My Week with Luke

This week the girls are at Camp Timber Ridge.  They get to ride horses, learn some Chinese, observe greenhouses, and talk about bugs.  Oh, and of course their favorite time is lunchtime :)  So I have 5 whole days with only Luke to take care of during the day!  Each morning he wakes up and makes his list of what he wants to do that day.  It's a little hard to decipher because he writes in pictures, but at least he knows what it says.  We have been very busy this week playing flashlight hop, making dog sleds for all of his huskies (there are 7 at the moment), going to see "Rio" at the movies, reading tons of books, doing science experiments, and shopping at the dollar store.  Here are a few photos and I'm sure there will be more as the week progresses.

Flashlight hop:  try to jump into the circle of light on the floor while Luke is in charge of the flashlight.  Not very fun.

Christmas, Pepper, Scraps, Sledder, Slush (new one), Sophia, and Jingle

We had a friend over and this is what I found them doing.

The husky dog sled.

Luke's science experiment that he initiated.

Dancing Tacos

One morning I was awakened by 3 dancing tacos in my room.  I don't know how that originated.  I went downstairs and was treated to a show by the Dancing Tacos.  I do not know if there will be an encore.

July 13th

We love Chick Fil A cow appreciation day every summer.  This year, Joel and I are not eating meat so we didn't bother to dress up, but of course the kids LOVED making their cow costumes and getting their free meal!  Plus, we ran into some friends at the restaurant which made it a lot more fun :)

Babysitting

One day a friend asked me to watch her kids for a few hours!  This made me so happy since she watches my kids ALL of the time and barely ever asks me to repay the favor.  We had so much fun - everyone loved their popsicles and playtime.

Miscellaneous

Here are some more miscellaneous pictures from the past few weeks:

Amelia with her precious Piggy

Emma working on her sewing project, a blanket for Luke's husky.

Mia wearing a cute bonnet!

I love my hydrangeas; this is the first year that I have gotten more than one bloom.

Running Away

A few weeks ago we were rereading all our favorite "Francis" books.  The best one is definitely "A Baby Sister for Francis".  In the book Francis runs away underneath the table because she isn't getting enough attention with a new baby in her house.  So, of course my kids decided to run away too. To the back porch. The messiest and warmest place of the house, not where I would choose to go!  Here is a picture of them with their sleeping bags and stuffed animals, and snacks:

Blueberries

This morning we woke up and decided to go blueberry picking at 3 Birds Farm in Blacksburg.  It wasn't supposed to get too hot until around 11am, so had at least an hour to pick berries.  All together we ended up picking 1 gallon plus 1 pint of blueberries, minus the ones Emma accidentally spilled.  As soon as we got home the kids took turns in the bath while I started 2 pies.  Of course the kids wanted the scraps of dough and they got to work making little round balls of dough with blueberries sticking out of the top.  They spent over an hour making their creations!  The kitchen floor hadn't been mopped in weeks so I didn't care about the mess (I did mop it afterwards!).  

Cookout

Last Friday we had a crazy wind storm that swept through our area, knocking down trees and power lines.  Some of the winds were 80 mph!  The girls were still up and they came downstairs to be safe, Luke was sound asleep.  It took a lot of poking and prodding to get him to wake up and come downstairs!  The kids hid under a table in the pantry with cushions around the table.  They loved their "fort".  We kept checking the radar and it seemed that the worst of the storm was still going to hit us, but then it dissipated and went around Christiansburg.  We are so fortunate to never have lost power, so many others are without it and since temperatures have been near 100 degrees, it has been HOT.

The day after the storm we decided to eat dinner outside on our picnic table given to us by the Holtons.  We loved sitting under the tree and eating together!  I hope we will do it more often.  Here are some pictures from the cookout:

This is Amelia's "surprised" look.  When she gets really excited about something, or is telling us new information, you will see this face :)

Charlotte

 

This picture was given to me by one of my favorite kids, Charlotte McKnight.  In the last few weeks that I got to hang out with the McKnights (before they moved to Texas!) Charlotte would always run up to me and give me a hug.  She gave me this picture.  And one day she whispered in my ear, "I'm so glad you are feeling better".  That really touched my heart.  Apparently the McKnight children had been including me in their bedtime prayers for the few months that I had been sick.  Charlotte also came over with her mom during the countless trips that Susan brought me meals, prayed for me, and just sat on my bed talking about everyday topics to distract me.  

We already miss the McKnights a lot.  It just isn't the same without them.  Sometimes it seems like they are just on vacation and they are returning soon, then I remind myself, they are in Houston!  But, I hear I will be visiting Houston sometime in the near future.  I can't wait.