Flowers in the rain

a benefit of room-cleaning

Sometimes, when you clean your room, you discover a WHOLE AREA of space that you could be using!

This week, the girls have rediscovered their closet.

Wow mommy, look!  You can see the floor! 

 Can we read in here?  Can we sleep in here?

off guard!

I've said it of the boys so many times...

"WOW, what are they thinking?  The girls would NEVER think to do that!"

Well, today, it was the little girl that caught me off guard!

The boys have never thought to do THIS:

One of those moments... 

Oh no, that was not a good idea!  Just wait right there while I get my camera...

Below: that's foundation on her face.  

With plenty of powder on top.

It is also on her hands, arms, legs, and feet!

Oh, girly- girl!

Goodnight room!

A favorite book, by Margaret Wise Brown

Modified for Lorraine and Aggie

In the pretty pink room

there was a canopy

And a green balloon

And a sculpture of--

An angel sitting on the moon

and a blanket with bears, and two little chairs

and a pile of hair pretties, many buddies, and kitties

and some dinosaur toys, left by the boys

and a box of craft stuff, with stickers and fluff

and a comb and a brush and sister saying "shush"

and a mom in the hallway who was whispering, "hush"

Goodnight room

goodnight moon

goodnight angel sitting on the moon

goodnight light and the green balloon

goodnight bears goodnight chairs

goodnight pretties, goodnight kitties

goodnight toys, goodnight boys

goodnight craft stuff, and goodnight fluff

goodnight comb and goodnight brush

goodnight nobody goodnight mush

and goodnight to the queen mommy whispering "hush"

goodnight stars, goodnight air

goodnight noises everywhere.

fall time!

After writing the post for my other blog, 

I stumbled upon this old video:

We love fall time.

Sisters at the lake

Girls just wanna have fun in the water!

I love watching these sisters play in the lake!

Father, thank you for the free and joyful relationship between these two sisters right now; the innocence, the delight they have in each other; the laughter and the fun.  May these many hours of shared happiness create a deep and lasting love for each other in their hearts.  If conflict should arise between them when they are grown, please Lord remind them of these things that they share, and give them love for each other that carries them through difficult days.  Amen.

my waterbugs

My waterbugs swimming for the fourth time today!

This time, with a friend, and surrounded by lightning bugs!

squeezing in summer fun!

School is quickly approaching, so we are trying to squeeze in some last-minute summer fun!

Last night we had a bonfire!

The kids loved watching daddy burn the brush pile!

(Which daddy made a month or more ago when

he got his cool new chainsaw!)

The wood was still a bit green so we will probably have

another bonfire next month to finish it off!

I got the following idea from Family Fun magazine-

of course my artsy girls appreciated it the most!

Our dining room table is covered in craft paper and beautiful pictures for as
long as they will last- what fun!

An unexpected side benefit- the kids, even the boys, are motived to

be significantly neater when eating their meals

so that they don't ruin the pictures!

We have actually gone two entire meals without spilled milk!

White creek is bursting with wildlife! Lorraine played with this injured butterfly for awhile before relasing it (she realized it needed to be free to stay safe from little Eldon!)

Other visitors to the yard lately include lizards and frogs (also caught and relased by the kids), fawns, raccoons, and even a skunk that wound up in the racoon trap!

Girls weekend!

We had a great time at Camp Lakeview! On the way home I asked the girls what their most FAVORITE part of camp was, and they came up with a list of about 18 favorites! Here are a few:

Horseback riding! Aggie was not so sure about it at first and begged me to ride with her, so I did my best... of course, they chose the biggest tallest horse to carry a load such as we, and as I attempted to mount it I had a moment of "OH no! My leg doesn't move the way it did a month ago!" But somehow I got up there, and went with Aggie crammed in the saddle in front of me! I think we should both get an extra merit badge for that one!

THE SLIP N SLIDE! The girls were picturing something like the one we have at home, but of course the one at camp is enormous and awesome! Here they are waiting nervously in line the first time (above), but after one time they both agreed it was AWESOME and CAN WE DO IT AGAIN MOMMY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE????

Swimming- we went four times I think! It was extremely hot so I was happy to get in with them on Saturday. Lorraine has conquered her fear of going underwater and LOVES her swim goggles (I can't wait to use the picture above at her graduation parties, hahaha!) She jumped off the dock, the float, and worked on her unique swimming style most of the time. Aggie was the brave one who first got up the nerve to go under the dock (why is that so creepy and scary?) and also had a blast noodling around.

They even talked me in to letting them swim on sunday morning before church, so they were in the water at aout 830, it was about 60 degrees and windy... I did not join them that day! Of course they were blue and shivering afterwards so I put them in the hot showers where they promptly turned into teenagers- "I'm not ready to get out yet mommy, five more minutes?"

I went back to the cabin to get their dry clothes and even there I could hear them singing in the showers at the top of their lungs! Of course later when I told them this, Lorraine swears it was only Aggie who sang!

The Chippa-Chicks by their Chippewa cabin!

Other favorites: the pancakes and chocolate milk, the silly games, the smores, the campfire, walking through the woods with flashlights, playing in the muddy creek, singing on stage at the ampitheatre for mommy, playing with the parachute, sleeping on top bunkbeds again, making new friends, eating ice cream

When can we go again, mommy?

PS Josh thinks it is a little mean of me to post the picture of Lorraine in her goggles... sure, it's goofy, but it makes me PROUD! My princess/cheerleader daughter is also capable of being a SWIMMER! Now I just have to teach her to spit like one! :)