Welcome Home Daddy!

Tim arrived home from his Ukraine trip early on Monday morning. He did not get a chance to sleep in as four little girls were very happy to see him. He is still recovering from jet lag and the exhaustion of the trip. We have had a busy week with school, the city swim meet, and youth activities. We are seeing lots of summer activities slow down as everyone is preparing for school to begin. It is hard to believe that another summer is almost done.

Staying Busy

More Swim Ribbons - I had to post this picture because if you will look closely you will see that in the 9-10 backstroke event this week, Rachel received 1st and Elizabeth 2nd. A little sisterly competition is good for everyone. Next week is the City Meet where all the neighborhood pools compete against each other. They get to swim in the pool at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. It is very long but lots of fun!
Here they are on the first day of school - eager and ready to learn. I should have taken a picture on the second day of school when Abigail said to me "oh Mom, not again." I take a picture like this every year and it is fun to look back and see how much they have grown.
The three older girls participated in a Basketball Camp this week. It was great fun and they even learned some things. The camp was from 4-6 each afternoon which works perfect while Daddy is away.

Getting Ready!

Tim left for his annual mission trip on Thursday afternoon. The planning for this trip usually begins in the Fall of each year and continues until they leave in July. Now the planning is done and they are off for an adventure. The mission trip is also the end of a planning stage in my life. I am no longer looking through catalogs deciding what curriculum to buy. All the decisions are made and it is time to get to work. We usually begin school while Tim is away since the weather becomes somewhat unbearable in July. We are starting with three of our subjects next week (Math, Writing, and History). I have spent much of this week gathering school supplies, making copies, printing assignments etc. I always have mixed feelings about getting back into the swing of things,on one hand I love the routine but I also miss the flexibility of summer. I will let you know how we do.


Here we are getting ready to make meals for the freezer. We ended up with 11 meals put away for those busy school days. My helpers started strong and slowly faded. I was having trouble finding jobs to keep everyone busy so I finally assigned Abigail and Rebekah the job of playing a few computer games. They were very happy with this and productivity increased immensely.
The girls are always excited to get their ribbons for the swim meet. This was a special week because Elizabeth took 1st and Rachel took 2nd for the backstroke in the 9-10 age division. They were only a few tenths of a second apart. Elizabeth was thrilled and Rachel was a great sport. They are having fun competing against each other.
Here we are getting ready to see the Kit Movie for Rebekah's Birthday. She invited three friends and we all had a good time.

4th of July

We had a fun and relaxing Fourth of July. We tried to beat the heat by getting up for an early bike ride at Two Rivers. Afterwards we went and had a nice dip in the pool. The Cain's and Worthington's joined us for a cook-out and our own bicycle parade. We finished the day with fireworks in Maumelle. The Dad's love to shoot off their own fireworks before we go and see the real show.

Preparing for the parade and praying the rain will stop.

We had our own parade with the Worthington's and Cain's.

Enjoying our own fireworks. We are not sure if this is more fun for the kids or the Dads.

Rachel, our bookworm, finished these five books in the last six days. Thank goodness for the library.

Rebekah Claire's 8th Birthday

A Yummy Gift from her Sisters

A Pink Tennis Racket

On Tuesday we celebrated Rebekah's 8th Birthday. Rebekah has grown into such a big girl. She loves to read Paddington and Magic Tree House books. Rebekah loves to be in the water and collecting frogs, turtles and bugs. We celebrated on Tues. by having blueberry coffeecake for breakfast and then it was off to swim team practice. That evening we had a swim meet against our fiercest rival Chenal Country Club. The girls had a great time and even placed in some of the events. On Friday night we went to Larry's pizza and then to Sonic for smoothies for Rebekah's birthday dinner. We are planning to take some of her friends to the Kit movie for her friend party. We are really stretching out this birthday.


Ready for the Meet

A Birthday Breakfast
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Rebekah's New friends -Hopper and Bananas

Abby finishes third in the Backstroke

Summer gives us lots of time for crafts!

Motivated by the Chicken Pox

I have been motivated to start my own blog as a way to record the happenings in my family. I always think that I will remember the cute things that my children have said or the fun times that we have had, but I realize that my mind can't hold onto all of these moments. So now I want to start to capture some of those sweet times here.

One of the reasons that his blog is happening today, is the fact that we are home from church with the chicken pox. Not only are we home today, but we have been home for the last six days. To say the least we are all a little stir crazy. We arrived home from a wonderful beach trip on Sunday and we were excited to get back into the swing of life only to find that Monday morning we had the chicken pox. The first few days were great to get projects done around the house and spend special time with the girls. We did crafts, played games, cooked, worked puzzles, read books etc. Tim was so busy getting back to work that our week was quite opposite. He was home very little this week. He had meetings in the evenings and was gone all day Sat. preparing for his mission trip. This was tiring for him and made my days seem even longer. Last night, when the reality hit that I would need to fill another day with activity, despair began to sink in. Not that I don't have more that could be done but I have lost motivation. The girls have not really felt that bad and are still full of energy which is a blessing. At the beginning of the week Abigail was excited to have a "chicken pox party", today she is begging me to let her go to church with Daddy. Most of the spots have faded and tomorrow we will be back into the swing of things wishing we had more time at home (maybe not right away.) I attached some pictures that gives you a glimpse of the last week.