Family

 The week after Memorial day, Granddaddy (aka James Stephens, my mom's dad) had a stroke.  We had seen him that weekend, when we had dinner in Salado coming home from our camping trip.  So in the next few weeks, I got to see ALL of my family on both sides.  Kathy came right away and stayed for the whole time, we saw her here in the hospital (she also came to visit us in Austin and came to Friendship).

Then when Granddaddy and family made the decision for him to come home, Angela came with her parents to visit.  This is the last picture I have of Granddaddy, surrounded by many who love him.  This was Sunday morning so we had a little service around his bedside, singing hymns.  

 Since we are close, we got to come up when various family members from other states came to visit.  Kimberly and her husband James (who I didn't get a photo of) brought Noor and baby Roman.  The girls had a blast playing-rearranging the furniture, painting, playing in puddles.  There was a lot of life in the home that evening!

 Granddaddy passed away on June 14, and since some family was out of state/country, the funeral was held June 28 and lots of family came.  There was a lunch in the church gym after the very nice funeral.

 My cousins and spouses.  We got to meet Cathy Stephens for the first time.

 Tracie (no picture) came to the visitation and my Dad's other family came to the funeral.

Family that loves the Lord and each other is such a blessing!

June Fun

 I am really behind on the blog so here is an assortment of fun from June.
On a Sunday Lydia put out all all the 'comfy' stuff because it is a day of rest.

 The kids built an amazing city called Workin'ville with the train set and Playmobile and other random toys.

 Lydia's Sunday school teachers, the Liebs, had a party with a pool, bunny....

 big puppy, lots of food and a cool old house in Taylor to tour.

 Y-E-S for VBS!  It was an awesome week.  And so much fun that Lydia got to be a real part of it and not just in childcare (like Gloria).  We brought two neighbors (and looking at these make me sad because during the summer we haven't seen that much of them) and had a picnic each day after by the beautiful lake seeing fish and turtles and ducks.

 On the last day we got a cd of the week's music and the kids jammed the whole way home, while vacuuming out the car and then for a block party!

We had 12 kids in the front yard enjoying the music, doing volcanoes which of course lead to needing to get the hose out.  I was so exhausted but okay because I hadn't sat down yet :).  Really a wonderful week and I am thinking about renting a 15 passenger van for next year!

June 7

 Lydia's graduation was on Caleb's birthday so he took the whole day off.  We got to take Lydia home when it was finished at 9:30.  The girls decorated Daddy's cake with a fisherman, grass, water, goldfish and shore (yay for food coloring and brown sugar).  After a yummy bday brisket he did himself we went to the Natural Gardener.

We saw the donkey, chickens, goats and lots of wonderful plants-smelling, touching and admiring.  They swung.  We got yummy popcicles.  Lydia was sad the covering of the teepee was gone but there was a new guitar garden.

Last day of school & Completion ceremony

 The last day of school, all were up with the sun ready to go!  We walked with summer there.

 The kindergarteners, for the 8:30 ceremony they sang a sweet song about having Kindergarten in their hearts.

 getting her certificate.

Field Day

 The kindergarteners had field day the last week of school.  All had a great time even though Lydia recorded in her school journal that everyone complained about the heat :)

 Gloria, being the same size as many in the class, got to participate too!

 I love this action shot of Lydia.  Though Gloria is the same size she is still a lot younger and held up this race by standing in the middle in a sack crying!

Tug of war, the girls beat the boys three times.  We also had a moms & dads against kids (we won).  

Lydia's favorite was shoe kick and hula hoop.  For their age it was just having fun and letting everyone go a few times, no ribbons.

Camping

 We spent a busy Memorial Day weekend camping at Cedar Hill State Park.  We drove up I35 the entire time in the rain and set up our tent in the sprinkles.  We slept great and stayed dry, but our campsite was really muddy the next morning.

 The wildflowers, especially blanket flowers and thistles, were amazing.  We hiked around a little and the girls said we had high heels of mud...

 then headed to the swimming beach of Joe Pool lake to meet some friends, from A&M...

 we had lunch and played; their son is seven and the girls really enjoyed him...

 looked at the marina and then played around at our campsite for a while.  That night we set up the girls' tent.  Sunday morning we woke up and drove to Caleb's uncles to see his Grandmother and with Annie there were puppies!  And kitties the girls were in heaven.

 We flew kites before going back to the state park to swim again.  This time it was super crowded.  

 Carrie and family came for dinner and s'mores.

 The kids found a great climbing tree and added features such as a door and assigned rooms :)

 We enjoyed the visit and the yummy s'mores.

 Monday morning we toured the historic Penn farm in the park, and did a short hike before packing up...

we stopped in Salado on the way home for dinner, a visit and to climb in the treehouse.  Granddaddy came for dinner as well, two days before his stroke.

Guide to Going to School review

I got the Christian Mama's Guide to the Grade School Years by Erin MacPherson (and her mom) free by agreeing to review it on my blog from Thomas Nelson & Booksneeze!
Erin is very humorous and almost every sentence has a joke included.  Depending on my mood, this was wonderful or annoying; something you should know going in!  The book gives practical advice as well as spiritual motivation for this next step of our kids' lives.
One of the biggest focus is the Fifteen Factors, character qualities important to develop in addition to academics.  Overall I really liked her attitude:  being ready is important, choosing the right school is important, knowing what to do if your kid struggles is important, but the most important thing is encouraging them to have genuine faith and how we can work hard yet relax in it all.
I read this near the end of my daughter's Kindergarten year so I didn't need the pep talks about letting go the first day but I am still glad I read this book.  I am planning on printing some of her free sheets as great reminders on things to focus on while my girls are in grade school.
I thought it was kinda cool/kinda odd that Erin practically team wrote this with her mother, an educator.  The sections from her mom were great to hear from someone on the other side and who has seen a lot and she has wonderful practical pointers on things such as communication, strength-weakness combo, and more.
One funny thing, my four year old picked up the book, looked at the front cover and said we need to give this book to a teenager because of the depiction of the mom :).  If you have kids in the younger grades or soon to starting school, I recommend this one!