Happy 7th Birthday, Elise!!

Since our sweet Elise has already lived on 3 continents and called 4 houses "home," I suppose it's to be expected that we've celebrated both her sixth and seventh birthdays in the midst of moving chaos!  Thankfully we found a simple way to celebrate and say farewell to some of her favorite first grade friends on the night of her birthday. She was sooooo very happy and they were all soooo cute!

Dinner at Pop's Pizza...followed by frozen yogurt at Tutti Frutti.  (Elise's requests for a night out with her buddies!)

Oh, Elise...we love to so very much and loved celebrating your birthday with you and your lovely friends!

30/52

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Elise:  Our seven year old!  We celebrated with some of her best friends from first grade and had such a sweet time.  (**She also lost her front tooth on her birthday eve!!!)

Caleb:  One more play date with his best friend in NC!  (Lucas got to go along, too, since she has a little brother the same age.)

Lucas:  My Mac & Cheese man enjoying a plate of yum during our last trip to Foster's.

Eden:  Little one enjoying our farewell stop at Maple View Farms.

29/52

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Elise:  This girl loves her little sis and she's been quite responsible with helping take care of her lately.  (Most notably when they're both up at 6:30a.m. and Mom and Dad want a few more minutes of sleep!)

Caleb:  He and Lucas were hosting all sorts of World Cup events in the basement after a few weeks of watching soccer games on t.v.  I think the game they played the longest was a variation on "hot lava" with balloons and short wooden sticks.  And though I long to throw away all of our old trophies, they do come in handy when you have a World Cup Champion in the house!  (He followed me around for at least 15 minutes asking me to take a picture of him with his trophy and his champion face.)

Lucas:  "Tovi, don't climb up here where I am...it's too dangerous for little kids." ...says the three year old to the five year old...

Eden:  No crying over spilled milk here...poor little lady was trying to get herself something to drink.  "A" for effort!

28/52

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Elise:  As an early birthday present Hannah and Chris sent her a wonderful activity book with all kinds of crafts, experiments, and fun things to do!  So far we've made edible play dough, colorful volcanoes and finger and toe paints.  Lots of summer fun!

Caleb:  This boy comes from a long line of firework enthusiasts!  (Saw the sparkler "shield" on a blog and thought it might make playing with fire more safe...the jury is still out...)

Lucas:  I think this sweet boy may have been feeling deprived of playdates for much of this year.  (I kind of crawled into a hole!) He asked if Emily and the kids could stay until August and he was so sad when they had to go home. 

Eden:  Doesn't she look so grown up???  What happened to my baby?  Similar to Elise, she's really not interested in using any words other than "da" to communicate, but she's just started to chatter on and on when she opens a book or picks up my phone.  Love her!

27/52

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Elise:  If Eden was our Little Sal, then Elise was the little bear cub in our entourage of berry pickers!

Caleb:  The focused one.

Lucas:  Okay, so he did actually pick a few off the bushes (rather than entirely out of my hand or my basket!)

Eden:  Pretty sure she was chomping on blueberries (or pink ones) the entire time we were picking!

Ku-plink, Ku-plank, Ku-plunk!

Some of my fondest childhood memories took place in berry patches.  I remember many a hot summer day spent filling up a berry stained cardboard tray or little green woven box with whatever berry happened to be in season during that particular time.  Drinking gulps of cool water from Grammy's water bottle (which was always wrapped in a wool sock!)...And of course, looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our labor - whether it was eating them right out of the box after they were weighed or later that day made into jelly or a pie we might just have for dinner! Mmmm, such a gift were those days spent in fields and patches and brambles!   What a joy it is to now have the chance to share this sweet tradition with our own little crew.  

Once again, I'm sure she ate nearly her weight in blueberries!

Lucas and Elise were more engaged in picking this time, but I think Caleb still earned the "Star Picker" award.  Once again we had to practically drag him out of the patch! 

Don't be fooled...Lucas' main method of "picking" was to ask Josh and I for our handfuls of berries. 

By the end our berry picking method had deteriorated to sitting in the shade and picking whatever berries we could reach from the ground!  (And yes, my husband can sense a photo-bomb opportunity from fifty feet away!)

*** I forgot to take a picture of Grammy's blueberry cobbler with warm vanilla sauce that we had for dessert with friends later in the evening.  Yum!