baseball

We love going to baseball games. I feel like we should avoid them at all costs because Declan only makes it about 8 minutes before he's antsy and wants to go play on the bounce houses. He'll play there for hours. Despite how completely unrelaxing our baseball game adventures are, we really do love them.

Excited and ready to roll...

 

 Love our little family of three...

Be still my heart. My boys are the best.

crosberries

Crosby AKA Crosberries has been the perfect fit for our family. Him and Sophie are best buds and Declan adores him too. Thankfully he's uber patient with Decs.

Isn't he the cutest little (ahem--enormous) boxer ever?! ;)

toads

Declan is completely obsessed with these little toads (I call them frogs...he quickly corrects me that they are toads). They are all over our property. Little boy heaven.

4th

One of the things I love about our new neighborhood is the community created by so many families with little kiddos. We heard about the 4th of July bike parade and had to join the fun...

 

We spent the afternoon at the pool of course. (Yes the popsicle is as large as it looks. Ha!)

This year we hosted a 4th of July party again. I think it's going to be an annual thing because it's such a blast. The 4th is one of my favorite holidays for sure. 

 cheeseball

 Decs and his best buddy cousin Ella:

 sweet cousin Evie:

 Benefit of new construction? Empty field to do fireworks in!

Sutton

My sister-in-law grew up in this tiny town called Sutton. I love visiting her parents there because it's such a laid back, slow lifestyle which is a drastic change from my go-go-go life here. This past weekend was "Dug Out Days" which is basically 2 days of fun. Declan had a BLAST and we had a great time too. It was fun to see him play with his cousins (and his cousin's cousins...i.e.....lots of little bodies out there).

First thing we did when we got to Sutton was hit the pool.

The awesome thing about the Sutton pool is that there aren't many rules. Declan loved the diving board (not allowed for kids his size at our local pools). He probably jumped off of it 25 times.

 We had a small backfire. He didn't quite understand to wait until Mark swam to the side and he jumped on his head. Whoops. Of course I was there to catch it. ;)

That evening we headed to the carnival. Oh my stars, the boys had a blast.

(And the fun started on the way there...)

 Cousins and besties.

 It was fun to re-connect with my sister-in-law. We've both had busy lives recently and this was a perfect time to hang out and to chat until the wee hours.

I love having this guy around all the time.

 The boys were obsessed with the Tilt-o-Whirl. The funniest thing was to watch the dads get queasy. Not so young anymore. Hee hee.

 This little monkey (my nephew Soren) prefers mommy and daddy to hold him 

but Uncle Mark had the touch I guess. ;)

 Saturday morning all the kiddos got together and dug through the sand for coins. It was a big deal, y'all. Here are the 5 year olds from this teeny town.

 Saturday afternoon Declan and his cousin ran around the farm all afternoon while I read and sipped tea. It was divine.

 That evening we got to experience the famous parade we've heard about for years. It's through the main street in town and consists of firetrucks, tractors, etc. They throw candy out in the street as they go by and the kids go nuts collecting it. So fun!

 All the kiddos!

 Anxiously waiting...

 This is my sister-in-law's mom. She is a special lady and I've loved knowing her these past 10 years. Declan calls her his Mimi and had fun riding around town with her for a couple days.

this and that

I am SO excited we have finally completed a huge project: landscaping. My dad is a talented landscaper and he lead the charge on this entire project. It just feels more home-y. We spend lots more time up front (partly because we love it and partly because we are watering 3 times a day).

Before:

 

 After:

 We have missed our pool time this year. I can't remember the last time in Nebraska that June didn't consist of day after day of heat. This past month was more mild than not but we snuck a few pool days in.

 Little sunshine but lots of storms. C'mon, Nebraska. Let's get this straightened out.

 Mark and Declan are loving their time together this summer. I get cute pictures like this while I'm working. Riding the train at the zoo:

 This sweet boy continues to bless our family. Can't imagine not having him around:

 

This is summer!! BBQ and sweetcorn on Papa & Nana's deck with the cousins: