Are you ready for some football?

Ryder and Harper both really wanted to play a fall sport, so after giving them plenty of time to deliberate their choices, we signed Ryder up for football and Harper for soccer. (Harper hasn't started yet--I should be hearing from her coach sometime in the next week). Ryder's practice started on August 1st, and this league is no joke! For the rest of the summer they practice Monday-Thursday evenings, and once school starts they will practice Monday-Wednesday evenings. Talk about commitment! Luckily Andrew was able to adjust his work day so that he can be home in time to take Ryder to practice; it's right over the dinner hour and into Shepherd's bath and bedtime routine. So for now, I cook dinner and eat at normal time. Usually Harper stays home with me to help out with Shepherd and have some "girl time" with me. Then when Andrew and Ryder get home, they just have to reheat dinner while I'm bathing Shepherd and putting him to bed. Whew! It has taken some time to get used to, mostly for me I think, but we're doing it! Ryder's team had their first scrimmage Saturday morning, and it was so much fun to watch him in action. He has learned a lot in the past two weeks. I'm not sure how many points we ended up with, but I do know the other team didn't score at all, which Ryder was excited about. His coaches are tough (in an age-appropriate way) and are really teaching the boys the rules of the game and the importance of teamwork. At practice if some of the boys aren't paying attention, they all do pushups or run a lap. That's the only way to get these silly 8 and 9-year-olds to pay attention!

It was a hazy, overcast morning. We were thankful it wasn't sunny or we would have been miserably hot!

Ryder (#85) got to help lead stretches before the scrimmage.

Ryder is an offensive linemen, just like Andrew used to be when he played.

head to head with #17

Two or three of our coaches were on the field at all times to help talk the boys through the game. 

Shepherd cheered from the sidelines. "Go Ryder!"

another snoozing Frankenstein baby, with Andrew wearing tie-dye of course

Remember these?

Andrew and Harper (2013)

Andrew and Ryder (2011)

These two are such good buddies!

Belly Laughs

Shepherd officially giggled on Tuesday night, and Harper gets the credit for being the first one to get a good laugh out of him. :) The best part is that she really wasn't even trying! She was helping me give him a bath, and as I was rinsing him she was talking to him and using a lot of hand gestures. (I honestly don't even know what she was talking about!) He was just watching her, and then he smiled and let out a big giggle. This of course prompted her to keep doing what she was doing, and he kept laughing until he developed a mean case of the hiccups! It was the most adorable sound in the world, and he had us laughing right along with him. He loves to kick and squirm around now, and boy has he gotten strong! So even though Harper is a wonderful helper, I didn't want to leave her alone with our slippery little guy for even a second to grab the camera. I was able to record a short video during bath time the following night, and although it's cute, it's not nearly as good as the night before. I'll keep trying! 😍

He is holding his head up so well now!

Preparing for winter...in August?!

The past two weekends have been ideal for spending time outdoors; comfortable temperatures and low humidity have made it super comfortable both inside the house and out. Andrew and I agreed that it is almost starting to feel fall-like already. I'm not trying to rush the summer, but I will be ready for the changing leaves and cooler temperatures. I can't even believe I'm saying that when I spent so many months bundled up and wishing for sunshine and warm weather! Ha!

Last weekend the main item on our to-do list was to get the new firewood stacked. We want to be prepared for winter this year, so Andrew had a load of wood delivered at the end of July so it will have plenty of time to dry out before we need it. Last year we didn't even get firewood until mid-December, so it was cold and frozen and we did NOT want to deal with that again. Thanks to our tractor, wagon, and two helpful big kids, Andrew was able to get all of the firewood stacked into his favorite circular formation in just two days. He also found a great deal on a new wood stove, and it should be delivered soon. Winter is not going to sneak up on us this year!

Harper took advantage of a cooler summer morning and grabbed a blanket and book and headed outside to read. 

hard at work!

Ryder and Harper took turns driving the tractor back and forth to load and unload the wagon with wood.

Andrew found this huge toad living in the bottom of the old wood pile. There were also lots of slugs, some huge spiders, and a black snake!

Finished! Last year's wood pile was the smaller circle behind the new one. We ordered the same amount of wood, but we feel like we have a lot more this year!

Shepherd's first Airstream experience

Since we knew we wouldn't be taking a big vacation this summer, we decided to do a camping weekend in the Airstream as a mini-vacation. The timing couldn't have been better because the crazy heat wave hit that same weekend, making it the perfect time to be in our air-conditioned RV since we don't have AC in the house. Having a reservation at a campground also gave Andrew the motivation he needed to finish a couple of projects in the Airstream. The most important one was building a crib bunk for Shepherd! After all, when we bought the Airstream last summer, we weren't anticipating having another little person on board. Andrew did some research online and then came up with the perfect design. After several late nights, construction was complete!

finished crib bunk with closet space and storage underneath

Harper tested it out to make sure it was sturdy enough for Shepherd!

Then Ryder climbed up too!

The side of the crib pulls down and is hinged so that it doesn't take up any hall space.

Once we got a mattress, I laid Shepherd down on it to test it out. As you can see, he looked pretty satisfied!

Andrew also redid the walls around the refrigerator and behind the dinette booth. We still have to paint and add some trim, but it already looks so much better!!

We stayed at a campground only about 30 minutes from our house since we weren't sure how Shepherd would do. It gave me peace of mind knowing we weren't too far from home! We arrived at the campsite around 3:00 on a Friday afternoon, and within the first half hour we did discover that there is a clog somewhere in the hose that is supposed to drain the condensation from the AC. We had a very steady drip trickle coming out of the AC unit--which is mounted on the ceiling smack-dab in the middle of the RV--and had to leave a large pot and several towels on the dinette table and the floor right beside it. Andrew and I were super frustrated at first, and then we changed our attitudes and realized it was a good thing to discover now rather than on a long road trip far from home. We laughed when we saw Garcia go over to the pot to check things out and then proceed to drink the cold water. He probably thought we put the "self-refilling water bowl" there just for him. And Andrew and I joked that most Airstreams don't have such a nice water feature right beside the dining table. 😂 We planned to stay two nights, but late Saturday afternoon our power kept cutting off and on, which meant the AC was shutting off. We assume it was the sheer number of RV's all plugged in and running air conditioning that was causing a voltage drop. The campground just couldn't handle it! As much as we didn't want to cut our weekend short, we also didn't want to deal with the constant power surges all night long. So we drove home to sleep on Saturday night and Andrew went back to get the Airstream on Sunday morning. All in all it was a good weekend and the kids had a blast riding their bicycles and swimming in the river. 

Ryder and Harper wanted to watch The Sound of Music before bed, and Ryder pretended to be asleep when Andrew got the camera out.

Shepherd slept all night in his new bed!

The next morning, Shepherd took a quick snooze on our comfy bed.

I would love to know how many miles Harper and Ryder put on their bikes! They had a blast riding around the campground together.

This is pretty much what Shepherd and I did on Saturday. There was a nice breeze, and it felt great in the shade.

Shepherd and I left the campsite to watch the big kids swim in the river. 

Nap time again!

Lunch after a morning of biking and swimming.