Sam Turns 14

 Yes, he did turn 14!  In the midst of crazy life, we celebrated his momentous day. 

 He got to consume an entire can of soda on his own.

 We enjoyed a great dinner of ribs, mashed potatoes, corn and cheese biscuits, at his request.

 Ready to open gifts.

 Polarized fishing glasses.  Naturally, these were a request of his also.  They're supposed to take the glare off of the surface of the water.

 Cool fishing card, Grammie and Papa!

 Trail mix from his sisters.

 This is blurry, but I love this hug.  We certainly encourage and want to see natural affection between the kids. 

 A set of drawing pencils and a book from his Aunt Leslie and Uncle John.

 A magazine and a card from Calvin.  Yes, this is before Cal's badly-needed haircut.

 This portable chair is a gift from Grammie and Papa for Sam to use for, you guessed it, fishing.

 And this.  This is a new pocket knife from his dad.

Brownie ice cream sundaes for dessert.  (Don't mind the masked bandit.  How'd he get to be a part of this birthday party?!?!)

Amelia's Popsicles

 I ran across some very sturdy-looking popsicle molds at the store and decided to go ahead and give homemade popsicles another chance.  I haven't had a lot of luck with them in the past.  Amelia found a recipe for making them with juice and yogurt in one of her recipe books and I told her she could do it herself.

 They were definitely a hit.

 Millie was so pleased.

 We liked the popsicle sticks/holders.  They catch the drips and have a "spout" that you can drink the last bit with.

 Even the adults enjoyed 'em.

Perfect for a summer day!

SICK

 Here's a real-life post.  Once we entirely quit school and decided to begin an official summer vacation we got a really nasty stomach bug and passed it around for the first two weeks of break.  These pictures are after about 4-5 days of sickness.  You know things are bad when little man is sleeping in a bed with no sheets or pillowcase from having soiled them all rapidly and no one feeling well enough to get them laundered and back on the bed.  Ugh.  Poor guy feels too bad to care.

 Resting.  Hanging in there.

Knocked out for the 3rd day in a row. 

4th of July

 The plan was to spend the 4th of July with friends, but sickness prevented it.  Right about this time our family picked up a stomach bug and and the first kids were starting to drop like flies on this day.  We still managed to salvage our day and have a bit of a celebration.  We popped popcorn and put it in paper bags for the kids to enjoy (the ones that could eat it) while Peter set off fireworks for them to see.

 Elijah got to do his first sparklers.

 He kept trying to blow it out.

 Peter had this idea of lighting a tealight candle for the kids to light their own sparklers with.  It worked great.

We didn't see any city fireworks.  This is the best we got this year.  But we were grateful to pull together a little celebration for the kids, especially the ones who weren't yet sick and were disappointed in our change of plans.  God provides.

A Whole Lot of Details

 I have a random assortment of various activities and goings-on that all took place in July represented in the following pictures.  Above: popsicles and water guns.

 Reading jokes from the popsicle stick.

 A few pictures from a visit to Point Marian Park.

 Playing Dominion.

 We got us a new-to-us van.  Fifteen seats!

 One nap of many.  :)

 Dressed up by the big sisters.

 And propped up in a little rocking chair.

 One of the brothers made him a raisin face on his bread with peanut butter.

 Delicious.

 A small-mouth bass that Sam was pretty happy about.

 She's playing "cars" with Eli.  Actually she's practicing her planks, since she can't quite crawl yet.

 Funny face.  I had fun getting down on the floor and taking these.

 Sun rays in smoke.

 Little man after his bath.

 He cracks me up.

 Those eyes.

 And another bass.

 He had to use pliers to get the hook out of its mouth.

 I think this is another small-mouth.  He's been fortunate to reel in a few of these this year.

The fishing season is winding down, but it's been a very good one for Sam.  He's getting better and better.