A couple of weeks ago we met up with a group of friends at the bowling alley, the kids had a ball (no pun intended) and I'm thinking we need to do it again soon. I love all of these kids!
Only Joe and Hannah went to the first VBS of the year and then only Joe and Grace went to the second VBS. Hannah and Grace each had a few hours each day to be an only child. One morning Ollie and I took Gracie on a bike ride and to play frisbee golf, it was really fun. I was really bad but had fun in spite of my lack of skill. The next week I took Hannah to a local coffee shop for some girl time. We took a couple of games and had a really good time. She's being a hamster in that second pic...At one point she said, "don't mess with the Hanster" but it sounded like she said "don't mess with the hamster" and we had a big laugh about that.
Some old friends (hadn't seen them in about 8 years) were in Orlando and we spent some time with them one day at their resort. Kids rode the Surrey bike and then went swimming. Parents talked and talked and caught up on the last 8 years.
The next weekend Pop and Ryan were umpiring in Winter Haven and we met them at the ballpark and then went for some dinner. I was sporting my new-most-favorite-I've-ever-had sunglasses.
After we said goodbye to them we found ourselves driving past Florida Southern college and decided to stop and walk around. It's a beautiful campus, voted one of the most beautiful in the US. Most (or some) of the buildings were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Hannah is in love with the place and has decided that this is where she wants to go to college. We'll see....
We had our first ever Youth Lock In at church. We started the night off with lots of really fun "Minute to Win It" games. Later we made hula hoops and then watched a video to teach us how to hula hoop and then hula hooped on the pews in the sanctuary. Many of the girls continued to hoop on and off all night long. We played Manhunt and watched "Courageous," well some watched and some (me) slept. I slept on and off from about 1:30 until about 7. During that time most of the kids stayed up and so did a couple of chaperones--they played board games and hooped. We finished the Lock-In by cleaning up and having devotional time. Everyone had a great time, even me. :0)
We saw "Brave" at the theatre last week. It was a good movie, not your usual Disney movie though. I enjoyed it and it had a great message.
In between all of this fun we've been having I've been slowly but surely making my way through the whole house cleaning and decluttering and cleaning some more. A while back we told Hannah she could put some of her
crap...I mean her jewelry, makeup, and hair stuff in the little bathroom. It had become an ugly mess and needed a big cleanout. First thing she and I did was sort through her earrings and then I made this cute earring holder (in the pic above) out of a frame and screen. I made some other changes in there and it looks way better.
One afternoon we had a few friends over and the kids dressed as spies and ran around the house and yard like hooligans. Above is Grace and Anabel.
Joe made this frame at church and I couldn't find a pic of Joe and I right away so he made one himself. Below--Grace's outfit reminded me of me so I took a pic.
Yesterday I went with Amanda to get Dawson's picture taken. I took a few of my own of the process. Is he cute or what???
We went out with H and B last night for my birthday and I had a Gummitini...a mixed drink complete with gummi bears. It was really good and so was my dinner...German Weinerschnitzel, sauerkraut, and potato pancakes.
And, finally, pics of the youth right before I had to blow them up. :0)
