She's gonna blow!

A monumental day has occurred in our house.  Ava has now joined the ranks of the great bubble gum blowers.  I think it is a great accomplishment for a four year old, and she is so proud of herself.

In other random news . . . 

Bee has started playing tennis for her high school.  Practices every day after school will fill her time.  The season is only two months long, but filled with several tennis matches weekly.  She has also started a weekly Bible Study with some other freshman girls she knows.  She and her friend Devynn came up with the idea, and a name.  Flawless.  (Prov 30:5 NIV)  I think it's kind of catchy myself.

Spencer is loving 3rd grade so far.  His teacher is Mrs. Sloan.  He is especially thrilled to have one of his best buddies, Keegan, in his class.  I just hope they don't get in trouble together . . . ;)

Evan and I are getting back into the swing of the homeschooling thing, slowly but surely.  This morning we went to Homer's Coffee House where we got some free chai tea lattes (thanks to some promotion they were having), and we got to hang out with my sis-in-law Jan and my nephew for a bit.  Plus my sister's hubby, Glenn, who runs the joint, was around.  Evan was able to do all of his daily reading while I relaxed and in one moment I thought to myself, "wow, this is super nice".  If only it was always so peaceful to homeschool, right!

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Hey, on another note, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my little thoughts about this and that.  And thank you for those who "follow me" or subscribe to my blog to get my posts in your email (listed on either side of this blog).  I love knowing who my audience is, who is reading about our little world and it makes me feel special that you care.  So thanks for that.  Oh, and one more thing.  When you share a comment, it totally makes my day. ☺ 

Back To School

This year we get to have a child in preschool, one in elementary school, one in middle school, and one in high school.  It is busy, fun times in our house!  We have all the bases covered.  And no, don't tell me we need a baby to cover all the base . . . because I still have AVA, hello!  She will always be our baby, no matter her age.  So there.  I got the kids out for "back to school"  pictures and here is some of what I captured around Kansas City.  

I will post more tomorrow as soon as possible, depending on how my week goes, if you know what I mean.  Life is keeping me crazy with getting  into the swing of homeschooling Evan (7th grader), and well, life in general.  I feel pretty all over the place with the million and one things I should be getting done at this very second.  I have so many good intentions that just don't get done . . . I could write an entire post on that topic alone!  Ah, well, so that is my life, I guess.  On a happy note, God has answered some pretty amazing prayer requests that I have have been praying for some wonderful people in my life lately . .  all I can say is, that is so very lovely. ♥ 

Counting My Blessings

This has been a difficult summer for a variety of reasons.  The last few weeks I have been in a funk.  It's been hard to blog, I haven't been online much, or even wanted to play my scrabble games on facebook-- you know it's not good when I don't do that!  ;) My attitude has been in serious need of an adjustment.  Unfulfilled expectations. Disappointments.  Loss.  Stress.  You know, all the normal stuff that happens in everyday life.

So this week I have been convicted again that I need to focus on being thankful.  Interesting how that really does change my perspective.  To daily focus on all the blessings in my life and how much I have to be truly grateful for.


Counting my blessings, name them one by one . . .

Not just the big, obvious things.  I mean, hey, we have a lot of those, too.  Things like awesome grandparents who take my kids out and spoil them with back to school shopping that we would not be able to do otherwise.  But also being aware of the little things to be thankful for.  Like the fact that I got to totally sleep until 10am this morning.  And the fact that my entire family loves listening to our favorite radio station, Air One, together and we are so happy to have it on the air in KC. Oh, and the fact that school starts this next week.  Which means that fall is on it's way.  Cooler weather and all the beauty that comes along with it . . .            

God is good, all the time.  Even when life doesn't "feel" good, and even when it's messy and painful.  I think I just need to remind myself of that sometimes.

So here is your reminder, too.  Just in case. xoxo

Embrace The Camera: August 5th Edition

Embrace The Camera helps me to focus on taking pictures of me with my kids.  While I can scrutinize every picture that I am in, and I tend to delete most of them, I know that it is something I should do because I love pictures of me with my parents when I was growing up.  (Excuse that huge run on sentence, ha!) The pics I have with my mom are few and far between so I want to change that for my kids.  SO here we go . . . 

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Big kids were gone for the night.  Little ones were freshly bathed and ready for bed.

Daddy made a fort, which is always a big hit in our house. 

We decided to make homemade popcorn with soy butter, so Ava can get in on the fun.

And we watched The Wizard of Oz in the fort.

Which was so mesmerizing . . .

... and inspiring

So we had to dig into the costumes and find our own Wizard of Oz goodness.

Sshh, don't tell the big kids what they missed!