Summer's Here!

Brothers

Tuesday

We had a busy, productive day around here. We cleaned the entire house, deep cleaned my bathroom, finished all the laundry, got the van to the shop and gave both dogs a bath, not to mention cooking and taking care of the baby.

Whew. I'm tired tonight, but it's a good tired. Paul, Anna, Sam, Benjamin and I took a walk around the block tonight. Benjamin started fussing- he was laying down in his stroller. As I looked down on him, I saw that he was lifting his upper body off the seat! So we sat him up, and he was fine. He does not like to lay flat, unless he's on the floor under a ceiling fan. About half way through the walk, he fell asleep. He was so smiley today, and so wiggly. If he's laying on the floor, he's kicking. He kicks so hard and so much that he has red spots on the back of his heels. He's a funny baby and we sure do enjoy him.

Yesterday Paul decided to tackle some trees that were growing limbs too close to the house. He loves that kind of work! It makes me nervous to see him that high up, holding onto a running chain saw, no less! I leaned out of the bathroom window to take some pics of him. These pics are deceptive- it does not really show how high up he was. He was about 40 feet up! I'm glad he's done with that for a while.

Pure Sweetness

Deja Vu

Paul and Paul Jr.

1993

Paul and Sam

2008

Sam's New Fishing Pole

Sam has been pestering his dad for a while for a fishing pole. He received some money for his birthday, so Paul bought him his own pole. He was thrilled and began to pester Paul to go fishing. Paul took him to some friends of ours that live on the lake last night. He had a blast using his new pole! He didn't catch a fish, but was able to reel in a big catfish on someone else's line. He has talked all day about that fish!

Benjamin at 3 Months

Benjamin turned three months old on the 22nd. He is such a sweet baby and we are so enjoying him. I love this age- he sleeps alot and smiles and coos all the time. He loves to be talked to and to lie on the floor and wiggle around. He is such a blessing and we are thrilled to have him.

20 Years

It was 20 years ago this month that Paul and I graduated from college. It's hard to believe that much time has passed- it sure doesn't seem like it. We had a great college experience attending a small Bible college outside of Boston. We've only been able to make it back once, but it is on our list of things we'd like to do.

My Beautiful Front Porch

I love our long front porch, especially this time of year. With my hanging baskets and flowers from my children for Mother's Day and my new porch swing from Paul, the front porch looks so pretty and inviting. We all love to sit our here and rock and swing. It is a favorite place to do schoolwork or read or eat or have family devotions.

Samuel and Benjamin

Paul's Graduation

My son, Paul, graduated from high school last night. He has been homeschooled for all but two of his school years, so his graduation was somewhat different from other graduations. We opted to do our own graduation ceremony rather than join in with the homeschool group here in town. We wanted it to be personal, and it was! I even gave a speech. I was nervous and could not figure out what to say, but once I sat down and started writing, it came to me. I was afraid I would break down and not be able to get through it, but I made it through to the last paragraph before the tears came.

There was one other dear man in our church who spoke and Paul's dad spoke. Then Paul Jr. gave a speech. He was so nervous but he did great. His dad finished the evening with a charge to him and then the men of the church gathered around him and prayed a prayer of blessing on him. Zack started the evening off with a prelude of beautiful piano music which ended with the traditional graduation march, Pomp and Circumstance.

It was a wonderful evening. I was so proud of Paul. He is a wonderful young man and I have a hard time believing he is now a high school graduate. His plans for the future are not set yet, but he has a few ideas. He will be staying home this next year to work and save money for college. God is so good to us!

After the ceremony, a bunch of us from church went to see Indiana Jones' new movie. My in-laws graciously watched Sam and Ben so I could go. As soon as I walked into the movie, I knew I should have just stayed home and went to bed and I ended up sleeping through half the movie! What a waste of a movie ticket! (BTW, none of us were too thrilled with the movie)