insta friday - time for a little catching up

Oh insta-friday, what would I do without you reminding me to blog.

Hello to those of you still checking in.

And happy mid-summer.

My it is going too fast.

Too, too fast.

I'm needing to plan

for the upcoming homeschool year.

Lots of decisions.

It's exciting, and scary, and overwhelming all at once.

And I don't think I'm rested yet.

 I will be sneaking away for a break shortly.

A much, much needed break.

More on that soon,

but first lets do some catching up.

Summer wouldn't be summer without

watermelon.  And making it even better,

was a watermelon lime smoothie.

I keep hearing lots of laughter

while he is teaching himself after effects

and making crazy little movies with his sisters.

I beg them, lets go to the beach.

Ironically sometimes they 'don't feel like it.'

"Don't feel like it???" I say.

"Ok, well it's not a choice.  Mom needs to go,

so we're going."

Who doesn't feel like going to the beach.

GEESH.  You know they're California kids 

because they're taking it for granted.

But once they get there, they always have loads of fun.

I had so much fun taking the girls to see a friend of theirs

in a student production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

at the Will Geer Theatre.  

Getting ready, they wanted to dress in something

that would seem appropriate for the play.

My little fashionista put together a dress that was mine

as a little girl...and turned it into something much, much more chic.

I had to email my mom to see if she had any pictures of me in it.

So here you go.  

She says she thinks it was my first grade school picture.

Oh and we met up with my college roommates.

This only happens once a year and sometimes even

farther apart when we're all in the same state.

It never stops feeling surreal seeing our girls hanging

out together, all the while remembering us together,

practically girls ourselves.

The chickens.  I haven't talked about them in awhile

have I?  This lady would not get off her nest

ALL DAY LONG.

It was kinda worrying me.

So I looked it up.

And guess what, it said around one year of age

they can start to 'brood'.  Do you know what brooding means?

She's longing for a baby.

She thinks if she sits long enough it'll become a baby chick.

OH poor girl.

And let me tell you, these chicken-isms we hear

like cooped up, brooding, ruffling your feathers.

They're no joke.

She was ruffling those feathers.

That girl did not want to be bothered.

Not one bit.  And she let me know it.

Loud and clear.

But alas, eventually I got her off, so I could get to breakfast.

Summer wouldn't be summer without sleepovers

and visits with friends.

This little girl is a neighbor.  During the school year

they didn't see each other much, but my oh my, they

just love each other so much and play so well together.

It makes a mom happy seeing all this joy.

More beach.

Which means more playing around of course.

And the clouds this day.

Some of my favorite.

A new devotional I'm loving from my sweet Aunt

in England.  Thank you Aunt Avril!

And sweet drawings just because.

I must not forget lots of pool play.

And this is just a little area of our kitchen nook aka homeschool space

that makes me smile.

Another morning with pretty clouds

and the feeling that He makes all things new

as the sun was rising after an early rain.

OH my, the annual summer purge.

We've all been putting it off.

But yesterday, it was time.

To sort through a year

or more (in my son's case)

worth of what to keep, what to give,

and what was just plain trash.

It's crazy when you realize just how much

trash you were saving for no good reason at all.

I was asked how I managed to motivate them to do all of this with me.

Well, they were motivated by the fact that we would go out to the movies.

Only once it was all finished.

We don't go out to the movies all that often. So it's a treat.

A treat that was worth them working hard.

The milkshakes were an added surprise.

I'm not going to lie.  

This was a rough, long day for all of us.

And the end, well, it was well deserved.

We saw Despicable Me 2 ... And all of us laughed out loud.  A lot.

We give it four thumbs up!