August

11 years married to this guy is worth celebrating! We have our rough moments, but on the whole we enjoy peace from God, who has used this marriage to show us more of himself, to give us sweet covenant friendship, and to give us the gift of the (short) people who made us kiss for the photos. We celebrate them too.

Farmer Mama with the first layer and her egg (in the nesting box on the left)

Good job Dotty!!!

Dotty's million dollar egg next to the store-bought one

But this one doesn't even remember coming home from Sweden, much less Dotty's first egg! She had a bike accident and was knocked unconscious. We were thankful for the good report at the Children's Hospital that there was no bleeding inside, but there was still a big bad bruise in there. Frida was nauseous for a few days, had a headache for a week, and was weak and still bruised for 3 weeks. 

The boys set up this home-hospital by Frida's bed.
Rachel, our kind neighbor, stayed with them
while we waited around in the ER.

Auntie Kari's care package 💕

3 days of healing

7 days of healing

10 days. Amazing!

And some more normal days in August

3 amazing climbers at the park

Father's Day Cards

Love notes from Frida to Theo

Love notes from Theo to Frida, and others

Frida's very nice fox

Making paper with Papa!

This one asks "How do they make ___?" all the time!
Which inspired the paper making. 

We have a hard time letting Papa leave in the morning

Thank you cards we sent to Sweden:

We had a one-night getaway to a state park camper cabin, and the first afternoon, after our hike, a sweet man let the children mount his strong beautiful horse - we were delighted!

And of course we fished the next morning!
And (not pictured) randomly ran into my cousin Eli!

And finally, the endless joy of chickens: