What we did this summer!!

This summer has been a really fun one.  I think I finally lowered my expectations of what my kids should be doing, ie. schoolwork and chores, and just let them be kids!!  Hopefully, it won't backfire when school starts next week and they've forgotten everything.  Cy went to a zoo ed-venture daycamp and LOVED it!!  I'm really kicking myself for not having enrolled him in it earlier.  The first week they learned survival techniques that animals used in nature, and at the end of the week they got to use them all in a mini-survival camp.   The second week the theme was "All systems go" where they learned about the different body systems that keep us alive, like the nervous system, the skeletal system, etc...  That was the week when they dissected a sheep eyeball and heart, and he brought home a mouse skeleton that they dissected from an owl pellet.  I really tried not to be too squeamish but I had to draw the line with the mouse skeleton.  Just talking about it made me want to vomit!!!     

We also visited the Liberal Air Museum when Kaleb's mom came to visit us earlier in summer. 

 

Here in our part of Kansas they redo the roads by pouring asphalt and then dumping gravel onto it.  Our street was on schedule this year.  The kids were captivated by it.

We also threw Lucy a "half birthday party".  I figured there was a slim to none chance that she would actually get a "friend" birthday party with her birthday falling in between Christmas and New Year's so I decided to throw one during the summer!  We invited a few girls and had a rainbow and unicorn themed party.  This cake was awesome looking!!  (If I do say so myself!)  I totally lived out my own childhood dreams throwing this party!!  (Long live Rainbow Brite!!!)

My little baby boy Eli has also done some growing this summer!!  With all that growing he needs a nap! And after many attempts at starting him on solids and many gagging sessions he finally started eating them!  YAY!

 Katie also got asked to be a flower girl in a family friend's wedding.  Here she is, my miss cutie patootie!

Abe went to boy scout camp for the first time this year.  Kaleb was able to go with him too.  They went up to a camp outside of Topeka and joined Abe's cousin's troop for some scouting fun!!  Abe also turned 12 this year!!  Holy cow!  Boys in our church, when they reach the age of 12 are able to recieve the priesthood, so that was another huge happening for us.  Having the priesthood gives him an opportunity to serve God and others around him.   We are so proud of him and hope he continues to grow stronger in his faith and testimony of God! All in all it's been a pretty good summer.  We're going to top it off this weekend by our yearly pilgrammage to Kaleb's family reunion in Missouri.  Then school will start a couple days after we get back and a new chapter will begin with Abe starting middle school, Cy in fourth grade, and Lucy in kindergarten!!