The Keene Family

I asked Jim in June if he could pressure wash the fence we share with our neighbor so I could stain it this summer. He came inside after doing two panels and said that we should just build a new fence. And so it began! He talked to our neighbor about it, who said that the fence was about 25 years old and certainly could be replaced. They worked on a design and made a sample panel to start with. We stained it and everyone just loved it. Over the summer they built a few more panels, but then it was crunch time. Jim had a week off for a trip that we didn't end up going on, so he stayed home and worked almost every daylight hour on the fence. Most of the time, he worked either with our neighbor or with Preston, who donated a few days of his time to the project too (and we are so thankful!). Doesn't it look gorgeous? We've been having people stop by from the neighborhood and look at it. It certainly stands out! For reference, old fence/new fence photo: Jim f...

We started Haley's birthday rather early since she is an early(ier) riser than her brother. The first thing she saw was a new dress hanging in her room for her to wear. I imagine that was very fun! Haley decided to open her gifts before breakfast since the cinnamon rolls she ordered were in the oven. One of her gifts was an ice-cream theme, complete with new nightgown. She was very excited to open JT's gift: a horse trailer that she's been wanting. Now they can play trailers together. Life is complete. ;) She also got a Hatchimal. This occupied at least an hour of the morning, just waiting for the moment it hatched. It's a little weird. Breakfast made to order: mom's cinnamon rolls (Grandma Cole's recipe), "real bacon," and cantaloupe. She said she almost forgot it was her birthday later on, when she spent the day playing with her friend Jozie from our neighborhood and just hanging out. No chores for the birthday girl! T...

Our second trip to Banks Lake was another wonderful success. We started off a little shaky with a limb landing on our tent at 4:42 AM the first night/morning. We had a lot of wind throughout the week, but otherwise it was lovely: bug-free and great weather. We went with Grandpa and Grandma Keene and three other families so we had 10 adults and 12 children, ages 1 to 9. It was a busy beach and a lot of fun!

Okay, so it's not all indoor. Of course, we spend as much time as possible outside. The kids are mostly inside when I'm on a work call and outside the rest of the time. Our garden is going nuts. The tomatoes are crazy and the strawberries are sweet, and the green beans just came in and they are soooo good. We love playing in the backyard with friends... And in other people's backyards too. Like this one. We did some trail riding this week and invited one of JT's school friends along. It was tough and we were all sweaty after we were done. I think I was even a little sore! Haley got a huge blister on her thumb and powered through until the end, when she just needed to be done. It broke open and looked ugly! The boys wisely decided to park their bikes and walk this bridge. There's a metaphor here for progress. And blooming where you're planted... out of my garden, little slug. I've also been enjoying my new small ...

Home from Banks Lake Trip 1, we took a trip to the library and got some new books... which both children promptly finished that day. JT actually got a magic trick book that had a couple really good ones in it! JT did some baking one evening. All by himself, he decided to make cookies. I helped a) get down the baking sheet from the top cabinet, and b) divide 1 3/4 c in half. Otherwise, he did absolutely everything on his own. They were very yummy and it was so fun to watch him work in the kitchen (and cut a recipe in half in his head as he went along). They've also been building forts and playing Uno and checkers inside. Apparently they got enough sunshine camping for a week because they've been enjoying time just to relax on carpet. :) The other day, they had a stalemate playing checkers. This has never happened to me before! They are both trying to hit the 100-hours of reading mark for the summer library program. I have told them over and over that I don...

Our first trip to Steamboat Rock State Park on Banks Lake was with the Cole family for a week in July. We had such an amazing time! The weather was 90-95 degrees every day, and it was rare to see a cloud float by. In fact, most days were completely blue skies start to finish. Best of all, there were almost zero mosquitos. Neither kid sustained a single bite! It was pretty fabulous. We were impressed by how much both JT and Haley continued to improve at swimming. Haley tried out the new combo skis and JT got to pull a wakeboarder behind the boat for the first time. While Gena and I took over 600 pictures between us, I've narrowed down to my top ~25 to share here. We can't wait to go back in August for trip #2 with Jim's parents and a group of friends.