Catch Up Post!!!

Jeepers, it's been awhile, thanks in part to a busy schedule and back to school-ness going on, but mostly due to getting a new phone and not knowing how to upload photos from it into my laptop.  Apparently I had to update iTunes and now I'm good.  Anyway, it's good to be bloggin' again!  The girls and I got back a week ago from a nice long little visit with my family in Ohio - which zipped by WAY too fast.  The very next day the kids started back to school, and then I was back to work!  I've had a 3 day weekend off to get caught up, breathe, and finally unpack - that's right, I finally did it today.

 Ya'shar and Ni'ke are still on the same campus at Spring Creek, 2nd and 3rd grades

 Ma-lak and Rea are back at Matanzas in 4th and 5th grades!  Wow!

 Sometime while I was gone, my back yard decided to make up for lost time this summer and start producing fruit.  I have piles of lemons, apples, pears and tomatoes!  Yay for my little harvest!

 I even decided to try my hand at apple butter because it just sounded good.  I think I'll be the only one eating it....  (I gave this cute little jar to our land lords so they know we are taking good care of their apple trees.)  :)

Looking forward to starting this series called "The Story" at church in a couple weeks - the children and adults are all going thru the Bible in chronological order.  Love seeing my kids excited about learning scriptures and learning their "story".   Blessings to you all!!!

Last Day......

 The girls are all decked out for church!!!  OK, so the bow is bigger than the baby, but isn't that part of the charm??

 Everybody tried to get in some last minute cuddle time with Miss Emma....

 Have I mentioned how great my brother-in-law is??  He built us the perfect campfire so we could have a little cook out to end our week on.  (Sigh)  I love Sunday nights anyway - they just have a special feel to them, like if a day of the week could feel cozy, that's what a Sunday would feel like.  So when I'm back for a visit, I never leave to fly home on a Sunday, always a Monday.  I don't want to miss that special day of family time.

 So the kids played in the sand pit/fire pit that used to be where the old pool was

 And we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows

 And ate a lot of s'mores!  I wanna go visit everyone s'more.....     Till next time!

Family Gatherings!

 Auntie Sheila and Lexi do some bonding!

 My brothers were up for the weekend, so they do what comes most natural to them and taught my girls how to shoot guns...  aye yi yi....

 Honorary range officer, Rea

 Kendra and Nolan stopped by for a visit!

 The fabulous four

 Popsicles on the porch!

 Saturday morning craft time with Jess!  We made a very large quantity of hair bows.

 Dad not in this picture!  Boooo......  Love  my family.

 And more guns. Eeek.

Day at the Pond

 Thursday, we took a little shopping trip with the girls and stopped for some lunch.

 When we got home, we had this gorgeous sunset to enjoy!

 The LEAST enjoyable part of the day, and the whole trip, was when Rea stuck her hand in this rusty old metal animal trap of my dads...  She was quite traumatized, and we are so grateful that it didn't break any bones or worse yet snap her fingers off.  (sigh)  Thankfully tetanus shots are all up to date, she didn't even need a booster, and the next day she acted like it didn't even bother her!

 So the next day, on Friday, we spent the morning and early afternoon at Mandy's friend's parents' house for a cook out and swim time.

 This is my dream backyard.....

 The girls got up the courage to jump off the high dive together, and once they did that, you couldn't get them off!

 Once we got back to mom and dad's we canned peaches!!! Yay, I felt so domestic and house-wifey.  :)

Loved these cupcakes....  Food coloring gel for the cake batter AND frosting - great idea!