Summer

 Interesting view...there is actually someone on the windowsill avoiding doing his math work. Fortunately freedom and fun always wins...just not always as soon as we'd like!

 Soccer! Warming up for home school and soccer camp!

 What a mess...but the story about the house and driveway and gardens was interesting...maybe imaginations grow off of messes?

 Swim time!

 A friend collected saskatoons cuttings for me...which are all dying now...but I still am pretending to try make plants out of them. I guess I will have to officially give up on them soon. They look very dry.

 Chasing a rabbit. We have a lot of rabbits this summer...and you can get quite close to them sometimes!

 After a hot soccer evening there was an evening swim so we could be cool enough to hopefully drop off to sleep in the very warm upstairs.

 We got donated two boxes of books...such a goldmine!

 They came at a great time...so we could not get the "summer boredom" and plus there were some science books I'd been wishing I had more of just when I was wishing for them. And free! So wonderful!!

From June into July

 Getting all the plumbing hooked up.

 Fortunately the kids still help, even if they are allowed to swim already. ;)

 Weeding in the garden for permission to swim.

 Yes, the water does not look so clean. We were having issues with the plumbing yet.

 There was a third pipe we didn't know what it was for. Once all was hooked up and water came gushing out of it, we figured that out pretty fast! Now all the lines are closed up and going to the right places.

 Very late spring this year, so when the flowers start opening they had better be enjoyed!

 Finally a few blooms. And it's almost July!!

 Frogge thinks "if I can't be in your pool than I'll be on your bedroom windowsill!"

 Matthew got a turn to hep Melanie with her horse mucking job. Nathan was hired for the day wheeling mulch and filling up gardens.

 Ooh, rain. (a tiny bit) Umbrella time!

 Jennifer showed an interest in sewieg, so I tried come up with a project for her while I was still busy with something else. She wants to sew herself a skirt.

 Pool time!

 Our fridge gets cranky and ices up. Maybe it doesn't like me using up every last square inch and wants some room for air flow. Or maybe it's just cranky.  Anyways...I had to thaw it. Now that it's much emptier I haven't noticed and veggies getting frozen. Hope it stays cheerful and cooperative.

 Nathan and Melanie off to paint their fort. They bought paint and stain for it...I guess I should go see how nice it looks. They finished it yesterday.

 The go cart...another project to keep Nathan busy!

 Jennifer showing off her somersault.

 The water might not be deep but it's still very lovely to swim. :)

 Daniel offered to paint a sign for me for our soccer program.

 Thanks so much!!

 Poison ivy. In the back now. Melanie found it first in the "campfire" in the "stick fort". She just told Daniel it time to not pick the weeds out of the firepit after all. Good call!

Flower girls.

Jennifer working on her embroidery project.

June

 Melanie made her first donuts every. Just in time for international donut day. Yum!

 The chocolate ones she made later were even better! :)

 The kids had a piano recital, and Evelyn was looking forward to her friend coming, as she was joining her sisters coming to see Evelyn's sisters.

 Matthew was the first one in the pool! Lucky guy got to test the water for us.

 I can touch in the deepest part!

 The new spread that the pool was open for use, so soon there were kids drying up on the patio after having tried out the water!

 Nathan asking for advice on his go-cart. How to keep the chain from bouncing off?

 Almost done cleaning up the extra cement pd. All the hoses SEEM connected to the right places.

 Melanie finished a skirt...her first pattern project completed on her own. The picture did not turn out, but the skirt did.

 Trying out the go-cart again.

 We picked up some dodgeballs and enjoyed a new sport. For two days. Then the dodgeballs from the dollar store went flat.

 Evelyn and I.

 Shh! Don't tell Nathan! He was busy somewhere so he thinks I was the one who did such a terrible job mowing. Melanie did just fine for a first time, and kind of enjoyed it. She just didn't want to hear over and over again by her big bro how much better he would have done it then her. So it's a secret.

 I had to exercise a lot of self control not to pick up annuals in the stores every time I went shopping. They were so tempting! All my flowers were so late this spring and looked pitiful even in June!

 More swimming and cleaning....it's not easy keeping the pool clean when the pump isn't running!

 Nathan managed to get a job mowing for the neighbours. They hadn't mowed all year and he kept complaining at how bad it looked. Finally he went over and after an initial "no thanks" they called back and said "sure!". It was a huge job to move that down the first time, but now he gets it done in less than an hour, and it's starting to look good (as in no heaps of dead grass laying everywhere anymore. I love local jobs! Nathan and Melanie also muck out the other neighbour's horses 6 days a week. So nice to not have to drive. :)

 Volleyball

 sort of...

 More swimming. Keep moving around the water to keep the green growth down!

 Plumbing looks ready! There was a surprise pipe gushing water out, and lots of joints that needed tightening/tape. But...eventually things have become, what appears to be, watertight!

 Evelyn wanted to go biking on a trail, so we obliged.

 She kept up pretty good, so it was decent exercise for all of us!

 Zoom!

 7 bikes in a van. Just have to go back for the kids. Local trails only!