Last shots of a busy summer...

1. Erin gets her ears pierced after swim season is over.

2. Karlee and Sheridan at VBS (Presbyterian Church)

3. Car Rides

4. Escalator Rides

5. Running the Peach Festival

6. Upward Friends

7. School Senior Pictures

 

LAST days of Summer BASH

LOVE having a house full of teenagers! Playing cards, jungle pong, pictionary, eating snacks, and lauging together. My kids have a lot of great friends and I'm happy to have a place where they all feel comfortable to come. Often.

 

Olympics on the Lane

It's been VERY HOT this summer and it's been fun to have something new to keep us occupied inside. The 2012 London Olympics have been a great lesson in geography, sports trivia, the English monarchy, and learning about some great young athletes. As an added bonus, we added our own version of the balance beam to the living room floor for Sheridan to perform on. Good times!

My version of the Olympics:

New Puppy...for one day!

Erin and I saw this little puppy peeking out of a culvert on our street Friday afternoon. She went to get her and discovered this little one was not only thirsty and hungry and because of the 100 degree heat she may not have made it another day.

Richard and I agreed to house her for the weekend but under no circumstances were we going to keep her. Erin named her Regal and we all had a little lovin' from this SWEET puppy. On Friday night when the kids were in bed and Regal woke up in her box, Richard almost caved when she snuggled up on his neck. On Saturday we took him to Erin's swimmeet and it was about an hour before another family adopted her and her bag of Puppy Chow Richard had bought.

Nine hours...the perfect amount of time to have a puppy in the house.

FINISHED!

After one month of moving the picture and everyone taking turns, it is finished! So glad to have the entire dining room table back!

WORKING JULY

Learning life skills during the month of July...making snickerdoodles and working on a 1000 piece puzzle. 

There are no pictures of my favorite activity this month. Two days we've gone over to a local apartment complex and played with the children who have moved here from Burma. There are over 20 kids who live in this particular complex and not only are we in the middle of a drought, but it's over 100 degrees everyday and they have few toys and choices for fun. Their families have been brought to our community to work in our local poultry plant. They are precious children, lots of them came to our VBS and just want to have fun. The first day we went as a family we took two kickballs and capri suns. Today we took the kickballs and a crate of books, puzzles and coloring books to leave and share. It was awesome seeing them dig through those books, open them all up to look at the pictures and ask several times if we were actually leaving them. It was so easy, and yet, such a blessing for us. Our house looks huge when we come home and I always feel a little spoiled to come home to all the amenities...furniture and stuff...that our house is filled with. Perspective.

ORANGE BEACH

Our first trip to the Alabama beaches was a success! LOTS of our friends go to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach instead of Florida and we decided to try it. Richard made all our arrangements and we let our three oldest take one friend. It took two cars to pack 9 people and all our bags and beach things. It was wonderful weather, even though the forecast showed rain and thunderstorms for the whole week. We laughed, played, swam, hunted for crabs, built sand castles and dug holes, and got a lot of sun! We are thankful and blessed!

Swim Season!

June was full with vacation, summer camp and VBS but now Erin is back in the pool and competed in her first meet on Saturday. We were excited to see her swim but not very excited about the 100 degree weather. God provided a great breeze and a friend loaned us a canopy to block the sun. Erin won four heat ribbons and 2 first place finishes! It was a good day.

Busy Month

Typically I just post our schedule when we're so crazy I can't keep it all straight...but the MONTH of June is here and it is going to keep us moving! I love our life!

Week 1:

Monday: First VBS Training Meeting
Wednesday: Birthday Lunch for Lauren
Wednesday,Thursday: UofA Orientation with Ryan (and Seth!)
Friday, Saturday: Rhea Lana Conference in Little Rock
Saturday: Lauren's 17th Birthday!
Sunday: All home, pack for vacation, VBS Work Night

Week 2:

Monday-Friday: Vacation in Orange Beach, AL (two cars, 9 people, lots of sunscreen)
Saturday: home
Sunday: Father's Day

Week 3:

Monday-Friday: Ryan, Lauren, Erin at Summer Camp (Falls Creek)
Wednesday: Help build an airplane in the foyer at church!
Saturday: everyone at home
Sunday: church, VBS prep all afternoon

Week 4:

Monday-Friday: VBS, 9am-12pm

ALSO...Erin starts Swim Team this week
Ryan and Lauren are working 3 days each this week
Richard travels today to OK, and all of VBS week to Mexico
I'm helping with the planning and directing VBS

SUMMER TIME!

The first GAME NIGHT of the summer! Ryan's roommate from Conway came to visit us and we decided to throw a party! The weather is unseasonably cool so after we started with a dangerous rounds of spoons, we headed outside to play Jungle Pong and Fat Bat. When the last four girls arrived, having eaten out and in dress clothes...well, they played a few innings of fat bat (in their heels) and then talked us into going back inside and playing Nertz, our summer standby game. It was loud and fun!

When I was first married and thought about having kids, I so wanted to have the house where kids liked to come over to hang out. I pray that the memories of having fun will last for a long time with my own kids and they too will have the home where kids want to be.