First Full Week of Summer

MON: We had a birthday party for a friend in the ward, Lupe Moline. She had never had a birthday party before, so we decided to throw one for her. We had a few families over from the ward and cooked hot dogs and hamburgers. It was fun. It's just always good to get together and get to know people better.

Also, made another trip to the orthodontist's office. Apparently, eating "Dots" can be bad for braces. Who woulda thought? I wonder how many extra trips we'll make for Miles. Sigh.

WED: I had JURY DUTY!!! Talk about scrambling, I only found out at about 9pm on Tuesday that I was for sure called in. Eeeks. It was wild trying to find someone to replace me for the day. How wonderful a blessing are good friends. I didn't have to leave here until around 8:20ish to get downtown on time, so I left Lindsay here and in charge (Julia sleeps in until around 9:30 most mornings. I know, I shouldn't brag. She's a thumb-sucker, so I'll pay the price someday.). My friend, Prairie, got here at 9. I dropped Miles and Samuel at another friend's house on my way downtown. Both of these lovely women were willing to watch my people for an entire day, interrupting their busy lives. Also, I had another Mom who picked up Lindsay and took her to her library training class, and then, took her to her French Horn class. After French Horn, Lindsay has violin. She went home after that with a friend.

I got all that coordinating of people and places done. I had two or three books stashed in my purse for boring moments, and I was only needed until 10AM. Phew! A friend had just served for a full week on a jury last month. What would I have done if that happened to me?

I have to admit that the whole process was fascinating, and I felt very patrotic. What a country we live in!!

THURS: Swim Team started this morning. The kids are going to have fun doing swim team this summer. I feel like it's something they are already naturally good at (thanks to Grandpa Call's pool), and I hope it's something that will inspire them to give their best efforts. We'll see.

Also, that day Samuel got invited to go with a friend to his Vacation Bible Camp for the morning. I think it's always a good experience to realize that there are lots of churches that teach about and love Jesus. He had a fun time.

FRI: The weather has been really weird here so far this summer. It's been really rainy and "moody". It's been great for our garden which, by the way, is growing like mad. It's fun to go out there and see the differences every day. It looks like we might be able to "harvest" some lettuce soon. We've already used some parsley, too. Sooo, we just putzed (is that a word? we use it all the time in our family, especially to describe the way most of the kids approach anything they consider work...) around the house getting little things done that need to get done.

SAT: Some more of the same. I hit a really good $1 sale at a consignment shop here in town. It was sort of a mad house, but I think it was worth it. With so many kids, there's always going to be something I can buy.

SUN: We were actually on time and peaceful getting to Church. Now that's a modern-day miracle. We brought Julia home after about 20 minutes of nursery. I thought she felt a little hot, but no one else did. Then, after she just wasn't acting like herself, the nursery leader brought her to us. We took her home for a nap. She seemed better after her nap, but then, by 7pm, she was ready for bed. We also had a family in the ward over for dinner. They just moved here from Kentucky. It was nice getting to know them better.

There was a beautiful double rainbow in the sky tonight between cloudbursts. Lindsay got a picture of it. I guess you can't quite see the second rainbow, but it was beautiful.