Our 'not very busy' summer

I asked Brooke today if she has had a fun summer. Her response?

"Yeah, it's been fun. But it hasn't been really very busy...."

I told her summer was supposed to be lazy and she disagreed. And then tonight I went thru my pics on my iphone and I have proof that our summer has been busy for sure!

The proof:

Bike riding (and finally ditching the training wheels for Brooke).

Fishing....

Going to the park on several occasions.....

Lots and lots and lots of swimming.....

A trip to Kansas City.....

Sleepovers with friends and lemonade stands....

Several bowling outings with friends and a week of VBS....

A weekend visit from Papa Terry and Grandma Diane....

Let's not forget kicking the summer off with a great four days at church camp...!

I don't know what she's looking for in summer entertainment, but I think ours has been pretty full! She doesn't think we've done much around the house...like 'project' stuff...well...we've been busy doing all this other stuff. Plus it has been a gazillion degrees so we haven't gotten to do a lot of things outside. One more reason to look forward to fall! I think she forgets that there are things that have to get DONE at home too...like laundry, cakes, cleaning.

So. Don't listen to Brooke. We've had a great summer! Gonna squeeze as much goodness out of the next two weeks as we can too!

Things I said this week

I have had a lot of moments this week where I stopped and thought, "I'm getting old" or "I'm channeling my {mother} {grandmother} {grandpa}"  or "I've lost my mind"

Here is a peek at some of these moments and the words that prompted them.

"Seriously? I can't even go poop without you asking me for something? Do you really think I'm going to get your goldfish RIGHT THIS MINUTE?"

"I'm sorry Max, did the clippers buzz your nuts?"

"You know how hot it is outside? Do you know that we pay a lot of money to keep our house cool? And everytime you open the door, you are letting our cold air out? Can you just possibly wait 95 seconds for me to come inside to ask me that question instead of opening the door 5 times??"

"I've just got to sit here and cool off for a few minutes."

"You don't want to eat breakfast this morning? Okay, whatever"

My personal favorite

"My phone seems to be stuck on the forecast for HELL"

"Is it fall yet?"

Extremes

I feel like I have been living a life of extremes...

Extreme ends of the emotion spectrum....

We have so much extreme change coming up in our house in a month or so,

yet at this moment I sit in the land of extremely normal summer fun....

Moments of extreme optimism, and moments of extreme apprehension....

Moments with nothing going on, and moments where I meet my booty coming and going out the door..... which if you know me, you know that's how I roll.

I can tell you, I'm going to have a lot of moments coming up where I'm going to need my friends and family in an extremely present way.... it goes back to that 'lots of change coming up' thing....

I'm excited for our new school, and worried about getting Brooke transitioned to it (since she is not happy about going there).

I'm optimistic about a couple of job opportunities I'm looking at, but worried about how to make it all work. There are days where I'm stretched thin enough with being a travel agent, doing cakes, being a mom, being involved at the school, and being a wife. Really, do I have another chunk to cut out of me? I've always gotten things done....but will I have time for myself anywhere in that?

I'm glad the hubs still has a job, but seriously dreading him working 2nd shift.

It's hard to be facing all these extremes. The only way I'm getting through it now is knowing that God will take care of it all. I don't have to worry about tomorrow, because He is already there, preparing my way. Worrying isn't going to make anything happen any better, quicker, etc. Trusting God is going to make whatever comes our way easier to work with. I can say though, I'm not going to pray for patience. As they say in the movie "Evan Almighty" 'when you pray for patience, doesn't God give you opportunities to be patient?".... Um yeah, I do not need any extra 'opportunities' in that realm, I've got more than enough of them already.

So that's where I'm at today. Great post after 2 weeks of absence, right? Sorry. It's just what's on my mind. I've got a lot of mental/emotional balls in the air right now!

I will leave you with some fun pics though. The first ones are of our time in KC with my brother and his family. It came at the perfect time because I was really getting homesick for them. We had a great time at Crown Center, Science City, and hanging at the hotel.

Some baking I've done lately....Angry Birds cake, Monster Jams, and some dinosaur cookies.

One of the funnest moments in this house for the girls, the dog, and I is when they have wrestle-mania with daddy. I think he enjoys it a bit, but always gets whooped since the girls and the dog totally gang up on him. I watch, laugh, and take pictures. :)

Brooke at camp

Wanted to share this fun little sampling of a moment at camp that I had while watching Brooke.

It shows her personality perfectly.

While she is tall and gorgeous, she's also a bit uncoordinated and not much for upper body strength.

She loved the swimming hole. We were there every afternoon.














She got out to the floating rock climbing wall.















And tried and tried to get on it. I'm not sure I could have gotten on it, that round tube part at the bottom would spin when you would grab it. I didn't see a lot of kids on it the whole week actually. But she tried several times, giggling everytime she fell back in.

Then she decided to swim over to the rocket thing and try to get on it. I watched her try for about 20 minutes. Her friends were trying to help her out, and she was trying her darndest but just couldn't do it. Giggled everytime she fell back in.














Finally, she swam over to the floating dock, and got right up the ladder, and proceeded to have a blast out there, jumping in, hanging with friends. Giggling the entire time.















That's one of Brooke's best qualities. Her exuberance for life. She just had FUN. Even if she couldn't get on the rock climbing thing. Or the rocket. She had fun trying, then found something she could do, and had more fun.

I love that girl's spirit. It was such a joy to get to watch it in action from the sidelines like that. 

Too bad I wasn't a nice enough mommy to swim all the way out there in the 75 degree water to help her get on one of the inflatable things :)

It's been over two weeks since I've done a 'real' post! Even longer since a Disney recap!

We're packing all the fun we can into summer! It's off to an awesome start!!!

Here's a bit of what we've been up to, courtesy of the iphone!

We attended a gorgeous wedding....

I made this fabulous cake for a friends' daughters birthday

Then I packed like a crazy woman so Brooke and I could go to Kidzworld Camp! It was her first year going, and I was lucky enough to get to go as one of the counselors! What a huge blessing it was to share my love of camp with my daughter!!

It was an awesome place, with a spring fed swimming hole (that was COLD) that had paddle boats, floating dock, a blob, waterslide... plus so many other things!

But the best part was making connections with these 140 kids and all the counselors, learning about the beattitudes, and rocking laser filled worship times done Kidzworld style. It was so wonderful!

We've finally discovered the Shave Ice hut... and have made several trips there already!

I got to spend some time hanging with my dad last weekend....

and my stepmom too! We had a fun time All Star Sports playing putt-putt golf, bumper boating, and go-karting.

Some father's day time with three fathers in our life...Matt, my dad and Matt's dad.

We've hit the pool several times already....

And today we went bowling with some friends after a morning at Vacation Bible School. Have you checked out kidsbowlfree? You register your kids and the bowling alley near you, and you can print coupons every week for TWO FREE games of bowling PER KID, EVERY DAY! So you just have to pay shoe rental. Fun, inexpensive outing!

We're a month into summer, and I'd say it's been packed wonderfully full! AND, not documented in photos (but video), is the time we have spent bike riding! Finally got Brooke off those training wheels and have done a lot of parking lot bike riding! Coming soon, family bike ride thru the neighborhood!

So, what have you done so far this summer?!

Summer Organization

I have found that I am very "type A" with everything but my house cleanliness/organization. Events, little details, planning...totally type A. My house, not so much!

But it did come thru recently when I decided to defend my home against the invasion of the flip flops! With three girls around here, they were all over! So I took a $6 over-the-door shoe organizer and hung it in the closet by our garage door. It is now home to flip flops, sunscreen, bubbles, and bug spray! All summer staples around here!

Hmmm... What should I attempt to tackle next?

Friends on the zipline

had the honor of being a camp counselor with our kids from church this week. Brooke had several friends there, and I was able to get a video of her buddies Tanner and Devon doing the zipline!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com