Busy August already

Do you ever feel like your children have literally grown overnight? Well, I'm feeling like that every time I turn around. It's so hard for me to believe that Canon turned 7 yesterday. I have a 7, 8 and 9 year old - as well as a 3 1/2 year old - for the next month. :O

We had a really great week. My niece, Amanda, spent the night with us on Tuesday. She's 15, therefore the coolest person the kids know at the moment. ;) She babysat them Wednesday so Kelly and I could celebrate our 14th anniversary... a day late, because Chloe and I had plans on Tuesday for a girls day with friends. We had to get my van looked over in preparation for my trip later this month, so we dropped it off at Rick's Automotive and walked the 2 blocks to Bass Pro Shops. We ate at Hemingway's. It had been a while since we'd been there, and Kelly was not disappointed. He loves shrimp and chowder, and he ate every penny's worth! I tried several things, but the salad was the best thing I had...take that as you will. :/

We took Amanda home and visited with my mom for a bit, then headed to McDonald's for a quick dinner. We were meeting over at the Chavez' home for our first bible study and worship time with our new church family, The Catalyst. I wrote a little about it here It will truly be a growing experience, and I'm thankful for what God is going to do with this ministry.

Thursday, my sister Ariel picked up Connor and Canon for my nephew Chance's birthday party. They were headed to 1984 , a really cool, retro arcade. The boys had a blast! We have coupons from our Library Reading Program for this place, so I'm sure we'll go back so I can check it out soon. I packed up Chloe and Caleb a little later and headed to McDonald's with the birthday cake. What a shindig! Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and buddies - not to mention the dozens of people not with us - made for a very loud, very fun evening. All to be repeated the next day...

We decided earlier in the summer to celebrate Canon's birthday on Friday, because he wanted to go to Incredible Pizza. Now I don't know about some of you, but there are just some places that I refuse to go on the weekends if possible - and one of them is Incredible Pizza! ;) We had about 25 people with us, so it was another celebration with noise levels exceeding the normal limits. Canon had a blast playing games, opening presents and eating tons of food! My dear friend, Christy, let me bring all 3 of her boys home for a sleepover. They recently moved about an hour away, and we hadn't seen them all summer. I've missed them so much, and the kids were so excited to have the entie night together. We went home for a rest, then I loaded all seven of them in the van for a night at the Ozark Empire Fair. Insane, I know! But we met Jason and Steph there, so it was 9 kids for 3 adults - better odds than I'm used to! LOL!

Everyone was worn out by the time Saturday got here, so we made it an easy day. Aside from singing to him and giving him his "birthday spanking", Canon's birthday was pretty low-key. He wanted steak for dinner, so I went and got them from the store while Kelly fired up the grill. We had steak, zucchini squash and mushrooms, corn on the cob, and fried green tomatoes. We could barely move, we all ate so much! It was just a great, quiet evening at home with my 5 favorite people in the world. It couldn't get much better than that - until Connor asked to go shoot for a while. Now it was even better! We took Connor's .22 and one of Kelly's pistols (the younger ones took their slingshots), and off we went to the field. Everyone did really well, and they even talked Mom into shooting for a bit.

These are the nights/weekends that I hope they look back on and know how blessed they were. Not the crazy busy-ness of the week, but the time spent together, at home, will hopefully mean the most to them. Don't get me wrong, I love all the activities we do. But sometimes the quieter moments get lost in the shuffle, and I enjoy just staying home with the family. Playing checkers, reading a book. Rarely is it quiet here, but it's nice to just slow down and stay home, too.

I hope you made some memories with your family this weekend. Whether you were on the go, or stayed at home, savor the moments together. Don't miss out on the little things. Blessings!