Joyful July

Our July is flying by, 

filled with many joyful moments.

Take, for instance, our daily Duplo time.  J-Bear loves her brothers' help in making whatever creation they have dreamed up. Whatever they make for themselves, they are careful to make one for her too.  One day it was a tower to match their aircraft carriers.  The next day, they had to make her a matching X-wing to theirs.  She then proceeded to follow them around the living room, "whooshing" right behind them.

Our garden is in full swing, full of tomato plants that we grew from last year's seeds, pepper plants that made it through the winter indoors, our fruitful blueberry bush and our Alpine strawberries.

There is a daily search for ripe strawberries that occurs each morning.  They taste so sweet and are pretty irresistible.  As you can see, the kids have all kinds of ways of trying to get up to the hanging basket to pick some:

At least when Buddy Bear is successful, he loves to hand out his bounty to his siblings,

to J-Bear's great delight.

During quiet time, while J-Bear is napping, G-Bear is often found snuggled up with a book.  She is a voracious reader these days.  Sometimes she might be found working on her cursive or (if I really incentivize) finishing her math work for the day.  The boys, on the other hand, are two peas in a pod, whether building at their workshop or building out of their Lego boxes in their room.  Today's creations?  E-Bear made a bed for his baby brother, complete with a personalized label and G-Bear's doll linens:

  

And then the boys emerged from quiet time to show me the robot warriors they had made from scratch.  The warrior part aside, I am continually amazed by their creativity.

 When T comes home, it is time for backyard fun with Dad.  This usually involves some variation of baseball or soccer, but no matter what, it is one of the highlights of the day.

After dishes, it is time for our pre-bedtime walk around the blocks.  Baby loves the fresh air, and while the older crew often fusses at first, by the time we pass our neighbor's house they are tearing down the sidewalk leaving me and T in the dust.

These days are full of so much joy.  Thank you, Lord for these precious summer days.

Happily Ever,
Queen B