Summer Round Up

At Grandpa & Grandma's

On the farm in Idaho.

Camping in Eastern Oregon. I sure love these two kids.

Girls are Reigning at Our House!

We found out today that our newest family member is a girl! We haven't said much about our newest babycakes until now, but our third baby is due the first part of October, so I'm just at the halfway point now.

Today was also our sons 6th birthday...more on that coming soon!

Last day of school for our family!

Today was scheduled to be our last day of school at our house, and we made it! We are officially done with kindergarten for Leyton and pre-k for Evie. It has been a great year and I feel great about the progress that both kids and I have made the past 9 months on this journey together.

In the fall we will be joining a new Classical Conversations group in our area that is just forming, so I'm excited about being part of that core community. There are three established groups in the Portland area, but several more are starting for the fall and I'm so thankful that our community will be closer to us. We will meet once per week with this group and have a more structured class time with presentation by kids, instructions with tutors and a weekly enrichment time (painting, music, art, science, etc). Both kids will be able to attend, so I think it will be a great addition to what we are already doing!

However, in the mean time I'm excited about summer and taking a much needed and deserved break (for all of us)! Next week we kick off our summer with the kids attending a summer camp at our church's preschool program...and I'm going to take the mornings OFF! I have to say, I'm looking forward to this little break to get refreshed and ready to have some fun this summer.

Now, we just need some Oregon sunshine!

Raising a boy

If you ask me, raising a boy (kids for that matter) while living in the city is challenging. Both Jared and I grew up either on a small farm or a rural lake setting and I have to be honest, it's hard for us to know how to recreate those experiences on a small town lot. Our dream is to be in a rural area and own enough land to keep us and our kids busy with projects and space to roam and play, but that may never happen. So, until then our thinking caps are ON to figure out how to do our best where we are at. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Recently Jared and Leyton had a great day at a nearby lake. It was a day full of mountain biking, snacking, falling into blackberry bushes, fishing, snacking some more and generally getting tired out being a man and a boy. Good stuff.

Jared, thanks for being such a great dad!