Catching Up Again!

Where does time go? How can some days simply drag and yet the entire summer is gone in a flash? It has been one crazy summer! It has been the summer of...

• another exciting pregnancy
• a surprise getaway weekend for our anniversary
• a weekend long family reunion hosted at our house
• the girls' first long vacation without Mommy and Daddy
• canning, canning, and more canning
• our first year of school supply shopping

... and almost all of this without a working camera for documentation!

Looking back over our calendar, we've had a lot of company and we've gone lots of places. There's no way to recount everything that was done. Kevin surprised me for our anniversary. We dropped the kids off at my parents' house on a Friday evening and escaped to a bed and breakfast for the weekend. We enjoyed many activities that Kevin had planned until Sunday afternoon when we were reunited with the girls.

The end of July brought lots and lots of family to our house. Everybody arrived sometime on a Friday and most left Sunday afternoon or Monday moring. 31 of us enjoyed visiting, playing games, sharing devotions, singing as a choir at the churches, and eating lots and lots of good food. What a fun time!

After the reunion, Kevin's parents and one brother stayed for several days. Chloe and Julia took a vacation back to Michigan with them when they left, leaving Kevin and me at home. I cried when it was time for them to leave (okay, okay, I cried off and on much of that day). Kevin and I left for Michigan 5 days later. It was nice to have a break, but we didn't really take good advantage of being kid-free. Most of the time was spent cleaning the house and preparing to leave for our vacation. The girls had a great time without us though!

I've done more canning this year. Two years ago was my first time with it, and I'm starting to become a little more comfortable with the process. This year we have 8 pints of salsa, 8 pints of relish, 4 1/2 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 8 pints of tomato juice, 6 pints and 4 quarts of bread and butter pickles, 7 pints and 2 quarts of dill pickles, 13 half-pints and 3 pints of pear-pineapple jam, 2 1/2 quarts of pears, and 3 pints and 2 1/2 quarts of pear sauce. All produce was given to us... can't complain about that!

Needless to say, we've been staying busy. I hope to start writing more regularly again now that things have settled down. More to come on the topics of school and this pregnancy.