Saying Goodbye to June and Hello to July

I can hardly believe a month of Summer vacation is already gone!
The sands in the hourglass seem to have a way of slipping through awfully fast.

Rhaevyn arrived home from camp on cloud nine. She thrived in her leadership role, and all the other leaders said she just shined. I think she made the right decision not to go as a YCL this year, but a leader. I'm so grateful that everyone in charge made that accommodation even though she was not 18.
The kids were so excited the Saturday we picked her up. Everyone wanted to go pick her up. They were eager to file out of the car and ran to her, throwing themselves at her with hugs and kisses.

Here she is with her YW President

 

While she was gone I made a Blueberry cobbler.

 

I think I mentioned before that Aeva and I had switched their room around. Luckily Rhaevyn has been a good sport and is adjusting to the change. Aeva made this really cute bag for her and wrapped it all up to surprise her when she got home.

Last Saturday Myles and Chris went fishing with some of the other cub scouts. He caught one fish and was pretty excited about it.

Tuesday morning we headed up the road to Lewisville Park. The girls brought a friend along to play tennis and to explore the riverbank. Meg made a little friend, and they walked hand in hand in the water. Myles and Elsa each built a little sandcastle. They tried to reach the rock island that the older girls were on, but then realized that the water was a bit deeper than they thought and had to turn around and head back to shore.



 

 

 

 

Wednesday was a big day!!! Aeva got her braces off. Just a month over two years ago she got them on. What a huge difference. She and I went out to celebrate afterwards.

Before

 

 Just before they came off...

 

 After

 

 Celebrating!!

 

On Thursday the girls and I walked main street and went into the second hand and vintage shops; then we shared a plate at Panda Express. That was so much fun!

Today Meg got to wear her new shoes that she got for Christmas. She likes to periodically get them out and run around the house with them, but today they actually fit. Just in time too because she got her other church shoes all muddy at Christopher's work on Friday. We are practically twins, she and I, with our church shoes.

 

 

Tomorrow the girls head out to EFY in Tacoma. They spent all day yesterday packing and getting ready. I'm super excited to hear all about their week when they come home on Saturday :)

I have been learning so much about my children lately. I love seeing their likes, dislikes, weaknesses; fears, strengths, worries and delights; hopes and triumphs, and who they are becoming.
This girl loves working on cars with Chris so much. She almost can't get enough of it. She says she is going to be a mechanic someday. She plans on going shooting with Chris this month, and she is so excited about that. Last night she helped him mow the lawn at 9 at night. A few weeks ago we were at the gas station and a Chevy chop top hot rod was filling up. She looked over and said "Oh, Mom, I need one of those. I have got to get one of those!" It just cracked me up.

 I'll close with one of my favorite pictures as of late.....

 Happy Independence Day to you all :)