ahh...Saturday, my friend

In news of stay-cation we have:

Luke, haircut: check.

Winning the war against small, alien invaders otherwise known as "stole in on my nectarines fruitflies".  Nefarious creatures.  They should heed my rule: never get between a housewife and her bowl of vinegar.  Or her bottle of countertop spray.

Feel myself again after a great two hours at the hair salon.  Thank you, Jane.  I am no longer feeling orange and shorn.  Instead, finally feeling myself.  A lovely indulgence for today.

Jim, Jeb and Luke labored long and with great fun moving the Myers to temporary new lodgings!
It was so fun to bring the littles for pizza lunch and see family and friends gathered to encourage and cheer them on, as well as invest sweat equity in their big day with them.  There is nothing like true friendships to walk through life.  I could have hugged everyone's neck with the goodness of the working together.  We were perhaps on the level of Amish-ness barn raisings.  It was a beautiful thing.

Biking and swimming pool in the back yard {wading pool, that is} fun for the girls and I.  And to top it all off, the incredible baking creation of a chocolate-coconut cake slathered richly with almond-infused cream-cheese frosting.  Oh, my stars!  Soooo yummy.  Anna was very proud.  She baked so well today!

Jeb and Luke ended up having sleepovers here with friends.  Fun times.  Longboarding and some other-world creating of boyland that doesn't make sense to me.  Nightgames were forestalled by the dense wall of mosquitoes that met them in our lush backyard landscape.  We clearly need to spray evil chemicals to ward them all off.

Cooper still gone at friends cabin.

Jim and I tucked girls, shooed boys and claimed the family room.  We watched, "The King's Speech".  Wonderful.  What an uplifting movie, and an incredible glimpse into kindness.  I did not make it dry-eyed through the description of the little brother's death {the one with epilepsy}.  Or the part where Lionel conducted him through "the speech".  I didn't think I'd smile at the use of those expletives, but I was indeed, smiling in encouragement.

Nana, Papa, if you haven't seen that movie, see it now!

Jim's dad is officially Wonderman.  After spending a week in hospital with a terrible infection requiring a PIC line and a stay in intensive care, he was released HOME, shocking us all!  Mr. Bionic is now settling in and surely thrilled to be home with Mrs. Wonderful, Nana.  Papa, what sweet news it was to hear you are back home!  We love you so much and are so happy you are doing so well.

Now it is on to our last stay-cation day: Sunday.

Off to putter!  That's the plan for the day.

Love, and lots of it,
Sara

All in all, a lovely day

the Relatives came!

One of my all time favorite children's books.

And the theme of our last week!

Jim's sister, Carla, her husband, Mark and our niece, Jenna make the long trek from Virginia to visit us.

We had a fine time together!  It was a lovely 4th of July with them; our first at home ever.

We did bonfires:

We had picnic fun and swimming at Lake Harriet:

A lovely outdoor worship service on the 4th, which somehow I only captured as before shots on the playground nearby...perhaps because it would be tacky to photograph ourselves mid-worship?  Yes.  That's it.:

What I can't get to upload is Emma Kate swinging and singing at the top of her voice, "The sun will come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there will be sun!"

Oh, so cute!

Fourth of July involves the annual family Olympics.  We are big on silly, and our Olympics features such events as bubble gum blowing contest, water balloon toss, watermelon seed spitting and croquet.  Prizes of utter nonsense are awarded.

This year winners walked away with such goodies as a can of garbanzo beans, a personal pack of kleenex {awarded for messiest contestant in the watermelon event}, a rock {for staying calm and helpful in the face of complete fools}.  Basically, the hour before the Olympics the tradition is to run through the house and grab a bag of things and then come up with awards on the spot.  It makes for fun and high hilarity.  Just ask us!

Croquet involves awards given to Most Interesting and Creative hitter, Last to Arrive at the End, Cheater Extraordinaire, etc.  My Dad and Mark could hardly stand the croquet event, as we aren't very serious.  At least most of us are not.  Apparently cousin Jenna needs to spend a bit more time learning our side of the family before we play games again so she doesn't have heart palpitations.  We might be competitive, but we are mostly and all for fun and togetherness over winning.  That's all I'll say about that.  The boys are still laughing telling about Pa giving instructions from his adirondack chair on the sidelines.

Fourth of July fireworks were beautiful, as was the setting in which we viewed.  We only walked three houses down and out onto a golf course to sit on our quilt in the evening's quiet under a canopy of trees where we beheld nighttime glory as the sky lit up with sparkles.

We wondered what Emma would think, as Anna's first two years home were spent huddled in my arms under blankets to muffle the booms!

This is the best I could do of a group cousins picture:

 The big kids!

 Jeb and Jenna are born days apart!  Recalling that March thirteen years ago is such a joyful memory.

 Adorable times two!

Daddy and his two girls!  Notice Emma's hilarious expression!

 They are kind of loud, and yet I still love giving everyone around me a running commentary even with my ears covered...

The adults had their own comfy version of firework spectating.  Here are Carla and Mark enjoying the sky:

And then there was bowling.  Always entertaining and great fun.  I did my best to shake it up at the line {is that what it is called}.  Each bowl deserved a dance, and we left some incredible dance moves at the lanes.

The menfolk arranging the womenfolk and children, surveying the bowling landscape:

 Dance, dance, dance!

 Oh, I am sooo cute!

 Brother and sister.

 cousins!

 bowling queen:

 Jeb is a really happy bowler!

 Jenna Beth!

 Mr. Luke

 Jenna rousting Cooper for his turn, and Emma Kate with facial commentary:

Oh, look!  He lives.

It was a special time, with people we love!
Thanks for coming all the way to Minnesota, cousins!

rain, rain go away!

That is our chant today!

Even as the rain fell so prettily last night on the pond outside of church, I still asked the Lord to spare those in South Dakota.

Here, rain is not ushering in tragedy.  It is, however, bringing a bumper crop of mosquitoes.  It is unreal how many welts my legs have from just briefly being outside.

We can't really be at the pool yet anyway.  At least Emma Kate cannot.  The big guys went one day when the sun briefly peeked out.  The rest of us are awaiting Mermaids return to the pool.

Emma hasn't yet seen the pool we swim in for summer.  She keeps asking if we can go to Gogo and Pa's, where they have a pool in their backyard.  And the next request is for her swimming lesson pool, which is a smallish indoor pool.

Wait until she sees what she gets to swim in this summer!  Mermaid will flip!  I'm predicting dolphin-esque leaps in the water. :)

Now I'm off to don jeans and a sweater.  Baby, it's cold out there!

goodbye, school year; helllllo, summer!

ta-da!  I did it!  

Goodbye second grade, hello third!

Sweet goodbyes to wonderful friends and teachers.

And just a few big tears in the car ride home.

 Pretty much just excited for summer...even at their brother's baseball game the night before!

And the two cutest little cheering sisters!
Yes, everytime Luke did something good Emma wanted to play her recorder for him.
She's so cute.

The year is over.  And so begins Emma's bliss of her people home every day with her.
Ahhhh...how sweet it is.

last week

of summer!

Like all last weeks it is filled with much preparation for the year to come.  So fun!  Nothing like fresh new school supplies, spiffed backpacks, crisp fall clothes to sweat profusely in don for the first day of school!

Personally, for me, I always look forward to getting our home really back in order after a summer of fun together.  I am longing and yearning (and yes, I know this is weird) to scour my cupboards, wash the floors the old fashioned way, and organize all the nooks and crannies of closets.  Away go the swim towels, out come the fall coats.

What is it with living up north and all the variations of fleece, down and gortex that we need.  Honestly!

I need a good system for mittens and hats.  And our boots need a better place to rest than the floor of the shoe closet in the mud room.  So I'm going to get organized that way this fall, too.  We have six shelves in there...and soon there will be seven of us.  Hmmm.  Time to get creative!  Jim, you just lost your shelf.  How's that?  Just kidding, honey.

We have one last weekend up at the cabin with my parents.  It will be special and bittersweet this year.  The cabin is for sale.  Anna is fervently praying it sells in ten or twenty years.  :)  So we are so grateful for this time to say goodbye together and play and a beloved place.  As we leave, I think we all need to say, "Next spring in Arizona", instead of goodbye!  We have many new places to make memories together.  The lake has been a blessed place, and now there are new locations for us to discover and enjoy together.  It's us, the people, more than a specific place.  That's what matters.  Mom and Dad, we love you!  Thank you so for the gift of Lake Tahkodah ALL these years!

We are in the process of weaning Luke off of one of his seizure meds and ramping up on the other one.  He is doing great.  The side effects as we switch are not horrible, but are a bit challenging.  Opportunities to speak truth and love on Him with grace and gentleness.  His stamina amazes me, and he is plowing such good ground.  We stand firm on the promise that God is with us and for Luke; in all of it!

At work, I am in my last two weeks.  I am done on the 15th.  Wow.  Can't quite believe it.  We are recruiting for fall teaching, and busy getting the rooms spiffed and in order, prepping curriculum and doing all the things that a new programming year brings.  What an incredible team I have worked with.  I am so grateful the Lord will keep us close and while I will not be there in a paid position, I will still work with them as part of our covenant community.  I'm already dreaming about Jesuralem Marketplace next volunteer opportunities.  :)  Embedded code.

It is now 8:11am.  Time to get the kids up.  In a week, Cooper and Jeb will have already been in school for half an hour.  Ouch!  The early mornings are always a rude awakening (pun intended) to the school year.

I wrote a friend this morning and said, "It will be a big school year this year".  Never were words more aptly written.  It will be a big school year this year.  The year of Emma Kate!  And other things, whatever they may be.  Thankfully, God knows!

Bears and Tigers and...goats? Oh, my!

Let's go to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

And you can come too, too, too...

With Cooper and Jeb gone at church camp, we decided to head out on a fun excursion.

It's been a long time since we visited the Minnesota Zoo, and we had a great time together!  

It was the three of us, and a lot of HOT animals.  Tigers, bears, camels, antelope, asian cows.  Lots to see! Unless you count all the animals submerged in murky green water waiting for dusk to arrive.  They were bumming, I'm telling you.  HOT animals!

 I won't bore you with Luke and Anna's animal shots.  Especially since I always make snarky comments about people who photograph the animals standing there bored in their "environments".  I know.  I'm sarcastic that way.  But really, what in the world are you going to do with animal photos once you are home?  

For us, the highlight was...(don't laugh now, we're city folk)

We had a ball.  Petting, snuggling, grooming.  The mennonite people who arrived at the farm in the same wagon load of people as us seemed a bit confused.  I think they might have thought we were a bit loony to come to a zoo to see...farm animals.  

As a girl who has always harbored quiet dreams of pygmy goats, I was in heaven.  Those goats are so cute.  And we learned they are mighty closely related to sheep, too.  Who knew?  Probably you did, but we didn't.  No wonder Scripture references sheep and goats together.  I'm sad the goats aren't coming along in that illustration.  I find them much cuter.  And if I had to chose, I'd want to be a goat.  Unless I"m in that illustration.  In that case I'll be a sheep.

But I digress.  

Here's how it all looked at the end of the visit, after four hours in broiling heat

Mighty fun!

Cooper and Jeb return today.  Luke and I head out on Sunday for camp.  Pray for us!  Pray for me!  I'm on staff and leading 130 campers to know, love and follow Jesus.  It is such a fun week.  I really look forward to it, and love seeing God at work in all those kids.  Beautiful.

Emma Kate, we can't wait for the day we sweat it out with you at the zoo.  And we long to laugh at camels wading in water and gasp at the majesty of the leopard as it leaps down a tree trunk.  WITH YOU.  

Time's flying by!  We'll be there SOON.