With all its excitement and craziness, summertime has come and will be closing too soon. Here is a recap:
 |
| Every June must begin with Matt's birthday, and end with mine. Per usual, I don't think mine got photographed, so I'll just mention it now. |
 |
| Matt has been training some of the older kids on helping with the yard work. It will be nice to have a little extra help soon to keep up around here! |
 |
| We got to spend an evening with Misikir at Justin and Darci's and experience some more Ethiopian cuisine! |
 |
| I taught first grade VBS with Camille this year and we had a fun time! |
 |
| Holly and Brooks graciously cared for Clara several of the VBS days. |
 |
| We harvested some cherries from our tree this year - usually we don't get much but we got a large bowl full this year. |
 |
| The father-son campout meant ladies' bonding time again. Darci hosted us and we had a flower picking party in her backyard! |
 |
| We spent Father's Day evening with the Schulz family at Mom and Dad's and did a little "fishing!" |
 |
| We enjoyed hosting Grandpa and Grandma Massner for a dinner to redeem a Christmas coupon! |
 |
| The girls found a "unicorn" at a petting zoo at Walmart one day... |
 |
| The Schulz men had a productive cabin work day in June. |
 |
| Pond swimming with the Hartters! |
 |
| Chalk fun... |
 |
| More swimming at G&G Schulz's with the Hartter family. |
 |
| FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2025-2026 Landed on July 1st! We spent July easing into school so we could have a decent buffer when the baby is born in November. It made for a very busy July as we juggled school + summer + travel! Levi - 4th Grade, Micah - 3rd Grade, Joanna - 2nd Grade, Keenan - Kindergarten, Clara - Pre-preschool :) |
 |
| We traveled to Remington, IN over the 4th of July for a Knobloch family reunion hosted by U. Neil and A. June at Getz pond. We enjoyed our time with family in a great setting! |
 |
| Campfire activity |
 |
| The whole clan |
 |
| We stopped on our way home to visit yet another "Knobloch" relative! :) |
 |
| Three days after getting home, we packed up again to head to Okoboji, IA for a work event for Matt that families were invited to attend. We spent a lot of the two days swimming at the resort's waterpark and attended a nice dinner one evening. |
 |
| Teaching our 3 year old some "fine dining" skills... |
 |
| BREAKING NEWS - We'll be getting another sister-in-law and auntie soon! My brother Travis is engaged to Rhonda and they are planning an October wedding in Connecticut where she lives. We are so blessed to have her joining our family! They plan to make their new home in Connecticut, so we will miss Travis greatly! |
 |
| For Joanna's birthday, she requested a birthday outing rather than a gift - including bowling and a lunch date at Panera with Mom. A fun time! |
 |
| Kiddos hard at work during school... |
 |
| Joanna's bottle lamb, Cottontail, was too sickly to attend the fair this year as we had hoped, but they invited her to come for the show anyway so she was excited for that! |
 |
| Cottontail and Joanna |
 |
| Then we packed up again and headed to Wisconsin for my cousin Sami's wedding to Hasham! We made a stop along the way in Decorah. |
 |
| The newlyweds! |
 |
| Our clan (it was a very hot outdoor event in case you can't tell)! It was so nice to catch up with many of our Schmidgall cousins. |
 |
| We traveled halfway home after the wedding and enjoyed a stay at Matt's cousin Aaron and Sharla's house in Elgin, IA. Between the two of us there were 12 children! |
 |
| I don't have many photos of our pool time this summer but we had a family pass again and got a lot of use of it! |
 |
| Sundials as a school project - we are studying Ancient Egypt right now! |
 |
| Surprise 30th birthday party for Billy! |
 |
| All the great-grands who could attend the Myron Schulz family gathering a couple weeks ago. The littles weren't very interested in getting their photo taken. |
 |
| We've enjoyed two visits from Rhonda so far and the girls have quickly fallen in love with their newest aunt! |
 |
| The grand finale trip of our summer was to Table Rock Lake (near Branson, MO) with the Massner family! We stayed in a large house together at a resort with pools, lake access, putt-putt, and other games and activities for all ages to enjoy. We had a nice time relaxing together and building relationships! |
 |
| Monday night was sibling night! We ate out, walked the Branson landing, and successfully beat the current record of an escape room. Such a nice time! |
 |
| The kiddos had fun hanging out with G&G! |
 |
| Tuesday night was Sight and Sound night. Our group went in two shifts so the littles didn't have to sit through the show. It was quite a production of David! |
 |
| Wednesday was pontoon and swimming day! |
 |
| The whole crew on our last night together. |
We had smooth travels and arrived home to major progress made on our landscaping projects, thanks to Zach and a couple helpers!
Thus wraps up most of our summer, with our hearts full of many good memories. Now we will move on to focus on school days, wrapping up fruit harvest and other fall projects, preparing for a wedding + road trip to Connecticut, and finally a baby! (Please pray the baby waits to arrive until the former items are completed.)
