~The second half of July and a bunch of randomness

Like I said in an earlier post.  It's fantastic when my kids become somewhat independent.  I heard Jett yelling from the kitchen, "MOM, I USED ALL THE JELLY!"  Afraid of what I might find, I entered the kitchen and saw this.  Jett tried to make his own sandwich.  Way to go Jett!

 

 

Blueberry picking is always a fun thing to do.  This year the blueberries were huge.  We went picking several times.  I made two batches of jam and we have about 2 gallons in the freezer.

 

To prepare the berries we sort and wash them.  Then let them dry.  After they are dry we spread them out in a single layer on cookie sheets and place them in the freezer.  Once they are frozen then we can pull them back out and put them in freezer bags.  If we just went straight to freezer bags without freezing them on cookie sheets first, we'd end up with one huge frozen ball of berries.  This way the berries aren't stuck together and we can pull out what we need.

My little climber.  Again, doing something he shouldn't!  Silly kid fits perfectly in the bathroom sink.  Last time I caught him in the sink, he had filled it and water was running onto the floor.  Good thing he's so cute!

This was a rough day for Jett.  He got mad when I asked him to get dressed.  Next thing I know, he had thrown all his clothes "away."  Sad thing is, it was raining that morning.  Due to the temper tantrum and his actions, Jett had to wear wet clothes most of the day :/

 

A few hours later we had to go to the church.  Adam signed me and the kids up to clean the church.  How nice of him when he knew he wouldn't be able to help.  Anyway, I head down to the church with 4 boys to clean the bathrooms.  I stuck all the kids in the gym to play and proceeded to clean the first out of three bathrooms.  Half way through the first, Simon comes in and says a woman needs to talk to me.  I am really confused and a little worried because we are the only ones in the building.  I stand up from kneeling over the toilet and a woman construction worker was standing there and said that they found my little boy outside screaming for help.  WHAT?!?  So we walk to the front the church and I see another woman construction worker with my car door open and Jett is sitting in the front seat.  Apparently he wanted to his gatorade so he went to get it.  Unbeknownst to me or his brothers he went outside to the car and couldn't get back in because the doors were locked.  So he started screaming, "HELP!  HELP!  HELP! HELP!"  The women construction workers were down the street and heard him.  So they went in search of the cry.  They found Jett and helped him.  The one woman found a side door that was unlocked (which it shouldn't have been) and that's when she found Simon because she heard them playing in the gym.  The other woman stayed with Jett.  When he saw me, instant tears started to fall and he wouldn't let me put him down.  I was very grateful to those wonderful women who helped Jett.  There are still good people in the world and he was so scared.  I am also grateful it wasn't 40 below (that could have been very tragic).  And next time Adam signs me up to clean the church by myself, he's dead meat!

 

This summer we've started to do something different.  Our mailbox isn't super close to our house.  So when we drive to check it, I have the boys get out and run the rest of the way home.  It's great exercise and they love running.  Plus it wears them out a bit!

 

The garden is nice.  We've been eating lettuce for a while now.  We've also harvested broccoli and cabbage.  The turkey is getting big too!

 

The sunflowers are getting huge.  The tallest one, is taller than Adam.  Still no blossoms though.

 

Simon got to have a special summer program with one of my young women.  On the last day, he got to do the zipline.  So fun!

My little climber, at it again!  This time in the car.  How did he get in there!?!

 



 

Another great Saturday project was painting the shed.  Look them go!  The boys were fantastic helpers.

 

Then after we painted the shed, we mowed the lawn.  Noah found that it's kinda hard work!

 

When Adam got home he had to get the places we couldn't reach on the shed.  I guess we were all a little distracted because no one saw tooty pants finger painting.  By the time I noticed, both hands were covered and his clothes were ruined.  By that smile on his face, I think he had fun though!