Counting Down the Days of Summer
Last Thursday was Open House at the middle school for Joshua where we got to meet his teachers and find out what friends are in his classes. Then we ran to Target for our final school shopping spree. While we were there some pretty girls started following my 13yr old son around, saying his name and then hiding behind shelves and clothes. They were 10! I am not ready for this! I thought I was going to lose it when they showed up in the underwear and socks area where we he was selecting his first pair of "boxers." I'm not ready for that either. I thought men wore boxers. My first born son is now a man-cub.

Friday was Andrew''s Open House at the elementary school where we got to meet his teacher- who I love. Guess what? One of the girls from Target is in Andrew's class! That pretty girl who was stalking my 13 yr old totally blew off my 5th grader, rolled her eyes at him and flipped her hair as she spun around to walk away, right as I was introducing myself to her mom. I was oh so tempted to say something but I kept my mouth shut. Good thing I'm reading "Taming the Tongue." It surely came in handy that day.

Friday afternoon the boys invited four friends over to our house for an end-of-summer sleepover. It was so much fun! We had a house full with 2 parents and 6 boys! They ate pizza, ice cream, chips and brownies until they could eat no more. We played capture the flag, hide-n-go seek, a family game called ghost and then we did the unthinkable!

The boys wanted to do something crazy and fun before going to bed. So we gave them each a roll of toilet paper and loaded them into our van. This was not pre-meditated, I promise! JJ drove them over to a friends house and let them "roll" Clint's car at 10pm. He's actually the dad of two of the boys that were here, and he's a youth pastor, so we knew he'd be cool with it.

JJ took our camera and video taped the whole thing. Oh, and he wore his VT Hokie wig for added flare. When they got back we watched the video. The boys loved seeing themselves in the pitch of night with a camera spotlight and white rolls of paper sneaking around.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling bad about the mess Clint would have to clean up so I drove over at 7am to help him. His car was already gone and their trash can was full of toilet paper. There were a few straggling strips laying on the ground so I picked them up and my prankster's remorse was relieved. Later that morning when he came to get his boys the kids showed him the DVD. They loved seeing his reaction and smile. He had no idea it was them.

The rest of our weekend was filled with a birthday party, a date night, school paperwork, menu planning, more time with friends, church, youth group, and two very pooped parents!


Village People
We've been on vacation in The Villages!

I ran out of time to blog the big news before we left and we had limited internet so now I get to tell you all about it with a few photos.

Last Saturday we drove eight hours south to central Florida to see JJ's parents who live in "The Villages" in Lady Lake. It's beautiful, relaxing and there are tons of fun things to do!

We were "village people" for a few days and it was quite the life of leisure! We played miniature golf while JJ took Joshua to the driving range for his first time.



Andrew and I got a hole in one! That's us posing on the green.





Grandpa also taught us all how to play pickle ball ( a combo of tennis, whiffle ball and table tennis) in the rain!


Grandma set up Dominoes on the dining room table so we could play it whenever we wanted to. Our favorite game is Mexican Train and Josh proved to be the champion by winning every time!



Village people live in a golf-cart community so we drove golf carts everywhere. JJ's parents even rented a four-seater just for us. It's one of the boys favorite things about where grandma and grandpa live.

This is Grandpa Swope's newest pride and joy, and it's electric!




On Sunday JJ and I slept late, went for a morning run, and then went to church at noon with everyone. We all ate lunch out and then we went home. After which, I read a book ALL DAY! I had checked out James Patterson's newest novel "Sundays at Tiffany's" from the library last week. It's a sweet love story and I read the whole thing in a day. Now that has never happened before, but I'm hoping it can become my new pastime :-).

JJ played table tennis with his dad on Monday and then we all went out for lunch and ice cream. They played golf with his dad friends on Tuesday while the boys played bocchi ball and bocchi golf with grandma and I took a nap after watching two episodes of "What Not to Wear" - another something I never get to do. What a treat!

Every night we gathered in the family/tv room to watch the Olympics for hours and then went to bed oh so late!




We left the Villages yesterday and drove home all day. Let me tell ya, it was hard to leave! The livin' is easy down there.


Well, one of us got to enjoy it a little longer. Joshua is still there for a few days all by himself ( a first for him), with his grandparents. They are driving him back home on Saturday.

We're not really ready yet for real life with the stress and strains of having a schedule, homework and projects for all of us at work and school, so we've decided to take a spontaneous beach trip this weekend just the four of us. It will be our last summer vacation as a foursome since we plan to add more kiddos by next summer!

We're going to meet Joshua and the grands halfway between here and there (in SC) and stay through next Weds on Hilton Head Island. I can't wait to stretch summer out just a little more before school and speaking season starts in just a little over a week. I'm going to wiggle my toes in the sand, listen to the ocean breeze and maybe lose myself in another book! I'll keep you posted.

I hope you are enjoying your last days of summer - stretchin' them out as long as you can!!!


About Me
About My Guys
Links
Previous Posts
Archives
Search This Site
Miscellaneous
Credits