Thinking . . .

School starts in just over a week now and my older daughter is going into fourth grade . . . that's only two years left in elementary school! And my little buddy is going to first grade . . . all day . . . everyday. I can't put into words all that I am thinking yet . . . but one of my favorite bloggers said it perfectly tonight  in her post "Night before Kindergarten"

As we've started to look at supply lists and go through closets to decide what still fits, I can't help but look forward and look back all at the same time.

Sam's New Boat

Last weekend, when the weather was warm and beautiful, we headed out to one of our favorite lakes with one of our favorite families. Sam, the wonderful hubby of my good friend Melissa, has been working on building his own boat for the last 11 years. This summer, he finally finished it!! And we were lucky enough to witness the maiden voyage.

And his adventure inspired a whole new enthusiasm in the kiddos . . .

Way to go Sam . . . a lot of work . . . a lot of garage space . . . a lot of stinky stain . . . but worth every second. What an incredible accomplishment and an amazing send off!

Pop-Up Fun

From Kregel publishing, we recieved a book titled, "My Pop-Up Bible Stories." Inside were five well known bible stories with a twist. Each story had a beautiful pop-up picture to go along. Each story was written very approachable and Haley (my six and a half year old) could read them all by herself. 

I loved the fact that at the end of the brief paragraphs concisely telling the story, there were scripture references that allowed us to dig into our real bible for even more details in the word of God.

Haley (first grader) said, "I loved the pictures. I loved the people. I loved that Jesus was in every story." (As a mom, I loved how, even though there were stories from the old testament, my little bug still saw Jesus' role in the whole bible!)

Hannah (fourth grader) said, "I think it has the most important part in each of the stories. I think that it had a very good description in pictures. The pictures were very colorful and fun to look at. I think kids would like that it is a pop-up book."

 

To enter to win a free copy of this precious hard cover book, enter you name in the comments section. It'd be a great addition to your family's library or would make a perfect gift. 

Introducing a new WIDGET!!

Ok . . . I have to be honest that before I went to Spokane to visit my bestest friend Sarah, I had no idea what a widget was. She blew me away with her blog decorating prowess and gave mine a whole new facelift (which I looove).

She also showed me how to insert an amazon box . . . or widget . . . or what not. Here's what it means . . . if you need to go over to Amazon to buy books or diapers or clothes or food or cd players or new children, go through my widget . . . please.

And when you go through my widget and buy something (anything - see above) I get credit for having a widget thingy bobber on my site!! YIPEE!!

So . . . go to Amazon . . . through my widget . . . and make me happy!!

A Week Like No Other

On Monday, the girls and I headed over the mountains to Spokane. We were going to visit my best friend since seventh grade and her four fantastic kiddos. This trip was long awaited and did not disappoint. We did and saw sooo many things . . .

On our way over, we stopped to take some pictures of the sights . . . and Haley took a little nap on her sister.

We could not wait to arrive, say hi to our friends and meet their new little addition . . . one of the absolutely most adorable babies in the entire world!!

Our kids had SO MUCH fun together and left to their own devices, came up with some pretty incredible ideas. First, they made a salon complete with hair-styles, massages, sparkle make-up and nails . . .

Another day, they put together an arcade for us. We bought tickets (5 cents a piece) and played the games they had created out of coffee filters, paper, and their imagination.

They spent hours outside playing in the sprinklers, the yard and the neighboring sand box . . .

They took us to one of their favorite places (Green Bluff) to pick cherries and apricots.

We came home very hot and tired so we enjoyed some ice cream (with a surprise slice of fresh picked apricot in the bottom of the cone!!)

I attempted to beat my little buddy on the WII racing game . . . to no avail (but I did beat Sarah at Scattergories . . does that count?!)

We got to witness little missy's first bites of baby food . . .

And giggle as she splashed and enjoyed her little bath . . .

The kiddos got together without us knowing and surprised us with this sign . . .

We went to play at a splash pad park near their house . . . (or would have been near had we not got twisted around some construction!)

The big girls share a love of reading so they snuggled up with good books together . . .

I taught the big girls to crochet . . .

And Sarah taught me to can our fresh picked apricots . . .

They took us to swim at the local (and incredibly beautiful) YMCA . . .

Sarah gave my blog a face lift (you have to check out her amazing blog) and tried to teach me about widgets. (Still sounds like the Jetson's to me!)

And, of course, we enjoyed more of the giggles and sweetness of miss Posy-Pie . . .

The ride home was a difficult one. The girls and I felt quite sad to leave our good friends goodbye. We stopped to take some more pictures of the incredible drive we took.

We couldn't have had a more amazing 5 days . . . I think the best week of the summer so far. It was such a hard goodbye for all of us. 20 years of friendship . . . 6 beautiful kiddos . . . sunny Spokane . . . delicious meals . . . warm hospitality . . . giggles galore . . . and memories to last us till next time. Thank you dear friends for such a great visit. We love you and miss you and can't wait to see you soon!!!