Summer has begun!

Since it is the moving season around here, we had to sadly say goodbye to some good friends.  We had a picnic with them and other friends the week before they left, had them over for dinner, and then met them at the bowling alley on a week night to say our final goodbyes.  I have bowled exactly one time since I was a kid and I was super proud to have bowled a 131.  I started the game with 2 strikes.  Wahoo!  Maybe we should go bowling more often this summer.  I signed the kids up for free bowling games throughout the summer.  I had to teach Bobby to stand on the rectangle carpet so he wouldn't follow me out there when it was my turn.  He learned very quickly and would go right to his spot when it was my turn.  The adults played on one lane, the girls on one, the boys on one, and then the littlest two boys had a lane to themselves, Judah and his buddy.

Bobby's getting so big and I just want him to stop right where he is.  Another great thing about summer is bare baby arms and legs.  You haven't seen them all winter and they are just so smooth and squeezable.  His new thing to say lately is, "How 'bout..., Mom?"  It's about the cutest thing ever, but we think everything he does is the cutest thing ever.  "How 'bout this, Mom?"  "How 'bout go outside, Mom?"  "How 'bout grapes, Mom?"  How can I say no?  You've really gotta hear it yourself to get the full effect.

My blondies together again!

Then we had quite the thunderstorm that came with a lot of wind.  Brian had just purchased us a new umbrella from the one the wind destroyed last year.  My thoughts are that the umbrellas should only be brought out when we plan to be using them on nice sunny days.  What do you think?

We didn't even hear it shatter over the wind with windows open all over the house.  The kids just went out later to jump on the trampoline and came running back in to show me.

Our roses our blooming like crazy.  Apparently, they don't need any human care here in Germany once they are established.  All our other flowers we planted are not looking this good.  After we hopped out of the van one day I had these three sit by one of the rose bushes for a quick picture.

The kids worked very hard this year despite all our vacations to finish up their grammar, composition, math, and Latin by the summer so that they could have a "real" summer.  This summer actually includes a good deal of work, but I tried to limit the work to 2 hours or less.  They have to do the full Science this summer since we dropped the ball on that one this year and we are aiming for some art projects, ranging from drawing to sewing and needle work.  Here's their daily checklist to start the day off right.

o Chores
o Personal religious reading/prayers
o Play piano
o Duo Lingo
o Throw and catch baseball/ shoot baskets and dribble
o Math for 15 mins
o Journal for 15 mins
o Science lesson
o Study Timeline
o READ

I find that no structure, although I am sure they'd get a kick out of it at first, is just a recipe for disaster around here.  German school goes through the summer for the most part and they'd just be arguing and picking at each other if they weren't kept busy.  Some days we'll scrap this for a fully relaxed day if we have other fun summer opportunities.

I have some summer goals for myself as well that include daily prayer, reading, exercise, crafting, and blogging.  It's ambitious, I know, adding up to about two hours of time, but it's worth a shot.