Fireworks...

We had the most wonderful location to watch fireworks from....our front yard! When we heard the first "Boom!", we headed out front. We pulled out lawn chairs or sat in the back of the pick-up. No crowds. Beautiful.

We hadn't really planned on letting the kids stay up till 9 to watch them. But it ended up that we had friends over and they were still here when they started...so we all got to watch them together. Fun! I had to talk Jack through all the safety precautions that the people who were shooting the fireworks had taken to protect everyone from the "fire in the sky". He was concerned that he just had to trust me that there was a firetruck there, just in case. He kept wanting to see it. Ha. my little OSHA inspector in the making. Kenzie covered her ears through pretty much all of it. Molly peed on David (SO glad she was on HIS lap...not mine!). Other than that, it was fun!

And I am finally getting around to pulling pictures of the fireworks off my camera. A couple favs...

All these were shot manually atISO 1600, 1/40 sec, and f2.8 - for those that care!

My Princess Kenzie turns 4

Today is my sweet Kenzie's 4h birthday. I am really having a hard time believing she is four. I really think she must be three. I sat and just watched her a bit today....and I think she must be four. She has long gangly legs.


And scraggly hair that somehow always looks like a mess...

And she has some attitude....

But she always wakes up from her nap wanting to cuddle with me for a few minutes. And she likes to containerize. Bags. Plastic totes. whatever....it gets repurposed for her "stuff". And she carries it around for days. And she loves Goolash. And she likes to convince me of things by telling me "that's a good idea"...like, "Mom, we should go get a cupcake. That's a great idea!" And while she can push all my buttons so quickly, I love this princess to pieces and pray that all her strong-willedness will be tethered to being glory to her Lord. She has a tender heart...wanting to pray this evening for a mother in China who is imprisoned for her faith in Jesus. (Voice of the Martyrs) She can be such a momma hen to Peter....whether he wants it or not. And she always always makes us laugh.


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July has been consumed with VBS and homeschool curriculum. VBS went well. I was totally blessed by the volunteers...such work and heart was put into every little bit of it.

And now it is time to think about the school year. Goodness, I sure can whisk myself into a tizzy about it. I mean, my oldest is going into Kinder. And I think that I need to read every catalog, complete with highlighting and dog-earing (yes, that's my new word). One day I will have it all figured out. I go to sleep and then suddenly, I don't have it figured out. Sonlight Curriculum. Tapestry of Grace Curiculum. Keep It Simple, He's Only In Kinder Curriculum.

This weekend was the Homeschool Convention. I actually did not attend any sessions, though I walked around the exhibit hall and drooled. I left my wallet with my mom. This prevented rash buying...the having to ask your mommy for your wallet thing. And I did good. I am so excited about the school year. And about our Co-op. And about being able to run again. And about making over 20 loaves of bread a week. And about sleep. And about....

But I think I have it figure out. At least for the next 6 hours, right?