Kathryn's 7th birthday

My youngest is now 7 years old! It's hard to believe, but it's true. Here are some photos from one of her birthday parties:

First day of school

Today is Julian's first day of 5th grade and Kathryn's first day of 2nd grade. It's hard to believe they are so big! It is already too quiet around the house, and they have only been at school for an hour.



We are very pleased with the teachers they have been assigned to, and the kids were excited to go this morning. I don't know if they were so excited about school or getting to use all the new stuff they got to start school. Either way, I hope they keep the excitement for at least a little while. They each have a friend or 2 in their class, so we have high hopes for a good year.

Camping this weekend

We went camping from Thursday of last week until yesterday morning. We tent camp, although I'm not sure you could say we "rough" it, since we pack everything that will fit into our vehicles! The campground we visited has a pool, so we spent a lot of our time there. It rained A LOT Wednesday and Thursday, so we were worried about the weather, but it turned out to be a beautiful weekend with temperatures in the low 90's. I didn't take a lot of pictures this time, but here are a few:

The kitten.

While Jason worked on the railing and gate, the kitten played in a plastic bag. I wish it wasn't so darn cute! We're still NOT keeping the cat, but at least it's fun having it around while we try to find a home for it.

When I took Lucy to the vet, I asked if they knew who I could call or where I could take the kitten, and the vet told me to take some pictures and they would try to place the cat for me - keep your fingers crossed!

And I love this picture. They sat and stared at each other for several minutes - until I got up to go inside. They definitely don't trust each other....and why should they?

The missing piece

I have discovered that I really enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles. I bought this one just a couple of weeks ago because it seemed to be the least complicated of the choices. It was 350 pieces...350 tiny pieces! It started with Kathryn and I working on it, then Julian did a few pieces, but I completed most of it (and want to get another to do sometime soon!). All of that to say this: when we got the puzzle mostly finished, we realized a fish piece was missing. We looked high and low, under furniture and in cushions. No puzzle piece. Honestly, it was fairly frustrating, because I really don't like leaving things unfinished. So we have to just accept that our puzzle will remain unfinished. Ugh.

This got me thinking about my life without Jesus. I know it's a leap, but I really saw how that missing puzzle piece is like Jesus in my life. Before I found Him, I was unfinished, missing something. Not knowing exactly what was missing, but realizing that hole was there. I tried to fill that hole with the wrong things - boys, partying, friends, but those were not the right pieces; they didn't fit. Eventually, I realized that I wanted to be loved - not loved for how I looked or acted, but loved because I am who I am. I am "fearfully and wonderfully made". The missing piece was Love and Acceptance. Jesus loves me in spite of my flaws. His love is the missing piece. Jesus loves me! And he loves you too. He knows what you've done, and he loves you anyway.

I am in no way perfect. But I know I am loved. The hole in my life has been filled. Hallelujah!

Now, if only I could find that missing fishy puzzle piece!

The finishing touches

We finished the railing and gate this weekend, and I think it turned out perfectly!

Me ... 33

Today is my birthday - 33 years old.
It's a weird year for me, and I am thankful to have another year to get gray and wrinkled.
By the way, Kathryn took the first picture of the candles...I liked the perspective.

7 stitches

Yesterday evening, during Julian's soccer practice, Kathryn was swinging when the boy beside her jumped off his swing. The practices are all at our city park, and I could see the swings from where we were sitting. Well, when the boy jumped, the swing came back and hit Kathryn in the head, cutting her pretty deeply. She ran over to where we were sitting with blood all over her - I actually thought it was mud at first, because it had just stopped raining and I had been looking at Julian when it happened. When I saw the cut, I knew we had to let a doctor look at it. We took her to the ER, and they gave her 7 stitches since the cut was irregularly shaped and deep. It was a pretty harrowing experience, but Kathryn made it through just fine. She will have to have the stitches removed in 10 days, but we will go to her family doctor to do that. They will be much more gentle and patient with her than the doctor in the ER was, I hope. The good thing is the cut is in her hair, so when it heals, it won't be noticeable (unless she wants to show someone!). She now thinks it's pretty cool that she'll be able to tell her classmates about it when she starts school in a couple of weeks, although the stitches will be taken out a few days before she starts.

Of all the things I worry about happening to one of my children, this was not on my radar. I thought swings were fairly safe. Who knew?!

Just visiting...

This adorable kitten is looking for a home...she showed up at our house a couple of days ago, and we've been putting food and water out until we can figure out what to do with her. If any of you out there in cyberspace are looking for a kitten, she is all yours. I want to find her a good home, and Kathryn has grown to love her, so we can't send her away until we know she'll be taken care of...

Our Friday walk

We finished our walk at about 11:30 this morning, and it was starting to get pretty muggy. The water was high from storms that came through last night, and it made for a nice view, and a nice end to our long walk (this trail is 3.4 miles round trip).

Unfortunately, we got back from our walk, ready for the kids to get in our kiddie pool, and it was empty!!! We obviously have a leak in the pool because I am positive it was full before we left. Disappointing since we've got a couple of months of hot weather left. We'll figure it out though... I did refill it halfway so they could get in, and it held water..who knows.

Chillaxin' ...

Not sure what this pose was, but she held it until she knew I had taken the picture, so she knew what she wanted it to be I guess....maybe something she saw on TV???

With her lego spaceship made by master-crafter, Julian.

Julian and I were sitting on the deck trying to get a picture of a hummingbird, but we never did see one. I guess we were being too noisy or moving too much or something...we'll try again, sometime. I was surprised at the patience shown by Julian in sitting and waiting for the bird to come.

My handsome baby boy!

Definitely lovin' the new deck...a new favorite activity is bird watching...hummingbirds at our new feeder and other birds at our seed feeder. It's pretty amazing to see the birds that visit.

Hmmm...85%

Well, I am at more than 85% of my storage limit for this blog. I guess it's time to start thinking of what will happen next. Will I need to create a new blog or just stop this one? Who knows. But it's time to start thinking of it at least....

It's finished! (Mostly)

We finished last night! Our deck is finished, and it is awesome! I can't wait to spend some time on it now... now we'll need to think about the railing and gate, but that can wait a week or two!

Weekend Progress ...

We worked on the deck Saturday evening, after a great afternoon with my family at my nephew's All-Star Baseball game earlier in the day. We got about 2 hours work in before it got dark, which allowed us to get the framing built.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early and got the frames nailed together, leveled and squared. At lunch time, our shade was running out, so we went inside for a few hours to cool off and rest. We also traveled to Lowes to get the rest of the lumber we would need. We were only able to work for about an hour before bad weather came through, but we were only inside for about an hour before the weather cleared. Unfortunately, we did not get enough nails either, and we had to stop before finishing when we ran out.

Oh well. It is definitely not going anywhere, but the wood does get more warped and crooked as it sits, so we want to get it done ASAP. All in all, it was a good weekend's work, considering the heat and all the breaking and other things that had to be done as well. We got about 1/2 of the decking boards nailed down, so we're in the home stretch, I think.

These pictures were taken as Kathryn and I waited for Jason and Julian to get back with more nails (which they were not able to get!).

To limit electronic time...my idea

My kids have gotten a little carried away with their Nintendo DS's and Playstation and watching TV this summer. SO. We started something new at our house that I remembered reading about a while back. Tickets for play time. I just made these and printed them, stuck them on construction paper and put tape on the back. Julian and Kathryn each get 5 tickets each day. Each ticket is worth up to 30 minutes of time on the TV, computer, Playstation or their DS. Once they run out of tickets, there is no more electronic play.

Of course they were not big fans when I first told them about it. We have been doing this for about a week, and there has only been one day when they both ran out of tickets. It just has helped them be more aware of how much time they're spending doing electronic things. And! They have been playing with actual toys! I could hardly believe it!

So, I think we'll keep it. I will likely reduce the number of tickets they have once school starts next month, but for the summer when we're home most of the day, I thought 2 1/2 hours was good, and they seem to kind of like moving their tickets to the "used up" spot. I knew they would get used to it!

New 'do's

I finally took the kids to get haircuts yesterday...aren't they cute? I have some beautiful children, if I do say so myself! Kathryn still wanted to go shorter, but this is the shortest I am willing to go at this point! And Julian picked his style on his own from the haircut book. I think he did a great job choosing.

A new recipe...

I recently went through all my loose recipes - things I had gotten out of magazines and off food containers, that kind of thing. I found this recipe for dinner rolls from an old Homelife magazine. You know Baptists - all about food you can bring to the next covered dish meal! I LOVE these rolls. They are so easy to prepare and take less than 30 minutes to make. Of course, I wanted to share...

Hot Rolls
1/4 oz. active dry yeast (one packet)
2 cups lukewarm water
4 cups self-rising flour (if using all purpose, add 6 tsp baking powder and 2 tsp. salt)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter (or margarine), melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400.
Combine yeast and water, let stand for 5 minutes
Stir in flour and other ingredients until blended.
Spoon into well-greased muffin pans (2/3 full).
Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes about 18 rolls.

I use Smart Balance margarine when I make them, and I normally have to cook them at a lower temp. for a little longer to have them ready at the same time as whatever else I'm making. 350 for 30 minutes or so has also worked well for me. Hope you enjoy!

Deck again....we're getting closer

Jason and Robert had a few free minutes at work yesterday, so they went to the rock quarry and got a couple of loads of gravel, which the kids and I helped unload and spread. Jason and I really didn't think they would have time so soon, but we wanted to have the ground ready just in case - I'm glad we did! I think we need one more load of rock before we start building, but so far so good.

On a side note - poor Lucy is pretty freaked about about our project. She will NOT step on the gravel and tries to just avoid the whole area. Actually, yesterday we could hardly get her to go outside! Our scaredy-dog. Too funny.

New deck project - Day 2 . . .

We're making progress...now time for gravel for drainage.

And YES! We're putting our kids to work....kind of