the weekend

Our weekend was spent running errands and doing projects. Scott did some needed work on the Suburban. He replaced the shocks and in doing so, discovered the brakes were pretty bad, so he replaced those too. We also had somebody come out to put in a new windshield. Here in Colorado, it's so hard to have an uncracked one. They put gravel on the roads when it snows and it gets tossed right into the windshield by large trucks. Every vehicle I've ever owned has gone through a couple windshields. Here's hoping this one lasts awhile!

We went to the Saturday evening church service. The topic was grace. One of the things that jumped out at me was that grace sometimes comes from unexpected people or places. It doesn't always look the way we expect it to. That's so true. Like the wonderful lady who paid for our dinner Friday night.

We also took the kids to get haircuts. Here are before and afters:

Aiden before

Aiden after

Chase before

Chase after

Conner before

Conner after?? Oh wait -- I forgot. This is my teenager who has now decided he wants his hair long. LOL

No hair TO cut! =)

Brenna just got the tiniest bit of a trim. She is wavering between wanting a very short bob or growing her hair out. So we're somewhere in the middle right now. Her before and after were almost exactly the same, so I just posted one.

This coming week is VBS. This year, Conner is too old and Zane is too young, so the 3 of us will be hanging out together while the others attend. It's Aiden's first time going, he is so excited! I can't wait to hear about it from him tomorrow.

Lemonade and a Random Act of Kindness

We got up very early this morning to help at the Homeschool Hangout garage sale. While I worked the sale, my kids and those of the other helpers set up lemonade stands. They actually had their own stands at the beginning and then realized they might do better by joining forces. So they put all their tables together in one area. I thought they handled it well, instead of competing with each other.

It was hot, and we were pretty tired by the time we got home. Scott has been out of town all week and was tired when he arrived, also. We decided to go out for dinner. We went to Macaroni Grill. It's a favorite, but we don't go there very often.

We had a nice dinner and the kids were very well behaved. At the end, Scott asked the waitress for the check and she informed us our bill had already been taken care of. What?? She said a lady at the booth next to our table paid it. Scott went over to talk to her. She was there with her teenage son. She said she had been watching us, and felt led to do that for us.

We were so amazed. We had each of the kids go thank her. We also talked about random acts of kindness that each of us can maybe do this week.

Scrapbook Challenge Completed

I finally completed Cynthia's first scrapbook challenge -- to organize something. I don't have an extra room in my house to use for scrapbooking, so a corner of my bedroom has to suffice. Lately, it's been overrun with things not scrapbook-related: maternity clothes ready to be put back in storage, kids clothes intended for the Goodwill, etc.
Her challenge gave me an incentive to reclaim that space. Now to find the time to scrapbook. =)

what we've been up to...

It's been a busy week. DH is out of town for work until Friday evening. So I thought I'd surprise him by decluttering and somewhat redecorating our bedroom. (I'll post more about that when it's finished). So I'm trying to fit that in where I can, between activities.

Each evening, my two older boys have baseball. On Monday, Chase has a game and Conner has a practice; Tuesday, Conner has a game and Chase has a practice; and so on through the week. Without my dh here, it makes it tricky getting them each where they need to go but we've managed.

During the day, we've been busy at the Homeschool Hangout. The owner has great plans for the place, but needs working volunteers so I've been helping out when I can.

This evening, our church had a fun family activity. They had music and skits, followed by dinner catered by Chick-fil-A (yum!) and games. Aiden had so much fun with his buddy Josh, jumping in one of the inflatables. They also got a big kick out of following the Chick-fil-A cow around. =)

Chase spent his time at the cake walk, and finally won some cupcakes. He was a little disappointed as he'd had his eye on a HUGE cake. LOL I forgot to get pics of his cupcakes.

I'm a big boy now!

Zane just loves his new saucer. He has always preferred being upright, anyway, and this gives him much more freedom. And it gives me and the kids' arms a rest, too!