Lovelly Summer 2012

Father's Day...breakfast in bed for Dad, plus some cards, and a plaque sort of thing (with the upside-down hand prints) for Dad to take to his office.  It says "Happy Father's Day 2012 to the World's Best DAD, hands down!"

Father's Day!

The girls have had a lot of fun learning to bake this summer.  They still need a little help interpreting the directions sometimes, but for the most part, they can make lots of delicious desserts all on their own now.  Spice cake, brownies, banana bread...now all I need to do is train them to make dinner for the family, and I'll--I mean we'll--be all set!

delicious banana bread

Shark turned 12 1/2!  His chosen birthday dessert was chocolate waffles with ice cream on top.  Great choice!

Here are some of his gifts:  this is the banana bread made by his sisters for him (also shown above), there's a lion jigsaw puzzle because he loves lions, he loves that move "Muppet Treasure Island" and picked this out when we were in the thrift store one day, there's Rick Riordan's book "The Throne of Fire" (that's one of his favorite authors), and that green and white box is a fancy stand for his trumpet. He LOVES playing his trumpet, and he's now taking private lessons...he's getting better and better, because he practices daily (without being asked!).  It's awesome!  Happy half-birthday, Shark!

We can't afford anything "extra" this summer (which means almost everything we can stand to live without), so lots of time at a swimming pool wasn't looking very promising.  But we have this awesome friend named Deb who keeps letting us join her and her grandson at a family member's pool just 25 minutes away, and we are so grateful!  The kids have had SO much fun swimming there once in awhile.  Thanks, Deb!

Goldie fell in love with a friend's stray kittens at their farm.  She was allowed to name two of them and call them "hers," but since Jazz and I haven't agreed to letting the kittens come home with us, at the farm they stay.  Goldie wishes they didn't live 45 minutes away so she could visit the kittens more often, but such is life.

Swimming is not my favorite, but here's proof that I got in the pool this summer.  I think I've been in the pool for a total of about 1 hour.  I'm a pool-party-pooper.

Our township here has THE AWESOMEST summer program.  There are 4 hired young adults that "babysit" older children at the park from 9:00-noon, 1:00-4:00 p.m., or 6:00-8:00 p.m. almost every single day.  The kids get to do crafts, play ALL kinds of sports (including tennis, basketball, hockey, flag football, capture the flag), and do super fun activities like giant soapy water water slides...SO much fun stuff.  Kids from all over our town participate so the kids get to see lots of their school friends there.  And they have fun field trips too!  And the most amazing part is--it's all FREE for everyone, funded by the township!  Can you believe that?  It's the greatest summer program EVER.

This is the theater where we went as a family to see BRAVE.  This was one of the "family night" field trips sponsored by the playground group people that I described above.  We got to pre-order pizzas and eat it there in the theater, and then popcorn and snacks of course too.  I just wanted a photo of this theater because I thought it was so old-fashioned and cute!  This building has two rooms for their theaters, so they can show two different movies at a time.  I hear there's another theater in our area that's even more old-fashioned, which shows just one movie at a time.  I want to go there.  That's one of the cool things about living in such an "old" state.  We get to take a few steps back in time : )  (not to mention all of the fabulous Amish farms around, where almost nothing is done in the "modern" way).  Have I ever mentioned that I really like living in PA?  I wish you could see it all, it's a great place to live.

This was a wonderful summer sunset from last week.  Aren't you jealous of our back-yard view?

I just had to finish with the best thing of all from this summer:  I'M BACK ON THE COURT AGAIN.  Could life get any better?!!!!!!  I get to play about once a week, and it's AWE-SOME.  I don't know if I'll get to keep playing once school starts (because I'll be without a car again), but you know I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen ; ). 

HAPPY SUMMER, EVERYONE!