Things that matter...

Two cheeseburger meal from BK... less than $5;  five bags of mulch from Lowe's... about $25;  being reminded by one of your children of what matters... Priceless!  Kate and I had taken a Baba - daughter trip due to Sharron taking Callie to a tea / luncheon with some lovely young ladies from church.  We got mulch and Kate saw the BK sign and was "hungy" for lunch.  After hitting the drive thru we returned home and I put on some work clothes to prepare for yard work.  When I walked in the bedroom, this is what I saw.  Yes, she is not reading yet, and I know she does not (yet) comprehend the great doctrines of our faith, but I thought how wonderful it was to see God's Providence in my children (and all around) on a daily basis.  How blessed to be reminded that God is on His throne, King Jesus sits at His right hand, and I am one of the richest men in Boone County.

Nature... up close

When it comes to providing opportunities to get up close with some of God's creation, few things outside of a good bird feeder provide more bang for the buck than a butterfly bush.  The butterfly in the picture above kept circling around the yard and cornfields before returning to this spot.  I kept trying to get more angles, but this magnificent creature was having nothing of it.  I sat for several minutes just taking in the graceful flight before giving up.  We have been enjoying a 20 degree drop in temperatures so it was nice to be outside, even if part of that time involved mulching around some of the flowerbeds (I was reminded that it has been a long time since I have worked regularly in a job that required physical labor!).

4H

Callie has completed her first year of 4H.  I think she really enjoyed it.  Her project was to complete a poster about horses.  Any topic, as long as it related to horses, was allowed.  She loves the Lipizzaner horses that are trained in Austria to dance, so that's what her poster was about.  She got a blue ribbon!!  We were very excited for her and proud of her hard work.  She did everything by herself, except some of the spray painting of the board itself.  That is not easy when the wind is blowing!

Lessons and More Lessons

This week, swimming lessons are going much better.  Kate went off the diving board with no tears TWICE yesterday!!  And she has almost put her whole head under water.  Almost.

Today, Callie has a photography class at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  Their grounds are quite big and a beautiful place to take pictures.  The teacher is a friend of ours and it is only $5.00!!  We couldn't pass that up.  Callie loves taking pictures.  These are some she has taken this summer.

Swimming Lessons

This year, both girls are taking swimming lessons.  Almost everyone in the area goes to the same place and they have a wonderful reputation.  They are kind, but firm.  Callie has taken lessons there before and is going this year to get a little more confidence and skill.

Here is how the week has gone.  There is still one more to go.

Day 1  Everyone is excited.  Yea!!!
Day 2  Cancelled due to approaching storms
Day 3  Callie is still excited, Kate doesn't want to go
Day 4  Callie doesn't like teacher number three, Kate REALLY doesn't want to go
Day 5  Callie still doesn't like teacher number three but loves number one and two, Kate is crying loudly and  hollering "MOMMY"

At the end of this lesson Callie decides that teacher number three really isn't that bad and Kate has put almost her whole face in the water, gone down the slide with help and has been handed from one teacher on the diving board to the other down in the water.  I thought they were actually going to drop her in and I was about to have a stroke!  We all went for ice cream.  Mommy deserved it!!!

Fourth of July Weekend

We made our annual trip to Linton for the 4th of July.  There is always a big parade and fireworks and food and a birthday to celebrate too. 

First though, on Sunday, we did something new.  Cameron read the Declaration of Independence at breakfast.  Now some of you may be yawning right now, but Cameron did a great job of reading it with enthusiasm and adding in quite a bit of his own ranting and raving on our current political farce!  It was fun and interesting and well received.  Too bad I didn't take a picture of the ranting and raving! :)  Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new tradition.  Maybe if more people knew what it said, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Isn't that what they call Disney World?  Well it was one happy and fun filled place.  I will also say that it must have been the hottest place on earth too.  Of course, as many of my relatives will attest to, I am a wimp when it comes to some things and heat and humidity are two of those things!

Thanks to an offer we couldn't refuse, we finally took the girls to Disney world.  For Callie, it was a dream come true.  Kate was so excited too, but she didn't really know why until we got there. 

We visited Magic Kingdom for two days.  On the second day, we had our niece, Sarah, with us.  She was great!!  Kate was attached to her like white on rice and Sarah never seemed to mind.  She was a big help and very patient with us!

We waited in line for an hour for this,

and then another hour waiting for the down pour and lightening to blow over.  Other than that we all had a great time!!