Other Summer Odds and Ends

 The kids played Legos SO MUCH this spring and summer.  I wish I had done a better job of recording their amazing creations.  It meant that the basement usually looked like this 👇, and cleaning was rough, but totally worth it.

The kids pooled their money to buy a Lego motor.  They've made some vehicles and a Ferris wheel (I think).  I really like Micah's hand mixer!

Speaking of mixers. another thing the kids have done a lot of is baking and cooking (mostly just the older two).  Some were successful....some were more experimental.  One day Hannah tried to put the flour away on the shelf above her head.  Apparently the lid wasn't on tightly.  😄

In July, Scott and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.  Because she knows and loves me well, Meghan didn't wait for me to ask for help (because I probably wouldn't have).  She texted me to say that she was bringing her kids and pizza over on Sunday night so Scott and I could go out.  It was our first time leaving the house together with no kids in five months, and it was amazing.

Then, just this past weekend, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!!  I had imagined that we would be throwing them a party for this occasion, so it was disappointing not to be with them.  Eric and I tried to contact a bunch of family and friends.  We had a sweet little video made for them, and they received a bunch of cards in the mail as well.

(This picture is from spring 1998.  They basically still look the same. 😉)

While we didn't get to visit New Hampshire this summer, we did get to see Gramme and Papa.  They drove almost 700 miles in one day to come visit us.  And they were here for Gramme's birthday!

We've had a few play dates with L and her sister.  They've been wanting to do a sleepover, but first we had a newborn up all night, and then Covid.  We finally had the chance to have them over before school started!  I think everyone had fun and got at least a little bit of sleep.  Hannah, especially, loves having other girls around.

A random moment of playing a game on their tablets together.

Micah has really impressed us with his maturity lately.  We ask him to help a lot around the house, and he does almost all of it without complaint.  He even jumps in when he sees a need without being asked.  I'm actually glad that he'll only be going to school every other day for now, so I can still have him home sometimes. 

Last Tuesday, a couple of families decided to go to Lake Erie and invited us to join them.  It was a perfect way to spend our last real day of summer!

All three kids are playing for the same soccer club this fall! Tallmadge is not having teams, so the boys joined Hannah at Mighty Kicks (actually Hannah has moved up to the older age group, which is called "Burning River United").  We even had a couple of days where all three kids had practice at the same place on the same night!  It was a soccer mom's dream.  There's a chance that Micah and Hannah's teams will actually get to play some games.  Matthew's group is still uncertain.  Here is Matthew doing a 1-on-1 drill.  The little girl he's against is a friend from school, and I went to college with her mom.

The Yard

 This spring and summer we did a major overhaul on our backyard.  Our yard had a very unusual large raised bed in the middle of it.  We've been told that it was a koi pond that had been filled in.  We also had a large number of silver maple trees, which are known for splitting and not being very strong.  The "jungle formerly known as a koi pond" took up a ton of space right in the middle of the yard.  Too many trees meant the grass struggled to grow.  And we often had standing water in the spring.

The "before" pictures:

The first step was to take down a bunch of trees.  I believe the finally tally was eleven trees!  The timing worked out that we were on our little vacation by Lake Erie when they came to take the trees down.  I was little disappointed that we didn't get to watch it.  Our neighbors took a couple of videos for us.  And I'm sure they appreciated all the noise.  😄

Just to keep things interesting, right around the same time we had to replace the drain pipe from our garage.  Every time we had a hard rain, it would back up and flood our garage.  So both our front and back yards were all ripped up!

The next step was grinding down the stumps.

The wood chips were fun to play with.  And one neighbor was happy to have a little bit of free mulch for a project she was working on.

Then came digging day!  Two guys worked all day, just filling a dump truck with dirt and rocks and hauling it away.  Good-bye weird swampy jungle!

Ta-da!!  One worker who had seen it at the very beginning came back and said, "It's like your yard just got three times bigger."

Next they added drainage and graded the entire yard.  The real test will be next spring, but we're hoping this will eliminate our flooding issues.

Then everything had to be re-seeded.  This step happened to coincide with a week of 90+ degree days.  Scott had his work cut out for him to keep everything watered.  Micah has been an amazing help.

We still have a few patches where we need to work on the grass, but here's the mostly finished result!

Side-by-side before and after: 

First Day of School (Round 1)

 Hannah and Matthew started back at Cornerstone today.  With their small class sizes, they are able to keep desks six feet apart and take on other necessary safety precautions (temperature check at drop-off, face masks, extra sanitizing, etc.).  Our normal back-to-school activities (picnic, orientation, dedication service) had to be adjusted.  On Saturday, Matthew and Hannah had a scheduled time to go meet their teachers, see their classroom, and put away their supplies.  This morning no parents were allowed in the building, but several of us gathered in the front lawn to pray for the school year.

Matthew is starting first grade.

Hannah is starting fourth grade.

Hannah said, "Oh good, I don't have to smile."

(Pictures taken by his teacher)

Of course we got ice cream after school.  And we let Micah join us, even though he doesn't start for another week.

Before school even started, we had excitement this morning!  The Oysters left a chrysalis with us because they knew it would hatch while they were out of town.  It started off green, then at 7:00 this morning we saw it was translucent.  By 7:30, the monarch had emerged!