Summer Bucket List

If I can get at least half of these accomplished, I would love myself even more! and shout HalleluYer on the mountaintop back deck!

1. pray more often and read the Word before going to sleep
2. spend time with my BFF ✔
3. go to Rosie's pool (a school friend)
4. build a Lego set with my boy
5. make a change on the deck (outdoor sitting area) ✔
6. haul away unwanted and unnecessary junk/trash ✔
7. give my son the best 7th birthday party EVER!  ✔
8. drink more water✔
9. go walk on the greenway✔
10. keep the kitchen table cleared off✔
11. create a photo collage in the hallway
12. play with vinyl on the Cricut Expression
13. scrapbook a few pages
14. finish reading 'The Help'
15. have a watergun fight with the boy✔
16. buy containers for each of G's lego sets✔ 
17. cook at home more✔
18. visit Needhams Nursery for some plants ✔
19. plant a container garden ✔
20. repair the dog bed (sewing a rip)
21. learn how to use a weed-eater✔
22. yell less over dumb stuff ✔
23. tell people "I love you" more✔
24. spend an entire day with my dad ✔
25. dust ALL the furniture
26. let Grant have a sleepover✔
27.  complete a successful VBS ✔
28. get a fabulous haricut form 'Resa Reed✔ 
29. check into Karate lessons for the boy
30. make sun tea in a jar✔
31. clean off the bar area ✔
32. get rid of all the tacky magnets on my fridge✔
33. go to a baseball game
34. do something different on my birthday✔
35. host my friends for a cookout✔
36. get a pedicure✔
37. pick fresh blackberries
38. make blackberry jam
39. stain the kiddo's picnic table ✔
40. visit our Nashville Farmer's Market
41. eat a waffle at Taste of Belgium
42. skip church, just once? ✔
43. go to the drive in movies
44. learn to play croquet
45. play a board game witth the family✔
46. write in my journal more
47. find a new recipe to cook✔
48. read with Grant at least three times a week
49. take more pictures ✔
50. prepare to return to school (blah!)

Photo Friday

Maybe one day, our prayers will be answered and we will be blessed with one more of these......

sidenote: my hubs hardly ever holds babies *except ours* so this was a rare moment!

sidenote: this bably belongs to our Youth Pastor & his wife......he is precious.....the baby, I mean!

Cub Scout Day Camp

I spent the first week of summer break with 20 Cub Scouts, one additional leader, and two den chiefs, one of which was really helpful, the other one not so much! BUT we made it work.
I think Grant had fun, at least I think he did even though it was seriously HOT outside. I made sure we drank lots of water. The girls that plan this whole thing really know how to make sue all the boys and leaders are taken care of.

The activities included:
BB range
Archery range
Scout Skills
Wood & Leather
Conservation
Arts & Crafts

Each day we rotated through the stations. The boys got to do BB & Archery everyday but Friday. Some of the things Grant created were a bug house, leather stamped key chain & necklace, a shield, a wooden bowling pin set, a walking stick, a terrarium and a stepping stone.
They were busy and most of my boys in the group were pretty good. I had one whom I repeatedly had to "get on to" but I tried really hard to let them be boys and not be so "teacher-ish". I got my revenge on Friday when it was Water day and only the leaders were allowed to bring their own water guns. Bill & I brought out the big ones and blasted the boys. It was quite fun and I think the boys had a blast shooting me up with water. I really liked this part of the day!
The Directors held a Toga party for all the Leaders/Teachers because the theme this year was "Greek gods". We made it very clear to the boys that Greek gods are mythical and not real and we were just having fun pretending. I know that most of the Scouts know or realize that there is only one Big G God. Scouts has a history of teaching Christian values.
If I could have changed one thing about this experience, ti would have been the heat. There was one moment where I thought I was going to be sick because it was so hot. I made it and so did Grant. Asked if I will do this again, "I plead the 5th"!

Summer Camp Memory

I only went to summer camp once in my life. I was eight years old and about to enter 3rd grade. I was so excited because it was church camp and all 3 of my closest friends were going too! I don't remember the exact location but it was somewhere in Wyoming (we lived in Casper for about six years). The church we went to was Sunrise Baptist Church. My dad helped build that church. I have a vague memory of seeing him nailing the shingles on the roof.
Anyway, I was old enough to go and my mom helped me pack my bag. We left on a church bus and when we arrived, the boys had to separate from the girls to the "barracks" where there were bunk beds for about 8 girls. I remember I got the top bunk and laid out my sleeping bag and put my stuff away.
Besides the regular day time activities, there was a service every evening where everyone came together and we sang songs, did silly skits, and then listened to whoever was speaking that night. I also remember having kitchen duty where we had to clean the tables, sweep the floors, wash the dishes and get things ready for the next meal. That seems to be a time when adults didn't mind making any child work and be responsible.
I have a few fond memories of church camp. I remember that we could earn tickets to spend at the littlle snack shop that was at the campgrounds. I always wanted to buy a Smarties sucker. It was like a giant Smartie and I can still taste the chalkiness of that sucker. I recently spotted them at convenience stores and at Cracker Barrel which brought back this memory. I really liked them and I think I spent every ticket I earned on those dumb lollipops. One night in particular, I was chatting with my bunk buddies and the counselor kept telling me to be quiet after lights out were called. Of course it's hard for an 8 year old to shut up when a bunch of girls are in the same room at church camp, so she took away my snack shop tickets and I didn't get them back until a day later. That was devastating!
My favorite memory about church camp is the last night the Preacher invited us to come to the alter and ask Jesus to come into our hearts and to accept him as our Lord and to believe in Him and confess Him as our Savior.That alter call changed me. I accepted Jesus into my heart. Wow! I am so glad he saved me at such a young age. One of the best choices I ever made. I have not always done the right thing and have fallen short many more times than I care to count but Jesus saved me and thrrows my sins to the bottom of the ocean floor.
The last thing I remember about camp is that I was given the award for most chatty! Now isn't that ironic! LOL!
Do you have a summer camp memory? I'm hooking up with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop!

30 days of June

Okay, this might be boring for some of you but my purpose is to come back and look at this list often so I can see progress....
Here is my llist of To Do's this month:
June 1st: Celebrate end of school
June 2nd: Last day of school for Grant, Grammy's birthday
June 3rd: Work day @ school & Nasville Shores
June 4th: Report Card day, housekeeping day, graduation party, Opry tix to see my boys Rascal Flatss
June 5th: Church, Cub scout day camp set-up
June6th-10th Cub Scout day camp ALL week----it's going to be HOT!
June 7th & 9th: Basement cleanout
June 10th: Family day at Cub Scout day camp
June 11th: Basement cleanout
June 12th: Church, VBS planning meeting, Caravan Ceremony
June 13th: Nashville Shores
June 14th: Leave for Maryland *Mom/Daughter Road Trip* CANCELLED
June 15th: HOME
June 16th: HOME
June 17th: HOME
June 18th: VBS decorating day
June 19th: Church and VBS prep
June 20th-24th: Camp Brick for Grant every morning and VBS
every evening.
June 25th: Nashville Shores
June 26th: Church
June 27th-30th: Camp Brick part 2 for Grant, Scout summer event @ Cedar Creek.

July 1st: Grant turns 7 and we party Lego Star Wars style!