So busy this last week...so many smiles! Here are but a few.
1. My in-laws 50th Anniversary celebration. 50 years, wow!!
2. Girls night with my girlfriends. I'm a total dork and was freezing in Starbucks so my friend, Bobbie, was kind enough to retrieve her sons Lightning McQueen snuggie from the car. Love it!
3. Lilla's sunflower garden finally came up. Yay! We planted them quite late so they are tiny but I was so glad to see their shiney happy faces anyway. They made Lilla quite happy too.
4. The start of jean season.
5. A family photo shoot I did for my friend. :)
6. Anna picking up a fur stole and insisting on wearing it all day at my mom's house.
7. Lilla thinking she was hilarious wearing this mask. Eek! Anna was not a fan, clearly.
8. Lilla and Michael camped out in my parent's backyard per Lilla's request.
9. My parent's bought a golf cart to tool around in. Lilla loved, loved, loved it!
10. Setting up for my in-laws anniversary party, I got this picture of my husband with some of his brothers and nephews. It's a big family!
And a couple extras...
11. Anna doing the YMCA at the reception.
12. Going for a walk on our trail.
13. My brother in law reading books to the girls before the reception.
And last but not least, Michael took Lilla fishing for the first time this week too. She caught four fish and had a great time doing it!
The saga of the sick continues over here in Amyland. We finally took the kids to the doctor this AM and found out little Ms. Anna has an ear infection and Lil has strep throat. Michael is on his way to the doctor as I write and hopefully they will say it is nothing with him. My throat is a bit raw today, but I'm hoping it's just the power of suggestion. I'm headed to Mexico tomorrow for 6 days and feeling sick would kind of stink. Blah.
So, in light of all that cheery news, there have been some smiles around here since last I wrote.
1. VBS program. Lilla is in the blue dress. He, he.
2. Canoeing. I didn't get to go, but Michael and some other guys take their girls on a daddy daughter canoe trip annually and Lil just loves it. Can't wait until Anna is old enough too!
3. And speaking of VBS, what a fun summer it has been for Lilla getting to do VBS at 5 different churches. She had such a blast and really enjoyed all the different themes and stories and games. This has been a good summer for her. I think it's been a good summer for Anna too, as she has been able to get some mommy and daddy alone time that she has not been afforded in the past.
4. Funny. Laughter is just the best when we are feeling so under the weather and it's the small things that make you smile. The other day I was asking Lilla if she could help Daddy while I'm gone on a trip for 5 days. She replied, "Oh alright, but I'm not changing any diapers!" LOL
5. Despicable. I never take Lilla to the movie, it's always a daddy thing to do with her, (and will be for Anna too, when she's old enough!) but when a friend invited us I got to and we saw Despicable Me. I had never even heard of it before, but I loved it. So cute and such a great message. Will definitely be buying this one!
6. Pizza. This is going to seem so lame in the grand scheme of things, but we live out in the country and for three years no one has delivered pizza to us. We just found out Papa John's changed their rules and delivers now. Yay!! I tell ya, it's the little things. :)
7. 30 Kids. Last week at our VBS, we saw 30 kids come to Christ. 30 Kids whose lives can be changed forever. I'm not taking that for granted at all. (And seriously, pizza looks really lame compared to that big dog! LOL)
8. Jam. The boysenberries are finally growing this year in my yard and I was able to harvest enough to make 5 half quarts of boysenberry jam. Oh my goodness, it is so good! Love my strawberry jam too, but this is running in a dead heat with it for sure!
9. Dollar spot. I love the dollar spot at Target. Seriously, I just think it's great. This week they had a ton of stuff that will be great for homeschooling kindergarten. $1 boxes of flashcards, like presidents and landmarks and animals. $1 tools like a big spongy clock to teach time. $1 classics like Peter Pan and Huckleberry Finn. And, some fun workbooks too. Love it!
10. And, speaking of schooling, I love this time of year when school supplies are so cheap. We've gotten all the necesseties for so cheap, and Lilla really enjoys having all of these supplies all her own. It's really getting us geared up for what's coming up very soon.
I have just a short window before I have to take Lilla to VBS this morning, so, this is going to be a 10 smiles in pictures post! We live in the county seat for our small county, so our 4-H fair is just down the street from us every year. We love to go there for family time several times amongst the 10 days since it's fun and best of all, FREE! Yay for free! Anyway, here are some smiles from this years event... This goat wanted my ring...
When I pulled away, he jumped up here to come after it. :)
Anna was terrified, and I mean, terrified of the animals. When she saw the goats though, she was in love. We had no crying after that. That was definitely worth a smile! The llamas are funny. :)
Awwwwwwww.... Lilla was terrified of this roller coaster. She was such a big girl, she didn't cry, but let me assure you, it was a white knuckle trip the whole way! This, however, was not! He's saying, "Hey little girl, could you help a pig out with the gate right there?" Baaaaaaa.... Chillin' in the car, waiting for her onion rings... Michael shaved his head. Oh my...
Summer is such a great time. We are busy swimming, eating watermelon, going to get togethers, travelling, taking walks, having cookouts, building gardens, harvesting the goods...so much to do, so little time. Unfortunately, my blog suffers as a result, hence why my posts are so far and between. We did have a super independence day though so I wanted to give a quick 10 favorite smiles of the past weekend. Hope you were able to celebrate our freedoms in great ways too!
1. This was actually toward the end of the weekend, late Monday, when I snapped this from the side. Can you tell Lilla had absolutely nothing left?
2. Anna, cracking everyone up with "Touchdown, Colts!!"
3. We have our own little fireworks show at my parent's every year. And who doesn't love a little lighting up of the sky on the 4th?
4. And what would the 4th be without a little glowstick action too?
5. My brother in law's family always has a big get together too and no party is complete without the volleyball competition.
6. And we lived in our bathing suits all weekend.
7. Because everywhere we went there was water. And we loved it!
8. Well, sometimes we loved it.
9. And Anna toted around all the rugged, drug through the dirt, scruffy stuffed animals and dog toys she could find.
10. Oh, and of course, because it is summer, there had to be a nudey baby walking the streets!
Is it June 15th already? It's hard to believe half of the month of June is already over. It's gone fast with so much to do and many places to go. It's like we just blinked and we are now headed toward July. It's very hot here, although extremely wet, so right now we are just trying to stay out of the humidity and remaining thankful for our new air conditioner. We had seriously thought of not getting it put in until we could pay for it outright, but being as hot as it is now, I honestly couldn't even imagine that.
Anyway, on to what has made us smile this past week:
1. VBS. Lilla will be attending 5 VBS programs this summer. Sound a little over the top? My friend calls it the VBS circuit, which I find hilarious! I really want to inundate her with the word of God in a fun way this summer, the programs are free and she gets to spend time other kids. So, last week started the trend and this week she's in a new one. Good times!
2. Visit from Uncle Bill and Aunt Jean. My aunt and uncle live all the way up in Minnesota, so we rarely see them. Every summer my aunt, who is a music professor, comes to IU for a conference so were able to stop by for a breakfast soiree on Saturday. So fun!
3. Ballet. After month's of persistence, Lilla finally got to start ballet this week. She likes it ok, but admitted she misses gymnastics yesterday. I have a feeling we are headed back to the mats when ballet is complete. She sure does look cute in that tutu though!
4. Green grass. Although the rain is getting a bit tiring, I must admit, I do love the bi-product of all the green grass and leaves. That is very lovely!
5. My brother. My little brother, Chris, was in a very bad skateboard accident two days ago. He wasn't able to walk afterwards, and has been in ICU. It looks like some vertebrae were fractured and they will be doing surgery later on in the week, but he is regaining movement in his legs. So that is positive. Please pray that he will make a complete recovery and won't suffer life long back pain!
6. Baby Lucas. My friend, Claudia, had a baby two weeks ago. He was born 6 weeks early. He just needs to start eating without the feeding tube and he'll be ready to go home. Yay! Isn't he a cutie?
7. Water. On Thursday we went to an aquatics center and had a great time playing in the water with friends. Friday we headed to a friend's pool for some more water action. Love the summer for water play!
8. Garden fresh vegetables. My veggies are starting to produce and that is something I love to see! My zucchini are going crazy and I've got tomatoes that just need to turn red. Lots of flowers on the cucumbers too. Oh, and the lettuce is huge. Yummmmm!!
9. Anna time. While Lilla has been at VBS all week, it's been great for Anna to get a little time by herself with mommy and daddy. That is very rare for her, so I have a feeling she might enjoy it a bit!
10. Garage sales. Oh, how I love garage sale time. I didn't find much this week, but, I did find two Barbie jeeps so the girls could each have one and bargained them down to 50 cents each. I also got some balls for Anna's ball pit for a buck and 50 cents for a compost bucket. Gotta love it!
Even though I was sick for a number of days this past week, there was lots to smile about. Here are some of them:
1. Learning to swing. Lilla has finally learned the art of swinging by herself. Yet another right of passage as a child. She was so excited yesterday to go back and forth, back and forth. You could hear her over and over, "Look at me, look at me!"
2. Baby birds. We have two little nests in our yard, well, at least two, we have lots and lots of mature trees so I'm sure there are more, but two that we see. Anyway, here's one of the nests:
3. Speaking of lots of trees, it's so nice to have all of the leaves growing back again. We have so many mature trees in our yard it just is beautiful when you are surrounded by all that green!
4. Awana. We love Awana in our house. It's taught Lilla so many great lessons this year and lots of bible verses. It's over for the summer, so we can't wait for it until the fall. Here she is in her award ceremony this week.
5. Well. Just feeling better again is something for me to smile about. I was feeling pretty bad for some number of days and to be able to move around and be me again is a great feeling!
6. The zoo. I already posted pics from last week you can see in my last post, but it bears repeating that we had so much fun at the zoo this week. It's always a fun day to go with friends and just enjoy the exhibits and gardens.
7. I'm walking. Anna is walking more by the day. It's been that zombie kind of walk she does and it totally cracks Michael and I up. It's such a big deal to see your child on their own two feet. Just one more step towards independence.
8. My camera died right after this picture, but all this to say is that we went to my friend's daughter's softball game the other day and it was so fun. I love little league sports, just fun to watch the unadultered kids play something they enjoy.
9. Garden time. We finally have all of our garden boxes tilled and we are ready to go! Got the zucchini planted yesterday and I'm going to try to get all the herbs done today. I need to head over to home depot for the rest. So excited! We made Lilla her very own little box too where she got to plant exactly what she wanted, sunflowers!
10. Family Dinner. Saturday night some family was driving through on their way back to Chicago so they stopped for dinner with us. We went to Uno's pizza and they actually let kids make their own pizzas! How fun is that?
