Whew!

Just a quick update for now. C is finished with her 4th softball season. Her team won the first game of the tournaments, and lost the next two, so her team finished in 4th place for the season and the tournament. In the very last inning of the very last game she was injured. C is the pitcher for our team, and was hit in the ankle bone by a line-drive grounder. Although it is bruised and swollen, she refused to sit out, and finished pitching the game. Our team pizza party is this Sunday, and the entire softball league's annual potluck/coach softball game is the following week.

C was also busy with Bible school, and her enrichment classes at the college. Those are finished now, too. E participated in Bible school again, too.

My husband's transmission went out in his truck, so he has spent the last 2 weeks riding his bike to work. It will be quite awhile before we have enough spare money to work on getting a new transmission, or fixing this one.

We're close to meeting our goals for the summer with our schoolwork, and have even exceeded our plans in some areas. I'll try to make that a separate post.

The girls have learned a few extra "life-lessons" this summer, too. They are still grieving over the loss of their friend across the street. At the same time they (and me) are anxiously awaiting the arrival of kittens. Minnie, an abused stray, has decided she likes being fed and loved enough to stay here. One of our outside cats decided he liked her, too, so sometime in the next month we will be caring for newborn kittens. I've had cats all my life, but always had them spayed/neitered, so this will be a new experience for me, too.

And what would an update be without letting everyone know how the newlyweds are doing? They seem to be enjoying life, spending money like it grows on trees, and behaving just like any other newly married teen couple. I've had some interesting phone calls...."How do you make green beans?" "Mom, Lance is at the store, and he called me to ask you where the instant mashed potoatoes might be?" "What does it mean when the directions says to grease a cookie sheet? And what IS a cookie sheet? All I have is those big, flat pans you bake cookies on." (ROFL!!!) You get the point. This child stood in the kitchen myriad times talking to me while I was making dinner or baking, and obviously didn't notice a single thing. She's catching on, though, and at least she calls. : ) I'll be nice, and not even post in public the checking account drama....

As for myself, I'm fine, just glad to have some down-time finally, to prepare and organize for the new school year. Both girls are already ahead for their grades, but there are still boxes of books I need to put in order, and figure out some semblance of lesson plans for 5th grade. I might even stick to them for 2 weeks this year....

Feeling a Little Better Today

My apologies for the long-winded, depressing post of yesterday. I thought about deleting it, but decided I will leave it up for now, and not even go edit the typos. : ) We will soon return to the regularly scheduled homeschooling topics.

In Loving Memory

Immediately after my post yesterday my neighbor yelled across the street for me to come over RIGHT NOW. Entering his house I found his daughter, and our dear friend, had died in her sleep. Kristi was only 33 years old, and leaves behind her 12 year old daughter, and her father, Mark. (also a dear friend)

Kristi was such a dear to my girls. They spent many happy hours with her at her house, not only playing with her daughter, but with Kristi, too. We'll never forget the night C kept her up until 2 a.m. making homemade Mother's Day gifts for me. The picture above was taken that night. From the top is Kristi's daughter, Kristi, and my 2 daughters. As always, no matter how badly she was feeling, she has a smile on her face. We will miss her, and all our visits so much.

The Best Kind of Day

See that picture above in my header? The girls and I went out there yesterday for a few hours between C's Astronomy class at another session of College for Kids Enrichment classes, and her softball game last night. We:

fed the geese,




looked at pretty scenery,





played in the river,




and found lots of interesting rocks.





We also found tons of tadpoles and baby frogs, but those were a little difficult to get a picture of. My favorite picture of all, though, is this one. That's my right hand in the photo, and I was afraid it wouldn't turn out well, but I love it! : )




I hope you all can have great days like this sometimes! : )