Strawberry fields forever

This has been quite the month so far! This was actually supposed to be the non-busy part of the month, but our lives have been very full the past few weeks. I think this is one of those times where God is really at work, guiding us and directing our decisions, and we will look back and just say, "Wow." We feel really blessed.

 One of my favorite things to do in the summer is pick berries. We found a really nice U-Pick strawberry patch, and we had a great time! We came home with nine pounds of strawberries, and we very much enjoyed eating them.

One son couldn't get over how hot it was, one son picked berries with gusto, and one son picked leaves from his stroller :)

Our haul.

Home Depot had another kids' workshop, and Nolan and Ephraim built little classic cars.

A friend gave me a recipe for chocolate bars using only three ingredients: coconut oil, cocoa, and real maple syrup. I'm addicted now!

That's a new way to find Waldo.

 

I gave Ephraim a haircut, and all of a sudden, he was blonde again! ;)

I didn't get any pictures of them at VBS, but they had a really great week at an outdoor VBS with their cousins.

 August found a little spot for himself on the back patio. :)

 

Two weeks ago, we drove out to Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with our parents and friends.

While at my mom's house, I found this note for me on the mirror.

Inside, Nolan had taped a Dove candy! And then he promptly asked if I wanted to share it with him ;)

I was glad to be with my mom on the 40th anniversary of my mom and dad's wedding. We miss that big guy!

We got to spend some time with our Ivy girl! She just had her 9th birthday, and she seems to be doing really well with Steve's parents. We miss her very much, but still know that it was best for her to stay home in PA.

We bought our favorite donuts to take with us on our road trip back to Indiana. To my PA friends: I had never tried the powdered-sugar-chocolate-filled one before, and it was extremely delicious!

Happy to be back home (and bathed) after a day in the car.

The cutest little Aldi shopper!

"Wait up, guys!"

 On the 13th, Steve and I celebrated our ninth anniversary!

Our sister-in-law Dana watched the boys for a couple of hours so we could go out to dinner. It had been since our 7th anniversary that we have been alone at a restaurant! Dinner was so nice and peaceful. Our burgers were amazing, and those fries were something to write home about!

Nine of the best years!!

I figured out that we get Cubs baseball on WGN, so we have been enjoying some games!

 

Last Friday, Steve and I closed on our new house. We are first-time homeowners! 

We met the lady who sold us the house, and she is 90-ish-years-old. She can remember watching the house being built in 1953, and she lived there for 64 years. She and her late husband raised five babies in the house. Now, she's moved to a retirement home just across the street, so I hope to get to know her better.

Friday night, we invited our family over to come see it, and we shared a pizza as our first meal in the house :)  We're not planning on moving in until August, so we've got some time to put paint and sand and make it our own.

 Exploring!

Saturday, we started taking down wallpaper! The walls are plywood underneath, and that wallpaper has been there a long, long time.

 

August wants to do everything big brothers do. I was just taking a photo of Ephraim, but A plopped himself down right next to him. :)

We've been laying off the white flour and white sugar, so I made these blueberry muffins with spelt flour, and they were sweetened with honey and maple syrup. They were so good!

Ice cream snack on a hot, hot day.

We celebrated Father's Day on Sunday, but what Daddy really wanted to do was:

See Incredibles 2! We took the boys on Tuesday, and it was definitely the highlight of the summer for them. They have been talking about the movie and saving their money for weeks and weeks.

And the movie was really good! It's PG, so it's a little unnecessarily scary at times, but the animation and the storyline are very good, and that Jack-Jack is funny!

We brought August around naptime, and I was hoping he'd sleep. He did pretty well, but was a little squirmy. And then when the credits rolled around. . . 

. . . he was out like a light.

When we go to Trader Joe's on Sundays, Nolan always asks if we can buy sunflowers. This week we did, and we've been enjoying their beauty all week.

Hope you have a great weekend!

xo