The Home Stretch

It's really true that time goes faster as you get older. Where did last week go?! It was a blur of school along with an intro to summer activities. We picnicked at the park with friends on Monday; went shopping at the BX for a little plastic pool and water toys on Tuesday; played with said pool and water toys on Wednesday; went to The Greene with two other homeschool families Thursday morning to play in the fountains; and went on a family bike ride and played at the park Friday morning since Daddy didn't have to go to work.

Believe it or not, we also did about 8 days' worth of Sonlight reading! We are really enjoying the last books of Core 2. I confess we're skimping a bit on the language arts and math side of things, but since we plan to do those throughout the summer, I'm not all that concerned about it.

Yesterday we had some old friends roll into town! Brian and Joy L and their 3 kids arrived en route from North Dakota to Georgia. Brian will be serving in Iraq for a year, while Joy and the kids will be close to her parents. We were all stationed in Ohio at the same time in 2001-2004, and Joy and I have kept in touch through Stampin' Up!, getting to see each other at conventions and leadership trainings. But it has been SO fun to get to hang out as families again and exclaim over the growth and maturity of our older kids and grin in delight at the newer additions. We visited a long time last night and enjoyed a leisurely morning with a pancake breakfast before the second service at church (which is where we all met the first time we were here). The kids have played so well together. Ian is just a couple of months older than Charis, and he and Arden especially have hit it off, though Charis just came in and announced she and Ian were having fun playing badminton. Eliana is just a few months younger than Kenna, and the two girls have had many adorable moments playing together. And Josh, having just finished his first year of college, is practically unrecognizable to us! (Good thing I keep up with Joy's blog--otherwise I'm not sure I'd believe it's him!)

We just got back from Young's and are getting kids cleaned up and in bed. The L's have to leave in the morning, so it's just a brief visit, but we're thankful for the time we've been able to share.