Robert kept busy this summer. 

He built a garbage & recycle can holder.  This helped out so much with those rotten bears who have knocked our trash down the hill so many times this year!

He also started building a shed in the back.  This was so much work and Robert always does such a professional job.  The twins helped him out when they could, and they have made a lot of progress.

 

June 2024

June was awesome.  Having the twins home again was just so much fun.  They immediately jumped into their summer jobs.  Alaina got trained as a raft guide, and Austin worked the ropes course.  When they weren't at work, they relaxed, did art, played with the boys, and went to the singles ward near Leesburg.

We did get the twins every now and then on Sunday.

Love this kid!!

We got these boys matching tees...for no reason.

Hanging out.

This girl had to work so hard to be able to become certified for being a raft guide.  Training became especially difficult when we failed to get any rain this summer.  The water level got lower and lower, gradually exposing every single rock in our Shenandoah river.  Alaina had to know where all the rocks were and had to avoid them before the raft beached itself on upon them.  

It was exhausting.

For Father's Day, I bought Robert a rafting trip with Alaina.  This is her in action.

Robert had a great time.

I'm thinking she got a little too much sun, however.  :)  This is her hand and mine.  At the beginning of summer, we matched.

Here we are having a dinner out on the porch.

I sure have missed this face.  Austin makes me laugh all the time.  He is kind to his brothers and loves spending time with all of us.  I feel so lucky that he was able to come home for the summer.

Here is a cute little family picture.  At least it would have been if our youngest member wasn't so grumpy! 

Nothing we said could break him out of his slump.  :(

Someone in our family keeps on coming home with chicks.  

Spoiler alert...it isn't me.

As non-chicken loving as I am...this was super cute.  Our big chicken has her wing over the smallest on.

Morning with the littles.

May!

The School Room.

I have really hated this room ever since we moved here.  This area was so dark, the 90's wall paper was peeling off, and there was a huge rectangle on the wall where the last owners decided to paint around a picture instead of taking it off the wall...so it was a mix-matched coffee brown.

I was not pleased.

Still.  It didn't sound like a fun project.  And, surprise, surprise...it wasn't.

For one, the wall paper refused to come off the wall in anything but teeny, tiny strips.  And those, I had to scrap off with a scraper and my nails.  It was a misery!

Then I found this beautiful green and painted the wall with it.  Unfortunately, I was the only one who liked it.  I love the intense color, but I had to agree...it had a bit of a doctor's office feel to it.

So...I repainted it!

This blue was also not the original blue we picked.  We had a darker, greener one, but got the names mixed up when we picked up the paint and I fell in love with the color.  This room makes me happy whenever we go into it now...which is awesome, since we go in every day for homeschool!

I put all the boys' art up on this magnetic strip.  I love this because it is easy to change up, and when you walk into the house, you don't automatically have to look at all the kids' art, so it doesn't look so cluttered.

These bums just laid around all day.  (when the twins weren't working...that is.) 

Actually...Alaina did provide this fun little ditty for our school room:

I did name our school the "Megamind School House." so it fits perfectly.