Leo's art

 Before Leo went to his end of the year baseball banquet, he made these really cute art papers.

Here was one for DW.

This one was for a kid named Joshua.

This one was for his coach. Look at the jerseys..

 I was so proud of of his work!

PA cousins visit

The kids started off summer quick with their cousins visit starting the day after school let out. I think you saw most of the pictures and commentary on facebook of the trip, but here are some other highlights.

Archie and Charlotte had a lot of fun together this trip. They've not mixed well in the past, but I think Archie is getting old enough to be fun for the big kids. Charlotte loved our new sandbox.

Goofballs on the ferry headed to Seattle.

Aww, so many girls!

Little cutie excited to pick some strawberries!

Spash park after a hot time strawberry picking.

Beach time at Point-no-point. Skipped the lighthouse tour :)

NW Trek wildlife park. This is the wild animal tram ride and also the park we where we zip-lined.

They LOVED sleeping in the clubhouse. There were only a few nights out there, but they partied until about 10 or so and had a ball.

A cute group shot from Ft. Flagler. That was a great day.

Another Ft. Flagler shot from the beach. Could our kids play at any beach for hours upon hours or what?

The weather was perfect their entire visit and we did amazing stuff each day. It was so good seeing my sister and the kids. Totally a great week!

Baseball ends

The baseball season ended with banquets for both boys. I went with Wilson to his banquet and my mom and dad took Leo to his. Wilson was the 'comic relief' on his team and Leo was the 'good arm with more control needed' on his team. Both boys said they loved the season and want to play again next year.

Wilson was happy to see Sean at Leo and DW's last game. They had fun playing catch and laughing together.

Sandbox

Can you believe the boys helped me build this sandbox?? The weekend before Amy and the kids came, we set to work on our sandbox project. We built the sandbox in the garage. It was pretty simple, so I showed the boys what to do and they just built the whole thing! I came back to tighten some screws, but I was really proud of their work. We went to home depot and bought 12 50lb bags! Thankfully, the workers there helped us load them in the car. When we got home, Wilson figured out how he could roll the bags to the sandbox from the car and they boys did all that, too. 

Great job, Wilson and Leo!

Gardening

We finally planted!

We've got yellow bell peppers and broccoli in our veggie area. Wilson specifically chose the broccoli because it is called "Lieutenant Broccoli." So funny!

Wilson spent his own money on some raspberries and strawberries.

We all shared his first ripe strawberry. The nibble I had was really good! I hope we can keep all this food growing. Wilson is so proud of his berries.

And.... last but not least, your peach tree!

After searching 4 different stores and nurseries, we believe we found the very last peach tree for sale in Silverdale. The kids are ecstatic because it is a "Cosmic Rocket Peach" variety. So, they've named it Rocket and we check on it no less than 10 times a day.

Look at Rocket's little peach! The nursery said it is still young, but should have edible fruit by next year!

Rocket is about 6 feet tall right now and should grow to be 12 feet tall and 6 feet wide! In the spring, it supposedly gets pretty pink flowers.

We all worked hard to dig Rocket's hole. It took us about 45 minutes of hard work. It think we did a great job and picked a great spot.

We can't wait for you to see all our backyard additions - if they're alive when you get back!!

Helping Out

Wilson and Leo have taken on some extra jobs at dinner every night. Leo sets the table every night and pours milk. Wilson does the dishes. It's been great! Wilson loves his job and Leo seems to not mind his. We've made some modifications to make it easier for them. We use the plastic plates and cups only so there's no risk of breaking anything and Leo pours milk from a smaller container that's easier to manage. It's been fun seeing the boys step up without any protest.

Can you see Wilson's kindle set up on the left? He was rocking out to the Trolls soundtrack tonight while he did dishes. Reminded me of someone...

Leo's been asking for a toaster for a while now. He started having bread with honey on it for breakfast every morning, so I got him a toaster to put by his loaf. He's so thrilled about it. I drove the neighbor girls to school and the minute they got in Leo told them about it. So cute!

Not too many changes around the house, but the big boys are stepping up. Hopefully by the time you get home, it'll just be part of our normal routine. Now to get them in on all this laundry...