Gearing Up

Summer is winding down. I can feel it. We didn't have any huge trips this summer and most of our big events are over. I'm feeling the pull towards school--if only to get a "head start" so we can finish in May. Aliza is begging and pleading with me to start school. Every day. Remember this if she wants to tell you how much she dislikes school!

We are getting ready. I've decided on a staggered start for Josiah and Aliza. Aliza will start next week (later in the week) and Josiah with start the following week. Let's just say...Josiah is not nearly as eager to start as Aliza is.

This year I have two shelves of books. The top shelf is kindergarten and the lower shelf is 2nd grade. 2nd grade?! That seems impossible!

Aliza had a blast decorating her folders. I use the folders to put her work in each day and she returns her completed work to the folder.

A desk space has been prepared for Josiah. He will not let on at all that he even remotely looks forward to starting school. I was quite thrilled when Anna tried to sit in his chair and he adamantly defended "his" space. There's hope. He's taken ownership of his desk!

Now the process of watching all of the 2nd grade orientation lessons. And hanging on to these last days of summer!

Mom's (60th!) Birthday

 A birthday party is a good excuse to grab some informal family pictures. The whole family was together which was pretty exciting. You can only imagine trying to these 8 to all look at the camera at the same time. Jeremy took 75 pictures in rapid succession.

Funny faces...

 I think this one is about the best. Lydia's mouth is above the rail. It strikes me funny that my children are leaning through the rail and the others are standing nicely. Caleb had the extra responsibility of hanging on to Ezra. Anyway...there they are....the 8 grandchildren.

 Here we are...the 5 children. My brother can still reach around all 4 of his sisters.

 I don't know what this is about. Did we do this at Brian's wedding? I know Janell and Brian have a thing about Janell being about to hold him. Anyway, I had him awkwardly under the arm and used it to my full advantage after the picture. He wasn't sure if it was me or Janell tickling him.

 Now with our parents. We behave beautifully for our parents....always have...haha.

 The whole Earl Sheats family. And, I believe, everyone is looking in the direction of the camera.

 Josiah was particularly excited to give his present to Grandma. He cut pieces of tissue paper to cover his present. He wanted the tissue paper to be square with no jagged edges.

 Josiah gave Grandma on of his trucks. A fire engine, I believe.

We had a meal and dessert and an afternoon of visiting together (and me taking a nap with Anna). It is occasions like this that I remember how important family is.

My Dinner Date

Aliza has been begging me to take her to Panera for broccoli soup--alone. Tonight was the night. It didn't matter how I was feeling or that I have my Mom's birthday cake on the counter waiting for me to decorate. I just knew I needed to be all there with my girl.

Aliza insisted this was a very special date and we needed to wear dresses. I thought I might get away with black capris, but I was informed it had to be a dress and Aliza picked it out. She knew exactly which dress she wanted me to wear.

She chattered the whole evening. I finished my salad long before she finished her soup. I was listening. She was talking. We browsed Barnes and Noble. We both agreed there were LOTS of books we wanted to buy, but we didn't buy anything this time. (A good lesson, I thought!) The fact that there were girl Legos in Barnes and Noble didn't make it easy! We finished off the evening with dessert at Tutti Frutti.

On the way home Aliza said, "Mommy, I really wish you would put more effort in learning to play Minecraft. It would be so fun to play with you." She managed to phrase that statement in a way that has got me thinking. I have no desire to play Minecraft. It will be practically torturous to learn. I do, however, desire to connect with my family and this is where they are at and what they connect over so it looks like I better get on the ball. Aliza achieved King status in Tale of Kingdoms mod today. You should have seen her and Josiah celebrate. They were whooping and hollering and hugging and jumping. Josiah was so excited for Aliza. It was pretty special to witness that sibling bond.

Aliza and I have a pretty special bond too. That's why I took her out tonight. To invest in our bond and make some relationship deposits in the teenage years account.

Joy Dare::July

539. On the porch just listening to the rain

540. Presence of mind during the tornado warning
541. PLENTY of rain so far this summer!
542. "Hospitality is Life with no Gates. Hospitality means if there is room in the heart--there is always room in the house." Ann Voscamp
543. An acquaintance becomes a friend because of a common experience.
544. Aliza requested a talk alone to tell me what I'd done wrong--she was right. And she forgave me.
545. Visited Judy the day she was making homemade ice cream (and she gave us samples)
546. 4th of July Parade

547. A smooth and quick trip to WV
548. Patience to help Aliza face fears
549. Josiah and Aliza on my lap in the car during fireworks
550. Time with Jeremy
551. Finding some great deals on clothes for Jeremy
552. Daughters cheering for Daddy to dive into the pool over and over

553. Birthday dessert--whoopie pie cake
554. My Daddy called just to tell me Happy Birthday
555. My Grandad picked out kitchen hand towels for me. Just what I needed!

556. My blog in a book
557. Josiah's gator to help me finish a big job
558. Supper with a friend who is now happily married
559. Colored tongues from popsicles

560.  Reading Beatrix Potter stories
561. Sitting around the a table with ladies--chatting and cutting
562. Corn fields lush and flourishing
563. Deepening friendship
564. Fresh on the table tonight--corn on the cob, cucumber, string beans, zucchini and squash
565. Time at my Mom's house today
566. Listening to Josiah play farm
567. Jeremy and Aliza dancing
568. Going over to play with cousins on a rainy morning
569. Making time to do a scrapbook layout this afternoon
570. Curls in little girl hair
571. A little bit of one on one time with my niece
572. A whole day--alone--with Jeremy
573. Side by side time on the golf course
574. Grandparents to keep our children overnight
575. Wants to be just like big brother

576. Water fun play date

577. So happy to see my kiddos this morning
578. All of us on the floor building with Legos
579. A slow, low key morning
580. Beach at sunset

581. Light peeking around dark clouds
582. Spending the evening with Laura and John
583. Reading time with Great Gramma

584. Original song lyrics ("Oh God, we believe. Oh God, we believe you're the only one I need. Oh God, you have us your only Son today. The fish and the birds you created. Oh God, we believe. Oh God, we love today.")

585. Cousins loudly running around inside--happy to play together. (inside because it's plain old too hot to be outside)
586. Afternoon vacation at the Spyglass Quay beach house
587. Water to play in
588. A child's innocent fearlessness
589. Moments when Anna seems so grown up and moments when she still feels like a baby
590. Morning smiles
591. Picking blueberries
592. Lessons learned in making gratitude a lifestyle
593. My very wide awake little girl--way too late at night

594. Amazing Race date
595. Blueberry crumb bars and vanilla ice cream after Sunday evening chef salad
596. Sorting
597. Children quite happy and content today
598. American Girl movie "Saige" with my big girl

599. Learning some new signs from a relative who is fluent in American Sign Language

600. Josiah now dunks his head and jumps in the pool with a noodle--growing up

601. A lovely evening for visiting outside
602. Chips served in glass dishes--that would be my Gramma!

603. Making ants on a log

604. Another front tooth missing (selfie by Aliza)

605. Cooler temperatures and no humidity!
606. A beautiful yellow butterfly fluttering by
607. Praying for a friend having radioactive iodine treatment
608. Girl weekend
609. Spontaneous purchase at the Lego store
610. Dinner and visit with my Great Aunt and Uncle
611. Some sister time with Linda
612. Scrapbook shopping and a scrapbook class--so much fun!
613. Choosing to relax and scrapbook all evening long!!
616. Awesome Minecraft Legos

617. Temperature perfect for taking walks and riding bikes
618. Everyone ate supper and held normal conversation
619. Watched Aliza kindly handle a difficult social situation
620. Sand angels

621. A situation I've been uncomfortable with completely taken care of
622. Rocking and singing to Anna before her nap
623. 3 on the Gator means that Jeremy and I can hold hands while we walk

624. All 3 asleep at 9:00pm

Our CKC Weekend

Janell, Chrissy and I had so much fun at the Creating Keepsakes Convention last year that we decided to go again this year. We had another fabulous weekend. It is amazing how tired fabulous weekends can make a person!

Our first stop was at the Christiana Mall. I thought it would be beneficial to check out Christmas ideas at the Lego store. Instead Chrissy spotted Minecraft Legos. There were exactly two boxes on the shelf. Chrissy grabbed one for herself. I tucked it away in my mind as a gift idea and then we started talking to a salesperson who told us that the first 12 the store received sold out in a less than a day and on Ebay the sets were going for over $100 last Christmas. I walked right over and picked up the last box on the shelf.

 

We had dinner with my Great Aunt and Uncle. Janell and I attempt to throw all healthy eating out the window for the weekend so she ordered the same huge dessert she accidentally ordered last year.

Linda met us at the convention Saturday morning and walked around the vendor fair with us. We learned from last year to look for the deals. Stocking up on washi tape was also on our agenda. I purchased the SEI bag of $80 product for $20 plus a 15% off coupon.

 After lunch we had our class. It was about learning to use Smash books. Everyone received a Smash book kit and a set of directions for ideas and a starting point. I didn't really know what I was going to use my book for so I followed the directions. Janell had a specific plan for her book and she took off on her own. Chrissy had a plan for her book too and, honestly, I don't think I saw hers!

 We picked up Subway on the way back to the hotel and holed up and scrapbooked all evening until we could no longer keep our eyes open. Sunday morning I got up and did 2 more layouts which caught me up through June in our family album.

On the way home we stopped to say hi to my Aunt and her family who was in Lancaster area for a family reunion of her husbands family. She lives 6 hours from us and when we figured out she was 12 miles away we thought it was worth the extra minutes.

We topped off the weekend with Cheesecake Factory for lunch on the way home. I was ready to be home. It's good to take a break, but it's also good to be back with my hubby and the kiddos. Jeremy did a spectacular job of holding down the fort. He's awesome!

Aliza's Playlist

It's been a low key week and too hot to be outside. Aliza and Josiah have been the best of playmates. Legos and dolls/Lalaloopsy's have been the games of choice. Aliza has discovered itunes and there have been some epic dance parties. She searches for specific songs and the same ones each time. You can't even imagine the dancing! She dances until her cheeks are red and she's sweating. Here's her playlist:

Good Morning by Mandisa
To Hell with the Devil by Stryper
White Flag by Chris Tomlin
Come People of the Risen King by Keith and Krystin Getty
Fire Never Sleeps by Jesus Culture
Anything by the Newsboys, but especially:
The King is Coming
God's Not Dead

Careful! You might start dancing too!! =)

Blueberries!

Thankfully it was overcast with a breeze here and there while we picked blueberries. It was still hot! Blueberries are meant to be picked in the heat so it was a perfect day for picking. We didn't completely understand the directions to the best berries so we spent a lot of time picking and barely filling out buckets.

Anna picked by the handful. She also picked out her outfit today.

When Jeremy and Chrissy saw people leaving with multiple buckets of big berries, Jeremy went scouting and it wasn't long until we took the hike over the ditch to huge, sweet berries that filled out buckets really fast.

Here I am teaching Anna to pick one at a time. She did good for a moment--she counted each berry as she dropped it in her bucket--one, two, three, four. And then it was back to handfuls. I tried!

We ended up with about 11 pounds of berries. I determined to make one unhealthy blueberry recipe before freezing the rest of smoothies and snacks. Josiah loves frozen blueberries! (The unhealthy recipe is blueberry crumb bars. They are really yummy. I'll be buying vanilla ice cream tomorrow to make them even yummier!!)