1/2 the summer in photos

One of the men at the farm was frustrated the other day when he realized that summer was half over. Once he brought it to my attention I was a little peeved myself but Jarod just looked at us and said, "Listen - this is what happens when you people plan stuff EVERY SECOND of EVERY day - let's just do nothing for a few days and summer will slow down."  Nice try Jarod.  That works about as well as asking the family to just "sit quietly and think for a moment."  Poor thing... life may be giving him an ulcer at this point.  But at least it is doing it quickly!! :)

Please Pray for Bianca... she has her CNA and now we are waiting on God, schools and government regulations to see what her next life step is.  We love her to death and just want what is best for her life.  Please pray for her this month!!!

So Brittany brought the guys each a HUGE green tea as a souvenir and you would have thought they had each gotten a million bucks (so - in case you ever wonder what to give the guys... anything extra large is appreciated.)

Had the Lowery garage sale and mostly my kids and other kids from the church went home with an abundance of items.

We had over 9 inches of rain last month.  CRAZY.  God is SO good to us.

Grandma came back from New Orleans.

Said goodbye to David and Kingson but not before a good lake trip and few tears.

So... we MAY have forgotten to pick a few radishes

The rain led to an epic mosquito infested - obstacle abounding big creek safari with Gramee and Grandpa.

And we went to get sheep...

And while we were there Randy did a little Demo work around the old Hett farm

Father's day proved to be the perfect time to perfect the marshmallow roast :)

And the visit from the Bernards convinced my kids that I only want OTHER children to have fun and them to work... good thing for them we have had house guests for the last 3 weeks!

Mac and Cheese and Mulberries are standard fare and Grammee's these days

After the mud slide and good mud swim is appropriate.  Including the loss of three pairs of shoes.

Monday picnics in the park are turning out to be a huge success.  With a gang of 19 children what can go wrong?? Right?

This is a happy picture in the basement with the "bean" - before things got crazy and Adrie almost lost an eye.

Thankfully nothing but an amazing adventure was had at the lake. 

 Really - that is miraculous EVERY single time.

And - these were $3.  I put them on everyone who comes in my house this summer... just because - more than anything right now I need a good belly laugh at least once a day.

Farmer's market is in full swing (in fact Randy is waiting there right now for me to bring him his Chocolate coffee... but don't worry I am sure he has found plenty of other people to talk to and treats to sample.)

The kids camped in the back yard... which of course ensured a 5:00 am rain storm and long cuddle on the couch while I made my coffee.

And the museum. No trip to Kansas is complete without it.

After dropping off the Bernards at the Denver airport Lucy and I spent a great day with cousin Wyatt and Betsy let me sleep in the guest room for 12 HOURS!!! THANK YOU.

Because the Arevalos came the next day.

Brittany is such a tooper when I say, "by the way - we are adding 7 extra kids to your day!" 

AWWW....... 

and... oh - honey - that is HIGH fashion there.

and apparently the classiness is genetic

Hotel 703 Fort which opened May 10 - just shut down after our 17th house guest left yesterday.

I think no one stayed through the 4th for fear that the hotel may have been in fire danger.

(this little guy narrated the whole evening in his own AWESOME little language that is part jibber/jabber  and all ENTHUSIASM!

I am the first to admit that the current Tippy life set up is NOT working out for the benefit of all involved.  But it is beautiful... anyway. That is called GRACE. And we receive more than our share every day.