cream instead of the crème fraiche in the recipe. I mixed the sour cream and the heavy cream together and let it sit in the freezer while I was preparing the dry ingredients. They were light, moist, and delicious. I made the scones at night before bed, and Andrew frosted them for me the next morning for breakfast! I will definitely be making these again!

The guys have summer haircuts! Of course Andrew keeps his short, but I took David and Samuel for haircuts this week. I had intentionally avoided getting Samuel’s hair cut at a chain salon because they just can’t cut his hair the way I want it, but I finally caved because it was getting really long again and I didn’t know where else to take him. Needless to say when we left I had very mixed feelings. He is so stink’n cute, that even the short hair looks good! However, I almost cried afterwards. He still has some curl on top and I know it will grow back, but I wasn’t ready for him to look so big!

Happy Summer!

Love,

PK