The Lake!

A friend called at 4:00 on Monday afternoon to ask if we wanted to go to the lake.  My first thought was "NO!"  This is not a big deal for lots of people, but the word lake sends chills to my mamma heart.  I have heard too many sad stories about children in the lake.  I also had my evening planned out.  Supper was in the crockpot and a trip to Walmart was on the agenda.  I told him I would get back with him.  I called Mark at work and we talked it through.  We decided some spontaneity would be good for us, so we started getting ready.  I was still not thrilled, but we headed out anyway.


I am so glad we did.  The lake was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  The swimming area was pretty shallow, thanks party to the drought we are experiencing.  I still kept a sharp eye on my five fish, and Eli had a life jacket on from the moment he got out of the car until the moment he got back in.  Mark and the four older children each got a turn to go out on the sailboat (with life jackets of course!), and they were glowing from the experience!


I have started to realize that the older I have gotten and the more children I have had, the more tightly I have held to my planned agenda.  There has not been lots of spontaneity in my life!  I still mostly like it that way, out of necessity, I suppose.  I am thankful for friends who stretch us out of our comfort zone.  I am going to try to keep an eye out for more opportunities to let a little unplanned adventure slip into our lives now and then!  

The 4th of July

 Mark got a chance to shoot a bow. 

 He did well, especially considering it was a left handed bow!

We had a great 4th of July!  We enjoyed spending time hanging out with friends.  We stuffed ourselves on fajitas, guacamole, bean dip chocolate pie and some super sweet watermelon.  


We had thought that the city fireworks would be cancelled due to the drought and the county wide burn ban, but they went on as planned.  After we ate, we headed over to the high school.  The children ran around the football field, playing with glow sticks and watching fireworks.  We even had a bit of a breeze in the 100 degree heat.  


It was one of those evenings that I wanted to video in my mind so that I can always remember it.  I am thankful for friends, food, and the freedom we have in our country!

Happy Birthday Bailey!

 Bailey and her new gadget!

 Bailey was holding her purse up to try to block Eli.  She said he was bugging her to death!

 Yummy

Our Bailey-Girl turned ten yesterday!  I am not quite sure how it happened-- it seems like she skipped some years in there somewhere!


She is having some friends over for a scrapbooking birthday celebration next week, so we celebrated as a family last night.  She got to choose the restaurant, and she went with a Chinese buffet.  She followed that up with a visit to Hastings bookstore.  We then headed home for some dessert.  Bailey made her own cake.  She will have a traditional cake next week, so for a bit of variety, she made an ice cream sandwich cake.  It was delicious!


Back at the beginning of the year, Bailey asked for a DSi for her birthday (she likes to plan ahead!).  That is more than we normally spend for a birthday, so I told her that she would need to read twenty-five chapter books to help earn it.  She is part bookworm, so she got right on it.  She is thrilled with her new gadget!


Bailey is truly a joy and I thank God for letting me be her Mom!  I look forward to watching her continue to blossom!


***Technical difficulties--I can not figure out why part of the text has a white background.  GRRRR!***

Summer Fun

Our first blueberry "harvest"!  We planted ten blueberry plants in the spring, so hopefully this is the first of many harvests!

My Chief Popsicle Maker!

 Isaac was quite the ice cream chef!

 Everyone was glad Isaac made ice cream!

 Water Table Fun in the 100 Degree Weather!

Bucket List-- Update #1

For Me--

1.  Read lots of books—to myself, just for fun.  I am enjoying this one!

2.  Declutter the house from top to bottom—one room at a time.  So far, I have finished Eli's room and Anna Grace and Olivia's room.  The bad part is that, a week later, it is hard to tell!  I have already taken one load of things to donate.

3.  Arrange for piano lessons for the fall for Isaac, Bailey and Olivia.  I have been working on this!

4.  Organize my school stuff for the fall.  I have started this.

5.  Continue painting the trim in our house—that we never noticed was not already painted when we bought the house. I honestly have no desire to do this!  We shall see what happens!

6.  Organize my master bedroom closet.

7.  Go on a date with Mark.  We went out for our anniversary last week, and I am ready to go again!

For the Family--

1.  Go to the library every week. So far, we have managed every week!
2.  Go swimming twice a week as much as possible.  We went twice a week for two weeks in a row.  Now that it is 100+ degrees outside, I am making no promises!

3.  Make more homemade popsicles with the kids several times—Olivia has been asking me about this one.  So far, we made two batches of “Old Fashioned Vanilla” that were yummy.  Olivia made a batch of raspberry popsicles that the kids really enjoyed!

4.  Make a huge batch of playdough. 

5. Make homemade ice cream.  Isaac has been requesting this one!
Isaac made a batch of vanilla.  It was yummy and he was proud!

6.  Spend a morning washing the car—with lots of wet kids when we are done!

7.  Go geocaching!

8.  Go bowling.  I think a friend of ours is doing this for a birthday party, so this one should be easy!

9.  Go to Daylight Donuts for breakfast!  The library conveniently gave out tickets for free donuts and Mark took the children for breakfast.  I am trying to stay far away from donuts!

10.  Make homemade bubbles.

11.  Have a sewing day with the girls.

12.  Watch the city fireworks show on the 4th of July.

13.  Finish memorizing Psalm 1.

14.  Make sidewalk paint.

15.  Make banana splits!

16.  Go to a drive-in movie theater!  We did this last week!  It was a lot of fun!

17.  Find a creek to splash in.

18.  Go stargazing.

19. Have family devotions twice a week-- this one is hard in the summer!

20.  Go on a day trip to somewhere new!

I will check back in later to update how we are doing!

Playdough!

 Hard at work!

Even Isaac got in on the playdough fun!

 This is not a mistake! Eli intentionally makes this face every time I ask him to smile.  

Why do I keep asking him???

 Smiley girl!

 Tweet!  Tweet!

Olivia's creations

I had penciled in today as a stay at home day on my calendar, so I decided it was the perfect day to try out some homemade playdough.  I doubled the recipe and the kids had plenty to make lots of fun creations.  Eli kept saying, "Mamma, this is BIG playdough!"  

I ran out of cream of tarter, so I tried a different recipe that called for lemon juice instead.  I could tell a big difference, so cream of tarter is now on my shopping list!

My Summer Bucket List

Today is the first "official" day of summer.  Our school summer vacation started several weeks ago, and it seems to be going by way too quickly!  We usually "tiptoe" back into school around the second or third week of July with one or two subjects, and then jump all the way in by August 1.


I got the idea of a "Summer Bucket List" from a blog that I read everyday, and I decided to jot one down as well.  There are several things I wanted to do before school starts, and if I am not more intentional, I am not going to get them done.  Some things are fun, others, I will just be happy they are done!  So, here goes --

For Me--

1.  Read lots of books—to myself, just for fun.

2.  Declutter the house from top to bottom—one room at a time.  I did some of this in May, but it needs it again!

3.  Arrange for piano lessons for the fall for Isaac, Bailey and Olivia 

4.  Organize my school stuff for the fall

5.  Continue painting the trim in our house—that we never noticed was not already painted when we bought the house.

6.  Organize my master bedroom closet.

7.  Go on a date with Mark.  We went out for our anniversary last week, and I am ready to go again!

For the Family--

1.  Go to the library every week.
2.  Go swimming twice a week as much as possible.

3.  Make more homemade popsicles with the kids several times—Olivia has been asking me about this one.  So far, we made two batches of “Old Fashioned Vanilla” that were yummy.

4.  Make a huge batch of playdough.

5. Make homemade ice cream.  Isaac has been requesting this one!

6.  Spend a morning washing the car—with lots of wet kids when we are done!

7.  Go geocaching!

8.  Go bowling.  I think a friend of ours is doing this for a birthday party, so this one should be easy!

9.  Go to Daylight Donuts for breakfast!

10.  Make homemade bubbles.

11.  Have a sewing day with the girls.

12.  Watch the city fireworks show on the 4th of July.

13.  Finish memorizing Psalm 1.

14.  Make sidewalk paint.

15.  Make banana splits!

16.  Go to a drive-in movie theater!  We did this last week!  It was a lot of fun!

17.  Find a creek to splash in.

18.  Go stargazing.

19. Have family devotions twice a week-- this one is hard in the summer!

20.  Go on a day trip to somewhere new!

I will check back in later to update how we are doing!