Messiah's Mansion

I was so excited to take the girls to see the Messiah's Mansion.  It was in Montgomery this week, and we almost missed it!  It was a wonderful recreation of the temple.  I love anything that brings the Bible to life.  Anytime you can see a visual like this, the next time you read/study about the events in the Bible it just is so much easier to visualize.

When we studied Genesis-Leviticus last year in our homeschool Bible class, we made a 3-D temple that was poster board size.  This was so much cooler to look at!!!

 The Alter of Sacrifice at Station 2...

The Dragons are Back!

Montgomery Dragon Boat Festival & Races

4th Annual Charity Event

The Montgomery Dragon Boat Race & Festival is a community oriented event that brings together thousands of people in a festive setting for a day of athleticism, pageantry, entertainment and fun, ALL TO BENEFIT two great local charities-Rebuilding Together Central Alabama and Bridge Builders Alabama

This is the 2nd year JM has put together a CASTA team for the Dragon Boat Race.  It is  a day of fun downtown on the river with his employees and partners!  This year Tyler decided to participate as a rower!  He had a great time rowing the team to a few victories!  He loved sporting his neon "over 21" wristband which was required to row.  Believe me the wrist band came with a threat "Don't even try!"

Corynne and I went down to see them in their 1st race.  This is also the 2nd year that the dragon boats have been on the same day at the huge ECS Volleyball fundraiser/tournament was held.  I was in charge of decorating and hospitality again this year at the tournament.  Maybe next year I will get to row with the CASTA team!

On to Oregon

We traveled south from Washington into the state of Oregon in our Discover America State-by-State study.  The girls really like these books from Sleeping Bear Press.  They present the state information in a cute jingle colorful pictures.  They are really fun to read!

"B is for the 'Beaver State,'

Oregon's other name.

Trapped to near extinction,

the beaver still remains."

from B is for Beaver:  An Oregon Alphabet

The beaver is North America's largest rodent and is nicknamed "nature's engineer"!  The girls completed their scrapbook and lapbook throughout the week.

Then we cooked up a blackberry pie for our Oregon cooking class.  Oregon is the nation's top producer of blackberries, pears, and hazelnuts.  Oh, this was piping hot from the oven and delicious served with a dollup of Cool Whip!

Seatle's Best

The girls are continuing our State-by-State study this year.  We are hoping to finish up the remaining 27 states during school this year!  We will see if that is possible!  We started this year in the far west corner of the USA with Washington.

"E is for the Evergreen State,

forests of old growth and rain.

Our nickname comes from

 nature's unbroken chain."

-E is for Evergreen A Washington Alphabet

Lauren is continuing to complete her scrapbook pages each week with the interesting facts about the state we are studying.  Lyndsey is completing a mini lapbook for each state which has all the important facts in it. 

Starbucks is huge around our house!  Dad just loves to treat himself to a coffee from Starbucks!  The kids also love to go by Starbucks for a treat, but it real doesn't happen that often since Mom is not a coffee (or Starbucks) fan!  Since the first Starbucks was in Seattle, Washington, we decided that our cooking for Washington would be simple this week.  A trip to Starbucks was in order! 

Unofficial First Day of School Pictures

I had scheduled to have the girls pictures taken today by a friend.  They were going to be outdoor pictures, and the rain caused us to have to cancel them.  Since the girls were already dressed, we set up a little photo session in our pool house.  It was still raining most of the time, but we managed to get quite a few good shots!

  Corynne-8th grade

  Lauren-5th grade

 Lyndsey-1st grade

Colleen-Preschool 3

And we are done with this Mom...

School Dayz

We started homeschool a  few weeks ago, but the big kids started school this week.  Tyler started on Monday.  I can not believe he is in 10th grade.  A Sophomore at Trinity Presbyterian School.  He is over 6 foot tall and towers above me, but he will always be my little boy!

 No more pictures with the teacher or even with the sign in the front of the school!  I just got to snap a fast one as he walked into the game at the back of the school!

 Corynne started on Wednesday at Eastwood Christian School.  This is her 8th grade year.  Time is flying by and I must remember to savor each moment!

Summer Fun

We flew back into Montgomery on Monday, July 8th from our East Coast Road Trip 2013!  Montgomery was just as we had left it...rainy and wet!  The up side to all the rain is getting to see God's promise daily.  Some days the beauty of the rainbow was absolutely breath-taking!!

We did not skip a beat AT ALL.  I forgot to schedule in a recovery day!  We woke up Tuesday for swim practice, VBS at our church, tennis lessons, orthodontist visits, and school volleyball practice.  Life is back to CRAZY!  On Thursday, Corynne left for Auburn Volleyball Camp with a few school teammates. She had a great weekend of volleyball, and she came back prepared for the new season!

On Friday July 12th, Lauren and Lyndsey had a swim meet at the East YMCA.  We waited around under storm delays.  Started the meet.  Swam 2 events.  Then more storm delays which eventually canceled the meet.  It made for a long evening but allowed us to go to Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A!  The girls were really bummed that we had not made it to CFA for a free meal today, so this was a treat!  I had their costumes in the back just in case we had time to stop by tonight!

On Sunday night, Tyler took Lauren on a Moe's run.  It was the "last meal" she wanted before she left for camp Monday morning.  No one else wanted Moe's!  Corynne and I had eaten Mexican for lunch when I picked her up from vball camp in Auburn.  So Tyler volunteered to take her in the golf cart!  

 On Monday, July 15th, I took Lauren and a bus load of friends to Camp Victory in Samson, Alabama. She has been looking forward to CampVictory since she returned home last summer.  She even did her Bible studies during the school year and turned them in to earn $50 off her camp tuition!  Her cabin included 5 girls from Montgomery and 2 poor girls who didn't know them!    

 

While Lauren was crafting and horseback riding at camp, Lyndsey and Colleen were playing with her dolls!

We also had a surprise visit from Grammy and Papa while Lauren was at camp.  The rains had hit Texas enough that they decided it was safe to come to Alabama for a visit!  Papa participated in a few water gun fights by the pool!

Grammy took the girls to the park one morning to play!  She also took them to Chuck E. Cheese!  God bless her...Montgomery is just not for everyone!!!

Colleen tried to fit in a suitcase to go home with Grammy, but they forget to get her when they left in the early morning hours on Sunday!!

Corynne became my little chef this summer.  She was always cooking up treats for us!!!  I let her get a Pinterest account and she found even more yummy things to make!

Cousin Caroline from Bham came over for the day.  We all enjoyed her visit and she cooked up some yummy cookies for an afternoon treat!!!

Corynne was also the ultimate babysitter for the summer!  Colleen loved to play with her big sister.  Dress up is always fun!

For the last week of July, the girls went to an Upward Cheer camp.  They absolutely loved it and can not wait to be on a cheer squad during the school year!