Friday Night Movie Night

We spent last evening with our friends, Shannon & Jake. They treated us to a wonderful dinner and campfire with s'mores (and pina coladas!), and as a really special treat set up their projector they use for teaching first aid classes for an outdoor movie! We all had an absolute wonderful time!

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Max had on extra special "gear" in case the dreaded Junebug

appeared out of the night...jammies, red mittens, a doo-rag,

sunglasses and of course a bug net! Too cute!

Swimming & Wilderness Photography

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We went to "Grandma & O'Poopa's" house Thursday for a dip in their pool. It's still way to cold to swim around these parts most days, but there was no holding them back. Tucker & Luca could stand it only a short while, but Brenin was the real die-hard. They all came out with the shivers and snuggled in the hammock with towels and blankets to warm up.

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"You people seriously swim at these temperatures?"

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Brenin would swim in the dead of winter...she is a total fish!
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After the swimming and the shivering, Brenin & Tucker commenced with a game of wildlife photography where one was the "creature" and the other the photographer. Here's a rare butterfly in the wild...can you not just see the imagination in his eyes?!?

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Three peas in a pod.

(actually it was a coccoon with 3 giggling butterflies inside)
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The wilderness photographer (Brenin) also captured this amazing shot.
She's actually getting pretty good with Mommy's camera!
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Dad also served as explorer of this untamed land. We're not sure how he does it, but he plays these games with the kids for HOURS and has even built them a giant pirate ship (the size of a car!), complete with a jeweled sword for each grandchild (even a baby one for Garret!) The man is magical!

SOLD!

An empty space on Brenin's desk shelf where some books USED to be.

Empty hangers where clothing USED to hang.


An empty bucket where toys USED to be stored.


Our washer and dryer hookup where our
washer and dryer USED to be.


Sensing a theme here?

Last weekend we had a garage sale to raise money for a pastor in Costa Rica who travels by foot or horse to extremely remote villages and has such a heart for the people there. When Dad was there early in the year with our friend Mitch (who used to live in Costa Rica and now organizes working groups to travel there), he was struck by the need he saw and also by the devotion of this pastor to these people. They went shopping for a motorcycle for him which would make his life SO much easier and time more effective and found one for just $1800! We came up with a couple of plans to raise the money, and the garage sale brought in a whopping $1000 towards our goal!!!!! It was beautiful to see the community get excited about helping others, as many people read our flyer and said "keep the change" or gave a cash donation for the cause. It is just so fun to see people caring about each other!

First Real Haircut

I haven't had a chance to post all week, so I'll post a few entries at once to catch up...




First of all, Brenin got her first REAL haircut on Tuesday! Usually I do the honors, but since Daddy was going in for a cut, she decided it would be fun to get a "style." She picked one out in the book which looked exactly like her hair already is, just trimmed up, but the experience was fun nonetheless.

Getting ready for her "style."

I sent the girls outside today to burn some energy before naptime. They rode their bikes for a while and then gathered some books and a blanket for an afternoon read in the sunshine. It looked like such a good time, I couldn't bear to make them take their naps (do I see an EARLY bedtime in my future?)!

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They giggled and read for a good couple of hours, and now I've put them to work peeling corn for dinner. It's Luca's specialty, and she is SO proud when we all make a big deal about her cooking it for us.