Summer Activity

Wow!  Summer went by so quickly this year (despite the lull that always seems to hit right as August gets here - maybe it's the heat...)  Now we have just a week until school starts, so what else have we been up to?

Here are the highlights:

Lincoln went to basketball camp with his friend JD.
We followed that with a leadership camp for Leah and an art camp for both Leah and Lincoln.

We attended LOTS of library programs - puppet shows, live music, arts and crafts....

but this was one of our favorites - Terrence the Tap Dance Man.

The kids were in stitches the whole time and all three of the older ones got to "help" tell him how to dance.

Reading LOTS of books!

Here is just a sampling of the free books we've received this summer through all the different summer reading programs!

 Eating at Chick-Fil-A!

 Tearing apart our kitchen - and putting it back together again...mostly
(more on that later, let's just say it's still a work in progress)

And we have also been swimming - almost every day!

For those who are wondering, Eli is not wearing a shirt in this picture.

We found a pool not far from our house that keeps everyone happy - it has a large 2 - 2 1/2 foot area for the little boys, but it also has an even larger 4-11 foot section where the big kids spend all their time.
I got really frustrated with the city because they kept cancelling the swim lessons I had signed everyone up for, so finally I taught Lincoln myself using these online swim lessons as a guide.  I would have taught the others as well, but they were much less cooperative and really just wanted to play so we'll try again next year.

This summer has been much more fun for me since the kids are older and I don't have to do everything for everyone anymore.  That is the sweet part of the bittersweet aging process...
We have had a great time and the "I'm bored" days have been few and far between (thankfully!)
I definitely think we're ready for a new year filled with exciting changes at our awesome elementary school so come back to see how things are going!

I'm Back....

My apologies for being absent from this blog for the last few months.  Our poor computer finally died and we were without for a couple of months, mostly because we just didn't have any time to go out and get a new one.  Luckily, some friends came to our rescue and we are back up and playing catchup.  For those who are interested, I've posted going back as far as February and will continue to update as I have time - hopefully, we'll be back on schedule before school starts.

Enjoy!

Enchanted Wedding

Andrew has now been bishop for just over two years, and while he's conducted several funerals, he had never performed any weddings (which I guess is a good thing since it means people are getting married in the temple).  However, this summer that all changed.  He had the opportunity to perform two weddings just in the last month.

The first was a wedding for a couple who had been meeting with the missionaries and wanted to get baptized.  They got married at Chapel Dulcinea - a very cool open air chapel just south of Austin that is free to anyone who wants to get married.  I didn't get to attend that wedding with him, but I did get to attend the next one he performed

on Enchanted Rock!

I knew A when she was a Young Woman in our ward many years ago.  Her boyfriend decided to get baptized so they picked this gorgeous location to be married.  Here they are with their 3 year old daughter who was thrilled with the whole production (although I still don't know how A made it up the trail in those heels!)

I guess if you can't get married in the temple, this isn't a bad consolation... but we fully expect to see them in San Antonio next summer!

Pinewood Derby

Lincoln competed in his first Pinewood Derby today...

Luckily, Grandpa and Brent were up helping us work on the kitchen, so we had access to lots of cool tools for shaping, weighting, and balancing the car.

Lincoln had a very clear idea of what he wanted and created this cool car all by himself (with the exception of a few power tool requirements).  He decided to go with a "3-wheeled" design to reduce friction and weighted the car with nickels from 2005 (his birth year) for good luck.

The competition was impressive.

Can you tell which cars were made by sisters of the scouts?

They weren't eligible for the finals, but they were both pretty fast!

The track set up is very high tech these days - there is a sensor at the finish line which sends placing directly to a computer to calculate the winner.

And Lincoln finished in 2nd place!

Not bad for his first race!

Sibling Sleepover

The kids have been begging for a sleepover, so this was the compromise we arrived at.

They laughed and giggled and stayed up late, but when Dad got home we were able to move them all to their own beds.

Best sleepover ever!