Life In Between the Outings

Based purely on my posts, you may think our summer has consisted of jumping from one high to the next.  While the front end of it was packed with all our vacations and we did try to plan at least one fun outing for each week, we've certainly had plenty of down time and opportunities to enjoy the small stuff too.

We went blueberry picking one day, which was awesome.  We took home several pounds that we froze and hope to use all year long.  Though there is a big stack of gallon bags full of blueberries in my freezer, they will probably only last a few months.  I didn't get any pictures on the day we picked, but Ella made this lovely artwork for me!

After our tiring week of VBS, we celebrated survival by going to see Monsters University.  We all loved it!

Some good friends from our seminary years were visiting their family here in CA, so we were able to meet up at a new shaved ice place to catch up and watch our 5 girls have a ball together.  Thanks for squeezing a visit with us in, Sarah (but, we missed you, Dave)!

Some other dear friends moved at the beginning of summer.  Though we can no longer walk to their house, they're not too far of a drive away.  Jeff and Amy invited us over for a Saturday afternoon of swimming at their new house.  My friend Teri says distance can be good for a relationship because it forces you to be intentional.  We'll miss having these friends so close, of course, but know that a few extra miles won't make that big of a difference.  If anything, it will encourage us to spend time together as a big group more often!  This was such a great day, we're already looking forward to our next visit! :)

Notice anything different about Ella?  In one week she lost 2 teeth!  And one of them was a big, noticeable front tooth, so, cue the lisp.  Also, she was finally able to change her earrings for the first time in 6 weeks.  She felt like a whole new person!

This week the girls were also invited by some friends to attend VBS at a different church.  I've never put my kids in VBS without having a major roll in it, so I learned something amazing that I'll pass on: VBS IS FREE CHILDCARE, Y'ALL!!!  While the girls were having a great time singing, making crafts, playing games and hearing Bible stories with their friends, I had almost every morning this week free to work in my classroom at school.  We got quite a bit done and the space we're creating for our little students is colorful, fun, engaging and organized.   I'm so excited and just love walking into this classroom already!