Monday randomness

I really have to start blogging more--I end up with lots of pictures and no cohesive theme to pull them all together.  So what you get is a bunch of unrelated stuff.   I do, at least once daily and usually more than once, write a blog post in my head.  It is witty and articulate, well written and tied together nicely.  However, it is usually when I am sitting in traffic, cleaning up a mess, unloading the car, or falling into bed exhausted, and therefore have no computer with me, nor the wherewithall to write it.  Hopefully, my blog writing mojo will return soon.  Anyways...onto the stuff.

Praise the Lord!!! Maddy and Sarah are home!  After  a week in Daytona at church camp, they returned tired and tan, and I think even happy to see their little sisters.

We got the call..."Mom, we're about 45 minutes away."  So we hopped in the car and drove through rush hour traffic to get there.  So we could wait.

 The bus is here!

 Reunited....(sing it with me)

 and it feels so good!

After dinner at Steak and Shake (our children, for some reason, always ask to go to Steak and Shake after they return from a trip), and a good night's sleep, and a frantic search for her wallet, Maddy departed again for St. Simon's Island with some friends.  She is having a great time, despite one twenty minute phone crisis, but missed my birthday and Father's Day on Sunday.

We honored the amazing fathers that my dad and Daryl are and me turning...gasp...44 with my parents.

Daryl, in all of his wonderfulness, got me these....plus the possibility of turning these into a Nook Color.  And even though it is just a possibility (depending on how pricey our car repairs are) I am over the moon at this possibility! 

 Daryl's Father's Day gift was not nearly as exciting, but super cute.  I got him a picture frame with a verse of scripture on it with a picture of the kids in it.  And then, I had to complete our set of "Daddy" photos with Charlotte. (For the full effect, picture them side by side--I am too technologically inept to figure this out myself!)

 After all the excitement of our celebrations, Hannah got the opportunity to take swimming lessons this week with a friend from school.  I knew this was something that she needed to do, since my parents live on the lake and we all love the water.  Last summer, she had a scary experience while at my parents' pool, so I was a little worried how she'd do.  She was a little worried about it too, and several times declared that she was NOT going to learn to swim unless she could bring her swim ring.

Neither of us should have worried.  After a bit of hesitation at the beginning, a skinned knee and elbow running to the water, and only one brief episode of tears (during which my heart broke in a million little pieces and I had to force myself to stay in my seat and not go scoop her up in my arms), she had a blast!

So so proud of my girl!