Bugs & Violins

This week we had a wonderful time with family and friends! We joined friends for swimming and FREE movies. We visited the library for the Summer Reading Program, and the girls created bugs. We had family visit with us one afternoon, and that was a special treat!

The toughest thing for me was getting up and getting out each morning for String Camp, but the performance at the end of the week was a great way to wrap it all up! On top of that, we had ice cream afterwards! Yeah!


Making Bugs at the Library

A visit from a cousin

Violin Camp Performance

You scream, I scream
We all scream for Ice Cream!

Dolls and a Tire

This weekend my mom and I took my daughters and niece to see the premiere of the new American Girl movie, Kit Kittredge. Wow! What a great wholesome and encouraging movie! It was a great surprise for the girls.

The next day we went to the American Girl Boutique & Bistro. Mom and I didn't quite know what we were getting into. We ended up having a wonderful lunch at the Bistro (some of the best food ever, really!), and the girls ended up with dolls to take home. I almost cried when I saw my youngest daughter take the doll and hug it close. (Yeah, I'm a little sentimental.)

I am so glad that we were able to get these dolls for the girls. I hope they will be a special reminder of family and of God's provision.

Unfortunately, the weekend ended with a realization that some "curb surfing" I had done with the van had actually damaged my front tire. My dad said we were lucky to have made it home without a blow!

It is so good to have a God that protects me even when I am unaware! I will be doing some tire shopping in the morning.

This week has been filled with activity. We started the New to Homeschooling group meetings on Monday evening, and I was so excited to share with these wonderful moms. These women are really taking huge steps of faith, and I know that God will bless them and lead them!

My husband was out of town, so the girls and I spent the night with my mother. The next day we took my niece and went to see Alvin & The Chipmunks for FREE at the movies. We met up with several other homeschool families, and we spent at least 30 minutes afterwards in the lobby just catching up from our break of activities. I didn't want to leave!

The girls and I arrived home, and we had to get out a new $1 sprinkler we found at Target. Before we found a way to break it, the girls had a great time jumping through it:

I let the girls stay up watching movies until midnight (really a way to not have to deal with whining). The next day we went to the library for the summer reading program. This is one of the things that I emphasize greatly in the summer: READING!

The fire department was there! We had missed the fire department field trip this year, so the girls were able to go through the fire truck and see the fireman in his gear.

We met my mom at the mall and after wandering about (finding a great deal on jeans and discovering some American Girl dolls at the bookstore), we decided to the eat at Five Guys burger place. It was a wonderful burger!

Graduation

Graduation - Change

These are two words that work together. With a graduation comes the promise of a change, and I feel like I have been graduating these past few months. It is somewhat scary and somewhat exciting too. I have really had to reevaluate my priorities and learn how to balance the good and the best. There are so many wonderful things in which I want to be involved, but I have to continue to look at what is most important.

Right now my family and my children are most important. The past month has really reminded me of the importance of family, especially with the death of my grandmother. The last week of May we also attended my niece's high school graduation. This "little" girl was the flower girl in my wedding! (What a reminder of how old I have become!)

So, I must now "graduate" to another stage of life and choose the best.

To my niece, who is starting her life's adventure:

"...Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land..." Deut. 30:19-20