Just because....

Groovy:)

Knowing that this week was going to be extremely hot, we headed out to find some new crafts/projects to try!  We found some clearance crafts at Hobby Lobby and scored t-shirts at the $ store.....we weren't sure at the time what we were going to do with them, but this morning we tryed our hands at using bleach to tye die!

I gave each of the kids a squirt bottle (after taking off every piece of clothing except unders) with a solution of 50% water/ 50% bleach and they got to work soaking the shirts (which we had twisted for a spiral effect)!

We were a little unsure as to what our finished products would look like (and for some reason Will's blue shirt turned out better), but we are pretty happy with the resulting tye die:) 

You can't really see the spirals on Kailyn's red shirt as well, but I'm hoping as they dry the bleach lines will stand out more!  If not, we might try again with a different bottle of bleach:)

Sweet Sandals!

Another awesome Family Fun recipe....sweet sandals!!!  A perfect way to spend time with friends on a day that was way too hot to spend any extended time outdoors:)

All the ingredients you need....oblong cookies ( I used Keebler Vienna cookies), colored frosting, pull apart licorice, sour gummy worms and some gummy candies! Oh, and some great friends to help decorate:)

The finished product....too cute:)  I think I'm going to make these for the next pool party!

Sparkle!

A nice clean deck, campfire and sparklers were all we needed to have an incredible night on the 4th (oh, and grandpa and grandma!)!

Not sure how Will convinced grandpa to get on the tramp.....they had a blast!

Sparklers!!!!!

What a relaxing evening.....finished off with fireworks!

A Patriotic Parade on Wheels

This year on the 4th we were invited to participate in a bike parade by our friends, the Meyerings!  Being that we rarely have plans for the 4th we were really excited about the possibilities:)  So I headed to the Dollar Store to find some things we could decorate with and rumaged through some bins downstairs and came up with some stuff that would work!  That morning we headed out to the breezeway to decorate (or shall I say so that Ryan and I could decorate) the bikes. 

We rode down the Hienz boardwalk and around Kollen park handing out candy to everyone we saw and wishing them a "happy 4th!" 

All decked out and ready to get started:)

The crew....all friends of the Meyerings who dreamed up the whole thing!!!!  Thanks for the invite and for giving our 4th a little sparkle!!!!

Allie

In June we were invited to go horse riding!!  I couldn't believe what an AWESOME experience it was for Kailyn and Will to see all that goes into riding a horse and taking care of him.  They helped brush and watch Lindsey saddle Allie, the most gentle horse you've ever met!

Kailyn absolutely LOVES this horse and can't wait to see and ride him again soon!

The kids rode around an indoor arena where they could watch themselves in mirrors:)  Kailyn needed little assistance and caught on quickly how to make Allie go where she wanted.  Will, on the other hand, needed someone to guide Allie around the arena!  Thank you so much Lindsey and Ella for such an amazing experience!!!!

Backpacking through the Bible!

The last full week in June, the kids attended VBS and "Backpacked through the Bible!"  That Sunday they sang some of their songs for the congregation.....we were so proud of both Kailyn and Will!!!!! 

That same afternoon we took the bikes out for a bike ride and ended up riding 4 miles!!!!  Afterwards we hit up Captain Sundae and then headed home to make dinner over a campfire:)  What an amazing family day....Thank you Lord!

Thumbs!

 For Father's day this year the kids really wanted to get Ryan a bird feeder...so we headed to DeBryn's in Zeeland and they picked one out!  Then we got to decorate!!!!  We used our thumbs to add some caterpillars, ladybugs and butterflies.  On the bottom I wrote "Thumb-body loves you!"

We think it turned out perfectly for our backyard......my little bird watchers are ready!

Gone Picking!

In mid-June we headed to DeLange's Redberry Farm to pick our families favorite fruit.....strawberries!!!! We picked at least 20 quarts of berries in under an hour, thanks to our amazing little helpers:) That day we put up 8 batches of jam....yummy!!!! We also tackled a few strawberry pies and mashed some berries to freeze for shortcake...it was a very productive day!!!