A {Second} Beautiful Weekend

Last weekend we were blessed with a lovely weekend. There is nothing better than still riding on the wave of a great weekend and getting a second one to follow it up with.
Our weekend started on Friday.  We had a lighter schedule.  Natalee and I went to water aerobics at the YMCA in the morning and then came home and had an easy morning.  Our school load was mostly done for the week.
The Sniders came up for a visit.  We're thankful for friends who make time for us. 
We laid out an art project for the kids and it yield really pretty results.

The project was mosaic vases with a black background and drawn/water colored flowers.

By Zayden...

By Xavier...

By Natalee...

By Mia...

I love the variety and individuality of the projects.

Being the slacker I am, these were the only pictures I took Friday.  We had a great time visiting and catching up with our friends and the kids played hard all evening long.  We filled them up with pizza and applesauce and cookies and let them play some more.

On Saturday we all slept in.  After a slow morning, we took the kids to the Y for open swim (we're acclimating to all the activities we have access to with our new Y membership).  All of the children love the water.  The YMCA here is older but suitable and we're thankful to have an option at all.  They are building a new one and it will be wonderful when it's completed in a year or two, but for now we'll choose to be grateful for this one.

A parent has to be in the water with the kids.  Mike's a great sport.

Natalee is getting strong in the water.  I have great visions of how good the Y will be for her.

Ev didn't get in this time - she was recovering from that cold and we didn't want to compromise her any further.

While we were swimming, Grammy and Papa showed up for a visit!  We had a wonderful afternoon with them.  They played outside, went to the park, and then treated us to supper out.

I was sitting across from Papa.

It was so great to see Papa and Grammy!  When they headed home, we got the kids ready for an early bedtime.  A late night the evening before, plus time in the pool and in the fresh air had all the beds quiet by 7:30.  

All the children stayed quiet until at least 8 Sunday morning.  Mike and I were up early preparing foods for carry in after church and it was nice to work alongside him while the house was quiet.  Our friends, the Weltes were in NEMO last week, and instead of taking the easy road and heading home early they made the drive up to worship with us and have fellowship lunch.  Eyes were leaking as we introduced our sweetest surprise Evalynn and she went readily to both James and Shela.  As I looked at their children lining the pew in front of us I realized she brought nearly grown men to church with her!  Her children grew, too, just like mine did, since we'd seen each other last.  If someone would have counted the words that Shela and I tried to fit into those precious few hours of time together, I suspect our WPM would have been record breaking.  We're so thankful they made time for our family.

We're also thankful to Two Timbers for graciously welcoming our friends.

There were tears as our friends pulled away.  As we were getting our feet wet homeschooling years ago, they purposefully invited us to activities and made time for us.  For seasons, we did activities at least a couple of times a week together.  Change is hard, but it's refreshing to see how Christ is using change to grow us and to use us for Him.  

We are thankful for a second busy, beautiful weekend filled with people who chose us and sunshine.  It's humbling to be loved so well.