First day of school

I know it doesn't seem possible, but it's time for school to start again. Mandy will be in 5th grade. Brianna in 3rd. John in 2nd. They all go to one school. This will be Mandy's last year in this school
Angel is in 7th grade and goes to a different school. I didn't make her stand in front of her school sign, I just got a picture as she headed out the door. When I registered her for school, I kept thinking "How in the world did I get a 7th grader?!?!?!?!" It just doesn't seem possible that she is that old. Didn't she just start kindergarten last year? *snif, snif*

As much as I love my children & loved having them home for the summer, I was just as happy to send them out the door this past week. We've had a great summer. I felt like I was much more relaxed. My goal for the summer was to be more intentional with the kids. I more easily set aside my household chores and the computer to take them swimming or to the park. I worked to say yes more than no when they asked to do something. All in all I felt I accomplished what I wanted.

Now that season has come to an end and we are ready to venture into the next.

St. Louis vacation

I better hurry & blog before more time gets away from me. We got home last sunday & have been on the go since then. And believe it or not, tomorrow starts a new month. Yikes!

Vacation was good. You can see my slideshow of pics below. It was nice to stay closer to home. To get in the van & be to our destination that very same day. And because we weren't gone as long I didn't have as much to pack either. It was nice to get away as a family.

We had hot miserable weather, but still a very good time. The kids all love the Arch. That's all Andrew could say "the arch mama, the arch....look mom, the arch". The ride up seemed scary, but they enjoyed looking out the windows with no fear whatsoever. The zoo was a hit as well. We've gone to the zoo on almost every major vacation we've taken. We weren't so sure about the science center, but because it was air conditioned it pursuaded us to try it out. It had much more than we thought and we spent plenty of time playing & learning. Due to having a napping infant & needing a break from the heat we spent plenty of time at our hotel. That gave opportunity for lots of swimming & just relaxing. We also enjoyed America's Incredible Pizza Co. & Purina Farms.

We didn't get very much time in the heart of St. Louis (downtown). The one time we did venture in the Carndinals were playing, the Rams were playing & Bruce Springsteen was in concert. It was pure craziness. At that time we didn't have a choice though. We switched hotels for Jim's convention and had to get checked in.

We're not sure where our next "big" vacation will be. We know we always go to church camp every summer, which IS a vacation, but not the same. We havnen't been out to the east coast in 5 years. There is always the draw of family out on the west coast. Usually Jim's national convention helps determine the destination. Next year it's in Alaska and that is just not feesable for our family. So I guess time will tell.

vacation pictures

Finally

I am all caught up on my blogging. We leave Thursday for a short mini vacation to St. Louis. We come home on sunday to play in the church softball league playoffs. Then school starts on Monday. I'll have plenty more to blog on in the next week or so. Until then...enjoy those last few days of summer.

ccoking freezer meals

I get together with some friends (Nikki, Sherri & Laura) and we all cook some freezer meals. We make enough for each other then swap so we have 8 freezer meals to take home. We always have fun in the process, chatting away while we work. Then on those crazy days when nothing goes right and we just can't think about what's for supper, we have something to pull out. It's already precooked & assembled....all we have to do it thaw & bake (or microwave in some cases).



Laura could not be there this time so she is not in any of the pictures.

zuchinni

It would be safe to say we have zuchinni coming out of our ears! Every summer I buy some from my neighbor down the street. I shred it up & freeze it. Then sometime in the fall I have a big baking day & use it all up. I let the kids help a little bit, but I do a bulk of the work. This year I put 9 gallon bags full of zuchinni in my freezer. Think that is enough?

Annual picnic/visiting dad's office

Every summer I take the kids up to Galva where Jim works. We have a picnic at the park then go & visit his office.