Drew is growing up

When you get big, you start to get big kids stuff.  With our summer travels coming Drew received a few gifts early - Like his LL bean sleeping bag for our week at Maine.

And this is a Gift from Grandma - He is OVER the moon to have his own back pack!

With his own initials.

And yes, he still has his own great hair!

This kid - surely is growing up fast - but its exactly how he wants it - he is strong determined - opinionated and CANNOT wait to get on that bus.  However, dont think you fool me Drew, I see underneath that confidence every so often and you momma I want you to know you can come snuggle with me anytime.  I know you need a hug more often than you may say it, and I know right now you may not like smooching - 

I know you are one awesome kid and I love you to the moon and back!  I know why God put you in our lives!

Summer living!

Summer is officially HERE!  My sister is done teaching and after her official RF launch (where SHE promoted to Executive Consultant!) we packed up and headed to CT for a week of VBS and so SHE could decompress before its time to MOVE!

To say we enjoyed the evening together i an understatement - with 6 kids between us our alone time is RARE - loved this!  I also love that our alone time resulted in some spending $$ for her too =)!

Cheers to a lady that can truly do it all

HUGE cheers to Summer at Oma Sue and Goomba's pool!

This face defines a good summer day

The ice cream he is so excited to get

Looky Looky!

My sister is the gift that keeps on giving - Since she is moving, we offered to take her lizards (Darwin and Iris) for a few weeks.  Than it extended to through August since we are headed to Michigan for a wedding and I will snag a house sitter.  Well, the kiddos spend the night at my folks with their cousins and guess who spent the night wandering the house - THIS GUY.  I was TERRIFIED when I found his cage open and EMPTY - called folks to walk me through finding a dead lizard in the house...  I was on the phone with Barbara when I cam across him in Drew's room.  reading...  Alive - 

The adventure continues.....

Chicken coop - Leadbetter construction time!

I need to limit the Leadbetter house to one major construction project a year - Did realize the chicken coop would be one of those.  My husband is a freaking rockstar!  Although there weren't to many weekends of time to really knock this out - here he is trying to squeeze some time in

Apparently we have some new chickens......speaks to the size of the coop - like the wood floors?

A little painting while we had camp leadbetter

Another funny materials story - chris is ready to finish this coop and somehow the hole thing is getting bigger in my mind (to include the run) so one afternoon Chris ask if I mind grabbing the rest of the material at Home Depot.  Excited by the idea of finishing the coop - I race right out there with my 2 helpers - here is Shane pushing 21 8' 2X4s - 

Drew of course wanted to help too - You might not see anything on his cart, but we later filled it (and I wasn't able to take a photo.

A full CC bill later and a nice guy Carlos to help me load the mini van.  I was a bit stymied when I opened the mini van to find 4 UNEXPECTED golf club bags - gotta love the mini van.  We fit it ALL!  With room for more (not really.....)

So that weekend he did it!!  I mean seriously - he was driven, we worked together for a bit, but he did MOST of this himself.  2X4s together.  Netting throughout, taking advice from our neighbors as they walked by - by the time I cam home from my sister's on Sunday morning the Chickens were LOVING their new home.  ME TOO!

From here you can see their nesting boxes to the left and their temporary water and food set up.

Here they are outside in their run exploring and hanging out on the roosts.

Love the berch logs for their roosts - Love this window as my neighbor brought it over - he is a professional remodeler and a guy after my own heart when it comes to recycling excess.  So instead of throwing this window out, the ladies get a great view every morning.

This was yet another Labor of love from my husband.  Getting chickens and building a coop was NO WHERE on his radar screen - but he did it and here to MANY years of fresh eggs -  you just have to guess when it will all start!

Happy Father's day

Sunday morning - a morning to relax recover and celebrate the men in our lives.  Father's day!

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast on the deck and than suited everyone up for a bike ride down to the river.  Once everyone was worn out and hungry again, we took them to lunch.  We all commented on the BEST 5 kids at the restaurant - they were outstanding!  Never has I put all the kids in one spot (normally we are mixing them up away from each other) but this afternoon it worked beautifully!

We got to enjoy some adult time on the other end of the table with some rather nice live music being played - to which the boys all brought some thank you money at the end - 

What a beautiful day and prefect to celebrate the fathers in our lives.

I often wish I picked up my camera more but am trying to be IN the moment.  That is why I was THRILLED to see these photos that Nick captured.

Love that he grabbed so great smiles 

and sweet moments.

He captured a great day

On the deck, in the sun = just as all the fathers would like it

Happy Fathers day to these great men - the men that know the value of family, raising kiddos and being present - Thankful to have you in our lives.

Happy Fathers day

Chris's Birthday weekend - Chris is turning 40!!

Chris is turning 40!!  Finally (yes, I am thankful for him to join me on this new decade of age!)

AND

  Its his Super Bowl weekend.  

Birthday on Saturday, Father's day Sunday.  

I am pretty sure he would prefer to space these out, but it worked out so well to have family up with us the whole weekend.  It started on Thursday when Barbara and Wyland made it up.  We enjoyed a WONDERFUL dinner at the Village Cafe and than a night of reading with grandma (on the new bed - which has a memorable story behind it -  if I had an extra hand while stuffing this marshmallow of a bed up the stars you would have seen Chris and Aras at the top of the stairs pulling with all their might and me at the bottom barely holding my ground as we sent shane to go next door to grab Linas - somehow we got the bed upstairs - and yes, its wonderful!  

Chris is thrilled

Just in time for his birthday

At 8:30 Friday night - the celebration got bigger - Wyland and Shannon made the drive from MD to join us for the celebration - the kiddos played for a few extra hours in the back yard while we caught up - than we put them to bed and enjoyed some adult time, chatting Maine, schedules and at midnight - toasting Chris Leadbetters 40th Birthday - 

Proof that everyone loves a selfie stick!

To the celebration -

That is a good looking foursome!  Headed to the Ranch

Someone is taking on big kid rolls and making us pancakes for breakfast!

love the looks of this breakfast table

Shane played his final Baseball game for the season (gloveless) and than we went to cool off in Oma Sue's pool

One of the gifts I wanted to give Chris was memories from his friends - I connected with them over the last month asn asked them to sent me a memorial or something they did with Chris.  I loved reading through the memories as they came in.  Here is a photo of us reading them to him at the table that evening

He actually wanted to grill on his birthday - does that say something about his enjoyment of it, or my inability to cover down for him....  hmmm..  Uncle Steve was another special guest for the evening.  He came down that day from VT to enjoy the family time together.  We hadn't seen him since our weddings and it was such a treat to connect.

I asked everyone to take a quick break from cooking to snap a photo or 2 - Love how well these kiddos paired up this weekend.

Grabbed a great family shot as well

Even got my folks in there before the kiddos started losing their focus

Now to the birthday dinner - couldn't have asked for a more beautiful evening to celebrate with

Happy Birthday Chris - thats a lot of candles!

Per request - Boston Creme Pie

When you are the youngest - you gotta get a leg up in anyway possible.

Chris I truly hope you felt the love from so many different folks in your life - I admire the man you are and am forever thankful to be your partner in life.  Thankful for the life we have created together.

Happy Birthday and Welcome to 40!

Last Day of school - came SO quick!

With Rcord time our kiddos are OUT OF SCHOOL.  I must have a thing for going to schools that offer minimal time IN SCHOOL.  IN 30 years Canton has never released so early.  Its my FINAL morning kidless and I cannot imagine a better way to spend it - Megan Flew into town Wednesday morning to start her wedding weekend in MV - I got her for 2 full days.  We spend lunch at a yummy spot together.

Enjoyed an afternoon of working together - 

And picked up THIS GUY from his last day of Pre-School!  We love Mrs. Cindy and this photo is ironic because its HER last day of Pre-school too as she is retiring this year.  We were so thankful to have her as a teacher.

Drew loved his time at the Children's center - here they are looking at what they want to be when they grow up - Drew's selection - a baseball coach!  I bet that and many more in your future kiddo!

Taking photos next to your favorite things in the classroom

Yes, we will miss this place!

Day 2 of the last day celebration - these boys are headed for the final 1/2 day of school!

Nick took his phone to school to snap a photo with his favorite 3rd Grade teacher Ms. Scapin.  She was WONDERFUL for his class.  Such a mild manner and encouraged such kindness amount the class.  We were SO fortunate to have her.

Later that evening she even made a house call delivering Nick's forgotten art work at school.  We had just come home after a pool party at the Briggs and Nick waited for her to drive by before our neighborhood pool party.  Love all things Cherry Brooks school - 

Summer here we go!