We're still here!

Hi! We are still here - life's just been happening! :)

A quick recap - we've about gotten settled. There are a few boxes that need to be taken care of but I'm not quite sure what to do with the contents. (I want more bookshelves.) :)

One of my favorite parts of summer is the extra time the girls have and the imagination that kicks in. K coordinated a colonial tea party for us one afternoon.

My honey (with the help of our neighbor) built one side, the front portion and the gate of our new privacy fence. We put up an above ground pool for the girls (and us) to enjoy!

We enjoyed a summer visit with our sweet friends.

We've also started back with school. Although we've homeschooled all along, it's always changing - new ages and gradually adding more siblings in the mix - makes it feel a bit new each year. Not all days are filled with "fun" but we have enjoyed some nature study God sent our way.

We've also enjoyed learning about Indians.

Birthday season is also officially here! We had a family get together with my folks and my brother & his family. (We celebrated 6 birthdays among us!)

J had a few friends come over one day and then went to Chuck E. Cheese the day before her birthday for a birthday lunch. On her actual birthday, we celebrated at the lake.

Birthday morning:

Fun at the lake!

My birthday was lots of fun. My family was very sweet to me. L & J made me bookmarks. (They knew I've been reading lots of books at a time and always need more bookmarks.) K and a friend planned a surprise birthday party for me in Sunday school. I walked into the classroom to find it all decorated, a class full of kiddos singing happy birthday, and coffee cake with "Happy Birthday" spelled out on it. K also cooked dinner for us (and cleaned up) as my gift; she fed the girls first and then had R and I eat in the dining room by ourselves so it would be a date. My family is very sweet to me! Oh - my birthday we also went to a Biscuits Baseball game. We hadn't gone to one yet this year and I really wanted to go - I love attending games. :)

Ready for the game:

Labor day we all put on our Auburn shirts to get free chicken strips from Chickfila.

We're planning (Lord willing) to go to the beach next week. Looking forward to it; hope a hurricane doesn't chase us away. :)

Whew! I think that about catches you up on our lives. Hope you're all doing well.

Our Week

A quick update on our week. We've continued unpacking and decluttering. Not so many boxes in the house but the garage is still slam full. Hopefully that'll get taken care of soon. R's starting to put up a privacy fence.
L went to church camp at Word of Life. She left Sat. the 12th and came back the 19th. She had a great time. We missed her a lot but were glad she had a good time. It's so good to be all together again.
While she was gone, here's some of what was going on at our house:

K got her hair cut for locks of love.




Our new furniture arrived:





The girls were in the play "Fat, Fat Jehoshaphat". K & Ra were part of the "Sissy Singers" and J and I were Judeans. It was a great play and a lot of fun. The girls did great.





















Hope you all have a good week!

We're Here!

Praise the Lord, we're back in our house. It's wonderful to be back home! The girls were SOOO excited to sleep in their own beds. We're still getting unpacked. (I foolishly thought we'd be unpacked by now - I really underestimated the time it would take to declutter while unpacking and the time that life takes away from unpacking.) :) It'll come though and mean while we're rejoicing to be home and loving the updated features of our house. God is so good. Thanks for your prayers!



We are getting to buy new living room and dining room furniture - so that's fun.



Here are some photos for you.




This was our family at the 4th of July at my parents lake cabin. Notice J & her cousin in the 2nd photo. They are so cute together. After the picture taking they took off impromptu dancing together in the yard. (Didn't get any photos of that though.)



Here's a good look at the kitchen cabinet doors. Did I mention I love my new kitchen? :)



Our den - hopefully it'll be decorated by furniture soon rather than boxes & a mattress. :)



The living room & dining room. What a job - those two big bookcases are about full and most of the boxes on the floor are boxes of books. I was walking around one day this week and kept thinking "Hello - my name's Tina and I'm a bookaholic." :) I hear it's common among us homeschoolers, right?



Again, the kitchen. It's pretty much in order - may I mention again I love my new kitchen! :)




Benny's settled right back into life at home. I think he's just glad that we're now at one home and not divided between two places! (By the way, turned in the rental keys yesterday. Yeah!)

Have a great weekend!