One of our favorite crafts from last summer...was picked up again with the younger ones Story Sticks

Here the little ones are getting help to peel the bark off and get their sticks ready to use this summer. 

These are the story sticks the kids made last year about their summer...they really are a memory keepsake. 

The kids either wrote a phrase, a sentence or drew a picture to symbolize the event, day or time they wanted to remember . They did these any day or time they felt it was something special about their summer they wanted to remember. At the end of the summer they decorated their sticks and we covered them with shellac.

Catch Up - part 2 - Happy Fathers Day to daddy / Paw Paw

Yes, we did take up one third of Ci's Ci's but we called them ahead of time to say we were coming. Actually it had been very slow and they were grateful for our family coming to eat there since we helped with their numbers that day : ) The kids paid for this dinner out as their gift to daddy...We hardly ever eat out as a whole family because of the cost so it was enjoyed by all of us. We all ate until we were full...and some of us ate more than others. I love their cinnamon rolls- probably to much .  Happy Fathers Day daddy and Keith.

Cachting Up part 1

Hello Paw Paw - Happy Fathers Day ! 

Paul loves french toast so that is what he got for his brunch. 

Levi loves to put together puzzles. 

We stained our deck on Saturday...big project but it is done.

Levi and Isaiah watching the older ones roll or paint the deck.

Meet the newest members of the Briggs family - Checkers and Polly

This is Checkers our male parakeet.

This is Polly our female... loved by all by named and cared for by Mya. We got them May 9 because our old, male parakeet died at the age of 9 yrs.. He was the daddy to many babies and actually the only one still living. 

This is what Polly has been doing the last week so guess what....we think she is "nesting ". 

Notice the nesting box we placed in the cage...now we wait to see what happens. Stay tuned.

Here is "daddy", Checkers as Mya affectionately calls him...waiting patiently . We have done this before with our parakeets and it was a wonderful experience ...so if it happens that we have babies let me know if you would like one or two.

Strawberry Time in the Briggs Family - Yummy times

Most of the field this am was filled with my family...

Lots of their tummies were filled with most of the ripe strawberries from the field : )

We did save some to make 53 qt. jars of freezer jam...How long do you suppose that will last ?

Our First Week of Summer Break….

Lots of swimming

Yesterday someone said it was “National donut day” - so not needing much to get us in a celebratory mood we had donuts after dinner : )

A week ago we had our annual end of year pizza party…this time we ate out front and played and played

Great first week of summer….