Where did the Lazy Days of Summer Go?

I think this is officially one of the busiest summers we have ever had. No complaints. But looking at our calendar and "to-do" list was like seeing Zoe do one of her scribble art drawings all over the page.

Jeremy was my design partner on many projects and it was really great getting to work together on designing spaces and building things. Kinda like pretending we were an HGTV design team. ;)

We worked on a living room, bedroom, dining room makeover first and built a computer desk for a couple.....now we are making a large storage ottoman for them.

I took on a side job as a freelance graphic designer working for a new advertising company that a friend of ours started up.

Jeremy and I did two "surprise makeovers" for people from our church: one was a prayer closet design in a long closet under their home staircase (the reveal on this one was hilarious since they wound up coming home early and found us hiding in the closet, lol) It was great! The second was a bedroom makeover for a teenager's birthday. She is one of Jeremy's students and we asked her to babysit the girls for us one Friday....what she didn't know was we were at her house woking in her room and that night when she got home from our house her parents revealed the surprise and we got to see it on video, so fun!

I taught the second of my summer Art Camps at a church in a little town north of us.

Had some crazy weird health issues come up and discovered I had a huge absess in one of my teeth that has been there for several years. The dentist said you could see it on the x-ray from across the street, yikes. Well, praise the Lord our pastor's wife is a dental assistant and she recommended a really amazing christian dentist who not only gave me the best care possible but he did it at a major discount since we didn't have insurance to cover any of the visit or treatment. My first (and hopefully only) root canal went off without a hitch and I feel much better now.

Our fluffy puppy has really grown. He has been such a sweet addition to our family.

 Lets the kids do pretty much whatever they want to him. Hence the "superdog" mask. ;)

 

 The little guy even goes along with Zoe's princess tea parties.

 

 My brother Todd and his daughter Shayna took my mom on a cross-country road trip to see her sister Lois in Virginia for possibly the last time. Lois is amazingly strong and supernaturally filled with peace from the Lord as she battles her last days with cancer. I am so thankful that they were able to have this time with one another. And I'm thankful that my brother and his daughter took this special trip with mom. I'm thankful my mom also got to see the ocean again and her home...there's something about that feeling of your history, memories, familiar places.... a comfort in the air when you close your eyes and take a breath and instantly feel transported through time. Maybe that sounds crazy but it's what I experience in special places anyway and I hope my mom felt it too.

While they were away, we got to keep this adorable little guy. Tucker. Mom's little furball.

Believe it or not this normally calm, quiet little pup was influenced by the playfulness of our crazy Gunnar and they ran around together, tussled and chased toys! Here's proof...even if it is a blurry phone pic....he has just stolen Gunnar's toy and is running around with it.

 

Another big event was our 2nd Annual Back Yard Movie Night!

Each year it gets a little bigger and we love it. There were so many wonderful friends and kids who got together to hang out. The movie wound up being more like background noise for a huge play date, ha, ha!! Maybe we will try this more often....like Fall or Spring when weather is cooler. :)

Oh, and did I ever mention how Jeremy sanded and re-stained the girls playhouse this summer. Well, he took it a few steps further by removing the picnic table that was under the playhouse and using parts to create a "rock climbing wall" on the backside and an "eagle's nest that comes out over the monkey bars complete with steering wheel, telescope and hatch door from the roof. He also built them a toy storage box that they use to keep stuff in and step up on inside the playhouse to get into the lookout. We also got a new slide...but that wasn't planned the old one just cracked right down the middle so it had to go. And we turned the space under the playhouse into a sandbox.

I think all the kids enjoyed it tonight especially.

 

July was also the month of Vacation Bible School. Our church did things differently this year. Instead of a week of VBS they had one big Extreme Weekend experience. Kids came on Friday night for the kickoff  with music, bible lessons, games and snacks. The theme was video games (Plug In, Power Up, Game On) all about God being in his word. They had a huge Angry Birds and Where's My Water set on stage in the church and a simulated Angry Birds game on the basketball court with decorated palettes, cardboard boxes and giant catapults. On Saturday Jeremy and I led the art class.... the kids also went to a missions class, music, crafts, games, Bible Skills, and more.

On Sunday all the families were invited to come out and celebrate with a block party where they had huge inflatable water slides and a 100ft slip-n-slide.

Services on Sunday were full of visitors! What a great weekend! 

 

Oh, yes and the girls also went away for about 10 days to Nana and Papa's house to play and have a special vacation with their cousins. Meanwhile, mom and dad got to have quiet time to relax, work on projects, read books, see non-animated movies in the theater and go on lots of dates.

It was awesome for everyone!

 

There were also various photo shoots, furniture painting and art projects trips to the pool, library and park thrown in the mix.

So, that was our July.

 

I'm gonna take a nap now.