::cooler weather::

When I woke up Monday, there was all kinds of excitement around the house. Windows were flying open and requests for hot cereal were being made. Our first cool front had arrived and the children wanted to savor every moment of it.

Gabriel asked, "If I mow the whole yard, do I have to do school today?" "Well, ummmm, no... but you can do both."
So that was a really hard decision for me!
What I really wanted to say is "Of course, go outside, forget the books for one day!"
But as they have gotten older I've had to get way more strict in our schooling, at this point if it's a school day we have to school. However, we don't have to school inside. At some point all the children were outside enjoying the cooler weather.

Phoebe and Benjamin did their art outside. The children have taken art classes off and on for the last 6 years or so. It's amazing what some instruction from an artist can do for a child's confidence in his art ability. Last year was Benjamin's first year. Last spring, their sweet art teacher passed away. And although another teacher has taken her classes, we just weren't ready to go with Mrs. Ellie not being there. So, we're doing art at home. We've decided to keep a nature journal similar to The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, 1906: A Facsimile Reproduction of a Naturalist's Diary. This is an amazing book, the children are learning that art isn't just something we hang on a wall, but it's something we can do just for our own enjoyment. And it's making them more aware of their surroundings.

Hope you're enjoying this cooler weather!

fun weekend

Usually, when we go on a vacation we camp. There are many reasons for this, we enjoy camping, we like being outside, hotels always want us to get two rooms… you know the usual reasons people love camping. For our anniversary we were blessed by some friends who have a condo near Port Aransas and they gave us a weekend at their condo. So what did we do… we took our children. I know it seems kind of lame, but we pretty much always spend our anniversary with our children, we see our anniversary more as a beginning for our family than we do as a beginning for us. We’ll have many years where it is just us, and we have very limited years with our children. (Don’t think that we don’t ever go out or on trips by ourselves, we do, it’s just not usually for our anniversary.)

Esther looking over the balcony at the pool.

View from our balcony.


We swam morning, afternoon and night, night time was definitely our favorite time to swim. The pool stayed open until midnight, but we only stayed until about 10:30.

The slide.


We ate dinner at Snoopy’s, Carl worked there when we got married and for the first few years of our marriage.

We had an amazing time of just relaxing and swimming in the pool. Although we were just a boardwalk away from the beach, we didn’t go to the beach at all.

Christian's Project

Our summer was filled with many things, but one thing that we will always think about when we think of the summer of 2010 is the Boy Scout Eagle Projects. Christian built surround benches for 5 trees at the Hiller House. The land around the Hiller House is a city park and there just isn't much seating. The house and park can also be rented for various activities, in fact our church did VBS there. It was great!

The benches were built at our house and then taken to the park to install.


Christian supervising - this was harder than he thought it would be. Sometimes it seems easier to just do everything yourself instead of managing a crew.


Everything had to be exact so that the benches would fit together properly.


Several of Christian's Scoutmasters came out to help. They were a huge help, since they are all very handy with construction.


Installing the benches.



Making sure everything is level and tight.

This was an amazing project, the actual building and installing took 4 pretty full days. Plus all the planning. There's still some paperwork to be completed, but Christian is hoping to get his Eagle Rank before the end of the year.

::this moment::

{this moment} - A single photo - no words - capturing a moment. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Our Summer "Break"

What we did during our summer break:
• Christian went on a Mission Trip to the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia
• Esther learned to walk
• Movies every Wednesday morning



• Went to an ARMA (sword fighting) demo at the library
• Christian, Josiah and Gabriel all had summer jobs. Christian worked at a petroleum products company that a friend owns as manual labor. A side benefit is that he has a renewed interest in his school work ~ I’m guessing he doesn’t plan on doing that kind of work when he’s an adult. Josiah and Gabriel have a lawn mowing business. And Josiah also got a job at a day lily farm that is right around the corner from us, working three mornings a week
• Christian started the physical work of his Eagle Project
• Weeded and watered garden ~ picked squash, zucchini, tomatoes , green beans, pumpkins, onions, garlic, okra ~ this was going on all summer long
• Josiah finished his Eagle Project ~ he just needs a few more merit badges



• Went to a Corpus Christi Hooks game ~ sat in the burm (grass) section, got free hats and Whataburger coupons, can’t remember if the Hooks won or not, I’m not really into baseball
• Unpacked boxes
• Vacation Bible School
• Our sweet nephew, Hunter, was born
• Beach campout with some good friends
• Carl baptized Benjamin while we were at the beach. Grandparents and Aunts came out for the event


• Christian got his drivers permit
• Phoebe, Benjamin, Esther and I went to Children’s camp with our church
• Christian, Josiah and Gabriel went to Boy Scout Camp
• Carl had a few peaceful nights alone while his family all went to various camps
• Sewed some cute stuff for the house
• Went to Fiesta Texas



• Find out that Christian has an opportunity to go to the Boy Scouts National Jamboree on a full scholarship ~ only 3 weeks to get it all together, most people spend a year or more getting ready!
• After a few weeks of pure chaos (most of it just our normal life ~ remember unpacking boxes, watering, weeding, picking the garden, mowing lawns, working and of course, our movie day) Christian boards a plane for the first time (the time he was 6 weeks old really doesn’t count) for Philadelphia , then off to Washington DC and then Virginia for 2 weeks
• Unpacked boxes


• Made Esther some pajamas and night gowns
• Mowed down the weeds, ummmm I mean garden
• Canned grapes, pears, peaches, prickly pear cactus fruit, tomatoes
• Dehydrated squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes
• Froze breaded okra, basil pesto, tomatoes
• Stored sugar pumpkins and spaghetti squash
• Unpacked boxes
• Had visits from old friends

We had an amazing summer, I'm spending this week trying to get organized for the new school year. Although the kids have done some school stuff off and on all summer, we'll officially start on Tuesday and Drama and Co-op start next week.

Have a great week!