Swimming Fun

Friday after I got home I heard some little girl squeals out back.  

Sarah had set up the pool and the girls were having lots of fun. 

Adeline is so excited because she can do the slide all by herself now.  

Abby the mermaid, also joined in the fun. 

Three cute squealing girls in a pool. It is a great way to start the weekend.  

Field Day

Friday was Field Day at school.  I started off tired since I had been up until almost one waiting for Sarah and Tony to come home from the ER.  I was glad it was going to be a pretty chill day at school.  

It was a warm and sunny day for Field Day.  My right knee has been bothering me again, so two hours of walking around the field and standing wasn't fun, but my kids had a great time.  

Dizzy bat was a favorite.  

This was called Duel.  They stand on the little markers and grab the end of a rope. When I say Go, they each pull and try to get the other person off the marker.  They had a blast.  

Tug of War is always a favorite. 

Fun times.  We also did the 40 yard dash, football throw, kickball, scooter races, tricycle races, basketball shots, Bucket fill (with drenched sponges), soccer ball kick, Fox tail fling, and hula hoops. It was fun! 

Afterwards, we went in for lunch, a spelling test, and then the kids worked on their 'Design A Zoo' project (they have to figure out the area and perimeter of everything in their zoo) while we watched a movie. It was a good way to end the week especially after all the state and county assessments we've had the last few weeks.  Nine more student days left.

Thursday Night Fun

Thursday night Adeline had fun playing on the little slide.  

Abby and Ellie were playing down by the patio, but Adeline was content to play by herself. 

She is getting to be such a big girl! 

She loves Papa's tractor.  She only gets on it when we are with her. 

She's ready to help Papa. 

"Now if I could just figure out how to make this go."

Then we moved around to the front yard and she delighted in running and squealing.  

Little girl fun! 

While we watched the girls, Tony took Sarah to the emergency room.  She had one pupil that was larger than the other and it wasn't dilating properly.  She had been on the phone with several eye doctor's offices during the day and no one could see her.  The ER checked her vision and did a CT scan to rule out stroke, tumor, brain bleed, aneurysm, etc.  They told her they thought it was Adie's Pupil and wanted her to see an ophthalmologist the next day.  

She was able to get in to see Dr. Whitten in Charlotte Hall on Friday.  Claire, Tony's mom, was able to drive her to her appointment and she took Adeline and Ellie to McDonalds for lunch and playing at the play place while they waited.  

Dr. Whitten diagnosed her with Adie's Tonic Pupil and he wants her to see a neuro-opthalomologist. So she has an appointment on June 7th at Washington Hospital Center in Washington D.C. 

Check out Sarah's story with more details here.

Papa's Sanding Helper

Ellie is getting to be a great little helper.  

She also enjoys one on one time with her favorite adults.  

So she was happy to help Papa sand a walking stick.  She also helped him clean out the screened porch and wipe fingerprints from the front door.  

She is a great little helper and a sweet girl. 

Book Club

The Moon-Spinners was our book pick this month. 

As a young girl, I remember watching the Disney movie adaptation of the book. 

I also have fun memories of living in Crete, where the story takes place.  

I hosted book club this month.  I was glad to share some of my pictures from Greece and Bakalva from Niko's with my book club friends.  

I really enjoy book club.  I get to try books I probably would have picked out on my own.  I also get to share some books that I really enjoy.  We have a book club blog, Slightly Bookish too.  Check it out here.

Ellie and Papa Cooking

Ellie loves helping Papa cook. 

Here she is helping Papa make dessert. 

They sweetened some mascarpone cheese and mixed some grated dark chocolate in.  Abby helped Sarah make some brownies as part of the dessert too.  

To serve, place a brownie on a dessert plate, place a dollop of the mascarpone cheese mixture on the brownie.  Top with berries.  We used blackberries and raspberries. Yummy!

Friday Evening

The patio are is blooming with the color of new plants. 

The girls are excited about helping Papa plant flowers. 

This serves as my little refuge from the world.  At the end of a long day, there is nothing better than going out to the patio and relaxing. 

Adeline sometimes just likes to sit in her stroller.  

She asked me to take her picture

But, she refused to smile. She is such a fun little girl and she is starting to become an independent little girl.

Ellie

Ellie loves being outside. She loves spending one on one time with the people she loves.  She is so excited to practice riding her bike.  

She has such a fun personality and goofy poses to match. 

Our little miracle heart warrior granddaughter. So glad she is in our family!

Young Women

We put the whole armor of God on 2016 style! 

Madison led the activity that was planned by Emily. Unfortunately Emily was sick and not able to join us. 

We had to avoid getting hit by real life "bullets" (Nerf guns) while keeping our standards! 

They had a strategy meeting and put on "armor"

The armor allowed them to get closer to obtaining their goal without being hit by the bullets. 

These two tried their best to protect the prize (scarf) and keep the girls away with the nerf guns. 

All YW survived and are prepared for all life will toss at them because they have their armor on at all time and in all places!  I love working with these amazing young women!

Sharing

I saw this shirt at Target the other night. I was walking down the aisle and I always read the shirts as I walk by. I read this as I was walking, stopped, backed up, chuckled, and then took a picture. I posted it on my Facebook page and some of my friends have shared the photo. I guess I'm not the only one who thought it was funny. 

Sunny Saturday and Then More Rain

Saturday started out sunny and beautiful. 

I'm loving my new porch rails, posts, soffit, ceiling fans, and lights! 

This is our temporary tree area.  We had to move the Japanese maple and redbud trees for projects - sidewalks and tree removal. So now we just have to decide where to replant them.  Until we decide though, they are doing quite nicely in our little tree nursery.  You can also see the stairs that had to be removed for the sidewalks.  Hopefully those will be replaced soon since we can't use the back stairs (seen in the left of this picture) until the stairs are replaced.  

The girls garden is starting to bloom. 

I spotted a butterfly just resting in the flowerbed. 

I love just going down to the patio area and seeing what is coming up now. 

Abby helped Gary plant some flowers in the flowerbed by their apartment door. 

It is coming together nicely. 

Some of the new plants ready to be planted.  

More plants awaiting planting. 

Gary puts the plants out and then we move them around until we like the placement, then they are planted.  

Love the patio area and all the different plants and colors. 

We've had so much rain recently, but it helps the plants and trees! 

I love our little patio/garden area!

Shortly after I took this picture, we had a big thunderstorm come through our area. The winds were wicked and then there was a downpour.  On the positive side, we don't have to water the plants.