One of those days...

Today was one of those days with moments that just felt right. I had two of my friends kids for the day, and we spent every second outside in the warm sun. We spent hours jumping on the trampoline, playing in the sprinklers and with the hose, and going on a deer hunt. All the kids got dirty, wet, lots of sun, and lots of exercise! When Jakey was down for a nap I even got a chance to lounge in the sun with a strawberry lemonade while the older boys attacked eachother with the hose. When we were on the trampoline with just three of the older boys in the afternoon, two deer came right up by us and spent about an hour eating around us as we played. There were four large birds that were flying above us, and we had some good conversations. Noah said it was a blessed day, and one of the other boys said, "Yes, God has really blessed our day." So sweet to hear our boys and their friends say things like that. After spending a day like that outside, plus vbs in the evening and Andrew's semi-finals softball game, the boys haven't made a peep since we put them down. Ahhh....

Bouncing Around!

It's no secret my boys have a lot of energy. And most of the time I love it. We bought new furniture last year when we moved in here, but decided that it was just going to be temperary for the next few years while our kids were little. We knew with spills, jumping, and just kids whatever we got would be destroyed. So we let our kids jump. Go ahead and judge, but it has saved me in the winter months, or on those days where they just have so much energy! So we jump.

I want to remember this as they grow older, so here are some pictures I took the other night.

Sometimes I don't know how they don't get hurt...

Jakey jumping off!

And after all that jumping, they are finally tired out. Then Andrew and I can watch LOST. We're addicted right now!

Noah's 4th Birthday Party

We had Noah's birthday party last night. It was so fun to get some friends together and celebrate Noah! He's such a sweet boy, can still be a stinker, but is really growing up! Noah is very into coloring, recognizes most of his letters and sounds, is starting to write letters other then those in his name, can count to 20 most of the time, plays any kind of sport, loves the yankees, cheers for whatever team Andrew is going for, looks up to his daddy, doesn't stop moving except to read a book, does flips of our couch and on the trampoline non-stop, loves Nike (we've already brainwashed him), reenacts Toy Story all the time, is a fish in the water, and loves spending time with his friends. We are so blessed to have great friends who like to be a part of these moments in our life.

yummy junk food...

Everyone hanging out in the shade, what a beautiful day we had!

Playing baseball

Not at all excited about his new Buzz...

We don't ever have chips at our house, and we all went a little crazy. Look at that face!

Cupcake time! Noah made them with Nana, what a help!

Demoing the water balloon toss...

I love all of my friends, what a group of helpful, giving people!

Blowing out the candles!

Singing

Cleaning up after the free-for-all. It only took a minute, I couldn't believe how fast it went! Everyone helped out, thanks!

Water balloon toss turned into everyone gang up on Andrew...

What's a party without a few tears? He got hit squared in the chest and got soaked. He didn't like that. But he got over it.

Playing with the birthday boy!

Hoping to catch it!

Me and the birthday boy heading home!

Nana and Papa

At the end of the day, this is who I go home with. There's no other way I'd rather it be! Happy 4th Birthday, Noah!

Granola...

Sunday we made some homemade granola. It was our first time, and I'd say pretty successful! We'll be better at it now that we've done it once before, but it was good! We added almonds, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, and raisins. I got my recipie from the lady that we buy our raw milk from. We made her home-made raw strawberry yogurt today and are waiting for it to set overnight before we try it tomorrow! Hope it turns out!

Here's Hannah rocking out in the kitchen:)
Our organic rolled oats from New Seasons...we bought everything there, which made it more expensive. Next time I'll order things online from Azure...they're already in my cart. Much cheaper for organic bulk products.

Sunday we made some homemade granola. It was our first time, and I'd say pretty successful! We'll be better at it now that we've done it once before, but it was good! We added almonds, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, and raisins. I got my recipie from the lady that we buy our raw milk from. We made her home-made raw strawberry yogurt today and are waiting for it to set overnight before we try it tomorrow! Hope it turns out!

GRANOLA

4 c. rolled oats (uncooked) or do 1/3 oats, 1/3 flaked spelt, 1/3 flaked triticale (purchase organic from Azure or Bob's Red Mill)

1c. wheat germ raw

1c. coconut

1/4 c. sesame seeds raw

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3/4 c. honey

1 c. coconut oil (we sell Wilderness Natural Organic coconut oil for $18/quart)

2 c. dried fruit and nuts, mixed (crispy walnuts and almonds taste great!)

1c. freshly milled flax seed

Combine dry ingredients (oats, wheat germ, coconut, sesame seeds, salt) in a large bowl. Mix honey and oil together and heat until honey is thinned. Stir into dry mixture. Spread on 2 greased cookie sheets or 2 cake pans (I use a broiler pan). Bake at 300 degrees until lightly browned (15-20 minutes). Stir every 5 minutes during baking and several times while cooling

Add mixed dried fruits and nuts (Trader Joe's has dried blueberry and organic raisins) using any of the following: raisins, dried apples, dried bananas, dried apricots, toasted sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, sliced almonds, etc. MAKE SURE YOU ADD THESE AFTER COOKING!

Add the flax seed once granola has cooled. Store extra granola in the freezer to keep fresh. Add more oats for a "drier" granola.

Coloring...

Both boys are very into coloring these days. Jakey on the walls, and Noah on paper. He colors everything like these pictures in rainbow colors. They talked about rainbows at school, and since then, this is how he colors. The balloons he colored for Grammy for her birthday a while back.

Catching up...

I am going to go back and blog about some of the things that I didn't during my little time off:) For the long weekend a while ago we went to Seaside. We didn't really take any good pictures, but here are a few that we do have. Like I said, nothing fabulous picture wise, but it was great to get away and have lots of down time with our family to relax!

Typical...Noah reading and Jakey plugged in:)
Our friend, Charlie
Nice face, Noah! Love the shoes though:)

Happy Father's Day!

Watch these pictures of Jakey and Hannah...this is so him!

Grabbing the cheeks...

Pulling her in...

Going in for the kill...

Score!!!

Playing with pop-its out on the porch...do those ever get old?

Our beautiful family! We didn't plan this, but we ended up being the lighter skinned/hair/clothes on one side and the dark on the other:)

Happy Father's Day to the two amazing Dad's in my life...Andrew and Tom! What a great example both men are in my life, and such amazing, hands-on Dads!

Hannah and Dad

Looking pretty styling...and yes, I'm talking about Noah! ;)

Jumping around!

Nicole and Dad