good times & not so good times:)

Nate wrote this poem for grandparents day and we got a chuckle from it!

Liam has become a big help around here, almost always doing his jobs cheerfully and right away.
            After much rain we were finally able to plant our vegetable garden. I was thrilled to see my celery, peppers, and tomatoes taking off. One day I was horrified to see that all of the plants were stripped bear. The leaves were gone and just a shaky, thin little stem remained. I asked Adam if he had seen any rabbits or other animals sneaking food from our garden, but he hadn't. The next day there were NO plants. I started to investigate and there were just holes in the ground where our plants had been. I started to do process of elimination. The two older boys had their own garden and were growing their own plants by seed. That left Andrew. When I approached him, I could tell that he was tempted to lie, but he didn't. Lets just say that I was a little on the upset side.

Liam had grown a sunflower for me for mother's day and it was taking off nicely but someone snapped that in half...
    Liam has always had an active imagination. However, this time it went too far. We had a beautiful robin's nest by our house. Yes notice the word "had." It had three little eggs in there and you know the amount of work the robin goes through just to make a nest.  You can picture the mother anticipating her three young ones; feeding them and teaching them how to fly. Liam took the nest down and pretended that he was the mother sitting on the nest....and you can figure out the rest of the story.

Tyler spends his time outdoors watching the chickens!

Andrew has begun to ride a bike and spends hours on it making sharp turns on the patio and almost falling off of the patio.

Believe it or not, Andrew got into trouble and I sent him into the laundry room for time out. (I never know if it is time out for me or him!) I closed the door and when I opened it (I did not forget about him in there), this is what I found. He was in such a deep sleep that it was actually hard to awaken him.

This is what Tyler got for his birthday. I was beyond thrilled when I found this vintage toy at a garage sale. It brought back many memories of playing at my grandparents house.

I made these treats instead of a cake and it was a hit. I love celebrating a birthday in the summer instead of the winter.

My grandma playing with Kentin, Tyler, and James. I hope that I am like her when I am in my eighties!

Oma snuggling with Tyler

Adam was trying to mow the area that turned into a swamp with all of the rain. He got terribly stuck and was not moving anywhere in all of the mud. It was a good thing that Harry was over plowing our fields so he pulled Adam out with his tractor.  We have many tractor stories from around here.  Apparently we have a tipy tractor:)

The boys are watching the show with their usual enthusiasm.

Back to work again!