If you want to know...

what makes Christina happy, I'll show you.





These pictures were taken during a one-week dance camp for which she had her hair fixed in a new style and chose a different dance outfit every day. And she got to dance. Can't get much better than that for Christina.

Future Portfolio?

When I uploaded my pictures the other night, I found this series of pictures which I had not seen before. It made me smile... and maybe worry a little bit. We're just playing here, right?

A very special 5 year old

Tina asked tonight if she could look at my blog and I had to tell her there wasn't much to see on my blog. I guess this is writer's block? But I told her I'd write something.

John caught this feisty little snake while he was mowing the lawn. It would coil up and then try to strike. David told us the snake was saying "Do you want a piece of me?"


David hog-tied Skeeter and then this happened.



Loving summer with all its deliciousness. We've had salad with fresh garden veggies, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn-on-the-cob, peaches, blueberries. It's so easy to pass on the dessert when you've already had it for dinner in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables.

We've been to the beach, the lake, a friend's pool, another friend's water slide. Tina and Rebekah have been to a sign and dance camp. So have the little boys. Taryn has started a karate class. The girls have been to sewing lessons. We went to the science presentation at the library last week and one about snakes, reptiles, and bugs this week. We celebrated a special 5 year old. I thought that once summer arrived we would slow down and not be so busy. I have never been more wrong.

Kids are funny


Ditto


Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

Post-Vacation Analysis

Don't worry, I'm not going to make you look at all 387 pictures that I took.

Day 1: Travel and swimming at the hotel upon arrival


Day 2: Leave the camera in the car not once, but twice while visiting Fort McHenry and the Maryland zoo. Go swimming again at the hotel.

Day 3: Visit the Constellation, an historic ship in the Baltimore harbor, walk the Inner Harbor, celebrate Andrew's graduation, walk to the park to play, walk to Fell's Point and get lost on the way back to Andrew's, swim at the hotel

Day 4: Swim at the hotel in the morning before packing up and heading north to Grandma Munn's, attend a concert at her small country church

Day 5: Enjoy the country, dig worms, go fishing, eat outside, sleep outside, help Grandma Munn with yard work

Day 6: Watkins Glen State Park in New York

Day 7: Repeat Day 5

Day 8: Leave Grandma's heading south toward Hershey Park, Chocolate World first, then the park, meet Deannie, my first childhood friend, and her husband, drive until we can't hold our eyes open and sleep so soundly that 7/8 of us slept through a fire alarm in the hotel around 1 in the morning.

Day 9: Drive the rest of the way to Luray Caverns in VA. Spend the day exploring and dragging the kids out of 3(!) different gift shops. Decide we've done enough, find a hotel in Charlottesville with a pool and you guessed it, went swimming. Also ate Mexican for dinner.

Day 10: Tour Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, then head the rest of the way to Home, Sweet, Home. Last stop and still smiling!

Joseph's Prayer: Thank you Lord that we didn't crash even once.

I might have worded it a little differently, but we are all so thankful to the Lord for every detail of this trip.

Piano Recital

When Tina saw her picture she said, "Oooh, I'm pretty. I knew I looked good, but I didn't know I looked that good."

Nope, no self-esteem issues here.

Videos of the kids' performances are uploaded on youtube for the Grandmas (start with Joe and you should find the others if you look at all videos uploaded by farmers1995)

Spontaneity

John called home on his way home from work with a "crazy idea". He had read in the news that the local strawberry farm had a beautiful crop of strawberries and suggested we go pick some - that night. Our normally scheduled activity for that evening was cancelled, so it worked out perfectly. We left dinner on the stove and off we went. We found the news report to be absolutely true. The strawberries were large, ripe, and plentiful. We picked 3 gallons. And had fun doing it.





Then on the way home we went by the Clemson University horse farm. The kids hopped out of the car and petted the foals.


Finally, we drove past the lake to see the sunset.

Sometimes it drives me crazy that we don't live a more structured life. But on nights like this, I realize our carefree personalities fit well together, we love to be spontaneous with each other, and we find great joy.