A visit from friends

Memorial Day weekend flew by, and now we're three days into June, my favorite month! We had some really fun visitors this week - Ruth (one of my best friends and college roommates), her husband Jake, and their 17-month-old son Joel. They came all the way from Michigan, enduring a couple of hours of standstill traffic and a restless toddler, but we hope we made it worth their while! We got a little heat wave over the weekend, so we pulled out all of the fans, filled up the water table, and of course made a trip for ice cream. The seven of us had the best time together, and we've really missed them the last few days!

All of the guys after some Penn State Creamery ice cream!

Giving the goats a snack.

They're easy to please with a pile of rocks. :)

Splashing around in the water table, getting thoroughly soaked. Ruth took a lot of these photos, and they're so cute!

 

 

 

Helping Daddy water the garden. So far, it isn't doing as well as in years past. We've never had trouble with bunnies before, but there are bites missing out of some of the plants. . .

Playing with bubbles after church on Sunday at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Ruth got this sweet shot of the sweaty boys.

So thankful for this girl's friendship.

Ruth has a tasty homemade pizza recipe that we made together. The boys were happy to help roll out the dough.

Steve's idea of good hospitality is fresh donuts every morning, so he surprised us when we woke up on both Saturday and Sunday. No one complained. ;)

 

On Sunday night, we visited my mom and Don for dinner. They grilled chicken, and spoiled us with pasta salad, chips, fruit salad, and warm chocolate chip cookie bars.

Group shot of the seven of us :)

Resting up in his tent after our company left to go back to Michigan.

My friend Ashley Rose asked me to write this sign for a Gatsby-themed wedding shower she was throwing on Sunday. I thought it was so pretty how she staged it.

 

My mom was dog-sitting a Pomeranian named Duchess, and N & E loved following her around and getting puppy kisses.

 

 

The rest of our week has been really low-key. We're all happy so long as we get some outside time!

When we were out on a walk, I noticed the Mountain Laurel are blooming!

And the pink peonies are looking gorgeous as well.

On Wednesday, our Ivy girl turned seven! If you know her story, this is a big deal for us. She is our dog with nine lives. She was sick all of Memorial Day weekend. She ate a baby wipe, and then couldn't stop throwing up. And when she was done, she was so exhausted that she couldn't eat or do anything for two days. She's just about back to normal, and we are so grateful. She is a resilient little girl!

Wearing pink party hats and eating pink strawberry cupcakes.

I need to post this chocolate frosting recipe soon - it's my new favorite!

Thanks for catching up with us :)  Hope you have a beautiful June weekend!

You have until midnight to enter to win one of the books I reviewed on Monday: Mother & Son by Emerson Eggerichs, PhD (a companion to Love & Respect), and Wise Guys by Kent Evans. :)


AND I have a NEW GIVEAWAY that just started for Phil Wickham's 2016 album, "Children of God". Find that here.

We Can Smell Summer

We've spent the last couple of days gearing up for a fun Memorial Day weekend. My friend Ruth, her husband Jake, and their son Joel are on their way from Michigan to visit us, and we are excited! We don't get many of my family or friends to travel this far east, and we haven't seen Ruth & Jake in  years (three!). We're looking forward to showing them around our small town, making some delicious meals together, and letting our boys play cars and trains while we get caught up :)

Last Friday, Nolan, Ephraim, and I visited our friend Jeanie! Jeanie and Rod live out in the country, and they have fun toys at their house for when their grandchildren come to visit. N & E had a field day!

  

They love playing in the sandbox boat!

 

And the motorized John Deere tractor was a huge hit.

Trusting a two-year-old on a pedal-controlled tractor makes my heart race. He did pretty well though!

I love this shot. Eating mac 'n cheese and summer fruit outside. Mmm!

Saturday marked TEN YEARS since the day that I met Stephen. In some ways, it feels longer than ten years, and in some ways, ten feels just right. May 21, 2006 was one special day in my life. Things just keep getting better with this guy.

Sunday afternoon, we checked out a local kids' carnival. Since it was a rainy weekend, some of the activities were cancelled, and the rest were inside. The boys enjoyed it though.

Cherries were on sale, and I had to buy a bag! There is nothing more summery to me than a bowl full of cherries. 

Our baby robins fledged from the nest on Monday. Yesterday, I spotted the baby birds in various places around our yard, so it's fun they are sticking close by. They have gotten so big!

On Tuesday, we had a MOPS playdate at the park with over twenty moms and more kids than I could count. Here's Nolan on the Merry-Go-Round with some of his girl friends.

And Ephraim was enamored with the Paw Patrol chalk.

On Wednesday afternoon, the weather was so gorgeous! I woke Ephraim up from his nap (I have to do that almost every day because he loves to sleep until dinnertime) and brought him outside. He tried to fall back asleep in my arms, and it was a flashback to how sweet it was when he slept on me all the time as a baby.

Nolan kept saying it was Hammie's birthday yesterday. I think it's the second time this year that Hammie has had a birthday, but we celebrated anyway with some chocolate chip cookies.

 I'm hearing that we're getting some storms this weekend. Say it isn't so!

Sweet boy always trying to bend the rules by flashing me cute smiles.

He loves his Ivy.

 

Hope you enjoy this long Memorial Day weekend! May it be filled with barbecue and sunshine where you are.

XO.