The Farm in June

We snuck in a trip to the farm last weekend!  

kids playing in the playhouse and swimming in the kiddie pool--lunch with G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy--going to Mom's nail appointment--Joshy feeding the cats--holding little Millie and seeing Ben and Kelly both nights--making firewood with Dad--getting Mom hooked on Downton Abbey--Ben starting his yard project--missing the Morrows who were in Seattle for soccer!

Our Children: Dory and Nemo

Gracie and Josh have LOVED swimming lessons this year.  They are becoming little fish.   In fact, Josh keeps reminding me that he's Nemo and Gracie is Dory.

Gracie's revelation this year:  "Mommy, last year I wasn't listening about closing your eyes when you go under water, but this year I close my eyes and now I like it!"  She is quite excited that now when she asks in the car, "Raise your hand if you like to swim underwater," she raises HER hand, too.  :)

 Jeff went in the pool with Josh for the first few days, but in week two, Josh was just fine to be in there without him.  The kids' teacher told Jeff to kind of be rough with him in the pool to get him used to the water.  I may have looked the other way while watching...

Yard Conquering

 Our yard project this year was to tame the backyard flower beds.  We were wishing we'd taken before shots to show the effects of our work, but at least the final product is recorded before the weeds start infiltrating.  :)

These shrubs were overgrown and the bed was full of weeds...

We made a small vegetable garden area, using the rocks that were once tossed under our birch tree.  Raspberries by the fence, strawberries by one wall, and a couple of squash and a pumpkin...we're excited to see how they grow!

 Hostas and ferns and a day lily purchased with my birthday money at Ritters...

Here's the new bird (squirrel) feeder that G'pa Harvey made for us...now we just have Papa LeRoy's bird house to put up.

It looks so great!  Now our goal is to use that fire pit several times this summer!

The Seven-Year Itch

So, apparently there's some kind of itch that is supposed to come after being married for seven years...  

 We planned ahead to combat this itch, but so far we haven't experienced it.  :)

Jeff and I had an afternoon date to mark our 7-year wedding anniversary:  a game at the Argonne Rocket, buying blueberries and raspberries for our garden, and eating at The Elk.  We sort of like each other.  :)

Camping at Priest Lake

We kicked off summer right away with a camping trip to Priest with the Lochheads!

Granny and Pappy drove up for the day on Saturday--so great to celebrate Father's Day a day early with them!

Yes, we went camping with a DVD player.  :)  It was a God-send for our tired children!

Here's Mr. Oden--he was such a happy camper!  :)  He was very close to his 4-month birthday on this weekend.  Drew and Annie traveled all the way over from Longview to join in the fun--and we were so glad!  Gracie is starting to want to hold this little guy more and more...and who wouldn't?  Isn't he the sweetest thing?!?

 The Lochhead Men--four generations

 The Lochhead Ladies--four generations

(although Gracie pointed out that Swede chose the wrong picture to be in...)

 Mr. O

It was a great first run with the camper--definite highs and lows.  The first night of sleep was definitely a LOW, but the second night of snuggling with our children was a "euphoric high," according to Jeff.

The First Two Weeks of June

I think Jeff and I are going to start calling these two weeks, "The Blur."  Each year, as teachers, we forget the depths of insanity that the last couple weeks of school hold.  Looking back from where I sit now, on June 27, I vaguely remember scrambling to purchase parent volunteer gifts, purchasing and delivering 33 helium balloons to the seniors graduating that Melissa and I taught in 5th grade, planning for Jeff's track sports banquet,  grading last minute work and filling out report cards...and THE REST I caught on camera!  :)

We bought a tent trailer!  I think this was June purchase-therapy for the bedraggled teachers.  Scott went with Jeff to pick it up as we were waiting to get our van's towing package set up.  Watch out, wilderness--here come the Lochheads!

Joshy decided to try the potty this month.  Jeff and I aren't quite ready for starting the potty-training routine with him, but he's interested--and he's pretty good already!  He usually goes right before bath time or bedtime or when he gets up in the morning.  (One day after swimming lessons he even POOPED in the potty!  We celebrated by eating lunch at Costco!)  This kid is such a big boy!!!

Bath tub letters were earned after a great day at the speech therapist.  We took Josh in to see if he needs a bit of help--he barely qualified, so we're in the midst of getting insurance lined up to help him out.  Gracie insisted that the G and the R were the right way in this picture.  She's always called herself Gracie, but the other day I did hear her say her name was Grace.  It will be fun to see which name she starts preferring.

This was one of my last "regular" days off.  A leisurely morning of baths and then books in bed.

We were SO BLESSED to have Debbie and Randy come stay with us for a couple of nights!  Daniel had a graduation party, so these two flew up to see him--and we were so glad that we were home base for them!   Carson and Cassie came over for a BBQ on Friday night, and we even got to squeeze a game of Catan in.  It was such a fun time!

The rain finally held off long enough for us to open up the trailer...

The second oasis in this crazy time was the presence of the Websters!  They came to stay with us as they vacationed in Spokane and caught up with friends.  Highlights included a fun hike at Bowl and Pitcher and Liam's (successful!) haircut.  :)

Van Sickle / Lochhead / Webster kid party...

Joshy, Liam, and Grace watching the Care Bears...

And somewhere amidst all of this fun, the students went home on their last day of school.  Sigh.  It's always a bittersweet time for me--summer on the horizon, but a classroom community coming to a close.

As this chapter of our year closes, I love that these pictures capture what is really important to us--not the details of June that invade our days, but the people and moments in which we are present.  We are truly blessed!