Girl Heaven

If you've talked to me in the past year, you know what I mean when I say "Girl Heaven"--an accessory shop called Charming Charlie. They have necklaces, bracelets, earrings, scarves, headbands, clutches, sunglasses--all organized into color groups for easy shopping. The store sometimes elicits a physiological response from girls who have never been there before (drooling, shortness of breath, brief dizziness). It's so much fun. I have visited there upon occasion and recently was blessed to spend a birthday gift card there. This weekend in Springfield I got to introduce some new friends to the estrogen magnet AND take my girls there for the first time. It was cute watching my girls play dress-up with all the goodies there.

Hoosier Celebration

Apparently we've been having a busy summer! I didn't really mean to take a blog break, but we've been doing VBS, trips to the pool, road trips, swimming lessons (all the kids plus Daddy), visits with friends, trips to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I really thought sending the kids to school was going to be easier this year, but we only have 2 weeks left and I'm already so sad. I love having my whole family together! This year Big Sissy will start 1st grade, and Little Buddy will join Little Sissy at Tuesday/Thursday morning preschool. What will I do with all my spare time, you might ask? Well, I'm not going to have any. I'll still be running a household, working my 31 business, doing publicity for MOPS, trying to help my dad with his ministry newsletter some, being a parent helper at preschool...you get the picture.

One of our road trips was a visit to Hubby's brother and his family in Indiana. This has been a tradition the past few years on Independence Day. Hubby's brother always has a great fireworks show set up, and this year they invited nearly 100 people to bring a potluck dish and join us for dinner before the fireworks show. Nearly that many actually came! The bad news is that the fireworks show was rained out; the good news is that every family brought food and those women sure know how to cook! By the way, all of you who think I'm such an extrovert should have seen me hiding in the kids' rooms trying to escape the crowds that night. I realized I am still an introvert at heart; I'm just a chatty one now! :)

Here's the whole gang posing for a very sweaty group photo.

Pyro man entertaining the kids with endless firecracker wars between the chickens and battleships.

Our ever gracious hostess.

Big Sissy, who will work on a task until she gets it, FINALLY learned to blow a bubble!

My handsome husband--and a chicken.

The kids loved sparklers in their pajamas!