Correction - ONE More Bloom

Feeling Adventurous

At 12:30 yesterday, Susan from Jonah's Journey called and chuckled as she asked me a loaded question, "Are you feeling adventurous today?"

Ready for anything (kinda), I said, "Sure!" 

And within a few hours I had this 3 day old snickerdoodle in my home, in my arms. 

When she wasn't in the kids' arms, that is.

At the moment, Noah's been holding her for an hour.  Just did a shift change and an antsy Anna has her back.  Not a bad way to do baby duty!  I have caught up on messages, started laundry, reorganized baby gear, eaten breakfast, and am now blogging!

A few more shots before I get back to schoolwork and baby stuff...

Momma and baby in the NICU yesterday.

  

Lasa is baby's name. I keep wanting to call her Leia.  She is not the one we got the crib for originally, but she is the one born the very day we put it together ... so it's possible she WAS the one and we just didn't know it yet. :}

This happened to our bedroom last night. 

Downgrading to a bassinet tonight though. :}

Late night baby watching.  I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night.

Not complaining though.  Yet.  HA!

Good morning! 

And I do mean morning.  Been up since 5.  What?!?

Sunflowers Still

I promise to let this be the last I post of Anna's sunflowers.  Mostly because the flies, bees, wasps, and other winged creatures pitch a holy fit every time I come over and get in their sunflower space. It's pretty comical.

I have become quite the sucker for off-centered pics this summer.

 

Peekaboo!

 

That last bright yellow thing there is so interesting to me because it's center is so much smaller than usual.

Wrapping up Psalm

I attended a Bible Journaling class this weekend 

and I am so pumped to mark my next studies in that vein of note-taking in a brand new bible.  But, I am also sad to pass the torch, so to speak.  I have been using the Promise Bible on the left for years and years ... I love it, its theme with God's promises highlighted in blue throughout, its New Living Translation, and my accumulated notes within it.

 Feels like home every time I open it.

Like a security blanket, it will remain nearby on the shelf under my nightstand, but it's time to move into a new Bible and a new chapter of study.  I picked up a HCS Journaling Bible and cracked its pages last night.  I whimpered at the emptiness and lack of my own study history evident on its pages.  They are blank as blank can be. 

But I mustered the nerve to break the ice and use a couple tips I picked up at the journaling class this weekend. I put pencil-and-then-pen-to-paper in Proverbs last night, a great place to start.

Before I go any further though, I wanted to give a shout out to the rest of Psalm which took my breath away again in this last read through.  Standout passages are screen-shotted as follows.

Psalm 104.

May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the Lord. Yes!

Psalm 111. 

Glory.  Majesty. Righteous. Gracious. Merciful. Powerful. Just. Good. Trustworthy. True. Holy.  Awe-Inspiring. 

Praise Him, indeed!

Psalm 116. 

The best I can offer is praise.  Praise Him!  Testify to what all he has done.

Psalm 119.

Can you tell I EAT UP chapter 119.  Like, every. single. verse!

 Every line dripping with love and respect for every line of God's word.

Still in 119.

How beautiful - Your principles have been the music of my life. So thankful that I can say this is true  in my life as a whole.

Verse 73 makes me grin. 

You made me, you created me, now GIVE ME THE {common} SENSE to follow your commands. Yes.  That, Lord.  Give me all of that please.

Psalm 138.

 ... because your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.  WOW!  That's a lot of backing.

Such a great book to end my run in my Promise Bible and the NLT.  Here's to this next journaling chapter of Bible study being a little more pretty to look at than black and white screen shots. :)  Here's to more of Ps. 119:18 ... Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law ... in every next book of Scripture I dive into.

Home + Book + Ducklings + Light

Taking in our first read-aloud of the school year ... A charming little book, first in a series of 5 by Cynthia Rylant.  The Storm, set in a lighthouse (ergo entitled the Lighthouse Family series) ... which reminds us of Tybee ...

Psalm!

It's basically impossible to not fall in love with Scripture all over again while working my way through the Psalms. I love how they are prayers, but they are also worship. I scribble down references like a crazy woman each night in bed while I read - to remember to put on our chalkboard or to encourage a friend with one day or to remember myself or to add to the kids' memory verses.  I also just snap shots of whole passages because it's that much quicker.  Ha!

Psalm 36.  

Anyone hear the Third Day song of this in their mind while reading?  I can't not.

 

Psalm 39.

Oh, Lord, that verse 4! and 6! Sobering and relieving all at once.

Psalm 84.

Set your mind, Kimmie. Set it! 

Easier said than done, I know, but so doable still.

 

Psalm 85.

Listen carefully ... for he speaks peace to his people... 

(As in, his ways are peace if I will follow in them, attend to the Spirit's leading ... or if my kids will practice it too, whichever.)

Psalm 93.
Time immemorial, everlasting past, holiness forever.  Impressive!

Seriously so praisworthy!
 The nature of your reign, O Lord, is holiness forever?  So well said.  Such amazing truth!

I imagine I will be back with more screenshots of Scripture after I finish the rest of Psalm again.

Big Kid Backpacks At Last

I didn't realize until shopping for a three-ring binder for Noah's class at co-op last week, that the backback he's been using since his MDO and preschool days was not quite full-size. That explains why his folder always had to be bent at the corners to fit inside though.  Nothing like being slow on the uptake, huh? Duh, mom.

So today we remedied that shortfall. I took the kids shopping for some big kid backpacks and they were so pumped to get to pick them themselves.  They were so little when we got the blue and pink ones that they took no part in that selection process. :}  And at Union they were assigned boring navy tote bags which was a bummer altogether.  Needless to say, my two were bounding down the aisles at Target and then Academy and I was kinda giggly excited for them, too. 

I think their selections match them so well.  Love what they landed on and love that it didn't cost an arm and a leg. And love that we didn't have to hit twenty stores before finding something they (and I) could be happy with.  HA!  Ready for co-op next month now!

A Summer Week's Summary

It's still hot out.  I mean, DANG HOT.  The {only} reason to step outside is to beeline to a pool.  Which we did three times this week. Monday we hung with homeschool buddies, my friend Amy and her kiddos, Brody, Mallory, and Sam. 

Anna was excited to be reunited with her friend Mallory.  They were in pre-K together, but then Anna went to public school this year.  This coming year they will be back together in the same class at Anchored Enrichment.

Noah enjoyed showing off some more jumping stunts.  He had to reshoot this one a couple times to catch it just right.

Tuesday we visited with Anna's bestie, Luci, from Union, but I failed to take any pics that day and am so mad at myself for that!  That tells you how much gabbing I did with her mom, Katie.  As a recovering introvert, I am really thankful for the easy friendships I get to enjoy these days.  Getting older and getting over yourself has its benefits.  Ha!  I made sure to grab some pics again on Thursday, however, when we met up with Karla and a bunch of other MOPS moms for a little poolside reunion or sorts.  Such sweet fellowship.  You'd never know it's been several years since we last met.  Except for how half the kids didn't remember each other.  HA! 

Synchronized jumps ... kinda.

Love Noah's tight little cannonball jump!

Within this particular MOPS group there are a handful of our current homeschool buddies.  Win, win!

  Noah, Cohen, Jonah, and Cole all enjoy each other's company every time they get back together. 

More "synchronized" jumping.

How fun are drippy wet, goggled kids' shots?  Way fun!

 
Don't ask me how my people can stand to get into the hot tub each night when it is stilllllll in the 90s at 7, but they do.  Check out Noah's goggle tan from the week's many swim sessions.

The days we weren't swimming, we were still hanging with more buds!  We had such a fine day with Cathy, Emma, and Everett, we hit the library with them after this.

By Friday, we were all worn the heck out.  That's Josh zonked out at 7:15 after a particularly long day in a particularly rough week at work. 

We were all crashed on the couch taking in an animated version of Lord of the Rings.

In other fun news this week, we harvested our first sunflower seeds.  And soaked them in saltwater overnight and roasted them!  They made the house smell AMAZING while roasting.  And then they burned to ash pretty much by the time I got them out.  Methinks I should have followed the directions and used a real oven instead of the toaster oven.  Will try again this week!

We have many more heads of seeds with which to do so, though.  Please excuse the flower pic overload this summer.  But, I mean, how is one not supposed to stare at such bold color and beauty?  How have I not fallen in love with sunflowers before this year in my life?!

I hate these ants, however, that are eating through the stalks and making all our sunflowers topple over halfway. 

And yet, still they grow, toppled over and all.  Look, triplets!!

We have been bringing in our sweet tomatoes, too ...

and I slice those bad boys up and enjoy them with homemade hummus on crackers.  It is a divine combo!

We harvested some more broccoli, but we can't seem to enjoy them because they have little worms with legs all up in them and it's too hard to get them out.  Nasty!  Ruins the appetite.  After this batch, I had Josh just yank up the rest of the plants, broccoli blooms and all. 

But it's alright.  I have so many pretty sunflowers to distract me from that gardening fail.

My favorite flower photo yet!  Bud AND bloom. :D

Noah also has some gardening success to brag about.  His second fly trap has formed and will likely open tomorrow, he has a third one just starting to take shape too, and his first one caught its first bug on its own last night.  Exciting!  Noah has done a good job keeping its moss/soil moist with watering every few days, and he and I have done a team effort as far as putting the plant out in the yard at night and bringing it onto the porch during the day to protect it from the direct light.  Noah has named it Burt.

This weekend, Josh took the kids to the science museum so I could get started on some school stuff without interruption. Morning well spent! Still so much left to do though; I am a little surprised at how much havoc adding a little Anna to my schooling groove has created for me. Gonna take this week to get everything situated and scheduled, gonna start the kids half days next week, and gonna go full time with our 2015/16 school year the first week of August.  Thanks to outings like this one and other academic summer stuff, the kids have already amassed 12 days worth of school as it is.  Love that!

And finally, tomorrow is Josh's birthday.  We went out for lunch with friends after church today and will likely go out for some birthday dessert today or tomorrow.  Josh opened his presents back at home, which - yes, included a stethoscope.  Don't ask.

It is just all the rage at our house right now - listening to lungs, hearts, tummies, blood vessels, you name it. It is just a matter of time before the kids try it on burps and toots. #reallife

Josh also got some glue from the kids for his workshop, a carving from Anna, some expensive coffee beans, and a screen cover for his phone ... which is already cracked.  Don't ask.

Only two more weeks of summer left to take in!  The kids are driving each other crazy lately, which is so not like them, so it really is ok to have summer draw to a close at last.  Plus, it means we are that much closer to football season, fall, and cool air again.  Please, Lord, let the cool air come.