June's Saving Grace

O, June--you bring the horrid humid heat, and yet we love you. Why? 

With June comes the bounty of vine and tree and garden--the fruit of our (okay, mostly Jeremy's) hard labor. 

This year the birds have not gotten the majority of our beautiful little Thompson seedless grapes. Jeremy plucked the first cluster the other day, and we all feasted on it in the yard before we rounded up sticky kids for bedtime. 

As you can see, everyone was eager to taste the grapes. They were first handled with awe and care . . . and then quickly gobbled up.

Truly, the fruit of the vine is sweet!

Just about Done with that Birthday . . .

While I'm at it, I figured I might as well post some pictures of Josiah's actual birthday. We thought Jeremy would be gone on a business trip to Omaha April 26-28, and Grandma Dortha planned to fly out April 28th, so she came down early to help out while Jer was gone. 

As it happened, U.S. Airways ran into mechanical problems with Jer's original flight and so had to bump off about 1/3 of the passengers. So Jer turned back up at home--much to all of our surprise! Of course, everyone was happy to have Daddy back, and he got to be here for Josiah's birthday.

I made an oatmeal cake with broiled coconut frosting for his birthday. This is a favorite of Jeremy's. Josiah liked it, but he enjoyed the ice cream more, I think. He did like blowing out the candles once again!

 Four-year-old!

We saved Great-grandma and Great-grandpa's presents for Josiah's actual birthday, and he received a few cards in the mail that day, too. He loves opening mail and packages!

 

Grandma comforts Abby, who also wants presents to open

Josiah in his new coat from the great-grandparents--thank you! He loves it!

Jeremy and I gave Josiah a Melissa & Doug train set we found at a consignment shop. The kids have enjoyed sorting through the many trains and putting together tracks, though they usually need Mama or Daddy to help them work through fights and make a usable railroad line.

So there you have it--a quick recap of Josiah's fourth birthday!

A Little Late . . . Josiah's 4th Birthday Party

I just realized I hadn't posted anything about Josiah's birthday--so, hearing no objections, I'll slip back into April for a moment and run through some pictures from his little party. We held the party on a Sunday afternoon when Aunt Hannah was here, about a week before his actual birthday. Two families from church came, along with some other friends. Josiah enjoyed playing with Noah and Ender--they went from slip-'n'-slide to mud to fort to food and back to water play again. 

By far the biggest hit was water balloons!

We tried a couple simple games with the balloons, but the kids didn't really get them--and would rather just throw the balloons at people than try to keep up with tossing, stay behind lines, wait their turns, etc.

 Aunt Hannah gracefully executing a toss

 Doling out balloons and attempting to explain the rules

 I don't think Lydia planned on preserving that balloon for long

In the end, Jeremy and Greg (Noah's dad) told the kids just to run around the lemon tree holding their balloons. Turns out this game was much more fun than the other organized stuff! They ran according to instructions for a bit and then ended by throwing balloons around the yard and at each other.

Josiah chases Daddy 

Hannah gets Jamaila with a balloon 

Back to the slip-'n'-slide 

After dinner and water play came singing and dessert. Josiah was pretty excited about his chocolate cupcakes (same recipe I used for the girls, except this time with whipped cream cream cheese frosting) and ice cream!

 The sisters liked Josiah's birthday cake, too!

Aunt Hannah helped immensely with the party! 

Three little boys atop the little fort

Bikes in the Forest

Here are more pictures from this past weekend in Flagstaff--as I mentioned in the previous post, Grandma and Pa's idea to take the kids to Ft. Tuthill was a great one! Everyone enjoyed the fun.

I'm not sure what Abby's unhappy face is for, but she cheered up quickly

Trying to figure out how to blow properly . . . she ended up with some dandelion fluff in her mouth from sucking in instead.

Lydia

Blowing dandelions with Daddy

Pa and the girls

Lydia atop a horse jump

Abby had the bright idea of riding across it!

Proud of her accomplishment

Riding Cowboy

We went to Flagstaff this past weekend, and Saturday at the Fort Tuthill fairgrounds was perhaps the kids' favorite Saturday in a while! Grandma arranged to let the kids ride Cowboy (a horse); we walked and biked around the horse track and jumps (obviously not in use at the time); we ate a picnic lunch; we checked out the new BMX tracks--and the little kids' one was perfect for our three!; and the kids and Daddy finished off the outing by climbing up a big dirt pile.

I'll post more Flagstaff pictures soon, but for now, here are some of the kids and Cowboy:

 Josiah often talks about Cowboy and was thrilled to be reunited with him! 

Lydia's first horse experience--she loved it! 

As you can see, we took a plethora of pictures of Lydia and Josiah riding Cowboy. Lydia was eager to hop up and ride him right away. But not Abby. "Me scared horsey," she kept saying. She wanted to stay as far away from Cowboy as possible--even trying to hide in the van so she wouldn't have to be outdoors with him. She didn't dare touch him. "Horsey bite me?" she repeatedly asked me. Despite all our reassurances and encouragement, she refused to get anywhere near Cowboy.

Abby, far away from Cowboy but still concerned about his proximity

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the girls and Josiah riding the BMX track--but they did so well and we so enjoyed watching them! We did get video of it, so I'll have Jeremy upload that when he gets a chance. 

Dirt pile!