The home place, where Mike grew up, is a rental home right now. Dad Lapps built a new home seven years ago just down the street and so now the old homestead gets rented out. There is SO much work up there with a big lawn to mow, many flower beds to keep weeded, a garden to plant, till and keep after and a big shop that is now empty and needed cleaned!!!
There are new renters mowing in soon and so Mom Lapp wanted to make this move count and get rid of some of the old pine trees, dig up the old railroad ties that lined a swing set area, mow the grass and clean the shop!
The ladies cleaned while the men cut down trees. It was very warm outside and the sweat was dripping off of my eye brows as I cleaned windows and then mowed the lawn! This property gets cared for by the renters when they live here but today we were the ones that spruced it up!
A row of pines got cut down and hauled off to the meadow. Matthew and Hunter stood back and watched the trees fall!
Meanwhile, Landon was on the riding mower mowing the grass and meadow!
Mike brought the G&B dump truck home and him and Austin was using that to haul off branches.
Ritchie had all the little children on the tractor with him. It was a day of equipment and hard working hands. Mike told Matthew that he would pay him $10 to watch the children and make sure they stay away from the falling trees, chain saws and trackers!
By 1:00, it was time to quit and grab some lunch. I still had fruit and snacks to cut up and prepare for the youth on their upcoming missions trip to Alabama! I decided to just grab a simple lunch at home and get to my work at home yet. I was very tired and wanted to take a breather but instead I cut up watermelon, cantaloupe and filled individual cups with fruit. I also cut up carrots and celery sticks and filled cups. I made two pans of granola bars. Hadassah bagged snack bags of trail mix. We filled our big cooler with ice and put all the fruit cups and veggie cups inside. The big container of fiber balls, the granola bars and trail mix all got set on top. Then I filled my huge Ikea bag with containers of party mix, pretzels and puppy chow. When Mike got back home from working at Mom's, we did take a short break before loading up all the foods and taking it to Honey brook for the youth!
The youth group at church all met at the new church that's being built right now. There they packed their bags on the Mallard Bus and all the foods, bags, suitcases, etc. got stored underneath. Mike and I prayed with the group before saying good bye to Hadassah and they all boarded the bus!!! I am going to miss Hadassah so much this whole week but this missions trip will be a highlight of her summer!!!
We are still having these major thunderstorms and down pours!!! It is causing wet basements, flooding, high waters and really making the grass green!!! I declare I can watch the grass grow! August has never been this wet and water logged but we are blessed to be ones that do not have water in the basement and there are no streams nearby to flood us out!!! We had plans on going back to Mom Lapps that night for a campfire but instead we sat in her living room just chatting. The kids were having graham crackers and milk in the kitchen and it felt good to finally sit down!
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With having such a wet summer, the pool days were not as many as usual. Hadassah really wanted to go the beach one last time before school starts and so we packed up our things early Friday morning and off we went. I had arranged for Austin to stay at Anna Ruth since he's not so much for the sand but when I dropped him off, Ashlyn asked to stay there too. What? She loves the beach and collecting sea shells is such a fun hobby for her. But I left it totally up to her and she ended up staying with Anna Ruth and her girls.
So, off we went, Hadassah, Jess, Matthew and I for the beach! It was a hot day and lots of sunshine! We stopped for breakfast at Bob Evans and got our feet in the sand after parking! I felt a bit aged with not having any little ones to entertain or watch all day! Matthew and I hung out a lot. He swam while I read my book along the ocean front. Hadassah and Jess soaked in the sun and because it was so hot, they swam some too!
We were not in a hurry to come home. We stayed until we were sun kissed and ready to leave. It was such a fun day to enjoy the ocean and beach with the older kids!!!
Meanwhile, Mike had picked up the little ones and we all met back home at 8 PM!
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The tomatoes are hanging ripe in the garden and so I looked up a recipe for a thin crust pizza dough on Pinterest! It was time to make our favorite tomato pizza recipe but I wanted another crust recipe. The crust I normally make rises and after baked it's this good, yummy thick crust. Mike doesn't really like thick crust so I decided to try a new recipe. And it turned out so yummy!!!
I topped the easy dough with tomatoes, garlic, mayo, mushrooms, fresh basil and cheese. I topped some other smaller doughs with chicken and marinara sauce and cheese. The individual pizzas turned out delicious and I will be making this again in the near future!!!
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Last night, we took supper to Uncle Merv's and I didn't take along the swimsuits because I wasn't in the mood to sit by the pond while the others were talking on the porch. But, this was not OK with the kids! They wanted to swim so bad. So, they stripped down into their shorties and tee shirts and grabbed some puddle jumpers and off they went swimming! Austin loved it and swam all over the pond. Adrian was right behind him! Hunter and Ashlyn liked to jump off the diving board onto the big water trampoline that was floating on the water. These are the memories that summer brings! It's so fun to see the children giggling and splashing on these summer evenings. And, I was still able to sit around the campfire and enjoy the conversations because we went down to the pond to sit and chat!
And now today is Monday. It was another day of loads of laundry. Another day of mowing the lawn and picking the tomatoes, peppers and egg plants. I pulled out the first string bean plants and I can't wait for the new plants to start growing more beans! Matthew is at a school friends house. Hadassah is in Alabama. I'm here with my two little ones and right now the house is so quite because it's nap time for the Little Man.
It's moments like these that I want school to begin because it's low key at home and quite. But then it's also the moment that I find myself freaking out because school does really start in just over a week and then summer will come to a stretching halt. Packing lunches and sending our three out of four children back to school brings on another change in our schedule. No more late summer nights and late campfires. Instead, we will get more sleep and get up earlier! I'm still not ready for all of this but if I'm honest, I think I will be when the day actually comes. My biggest thing this year is Austin. He just loves, loves having Matthew and Ashlyn at home to play with and be entertained by! I love it too because Matthew has been such a good sitter for him while I took Ashlyn to gymnastics and did road errands. I can decide to go get groceries and let them all back home with Hadassah or Matthew. I'm getting into that independent stage again with not having a baby or young toddler. Having the children back in school will be an adjustment for Austin and I!
BUT ... we do have over a week yet of summer vacation and I am going to be thankful for each day!!!
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Have a great week of full summer everyone!!!
