Day 23

My kids are really enjoying VBS this week. There are tents in the classrooms, shells and fish everywhere (Jonah theme), lots of smiles and songs, and Scripture read and memorized throughout the mornings. I love that they long for friendships and stories of the one true God. I catch them singing the songs from VBS, sometimes in weird vocalizations and dance moves!

She wakes up every morning asking to watch ballet videos on YouTube and if we have enrolled her in a class yet. She even sleeps in her ballet leotard and is begging for more of them in different colors. It has begun.....

Her ballet moves.

Tonight, we had dinner with three other couples and I can't explain how fun and easy the conversations were. We talked about everything from marriage, college, kids, music, church, and movies. I'm so thankful for sweet friends....they are valuable!

Lots of random activity at home

The money exchange game.

Architectural design.

Challenging thinking, organizing, and coping skills

(sounds good, huh?....who am I?!?!?!?!)

Dressing up as multiple personalities.

Day 22

Today was emotionally hard for me. Empty tank, tired of being touched/bumped/jumped on, exhausted of demands, housework, errands, short on time, and in need of some "alone time" (to myself, with God, & with my husband). I'm praying for joy and my desperate need to extend grace to my children and, often, to my husband. That's it.....no other way to dance around the fact that I'm a sinner and am so thankful for my Savior - Jesus. Oh, how I need him.

Anyway.....onto today. We are attending VBS at another PCA church in town this week so the kids were excited about that and came home singing to the top of their lungs praises to God. I'll never tire of that....except when I'm trying to concentrate on driving in the car or answering a phone call.

Our friend, Virginia, asked us to come over and play with her dogs this afternoon so we jumped right into the car and prepared for the licking invasion. All our kids love dogs and I wish that we could give them a childhood filled with memories of having one of their own - it's just not conducive to our life right now. I'm thankful for friends who share their dogs with us (Virginia, Brysons, Cox, Luthers!).

Virginia was purging through some of her belongings from all walks of her life and found this doll bunk bed set (American Doll collection?). She offered it to Abigail and my little girl was so excited about it that she set it up immediately when we got home. Her babies now have a place to sleep at night where Abigail feels is safe and comfortable. She even gives them goodnight kisses.

I had a great conversation on Facebook tonight with my brother, then on the phone with my mother and sister. Made me want to hop in the car and visit them all for the rest of the week!

Day 21 - Sunday

My favorite day of the week.

Spent most of the day with my family and friends resting at church.

A resource Mitch is using for his current sermon series.

Our evening Bible study - pursuing [the] city with passion for the glory of God.

Luke likes to draw

It's amazing how his mind ticks. When I entered the room to see what he was drawing, he said, "All of our family!". I love his creative physical attributes (even though they aren't necessarily true of the person). Look at those wrinkled forheads, extra long hair, winking eyes, and even a missing eye b/c "the bangs are covering it up, Mom!".

Day 20 - Saturday

Snakes made an appearance this day. The snake man from our local wildlife resource center, Oxbow Meadows, brought his collection of venomous and non-poisonous snakes to show off to the crowd at a popular Saturday morning family spot. Our kids thought it was so cool even though the temperature was a soaring 95 degrees.

Then, as we walked back to our car, I captured this:


I never asked that they hold hands across the parking lot. It just happened!

We got a quick bite to eat at one of our favorite local BBQ joints in town....


....and then hit the pool AGAIN (with goggles so screaming wouldn't follow for the rest of the afternoon and evening with pleads for dropping milk in their eyes)!

Also, Abigail is now swimming without arm floats and she surprised us today but quickly learning the concept of the freestyle stroke. So, I might be calling on you for help, Heather D, Damon S, and Suzie S., my swimming friends!

Getting ready

He's got two weeks until his first youth triathlon. Training is taking place slowly but he's definitely looking forward to the race.

Day 19

Swam again today - I think my kids are turning into prunes.

This time Jennifer and her daughter came along - we had a blast! I'm so thankful for A's friendship to my children. They truly treasure each other.

After swimming, they found great fun with an old Spirograph. This old set came from an elderly couple in our church who were purging their shelves and gave this to our family. What a fantastic treat!

Finally, I traveled with Jennie to cross the state line into Alabama to pick up her oldest from camp. He sang and told stories from camp most of the way home. He said the only thing he missed while away was his bed. Other than that, he felt like he was at home and with family. What a huge and wonderful statement! I'll be taking one of my children back to this same camp in a few weeks...it holds such a special place in our hearts!

Day 17

We swam at the Cornwall house where I took very few pictures because I spent my entire time talking with good friends and holding a newborn little girl! Not only was swimming fun but so was camping with friends in a fun tent in air conditioning!

We came home exhausted but I tried to keep the kids awake until supper.

I failed.

Each day, the kids ask, "When can we do our school work?". I decided to purchase the simple workbooks from Walmart a few months back so the children could do a page a day or just every so often. THEY LOVE THIS TIME OF OUR DAY! After waking from their exhaustion, they tackled some math.

McAlister's lets two kids eat free with every one adult meal purchase on Wednesday nights. Therefore, a Wednesday evening ritual is to go to McAlister's and feed our entire family for only $13! Yep...no cooking or cleaning for me that night - which was a good thing because, after putting the kids to bed, Mitch and I watched Inception.

What did I think? It was an interesting movie but demanded WAY too much of my brain at 11PM. The layered dreaming was wild!

Day 18

This day we just stayed home and cleaned for a good while. The kids helped to purge their belongings and then sit down for a favorite biscuit pizza meal.

Since we had some time, we headed out to Staples in search of Father's Day gifts from the kids using a fantastic coupon that was released this week making their purchases come to a grand total of only $2.76 (that's combined!). I wish I had had my camera with me when we checked out to have captured the cashier's face. He was amazed that we paid so little for so much loot. I would type out all the loot we got for Mitch but then he wouldn't be surprised next weekend!

Barnes & Noble has their summer reading program up and running again so Andrew jumped in full force and completed the reading log quickly. He wanted to pick out his free book from the store so we ventured to B&N where he picked out one of our family favorites - Mercy Watson! Mitch loves the characters in the Mercy Watson books so he enjoyed reading the book to the kids as soon as possible.

Also while at B&N, I got to sit in a chair and watch my kids find a spot on stage to read their own books, put on a short play, and read to each other. It was a sweet moment.

Day 16

Now that I've caught up with my vacation posts, I need to catch up on this week! HA!

Our sweet friends, the McLeods, had their second child this past weekend so we hurried to the hospital Tuesday morning to photograph the family before they checked out to go home.

Next, we hit the pool and stayed there for three hours. The kids slept well that night.

Day Fifteen - Monday

This entire day was spent on the road traveling home from Nashville, TN. How can one go to the country music capital of the world and not visit the Gaylord Opryland Hotel? We stayed at a smaller and cheaper hotel across the street but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk through the grandeur. We finally departed Nashville around 3PM and arrived home at 9PM. So thankful we took this trip!