Photo Friday 2017 ~ Weeks 28 & 29 ~

We've had a busy couple of weeks with lots of summer fun crammed in.  Last week our church had it's VBS which my kids were finally able to attend for the first time because we are usually in Ohio for church camp but we opted to skip this year.  My girl especially loved being a volunteer at VBS and getting so see all the pastors dressed up as superheroes was pretty entertaining.  I'm glad that our church does such a good job at presenting the gospel and not skimping on the important terms like justification and redemption.  It was a fun week for me too since I got to spend some time having coffee and brunch with friends while the kids were busy.  We also enjoyed last Wednesday being the day of free things with us getting free Chic-Fil-A for dressing up like cows and free slurpies from 7-11 for it being 7/11.  We maximized our freebies by going to Chic-Fil-A twice in one day.  What can I say, we like free stuff. :)  

This week my girl tried a new hip-hop dance class which she loved and will definitely go back to.  We went swimming with friends and both of my kids had sleepovers which my boy was especially excited about since he made a new friend recently and they have really hit it off.  We went to another free movie at the mall (free is a trend this summer) and hung out at home the rest of the time.  Most of the kids around here are starting school on August 10th and I can't believe how soon that is!  I'm thinking we will wait til after Labor Day again.  I am just not ready!  And the kids definitely aren't either, shocker.

My boy has been busy playing with Lego a lot this summer and he made a really awesome hot dog restaurant that I took some photos of the other day so that I can submit it to the Lego magazine.  I also took some photos of the kids at our friend's house when we were swimming.  Here are my favs!

Photo Friday 2017 ~ Week 27 ~

My boy and I had a little one on one time this morning.  He has been cutting his Grammy's grass and earning money so we took his check to the bank first and cashed it.  When we were at the mall last week with his sister he saw a kiosk that sold fidget spinners so he had been thinking about getting one ever since.  Last night I told him I'd take him to get one today and he was so happy.  He's never been happy about going to the mall before, but we went to the Lego store and Brookstone and the fidget spinner kiosk.  Perfect mall trip for a 10 year old boy!  He got a deal from the guy at the kiosk who gave him two spinners for the price of one.  He was so happy that he told me he just couldn't stop smiling.  I love that he's learning about hard work and that he got to see the fruits of his labor today.  I love spending time with my boy and I love that he still will hold my hand at the mall and he even gave me a random hug there too.  I'm one lucky mama.  Here are some pics of my boy and his new toys!

 He got a very unique spinner that kinda looks like a wheel.  It's funny that in all the pics of it you can't really tell that it's spinning but it actually was.

He also got one that lights up so we had some fun taking pics of it in the dark.

I love this sweet boy so much!

Thirteen

Teenagers get a bad rap.  Before I had a teenager I would listen to other mom's complain about their teens and it would honestly make me so sad and slightly terrified about my kids growing up.  Now that I have a teen I'm sure I do my fair share of complaining with my mom friends about the new challenges of raising kids in this stage of life, but if I ever get to the point of scaring my friends who aren't in this stage yet, please let me know.  Because here's the thing...it's really not that bad.  It's actually kind of awesome.  My girl is one of the funniest, coolest, most honest and sweet people to be around.  And she's one of my best friends.  I used to always think it was weird when parents would say stuff like that, and I would think maybe they didn't understand the parent child relationship correctly, and in my all knowing, not there yet parenting wisdom, I would kinda judge them.  Not unlike how I'd judge parents of toddlers well before I even thought about having children.  What can I say, I'm still a work in progress!  All that to say that I love being the mom of a teenager.  I still can't believe I'm old enough to say that.  Even in it's sometimes maddening moments of eye rolling, sighing, and embarrassment, it's a very cool thing to be talking about more grown up topics and learning so much more about who this awesome person is that is somehow suddenly capable of doing so many things without you.  So when they still need your advice and your hugs and more than anything, just your presence, it's that much sweeter.  

My girl is my baby, my friend, my muse.  I love her sense of humor, her artistic side, her love of dance.  I love that she is a bookworm like her momma and that she likes to listen to music all day long.  I love her long legs and her long hair, her big blue eyes and her beautiful smile.  I love that she loves to draw and paint and write.  She's smart, she's hilarious, she's a good friend and she loves Jesus.  I mean, what more could any mom ask for?  I just pray that we stay friends and that I have many more years to enjoy her love.  

I took her out for a photo shoot way back in March for her yearly photos.  I shared some of my favorites already here.  I had a ton of favorites though so here are the rest!  And if you are interested you can see her previous shoots from when she was twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, and seven.  

This is my favorite. :)

Love this one too.