First Grade Open House

We went to Open House at the girls' school this evening.  Both teachers were very complimentary of our girls! We loved seeing some of their hard work.  Emma had several mentions of God and how much she likes reading the Bible.  We are bursting with pride for both our girls!

Deacon

I am so very proud of Bryan for accepting the role of deacon in our church today.  Praying he will always do his best and seek God's guidance in this new leadership position.  Praying also that I will be understanding of the time this new role will require of him.

The girls and I are very proud of you, Bryan!

Childhood Home Demo

The house I grew up in has been completely torn down in 3 days.  While the damage from the fire on July 1st was repairable, the amount of time and money it would have taken to repair it and bring it up to code, did not seem practical.  So, my parents have decided to tear it down and rebuild.  I'm grateful I wasn't able to be there when they were actually knocking it down.  I saw it before they started, and after it was a pile of rubble.  Mom, the girls, and I went by in the afternoon and watched them scraping up and hauling away the rubble.  Some tears were shed by all of us, so we decided we needed ice cream to help us deal with the raw emotions.  When they took the foundation off, they discovered the basement walls and ceilings were not nearly thick enough to be safe.  So, the basement will also be filled in. 

I have so many memories from that house.  It is the only house I'd ever lived in before going off to college.  Sad to see it go, but looking forward to seeing their new house there in a few months. 

Roller Skating!

Earlier this week- swimming in the deep end after going down a waterslide, now- rollerskating! Our girls are learning new things every day. (Emma- blue helmet, Ella- pink helmet)

 I sure do love these two girls!

Waterslide Fun

The girls and I went swimming after school today.  We had the BEST time!  Lots of Smiles! Both girls were able to go down Memaw and Datt's new waterside without their life jackets and swim to the side on their own for the first time.  We are so proud of how hard they have worked to overcome their fears and learn to swim this summer! After several trips down the slide, Ella mentioned, "We're swimming in the deep end!" as if she had just noticed that fact.  Such a Great afternoon!

Crocheted Loveys

I made this one for a lady Bryan works with.

This one was ordered by my sister as a gift for one of her friends.

A Beautiful Sunset

Cousins Reunion

Now that our grandparents are gone, the cousins are all married, and there are no more family reunions, the cousins on my mom's side of the family have decided we don't want to wait until there's a funeral to see each other again.  So, we are having our own cousins reunion.  This year we met at Harmony and Leland's house.  All the kids and three couples slept at the house, and the rest of us were in a hotel down the road.  We had a lot of good visiting, some great singing, some fun swimming, tasty food, and an all around good time.  In fact, I'm not sure who had a better time, the adults or the kids.

On the way there:

 Heading to the Pool:

 Yummy!

 We watched an old VCR recording of two episodes the Family Feud which featured our grandfather, two uncles, and two aunts.  Several of us commented on how neat it was to hear our grandfather's voice again.

 Several of us also sent pictures to the 3 cousins who weren't able to be there.

 Then we locked the kids outside and turned on the sprinklers:

 After a bath, they gathered around to watch some play chess:

An all around great weekend with family!