so. today is (‘was’ cuz it’s 10 pm now?) the official last day of summer. wait.  what?  aren’t i homeschooling and can therefore decide to give ourselves another week of summer if i feel like it?  and for the record, i really, really feel like it. ah, so much to update on and so NO time to do it. long story short, i am still homeschooling this year.  and i’m not. wait.  what? yes, exactly.  i’m confused too. ok, so phil and i agreed at the start of this journey of educating our kids that we would make our decisions year-by-year.  and that we would try to make those decisions…

because it’s just not summer without our yearly trip to the fair.  this time it was mikey who saw the commercial for it on tv and kept reminding us that 1) the fair was here! and 2) when could we go? first order of business: mini corn dogs. little dude was not going to miss out on the eating fun this year. he polished it off not even two minutes later. ’twas okay though because daddy made sure the food choices kept rolling in the whole day. beverage choices too.  it was rather hot that day… we finally let him out and let him walk around on his own in…

so yes, our surprise guest was none other than rapunzel herself! she came with a basket full of fun things. like feather boas and capes for everyone to dress up in. though this little brother didn’t know what all the fuss was about.  especially when there were macaroons still left to be eaten. i think she was just a teeny, tiny bit excited that ‘punzel was really here. and then it was dance party time! followed by freeze dance party time with pascal. lauren was frozen solid.  mostly because i think she was kinda freaked out by the pascal puppet. she cracked a tiny smile at the end.  mostly because…

after celebrating each of her siblings’ birthdays and patiently waiting for the ever-so-slow july to arrive, it was finally lauren’s turn to party! she was beside herself with eager anticipation. i was beside myself with party preparations.  let it be known that pinterest is a bad, bad place. etsy, too. after a few weeks of gathering ideas, making plans, purchasing supplies, making lists, preparing items, hanging decorations, rehanging decorations, and a couple late nighters, came the night before the big day. and if you know phil… you know that he is all about the party favor bag.  unfortunately for me this time, he was too busy with work to be…

so we celebrated anniversary number 11 last month.  in the last few years, the month of july has ended up being a crazy busy month for us with phil finishing one program or another, moving, lauren’s birthday, and our anniversary all thrown in there. but even so, we’ve always tried to mark the date in one way or another, and God has always provided time for us to spend with each other and to look back over the years of all we have to be thankful for. and i’m happy to report that this anniversary finds us in a very good place.  the Lord has blessed us beyond what we…