Life lately, August 2024

Aside from some more "topical" blog posts (an update about my creative projects, our backyard campout, Cooper's birthday, a daytrip to Indy for a concert, and a big family announcement) the last time I wrote a "life lately" update was in early June. And well, there's been a lot of life that has happened over the last two-ish months. I tried to include what I could here, in summary form. It has been a very full and fun summer! Here is what some of that looked like:

We did our first "big" family bike ride with all of us and my father-in-law. We parked at one park, biked to another, had a picnic lunch played with lady bugs and acorns, and biked back. And the next day (Father's Day), Cooper learned how to ride his bike without the training wheels! He told Nicholas he was ready to take them off, and he took to it immediately. Nicholas said that was the best Father's Day gift ever.

We had a girl's night to celebrate a friend who is expecting twins, and then I attended a baby shower for that friend as well. So much love for those babies, arriving soon!

Cooper finished up his swimming lessons for the summer, and it was a wonderful experience. He learned so many new things, gained confidence in the water and in himself, and was brave enough to try the (big) diving board on the last day! We are so proud of him. We celebrated his final day with a smoothie date and he picked out a puzzle.

The boys spent countless hours coloring, doing watercolors, playing with homemade play dough, setting up scenes and vignettes with cars and stuffed animals, assembling puzzles, playing with trains, finding toads outside, playing in "the dirt room" – all the play of a little boy's childhood.

We watched our town's fireworks on the fourth of July. Cooper enjoyed it, Finn was scared, but then he fell asleep mid-show (both boys had ear protection on), and it was a fun, but very late night.

We ate watermelon, made homemade vanilla ice cream with our favorite grass-fed raw milk, and we grilled hamburgers a lot . I baked sourdough cinnamon rolls and finally got back into making sourdough bread, after a hiatus.

Nicholas painted the two downstairs bedrooms (one was previously tan, and the other a peachy-pink, both flat paint), and they feel so much brighter and homey.

We did a family hike at our local arboretum, with frequent stops for snacking on wild blackberries and for some tree climbing in a very old oak tree.

I knit on the back deck and front porch a lot, while the boys played. Slowly working my way through some Christmas gift knitting (you can never start too early!)

We hosted some family for burgers on the grill with homemade sourdough buns. Now that the cicadas are gone (phew), we so enjoy being on the back deck. Even a hot day can be really enjoyable in the shade, with a breeze and the overhead fan turned on.

We went to a sweet farewell party for some dear friends of ours', as they are moving! We will dearly miss them, but it was a wonderful evening spent together. We grilled, my friend Lauren made the best pasta salad, and the kids played 'til dark and then begged to stay longer. We love you, Greta and family!

Cooper has been thoroughly enjoying a children's dictionary that Nicholas' Aunt Brenda gave to the boys! He will carry it over, flip to a page that catches his eye, and ask me to read through the entries with him.

We visited the beach a few times. The boys loved the sand, the water, the rocks and treasures, the sun, the snacks. Of course!

We had a cookout and campfire with some dear friends and their sweet boys. My friend made sourdough zucchini bread for dessert and the boys had s'mores. What a delightful evening!

We watched my father-in-law run a 5k, and the boys shared some of the post-race watermelon, and then we visited Grandpa DeVries and Nicholas' Aunt Brenda for a while.

We took the boys to their first minor league baseball game (my first ever, as well). The home team lost, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Of course I brought along my knitting for a few stitches, here and there. It was a fun afternoon!

And most recently, my family came to visit, we attended a funeral service for a dear family friend in Ohio, and Nicholas and I celebrated eleven years of marriage. But I'll circle back to those last few things in separate posts.

It has felt (and truly been) and eventful summer, full of a lot of really sweet things. I struggled with finding the energy to write early on in this pregnancy, and then I felt less motivated, since I felt "behind" in sharing bits of our life. Now that I am firmly in the second trimester, I do feel like I have more capacity to enjoy (and share!) a bit more of our life, since I really do enjoy have a diary of our life, of sorts. There are so many seemingly minor details of our life that I've recorded here over the last ten+ years, that I am so grateful for – evidence of growth and change and blessings, and God's goodness in it all.