Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Is this summer or my own hurricane???

Wow....I was looking forward to summer, relaxing by the pool, and doing some house projects. Well this is summer...I've painted, swam, created...I think the relaxing is next on the list...maybe. To catch you up, and make notes for myself since my brain gets fuzzier by the day, I'll post some highlights of the last few months. Thanks to my friend Mindy who has inspired me to blog this way. I'll have it all on paper-so to speak-and it will be done.

10. The garden is growing. We have had blackberry pie, homemade pickles, tons of zucchini and squash, peas, and beans. The tomato plants are loaded so I think once they get red we will can some pasta sauce. We'll can more pickles and perhaps zucchini relish. Now, I only have to worry about the black widow Patrick found living near the watermelons....yikes!







9.Grandma and Grandpa Army came for a visit and we celebrated the end of our school year with a trip to a video/minigolf place and a baseball game. We just love these adventures with Grammy and Grampy.












8. Patrick and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. He is such a wonderful husband and very thoughtful. He surprised me with a nice dinner out, a concert, and a night in a bed and breakfast. It was so nice to spend time with my very best friend. Being the terrible gift giver that I am...Patrick received a 6pack of Guiness...I'll work on this before next year!









7. The kids spent a week at Vacation Bible School which was wonderful. We got to pack lunches and eat with our friends, go to daily Mass, sing songs, do skits....the highlight for me was the story of Sean answering a question on the Blessed Trinity with crayons stuck up his nose!

6. We spent a day with good friends cooling off in a Mountain Lake. What fun!
5. Max keeps us on our toes. He is a cross between Ernie (his favorite toy is a rubber duck) and Harry Houdini (he is an escape artist). Just a few days ago he went missing for some time with all the doors locked, well all the doors were locked except the garage door but the big doors were down. He showed up a bit later on the front porch. How? He went into the garage, pushed out the window screen, climbed out the window, and walked up to the front porch. We were alerted to this by the dogs. His guardian angel works very hard, and I am very thankful!












4. We have done major house projects like painting rooms and bookcases. I allowed the kids to help me paint the bookcases...on a tarp in the school room. Patrick looked in sometime later and informed me I am never allowed to paint ever again. In order to get me outside to clean myself up, he had to throw me over his shoulder like a fireman. All the painting tools....thrown away...they were that bad. We all had fun, except Patrick I suppose. The bookcases are "good enough", and I apparently, never have to paint again. There are no pictures of this adventure. Thank goodness.

3. I have made curtains for the school room, laundry room, and kitchen, and cleaned all the other curtains in the house. I still have curtain to make for Sarah's room...tomorrow. We cleaned out all the closets as well. I'm sure we'll do it again in 6months. It is a never ending job.

2. We have swimming lessons and art camp ahead of us. So while I wanted to start school soon, we will wait several more weeks. After our camp we need at least one down week because this summer we also.....

1. Had tons of cousins come visit. Shannon and Tony and their kids came for week. We had fun adventures like gem mining and a trip to the science museum. Then the Jennings and Bethray clan came. We had15 kids and seven adults in the house! We were packed in, but had such a great time. We went into the mountains and explored a cave, and went on hike (mostly through the river, not the trail). The hike involved jumping off huge rocks into pools and snakes hidden under rocks...oh my. We have wonderful memories of cousins and summer fun. We are so blessed!