sweet summer days 2

summer days

laine's boyfriend

Isn't this the cutest? If you look hard you can see a face on the stick laine put it the sand....sunglasses for the eyes, algae for the nose, and moss for the mouth and dune grass was the hair. The girls worked on "the boyfriend" for quite a while recently while we were at the beach. We played in the sand and they make their own fun. Both of them are creative and can use their imagination. What a fun day.

Twinderella: The Musical

We have been so busy this winter with play practice 2 times a week. My sister and I helped backstage with about 4-5 other parents. The dress rehearsal earlier in the week was a disaster! The director was still on stage reading about 1/2 the lines. The kids were not ready and one kid puked on stage because she ate to much pizza. It was interesting and I wasn't sure it would all come together. They did not run through the entire show in one setting until the night of the first show. But.....thankfully it did come together. All the kids did a good job with alot of backstage help. Paige was an Old Lady Matilda with a secret and my niece Avery was The UPS delivery girl. It was a cute show. Great Job Paige. We are so proud of you and the hard work! P.S. Don't forget to pause the music in my side bar to hear the play

just one jesus...

Yup...I am guilty...I did indeed pray "just one Jesus". I prayed that as Paige plays soccer for the first time (except for pee wee league at 3) that she would make just one goal. Just one Jesus. I never knew how full my heart would feel upon learning of her scoring her first goal. I had to miss this weekend's game due to having to care for the sick and dying. Yup...because being a nurse has upsides and downsides....working some weekends is not one of the fun ones.

I regress....anyway.

She called me at work after the game and was so excited. Her team won and she scored one of the 5 goals. She is the smallest and shortest and maybe even youngest girl on her team. But she felt sooooooo proud. She said to me "mom the other girls gave me hugs and high fives". She felt part of the team. Thanks pink panther girls for being so encouraging to my girl that day.

To you Paige. I am proud. Not just because you scored a goal. But because you have to work hard. You have to run harder and faster than those long legged girls. And because you tried a new sport to be active and get exercise. And To be part of a team to contribute to. And because you cheer you teammates and are a good sport.

Thank you Jesus for the goal.

We will be praying for more this season too!

summer fun

mom's at work and laine is tinkerbell

Ok while I was at work Friday and hubby took the day off to spend with the girls....they made video's. And trashed my house, and had a lot of fun doing it. Disregard the mess in the house and enjoy listening to Laine as the tells about being tinkerbell. It will crack you up! My silly little girls.

we are having a blast

We have a water park in our town and 2 of my friends and our 7 kids went this week. It was so much fun. Until now Paige would not go down any big slides, but she did this time and now she is hooked. I went down too and had fun. Laine went swimming with her floaties and played in the water. What a great summer day!

blackberry jam

We have lots and lots of blackberries so we have had them on yogurt, on angel food cake, and just in a bowel with a sprinkle of sugar. I have froze some of them so we can enjoy them in the winter when we don't have fresh ones. Last night Paige and I went picking berries and Jeff helped me too. I really wasn't planning to make jam but the idea came to me and I found a receipe on line. I went to the store to buy jars and sure-jel. Paige was such a big help picking and cleaning the jars and drying them. She loved smashing the berries too. Laine helped a little too. Have a fun Saturday in August!

Sponge water bombs are fun!

This week I bought some cheep sponges from the grocery store. I took 3 sponges in different colors and cut them into 5 strips for a total of 15 strips and tied around the middle really tight with some ribbons. I made 4 total one each for my girls and my nieces. We had a blast dunking the sponges in water (we made really cold by adding ice), and throwing them and playing catch. Everyone got cooled off. Lots of laughter and summer fun.

blackberry picking

i love that my 8 year old is a little old fashion, a little traditional, a little modest, and a little simple too. i love that she still likes to hold my hand, i like that she is happy when she is with family and can make fun of just about anything. i love that she is resourceful and when she sees a backyard full of blackberries, she wants to pick them and and makes pies and other fruit desserts. this morning we out our long sleeves on and made our way through the thorns to get the ripe berries. i am looking forward to the next few weeks of delicious berries.

trip to the beach

This week we took a little 4 day trip to the beach with just the girls (my mom, myself and the girls.) We had alot of fun (minigolf, beach, swings, shopping, ice cream, and spending time with grammie). We sooooooo didn't want to come home but I have to go back to work Friday so we made the 3 hour trip home today. I love summer!

summer lovin' have me a blast

some pics from a garden

the fun days of summer

swing to the stars

summer days on vacation

i hope as my girls grow older and have their own families that they will pass along the things from our vacations that make them special. i love our summer trips to the same quaint beach town. it has a wonderful ice cream shop with a walk up window not a drive through. it has an A and W but not a McDonald's. it has a drive in movie theater. it has friendly people who introduce the girls to their dogs and expect us to say hello next time we pass them on a walk. it has beautiful scenic drives along the beach, into the vineyards and the along a simple little river. it has a sandy beach just waiting for the next castle to be built. it has sunsets that can't be beat and petoskey stone hunting trips that we always go on. i could go on about more memories...and maybe another day i will. i love how coming here to this town help us reconnect and spend time together. i love my family.

just a little poppy

Isn't this flower so beautiful? My eight year old picked it yesterday. I wish I could say I grew it. I did not.... this poppy came from my mother-in-law's garden. Her garden has many unique types in it. It was such a special treat for my daughter to think of me. What a blessing she is. Thanks Paige...

a blogiversary and such a busy time...

We have been so busy at work, school and with our families I have hardly had time to update here. Our nephew graduated high school (yea for you Quinn), Paige has her last day of school this week. Last week was her last piano lesson till fall and her girl scout troop had a ceremony for the work this year. We have had a fun time with all the end of the year activities. I have been really busy at also (a new system all us nurses have to use to pass our medications to our patients. it is really helping me to be more patient...get it? :) it takes so much longer to pass medication now yuck!). we have a vacation planned soon and can't wait until we can relax and enjoy the beach and time together. And can you believe I have been blogging for a year now. Actually it was yesturday and I missed it!

sisters

this afternoon in our backyard our girls were playing and i caught this picture. we played with the neighborhood friends, and collected treasures from outside. the girls and our 2 boys next door caught a caterpillar and made him his own little home. they also got the hose out and must have played for on hour squirting each other. it was fun to watch them play in this gorgeous spring weather. we have been busy lately and i have been terrible about posting updates but we are enjoying the weather and each other. just another couple weeks of school and then in june we go on vacation to lake michigan. can't wait. oh the fun.