A walk in the woods

It had been raining for way too many days. The parks were wet and the kids were restless. So...I decided they all needed to go for a walk in woods. We had some friends over, so all I brought the four kids out and had them get some of their extra energy out. They claimed to not have fun, but we played some fun games and they got sticks and got to hit at things...how much more fun is there in life? ;) I enjoyed it and when they got back they were tired and behaved really well...

Cutie Patotie Jared....and then Jared being an old man :)

Dad, you would've been so proud. Jordan was giving them a tour of everything off of the paths. "Here is a big pine tree...here is little plant" :)

Grandma's visit

My grandma, who lives down in Florida, got to come up and visit us. Typically when that happens we try to all get together and hang out for awhile. This time, my aunt volunteered to watch my kids so that my cousin and I could go out to lunch with grandma. It was so delightful. We actually got to talk and listen and not be distracted by kids. I remember so much of my grandma from growing up, but haven't gotten too much time with just her lately. Lunch was a nice time to catch up a bit. I miss having her be here in the summers.


After lunch we went back to my aunts house and we hung out together for awhile and then had supper. After supper the kids put on a production so grandma could see they "amazing" plays. Let's just say that it was exactly how we expected it to be :) It showed the kids and the fun they like to have.

They were a dad, mom and teenager. The teenager (Sydney broke her leg). Dad was riding the horse to get her someplace. There was no more room on the horse, so mom ran next to them :)

The final bows

I wish we had more time together with our extended family! I think they are all pretty great :)

Como Zoo

I love field trips. My name wasn't drawn to go on any of Jordan's field trips with him, so I was very thankful that in kindergarten they don't limit the number of parents that come with on the field trips. I got to go with Sydney to Como Zoo. I had Sydney and two of her friends. They were so good. It was strange. No one ran off or ran ahead; they walked with me and held my hand. (Can you tell I'm used to bringing boys?) We got to go the day of the opening of the new Polar Bear exhibit. The girls enjoyed seeing that. They also had a lot of extra activities because of the grand opening. They got their face painted, got to see a giant polar bear walking around, big ball bowling..etc. We had a picnic lunch and then I got to take Sydney home with me. I love those times together. One thing I've discovered about Como Zoo is that unless you really take time to watch the animals, you can be done seeing them in 45 minutes or less. hmmm.... :) I tried to get them to study the animals, but they weren't quite ready to do that. Maybe as they get older, they can learn the enjoyment of watching them and not just seeing them. :)



Sydney has a really fun class and I really like everyone of the kids. It's been a very fun class to volunteer at. Her teacher is amazing and we are sad she is leaving the school next year (all the cuts, she is going to a different school :()

My Life

Sydney's kindergarten was only Tuesday and Thursday all day and every other Friday. On the off days of school, I would watch our neighbor (Sydney's best friend) during school. It helped me so much. They would entertain each other and I would work. Perfect :) Typically they found plenty to do and typically it involved taking stuff out and laying it all over the house. They would do a decent job of picking it all back up so it never really bothered me (unless I was having company and knew I needed it cleaned :) ) Anyway, the last week before school was out, I came out of the office from working and found the living room, well...let's just say, I couldn't see the floor and was so impressed by how messy everything was, had to take a picture. They know how to have fun....

Sydney's Track and Field

Sydney had been talking about her track and field day for WEEKS! Every day she would ask how many more days until track and field. She was so excited. I was looking forward to watching her because I knew she'd do really well in it. She just loves doing sporting events. When I showed up to school she looked really nervous or something. I couldn't quite figure it out. She seemed more mellow than normal. She did the first 3 events ok and then came over and told me she had a sore throat. It had been so sore that she couldn't eat lunch because it hurt to eat. It happened to be really hot out so she was super hot too. I couldn't tell if she had a fever. I asked if she just wanted to go home, but she thought she could maybe do a little more. Mostly she sat in my lap in the shade with her head down. It was very obvious she wasn't feel good. I felt so bad for her becuase she had been so excited. You could tell she was actually sick because she didn't seem too bummed that had to miss anything. In fact when I told her I was sorry she couldn't do one of the events, she said, "It's ok, I did it in practice". Poor girl. She did enjoy the events that she participated in. I brought her home after that and she did end up with a fever and was sick for about 4 days :(

Memorial Weekend

We actually stayed home for Memorial weekend this year. Crazy I know...but sorta nice and relaxing :) We started out the weekend buying flowers and planting them. The kids "helped" me and honestly...did actually do quite a bit to help. Having fresh beautiful flowers on my porch is one of the highlights of my summer. I love my herb garden and use the herbs all summer as well. It was a gorgeous weekend.



The kids decided it would be a good idea to put the sprinkler under the trampoline. It really didn't let too much water up, just enough that when you jumped you'd get a little bit splashed. I allowed it until the mud pile underneath was too much for me.


On Monday we went to Highland park to let the kids play at the chutes and ladders park. Well, I kinda didn't realize that everyone else had the same idea. The park was crazy crowded. We only stayed about 1/2 hour and then went to a beach across the road for the rest of the time. The kids swam with Arlie and I watched. We build a castle that turned into a deep hole (always a winning activity :). All-in-all we had a great time. Very relaxing. Forgot how much I love the beach (even if it's not in Hawaii :) ).

90 day Challenge

Our church has encouraged anyone who would like to, to embark on a 90 day challenge. It began June 6th. The challenge? Read through the entire Bible in 90 days. I decided to take up this challenge although I'm not sure my timing was the best (as my work is busiest in the summer) I'm excited. When I get busy with work, I don't always take the time I want and need to have with God, so this is one way that I ensure I am doing that. I figured if I put it on my blog that I'm doing this, I'd have people that would ask and therefore help keep me accountable. I'll try to update how I'm doing on a consistent basis. As of now we are on day 10 and I'm right on track :)

We are in the exciting book of Leviticus and although I'm not really excited about diving into the details of all the sacrifices and how you need to cut things and cook things I have observed something. What they had to do to sacrifice to God wasn't a simple easy thing. What they had to do involved work, involved time. It was VERY specific and to be done a certain way. I likened that to my "sacrifices" to God. Sometimes when I sacrifice to God I give him the leftovers. For example, when I was spending time with Him, I'd give him my leftover time, not the best time, not the most alert time. I wonder how many of my sacrifices are truly pleasing to Him. What if instead of sacrificing what I "deem" a sacrifice, I ask God what He'd like me to do and how He'd like me to do it. I may not like what I hear, but it would be a sacrifice that He would be pleased with. My sacrifices are pathetic attempts to just claim I've done something and not the best I can do. If God was so specific with what He wanted from them, I know He has something in mind specifically for me. Now to just hear his voice and do it :)

Biking

Our new found love of biking as a family has been a treat for us. We have just been riding around Bunker, stopping at "Norwood's Secret Paradise" (a park the we found deep inside Bunker) and heading home. We are hoping to make it a little longer each time we go. I always feel a little bad for Sydney who has to bike twice as much as I do. Her poor legs get tired. We have a great time doing it and Arlie and the kids like it so much better than walking (I happen to be a fan of walking).

Sophie's pond
Jordan going on the grass path because he has a "Dirt bike" and that is where they are supposed to bike.

When Jordan was little we caught a tiny turtle. We only had it for about two week before we brought it over to a pond at Bunker. The turtle's name was Sophie. We named the pond "Sophie's Pond". Frequently we stop by there and look for a turtle. We've actually seen "a turtle" (which of course we claim is Sophie) several times. This time we didn't when we stopped. However, "Sophie" just happened to be on the path about a mile from the pond. The kids got to get reunited with her and get their pictures taken with her. That made their day :)

Sophie :) Or so we like to think

Norwood's Secret Paradise (otherwise known as NSP :) )

Ordway date night

The kids has a silent auction at their school and we bid on 2 tickets to the Ordway for a dance performance. I talked to Arlie about it and we both came to the conclusion that I should bring Sydney as a Mommy and Sydney date night. (OK so Arlie wasn't too sad that he couldn't join me). I had a client meeting and then met Arlie with Jordan and Sydney at Arbys. We had a very fancy Arby's dinner and then Sydney and I went to the Ordway. I didn't tell her what we were going to be doing until we were sitting down eating. I thought she'd be so excited. She looked at me and said, "Oh, I thought maybe we were going to Brunswick zone or something". (which is a bowling alley ;)). The more I told her about it the more excited she got. It was going to be a Modern Dance company out of New York. Modern dance can be so weird, that i was just hoping it would still be entertaining for her. We got there early and played games while waiting for the show to start. We were two rows back from the stage....really great seats. She thought it was really strange sometimes (as did I), but overall loved it. It was only about an hour long which was perfect for her first time at something like this. After the performance they were going to explain what they were doing, unfortunately she was pretty ready to go and it was late on a school night. I just pretend I understood, although I can promise I didn't. Half of it looked like they were getting electrocuted....? Anyway, it was a fun date night with my fav girl!

posing on the stair inside the Ordway waiting for the performance to start