Annie's Bridal Shower

Last Saturday a very dear young lady (who I have known since she was a wee lass of 11) was showered with blessings at a lovely event in her honor. It was also a big day for us as it was our girls' first time attending a shower. Believe it or not, I think they were nervous. It was a delightful time to be hidden away on the 3rd floor of an historic building in a quaint downtown. We could see the skies open and the rain slash the windows, but the chattering and laughing drowned whatever thunder rolls attempted to intrude on our time. Here are some photos (taken by Lydia!)Annie and her fiance are musical (specifically she's a violinist and he's...hmm lots and lots of other instruments). I thought these were lovely themed figurines!
The shortbread was our contribution. I was taking some pride in them, only to be humbled by my daughter who told me that overnight they had become soft and tasted stale!
Here's a bevy of gifting!
A fun shot which Lydia captured of the decor and beverages. Everything was just lovely.
One very excited and cheerful bride-to-be! We can't wait for the wedding on New Year's Eve!

Catching Up.

So, here we are in the very last week of our first quarter of our school year. I'm ready for a break! It has been a good first quarter, although there are always things I wish we did better. But since it has been brutally hot, we've at least been productive with our indoor time! We did have one week off, during which we attended VBS at another local OP church. The theme was "A Dangerous Journey." The oldest 3 attended and I took Simeon off to a friend's house each morning for him to have some solo time. The oldest 3 greatly enjoyed themselves, although I'm not sure on Philip's level of comprehension! But it was fun, and they looked forward to going each day. We concluded that week with an impromptu trip to the NC Art Museum. My parents were celebrating their wedding anniversary by going there and also staying for dinner. Since we were so close by at VBS we met them there on the Friday afternoon. Abigail and I spent a good deal of time looking at an oil painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder. She has studied the work of his father, Peter, this quarter and so to see a painting by his son was a real treat. Interestingly, Peter Brueghel had 2 sons--both of whom became artists (as did some of their sons), but Peter died when his own sons were 4 and 5.

Here are some random July photos: Tomatoes from the garden (which is almost completely dried to a crisp now)!
Simeon appeared one day saying, "Look at me, I'm PeeDee the Pirate!" A reference to ECU and also attributed to his lack of toys and dress-up clothes that he found a metal clothes hanger to play with. NOT!
The great Pollywog failure. We collected frogspawn from the creek behind the house and vigilantly watered and watched it grow into many, many pollywogs in our garage. Then, I had the bright idea of moving them to a larger space (a green turtle pool) in the backyard. Only a couple of hours of 100+ temps fried the poor things! Abigail, in a magnanimous way said, "Well, we all had a part in the death of those poor pollywogs."
Kids piling on each other. Lydia, 9, Abigail 7.5, Philip 4 and Simeon 2. Birthday season around here is August and September, so we'll soon have changing numbers!
We went to celebrate the 93rd birthday of a church friend at her nursing home. A couple of other church families joined us. In this photo our friends, the Conlons (2 boys, 2 girls) joined us to smile with Mrs. Annaveldt.