"All Mixed Up" A to Z Summer Fun

So for the summer of 2015, we are doing "all mixed up" A to Z summer fun.  We aren't going in order and just doing what we feel like on the days we have time.  Like today we are starting with G Day since it's a rainy inside kind of day! We also aren't taking a big trip this year, so this year's list includes some 'bigger' items for weekend-trips and stay-cation fun. Find more ideas here: A to Z Summer Fun

An afternoon with Mrs. Long

Baking Day

Cinema visit

Driving with Dad (take us to an empty parking lot and let us drive); Donuts

Edible Paper (make)

Finding Diamonds @ Diamond Crater State Park

Games! Games! Games!

Helping at Convoy of Hope (July)

Ice Cream (homemade)

Japanese Stroll Garden Relaxing Day

Kayaking @ Lake Springfield (or in Arkansas)

Library Program and/or visit

Movie Day

Neighbors Over

Outing with Henry

Pizza Picnic at the Park with Pop

Quick! Run from the water balloons!

Runway (buy new school clothes and show them off); Rainbow Making

Six Flags with Stolls

Treasure Hunt

Upcycle Craft Day

Venture to the Lake

Water Fun @ Republic Pool

Xmas Day – Celebrate Christmas in July

Yogurt (the frozen kind) and Yoga

Zone Visit (Sky Zone that is!)

Together

What a summer! What a week! Wish I had captured more of summer in my blog, but obviously (hello, last entry June 17th!), I did not. From celebrating my nephew's graduation, to Morgan becoming a teen, to an amazing swim team season, to our incredible 17 day road trip on the East Coast, to the lazy days of doing crafts and hanging with my girls - it was good.

Road Trip 2014

And this week -- Sarah's half birthday (11 and a half!), Back to School (both girls in Middle School this year!), Our 20th Anniversary, 3 job interviews (what, oh what, do I want to 'do' with my life?!), and family pictures to capture the beauty of this season of our life.

Back to School, 6th & 8th Grade

On Tuesday I broke down sobbing. I mean sobbing for over an hour.  It was a good cry. I need those every now and then.  My heart has been full this week.

25 years ago, Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song called "I will be here" - it's been 'our' song through our dating and marriage years.  And recently, well he wrote a new love song for his wife called 'Together' -- and listening to it again moved me to sobbing tears . You can listen here:


You see, there have been some really dark days in our marriage.  Of grieving, and giving each other space to grieve in their own way, two years into our marriage when Mike's mom and sister were murdered.  To my ongoing struggle with depression, which peaked as postpartum after Sarah was born and I would cry in the morning begging him not to leave for work. We've had our spats and disagreements about needs and wants, about intimacy and finances. We've been selfish. We've definitely had our moments in the past 20 years.

But what we know now in our marriage, in our lives, that we get to share with our beautiful daughters, is JOY! Love, happiness, blessings - these words describe this season of our lives.  And I couldn't be more grateful.  How did we get to this place?

I think Steven Curtis Chapman captures it in this song.

And if it wasn’t for God’s mercy and His grace
There’s no way we would be standing in this place
But because He has been faithful
Every step along the way
Here we are together

It's because God has been faithful, because He has shown us mercy and grace, that we have healed, we have worked through our deepest darkest days and our selfishness.  It's because of Him that we are in this beautiful season of joy...together!  

And for all the days yet to come, whether they bring more joy or more pain, we are thankful that we share it...together.

20 Years!! 

Acadia National Park, Maine (20th Anniversary Getaway)

ps -  if you need some encouragement, I have absolutely LOVED Steven Curtis Chapman's newest album, Glorious Unfolding.  His songs are authentic, real, yet full of hope and beauty. You won't be disappointed if you download it. 

A to Z Summer *ART* Fun

Finally got our list finalized today for our A to Z Summer *ART* fun. Inspired of course by pinterest! :)

It was a beautiful morning to get started too with acrylic painting outside on the deck!

Our A to Z Summer *ART* Fun:

A Acrylic Painting
B Build Sculptures (clay)
C Cupcake Decorating
D Drawing Outside
E Etching Glass
F Furniture Decorating
G Groovy (tye dye) t-shirts (ombre)
H Homemade Sidewalk Chalk
I Illustrate (Shel Silverstien poems?)
J Jewelry Making
K Kindness Day (make art to give away)
L Look thru the Lens (forced photography)
M Messy Art
N Nature Art
O Origami
P Paper Mache
Q Quote Art
R Recycle Project
S Scrapbooking
T Thread & Needle Creation
U Upcycle Creation (with brown paper bags?)
V Vanish Point Drawings / Village Pottery
W Weaving
X Xplore Calligraphy and Font Making
Y Yummy Art
Z Zany Fun with book folding(?)

Arkan'sauce' or Arkan'saw' or 'Art'ansas?

We seriously live only an hour away from the Arkansas border. And since this summer marks 5 years since we moved here, we thought it was about time we took our girls to Arkansas! (Mike and I had been for a couple of getaways-- and I am falling in love with the rolling-hills, lush green landscape there!)

We visited Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. It's free (thanks to Walmart!).

Here are some of our photos and some of my memories.

Millions of wildflowers lined the entire entrance way into the park. Literally millions. Taking my breath away. I so want to recreate this in my backyard. Beauty. My iphone camera fails the capture the true beauty of it.

Amazing Trails. Beautifully landscaped, among the rolling hills of Arkansas.  Hidden treasures to be discovered here and there. Stumps to jump on, statues, the crystal spring, and a picture frame in the middle of the woods. How fun is this?! Morgan lost a leg in the bottom photo! ha!

And beautiful art inside -- by famous americans - Norman Rockwell, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O'Keefe, Andy Warhol, and many more. My favorite are the landscapes of the American countryside. And the girls had lots of fun playing 'bingo' by finding all the works of on their cards.

It was also family fun day.  Which included -- painting and drawing in the garden. Might be one of my favorite parts of the day.

And hula hooping. Can't believe I still knew how to do it. Glad I decided to join the fun.

And Mike insisted we all make and wear sunglasses for the day. Sarah's had a cool lanyard strap you can't see well.

And sailing sailboats in the pond.

We also really liked the listening station where they described a piece of famous art and you had to draw it. It was the one thing we went back to do a second time.

We will definitely go back sometime. It was a lot of fun and a great way to kick off the summer!  And today begins swim team practice, 2 hours a day for 4 days a week! Check out the 8am temperature this morning --

-- it was cold to get in the water, but they did it!

End of the School Year: This n That

There has been so much I've wanted to blog about lately -- fun things happening in our lives, and yet, I don't have time to record everything! Well, when my girls get home today, they will be 5th and 7th graders. I still can not believe how quickly life is flying by with these two amazing girls.

The last few months, I've let the girls get instagram accounts. I'm monitoring them closely because the online world is a scary place these days for tweens and teens. 

But I have liked seeing what the girls choose to put on their pages, and seeing their friends like their pages.  And I'm smitten with instagram, so it's been fun to have them interacting with me on there too. 

Here was a screen snapshot of Morgan's account today.  Gotta love the Spartans photo! :) 

I've had quite a few sales in my etsy shop, this month -- two large orders -- one for 24 coasters and another for 12 nameplates -- gifts for team members and volunteers.  It's been a fun little adventure these past 6 months!

I sold them at Minden Place here in town for 3 weeks and made over $40, but then she decided to close shop for various reasons, so that was short lived! :) Oh well.  

Here's one of the orders...

The girls had lots of fun with their architectural skills this past week -- and built some fun fortresses in our backyard in the trees. Complete with zip-lines, weapon rooms, and more! Love their creativity!



And lastly, the not-so-good-news to start summer. Yesterday, lunch started out great -- having lunch with my neighbor! Chatting away...and then, all of a sudden something didn't feel right. I went to the bathroom -- and my tooth had broke in half!! Geez.

Luckily, could see the dentist in the afternoon -- only to find out they could not fix it nor save it. It will have to pulled by the oral surgeon on Friday. Then I have to get an implant. And then a crown. This whole process will take 6 months. It's crazy. And let's just say, that even with insurance kicking in, it will still be over $2k for all of this...not exactly how I wanted to start the summer!  The worse part -- my tooth - was a perfectly healthy tooth -- no cavities, no fillings -- the dentist said it was just one of those 'weird things'! Lucky me!!

So life goes...but I'll take the bad mixed with the good...if it means a full life!

Now, to finish up our final A to Z Summer Fun list before the girls get home shortly and summer officially begins! :)

Future Gold Medalists

This morning I woke up the girls by whispering in their ears "Good morning, future gold medalist!"

You see, this summer we decided to have the girls join the Republic Swim Team! And today was their first swim meet!

Last Monday, Sarah could not even swim the length of the pool. Today she swam the length of the pool in four different events! I was so proud of her! And Morgan competed in five events today! She was nervous and did not want to look at the camera - but she did awesome! It was so fun to watch them compete, really to watch all the kids compete - and the parents be excited for them!

Here are a few pictures from their very first swim meet today. Hint: If you click on the picture, you can see it bigger.

Love Me Some Summertime!

...like going to the lake on a Tuesday...'cuz, hey, why not?! 

And turning my doors into beautiful masterpieces (inspired by The Artful Parent)...

And making backyard tents....

And having a picnic with daddy during his lunch hour...

And that's just the past three days! 

Tomorrow...celebrating birthdays at Silver Dollar City! 

Welcome Back Summer, Welcome Back!

Sunlight sparkles bouncing off water ripples, giggly girls flying across lake on a tube with their dad, wind tangling up my hair, Heron sweeping across lake's shore,  rainbows in the wake's mist, gentle waves rocking the boat while enjoying a picnic, sun's rays kissing my skin, splashes filling the silence - yes, Welcome Back Summer, Welcome back!

This is now our 13th summer with our boat, and I love how it's become such a part of 'summer' for our family!

Ready for first tube ride of the season!

Labor Day Memories

Glad my parents made it down for Labor Day weekend...we enjoyed bowling, canoeing, playing games, the girls biked and flew kites with grandpa, painted with grandma (aren't their paintings adorable!?), mom and I went to garage sales, and we ate WAY too much ice cream, frozen custard and frozen yogurt, but it was oh so yummy!! So thankful for the memories, for me, and for the girls with their grandparents. 

Summertime's Last Hurrah

Well our last week of summertime is upon us, next week my girls will begin 3rd and 5th grade! And while I'm slightly grieving the end of one more summertime in my girl's childhood, I'm also looking forward to the routine the school year brings, as well as the chance to work (substitute teach) again! :)

As for this past summer, I really have no regrets (other than deleting most of our 'a to z' summertime pictures!). The first part of our summer was busy, busy FUN...visit from my sister's family, camping, our grand adventure to the Grand Canyon, a visit from Mike's brother's family. The second part of our summer has been filled with relaxing days at home that inspire creativity in my girls, with the fun of our a to z days mixed in, as well as camping and trips to the lake, and scrapbooking with the girls their own books of our Grand Canyon trip.

Our last hurrah is this week at the Crown Center in Kansas City. Mike is here for training with work, so the girls and I are hanging out...visiting Hallmark's Kalediscope center, playing in fountains, shopping, and hanging at the pool (when the weather cooperates), going to the Money Museum...and the best part...all our fun is free (well, other than the shopping!) We'll play all day then join up with Mike in the evening, which will hopefully include at least one night to The Cheesecake Factory!

When the lady at the front desk asked Mike how high we wanted to be in our hotel, he said "as high as we can!" - so we ended up on the top floor! That would be #40!! He definitely scored brownie points with his girls who were screaming and giggling and, well, you can't even imagine the excitement!! It's quite the view too.  And I'm trying to get over my fears...of gettting stuck in the elevator with two girls, of there being a fire in the middle of the night, of storms blowing out windows. Sometimes I wish my heart still beheld the naive innocence that my girl's hearts hold...and I could just be excited about being on the 40th floor!

It's HOT!!!

I can't believe how hot it's been. I've certainly been missing Michigan Summers. Since we moved to Missouri 15 years ago, this is the first summer we haven't traveled back to Michigan in the summertime. Don't know if a Michigan gal will ever get acclimated to a Missouri summer! Just look at a few of the 'facts' about Missouri's heat -

• We've set record highs the past 3 days in a row.
• We even set a record high for the month of August at 108.
• Mind you this is Missouri in the summer, so add in humidity and the heat indexes are well over 110. 
• This is the hottest summer in Missouri in the past 25 years.
• We went to 'moonlight madness' to ride the roller coasters last night. When we arrived at Silver Dollar City at 6pm, the heat index was reading 117 on my phone. When we left at 10pm, it was reading 102 on my phone. 
• My air conditioning is set at 82 - and that's still 25+ degrees colder than the outside temperatures!

We did try to cook an egg on the sidewalk the other day...but it didn't work. We might have to try it again!

And really, I love the sun, just not the heat - look at this gorgeous picture I got at sunset camping this past weekend. Yes, we were crazy enough to camp in this heat!!

Yes, I'm SOOO thankful for our central air conditioning!! And I'm thankful no season lasts forever...

A to Z Summer Fun

Last summer we did our first A to Z Summer fun! This year we are keeping some of the same days, and adding in some different days. And with the first half of our summer so busy, I did have to double up a few days this year in order to get them all squeezed in! When making our list I try and think of everything I want to do at least once with the girls during the summer...and put it on here so that we make sure the fun happens before summer slips away! Last summer I was great about getting pictures of each day...this year...well, not so well. But here are a couple. Perhaps it's the heat getting to me?!

"B" Day: Baking Day!
This is their own creation, cookie dough dipped in melted chocolate chips. Umm, yay, they were yummy!

"E" Day: Experiment Day
Polymers let you poke a pencil thru a bag full of water without spilling any of it! Look at that concentration!

Well, today we are on "K" day and I'm glad my girls love this a to z summer fun as much as I do! :)

July 7^th        A Arts & Crafts – Village Pottery

July 8^th        B Baking Day

July 11^th      C Camera scavenger Hunt

July 12^th      D Donuts delivered to Dad

July 13^th      E  Experiment Day

July 14^th      F Friendship Day

July 15^th      G Game Day – Make up some games

July 18^th      H Hershey Day

July 19^th      I Ice Cream Day

July 20^th      J Jump in the Pool!

July 21^st      K Kindness Day

July 22^nd     L Laugh, Laugh,Laugh

July 25^th      M Mystery Monday

July 26^th      N-O Neighbors over for Outside Fun!

July 27^th      P Pizza at the Park with Pop

July 28^th      Q Quiet Day

July 29^th      R Republic Aquatic Center

Aug 1^st        S Scrapbooking

Aug 2^nd       T-U Take a Trip to an Ultimate Surprise

Aug 3^rd       V Video Game Day

Aug 4^th        W Wilson’s Creek Jr. Ranger Badge

Aug 5^th        X-Y Xtra Fun at the Y-Center

Aug 12^th     Z  Zippity-do-dah Day!

Summertime at the Baker House

So the last time I was in our basement we had two couches, a floor and a pool table.  Somehow they have all seemed to have vanished beneath this elaborate fort/reading tent/dressing room/maze the girls have created in our basement.  I seriously LOVE lazy summer days at home which inspire creativity like this. AND I'm thankful for a space in our basement where this can happen. HOWEVER, I think for my own sanity, I might need to avoid going down into the basement the rest of the summer, because I think my heart stopped and I actually gasped when I ventured downstairs to find this...(yeah, you don't see couches nor floor either, do you?!) :) 

...and where are the girls at, you may ask? Outside in their swimsuits with a bag of water balloons and a hose, finishing up a lunchtime picnic. Oh summertime, we LOVE you!!

Extreme Fort Makeover

Sarah's Wall

Morgan's Wall

This spring the girls have been busy painting the inside of their playhouse.  They finally got *most* of the details added this week, although they still have a few ideas of things they'd like to add.  Their good friend Maddy helped them with the painting.

Maddy's Wall and curtains

So...I decided to make them some curtains and beanbags to help **transform** this fort into a place that feels special to them and they want to hang out in this summer to read, talk, laugh.  I was going to save it for summer, but with Mike gone one night these week, I began to work on it with the girls instead.

I found a flannel back vinyl tablecloth at walmart for less than $5.  We cut it to make the curtains. They are stapled to the wall. :)

turned couch into a 'bed'

Then we used the rest to make the beanbags.   We made two long bean bags, with which they can use as sit-upons, or put together to make a couch, or lay on as a bed. I thought it would take one hour to hot glue them together. Three days later, they are finally finished and we now have waterproof beanbags!

Plan A: Hot Glue them together. Got first one made and stuffed and then the seem split.  Note to self: hot glue does not stick to vinyl tablecloths.
Plan B: Sew them. Pulled out the sewing machine. Actually remembered how to thread it. But it's not working. Then I broke the last needle I had for it.
Plan C: Duct Tape. It appears our duct tape has gone missing. Mike didn't think it would hold either.
Plan D: Sew by hand. Seriously, I hate sewing, but I really wanted to make these. So, the girls and I sat down and spent a couple of hours sewing these. Sarah said that plan D was the best because it was the funnest!

I also found a couple of paper lanterns for only $1/each, which I hung up in their playhouse too!

sisterly love

Morgan, Madisyn, Sarah

As you can see from all their smiles, they are very happy.  It's only in the 50s here today and they are insisting they stay outside in the fort. :)

Morgan & Sarah’s A to Z Days of Summertime Fun!

In between vacations and camps, here are some of the fun plans we have to fill our summer days! :) It was hard to just pick one thing a day!

A – W 2nd - Arts & Crafts Day
B – R 3rd - Baking banana bread and making barrettes
C – F 4th – Camping Day, don’t forget your camera!
D – M 7th – Dip in the pool!
E – T 8th – Experiment Day
F – W 9th - Friend Day
G – R 10th – Go geocaching.
H – F 11th – Half-price sonic drinks
I – M 14th - Ice Cream and Invest money at the bank
J – T 15th - Jewelry making.
K – W 16th - Kindness day (how can we be kind to others today?)
L – R 17th –Lava lamps…we’ll attempt to make our own.
M – F 18th - Mail letters to friends
N – M 21st – Nails, nails, nails!
O – T 22nd – Outside day
P – W 23rd – Park ‘n Pizza
Q – R 24th - Quarters….hmmm?!
R – F 25th – Reading, reading, reading!
S – M 28th - Scavenger Hunt
T – T 29th Take Daddy Lunch
U – W 30th Ultimate surprise!
V – W 14th Volcano (make one!)
W – R 15th Water Day
X – F 16th - “X Marks the Spot” Treasure Hunt
Y – R 22nd - Yesterday’s memories (scrapbook)
Z – F 23rd - Zoo