Snuggles

She loves to snuggle with her blankets. Tonight I rocked her to sleep along with 5 blankets and two stuffed animals she insisted on holding.

 And then when shes fallen asleep I've been putting her in bed with all of them. 

Its cute to see her snuggled up with them.

Peach orchard

We went to a peach orchard on knotts island this morning with a great friend. And I got possibly my new favorite picture of Joel. The boys were really excited that they could climb a tree and pick the peaches. It was a pretty drive out there and fun with a friend. Its nice to strap all the kids in a car and have time to talk. Amid the yelling "don't eat you brother!" and passing out snacks to the kids along the way! Ha! We picked two big bags of peaches. Which made Brent laugh when I told him since I don't really like peaches :) but we will freeze some for smoothies and figure out what to do with the rest! 

But I have eaten 3 today - they really are better picked fresh. The kids are loving all this fresh fruit. We ate all the blueberries we didn't freeze so we are going back Friday to pick more since Colin has requested a blueberry pie. Send us any pick your own info and we will go! 

Beans

 Our green beans seem to be the only thing the nutrias/racoons/rats/whatever else is eating our garden don't eat.  So we go outside and pick a lot daily. 

 It so easy to pick them with this tunnel we made.

 Joel likes to find the biggest one there is and then brings it to me and says whether I can eat it or cook it. I like them raw and so does Norah.  I only liked canned cooked green beans but the boys like them steamed so we've done that a few times.  But with Norah eating a handful each time so goes outside we haven't really had enough to cook for dinner.  Its no wonder her poop has been green all summer! 

Blueberry Picking

 We went blueberry picking friday night after Brent got off work.  Its still very early in the season so we might go back and get some more.  I like to go when you just put your bucket under and shake the branch to get the berries. This time it took a little more hunting and picking but we still managed to pick a lot in the short amount of time we were there. I think Brent said we picked close to 18lbs. Our buckets were filled and I'm pretty sure we ate as much as we picked.
 

A fun tradition

Last Swim Meet (Maybe)

Today was the last swim meet of the season.  At least we think so. We find out tomorrow at the swim team party whether Colin made the divisional team or not.  I'm pretty sure Norah is hoping he doesn't make the team.

  Her face shows it all

 Her face shows it all.  Ha!  She's been so patient this whole time.   But towards the end today she and Joel were both done.

 Joel decided he was done with swim team. They made him swim in the deep end one day while the shallow end was getting a broken tile fixed so after that he refused to even think about swim team.  He would rather just play with the rest of the little boys during practice.  He was the ring leader and lead them in games.  The coach tried to get Joel to do the kickboard relay today but he wasn't having it. There is always next year for him. 

Colin had a hard meet - 50 freestyle (which is hard for a 7 year old and his first time), 25 Breastroke, 25Butterfly and a relay. He did well. And had a lot of fun.

We're so proud of you Colin.

Dolls

Norah is starting to play with her dolls more and more.  Its so sweet watching her mother her baby doll. 

Beach

 We've made it to the beach twice this summer - we're doing pretty good I'd say :)  Its funny how we live here and dont really go to the beach much in the summer. I am not a fan of the beach in the summer. The sand is hot. The kids dont want to walk across the hot sand - dont blame them - and its such an effort to drag everything and everyone out to the beach just for an hour before everyone is ready to leave. I had a friend go to the beach yesterday with her kids and she sent me a text saying "i'm not doing that again anytime soon!" so at least its not just me.  Maybe when the kids get older it will get easier.Take me to the beach in the fall/winter and I could be there all day.  But the kids love it and I love seeing how much fun they have. 

 The boys like to see how much sand they can bring home with them! 

 Sweet baby girl loves the beach.  She runs right for the water and the bigger the wave the better. 

 We are going tomorrow night for a friends birthday party at the beach so as much as I complain about it, its still fun to go. 

Weekend at the farm

 We spent last weekend at the farm.  All the siblings but the wandering hokies. I forgot my camera so these are from the rest of the family.  It was a great, relaxing weekend.