Looking Back

I have been busy beyond belief. So blogging has fallen by the wayside and reading blogs is non existent. All those who's blogs I used to read, I will come back to you soon. Let me get through this crazy time and we will be friends again.

So in the few quiet moments I find I will try to grab a little of what I have missed so I have these memories....memorialized.

The summer was a blast. We had a fun houseboat lake trip with 3 other great families and loved every minute of it. Even the mosquito that flew into my ear and buzzed in my head all night....glad my Dr. friend was on board with his ear-looker thing to help me out!!

One of our best memories was our trip to Utah. We visited family and then spent a week at Aspen Grove with some new friends.

My sister and niece

It is such a treasure to me to meet new people who make me want to be better. I feel so blessed when I rub shoulders with people that give me new perspective, make me think, and make my life richer. That was the group we went with to Aspen Grove. I only knew 2 of the 7 families that we went with and it was so much fun to get to know new friends. I call them friends because I know that I will keep in touch with many of them forever and how lucky I am for that. You can see in the pictures that my girls also made some life long friends of their own.

Chris and the girls after playing tennis

Olivia with her friends (the four musketeers)

Jen, Shawni, Amy, Melissa, Me Tracy and Nichole!

Cole and Melissa (one of my dear friends)

Grace and Elle

The three musketeers Ava, Sophie and Claire

Ruby and Elle (they were best friends)

I totally sucked at tennis....I would like to say it was the altitude but man I played bad!!

SOOOO cute!

Friday Night Lights!

Football is everything in this town. High school football is nothing like what I remember when I was young. Our games were played on our small highschool field with hard rickety bleachers to sit on.

Games here are played at the college stadium and that place is packed to overflowing. The stadium lights and atmosphere are reminiscent of a big college or pro game and everyone seems very serious about the experience.

Now that Chloe is on the pom squad we will be attending all the games and to be honest, we have had the time of our lives. I am really enjoying the games and connecting with the community. I love that we live in an area that feels so small town. The faces all around are familiar and between raucous cheering and heartfelt screams we talk and connect with all the parents. There is a strong community connection that happens at a football game, this is where we come together in rutual support of our kids, our school, pride and community bonding. It is such a treat for our family and I love every minute of it.

Lemons.....Lots of Lemons!

It has been an amazing summer, almost too much to tell so I guess the best thing is to do a couple of posts that give an overview and move on. It was a summer of being together and connecting with each other. With school starting in just a few days I am so so happy for all the time I had with my kids this summer to play, laugh......and who can forget all the great lessons learned. This summer will be remembered as the "Lemonade Stand" summer.

As the summer began we had a small issue that caused us to lay down the law that my girls had to earn their own way this summer (including Chloe earning her flight money to go to EFY (youth church camp)). They were not happy about this at all.....there were tears and pleading but we were firm. Chloe came to me and said "Mom, there is no way that I can earn $400.00 in 3 weeks, I am doomed....help, what can I do to earn money fast". I told her that I wasn't sure but if it were me I would set up a lemonade stand that very day, at least it would be a little something coming in until she could decide what to do.

So sure enough she got to work and set up a lemonade stand that very day. She set up a table right by the golf path near our house. She sold fresh baked cookies, yummy lemonade and set up a very nice display with fresh cut lemons and ice. Well, much to my dismay (because we wanted her to learn a lesson about sacrifice and hard work) In her fist 3 hours she had made $140.00. She came in and proclaimed....."I will have $400.00 in 3 days!!"
My husband and I were not so happy at first but she and the other girls went out almost every day and worked their hearts out selling their fresh baked goods and lemonade.

Chloe paid for Especially for Youth all by herself and even earned money to pay for all her school clothes and fun money.

Olivia earned all her school clothes money and then decided she wanted an I-phone...we said "no way" but she worked like a crazy woman and earned all the money she needed to buy her own I-phone.

I loved watching them from out the window selling to the golfers to earn their money. It will always be a sweet memory for all of us and I know that they have learned a valuable lesson about hard work and ingenuity.....I am so proud of them. Here they are counting their money after a good day of hard work!

I have to add one funny note. After their first week Chloe observed. "Boy mom, men sure will throw down the money when they are out with their buddies and away from their wives........our worst customers are the men who are golfing with their wives, the women always say, 'you don't need that cookie!!" =)

More about our summer tomorrow!!