Sidewalk Chalk + Pool Water = Paint!!!

These pictures are somewhat conservative compared to the final art scene!

*note to self - sidewalk chalk becomes more expensive when you are going through a box of wipes to clean it up and paying the pool guy to come back out and correct the chemical levels of the pool to counteract the chalk content :)

But, hey, they had a good time! Thanks Melony!!!!

B-I-B-L-E...debut by Allie Rae!

Okay, for all those family members and friends that get my blog post updates by email, you gotta visit the actual blog for this one. It's worth it!!!

Date with Mommy!

Since the start of summer, Annalise has been busy with those summer camps and friends. During those camps, Allison and I have gotten quite a bit of quality time together. While, on the the other hand, Annalise hadn't had a lot of "one on one" time with mommy. So, we decided to take a part of our day Saturday to just pamper ourselves! Daddy stayed with Allison while Annalise and I headed out on our adventure together!

First we headed to Toys-R-Us to use a gift card Annalise received as a Kindergarten Graduation gift. Annalise purchased a variety of crafts for us to do together! Love those crafts!

Next, we ran to the mall for a quick snack before getting our hair cut. Annalise loves warm pretzels, so we went to Auntie Anne's and got the messiest pretzel in the world...the cinnamon pretzel!

Next, we headed to get our hair cut. Annalise has been begging for a new cut for a while now. Before we went in, we grabbed the cell phone for a "before" picture.

And then we sat outside of Panda Express before grabbing lunch to get the "after" pic!

We had such a good time together talking and laughing and eating! To end our adventure together, we headed to a birthday party to eat some more, swim, and eat some more!

Can't wait for our next date!

No Longer Sleeping on a Box!

If the title causes any confusion, just read the last post.

The Bunk Bed is now in working order! The girls love to sleep (and play) in their new beds!

Thanks to IKEA's great ideas, we now have cute little clip-on spotlights for the girls to use as they read books in their beds before turning in. And thank you Andrea for the sweet new curtains that match the room perfectly!

The quarters are tight but we were happy to keep the full size bed in the room with the girls. They have already had a sleep-over and accommodated room for a total of 5 girls! This room remained amazingly clean. The playroom was (and still is) a different story!

The girls love it and so do I!!!

(oh, and the "A" on the wall...used to also include more of Allison's initials - when this was her own private room. Until we get creative enough to figure out how to include both girls' initials, it will just have to be an "A")!

Excited About Her New Bunk Bed!

Or is she?

While shopping for a new bunk bed, it must have tired out Allison. We entered the IKEA check-out lane at closing (9PM - an hour after Allison's bedtime)! And if you have ever been to IKEA, it can be pretty overwhelming...especially at closing! So, Allison stayed in the above position all the way to the car (mostly with her eyes closed)!

I think she was equally sleepy and excited to begin her first night on her new bunk bed!

(too bad she has to wait until this weekend to put it together to enjoy her "real" first night)!

Favorite post of the week!

I just loved igoogle! My favorite thing about igoogle is seeing all of the blogs I like to read all neatly compacted in a little box called "google reader!" Yesterday, my pastor wrote a post that I would love to share. I was definitely challenged. I'm thinking that I may share a favorite post each week. Instead of you getting bored with my journaling, I will open you to a whole new world of other great posts!

(I just had to add a fun picture to go along with the post)!

My problem with boredom

From The Pen of the Pastor by Pastor Jon Dunwell

Over the last few weeks, I've traveled over 3,500 miles, passed through numerous states, visited with gobs of relatives, and visited a few churches. Though my family enjoyed the diversity of our trip, (we did after all spend some time on the farm, ride the trains inChicago, and hang with Uncle Joel) I found myself somewhat bored with the whole church thing.

The churches I attended all shared common characteristics with ours. Though they varied in size and quality, you could tell they all read from the same play book. Again, it differed little from our weekend worship experiences. The boredom I speak of flows not from what I experienced in each of the services but rather from the questions I continue to ask myself about our calling as a church and the questions that create unrest in my soul and personal worship. In other words, the problem is me and not them.

What do I need to bring to my worship experience? What's lacking in my approach?

1. I need to enter worship with a willingness to be transformed through a dialogue with God'sWord, His indwelling Spirit, and the community of believers in the context of my experiences. Engagement in this dialogue does not depend on the music style, the giftedness of the communicator, or the creativeness of the service. These only enhance the quality of the dialogue; they do not create the opportunity for it.
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2. I need to purposely value and seek community. Wherever I am, the experience of community starts with me. It gets expressed through my participation and my vulnerability with the service andmy fellow worshippers. The fact that it may be uncomfortable or different may just be how God is choosing to speak to me. I need to let God out of the box of my experiences.

3. I always need to leave a worship service asking the"service questions." The worship experience isn't about me. It's about Him. As I have engaged in this dialogue in the context of community with its differing voices, what have I learned about declaring God's place in my world? How will I be different this week in my words, actions, and attitudes? How will I have the opportunity to express that difference in my love and service to others?

I know I haven't figured it out. But what I did learn was, even in my self-centered boredom God spoke and challenged me. I pray it will change my worship this week.

Sent from my iPhone

Jon Dunwell
407.253.2161
www.westwoodchurch.com
Blog: www.pastorjondunwell.blogspot.com
Twitter: @jdunwell

Patriotic Cuties!!!

Anytime my girls get new outfits that match or coordinate, they know it's picture time! When we went shopping a few weeks back for soccer cleats at a nearby consignment shop, Annalise wouldn't let me leave without these patriotic dresses! She loves to wear red, white, and blue on Independence Day.

During our photo shoot, Allison was being a little stinker! She kept turning around backwards so I couldn't get her picture. So, as any desperate mom would do, I squealed, "LOOK ALLISON!" And she turned quickly and I caught this runway model pose from her! Ha! Gotcha! I fell in love with it!





For lunch we headed to celebrate with some good friend's of ours. The kids went swimming for hours, we cooked out on the grill, ate pie, and later got out the sparklers!!!

...anticipation as Melony lights the first sparkler!

Abby and Annalise light their first (of MANY) sparkler!

Ian and Kaley weren't so sure about holding fire, so they watched from a distance.

Allison decided that sparkly stuff was pretty cool! Look Daddy, FIRE!!!

And once the skies got dark, it wasn't long before we began hearing fireworks all around us. I must say, I'm from Georgia and don't get to see the neighborhood fireworks that I was seeing that night! It was wild! They were BIG and they were EVERYWHERE! The kids had a blast sitting out on the driveway and screaming and pointing at every flowery glitter in the sky! It was a beautiful scene!

We sure make some cute COWS!!!

Thanks to Chick-fil-A, we all enjoyed dinner tonight...for FREE! Can't beat that! Each year Chick-fil-A holds a Cow Appreciation Day and hands out free meals to those customers who show their appreciation by adorning themselves as adorable little cows. Notice I said "little!" Thank you! It is a slight bit humbling to dress yourself up as a cow on purpose. But, hey, it's all for a good cause :)


Just a little bit of crafty work and "poof" Your a cow! Some of us wore construction paper, some of us painted, some had tails, markered noses, arms, and/or legs, and some wore signs! It was actually worth it for me just for the fun craft with my kids! Who knows, I may have done it even if I had to pay for my meal. It was fun! And I occasionally love to make a fool out of myself as long as others are on board with me!

Abbie and Joshua (who begged NOT to be Eaten)!

Annalise and Avery made ADORABLE cows!

Me and My Cows!

Proof that we really got our food!

The kids even got kids meals (which never happens when I'm paying)!

Aren't they cute!!!

There are COWS on the PLAYGROUND!!!!

The "other" Largaespada's (minus 2 - at a friends house...missing out!)

The Cline's were a cute herd :) Ha! So funny!

Hooked on Their Daddy!!!

I might be a little bias for my girls but I believe they have the best daddy in the whole wide world!

Jarrett ADORES his girls! He is one great dad! He is definitely more patient than me. I'm sure they think daddy is more fun than me. He plays games with them. He dances with them. He likes to eat junk food with them. He also complains about the vegetables just as much as they do (just pretends he likes them and then gives me dirty looks as he sneaks them to my plate)! Jarrett loves to spend as much time with them as possible. Since our dining room table has turned into an office for these last few weeks of school, Jarrett and I both sit on kids chairs in the kitchen to eat with our girls. They think it's funny when daddy sits on those little chairs (I do too...well, I guess I look pretty funny also)!

The girls thought that Daddy deserves the BEST present ever! So, this year we decided to have a crafty Father's Day! Jarrett loves things made by his girls. And he loves to wear t-shirts! And my girls love to make a mess!

A handcrafted T-shirt it is!!!

Thanks to Michael's (Arts and Craft Store) and their free monthly craft, the kids were able to design a cool new shirt for Daddy!

And check out the awesome idea below. What a great idea by Texas Roadhouse! I was able to create a personalized gift card for Father's Day!

Let's go eat!!!

Summer in FULL Swing!

Now that Annalise is done with Kindergarten, she has dove in head first into summer! And she has taken us along for the crazy ride! Who would have thought that "summer," of all things, could be more hectic than the school year?!?!?!

Ever since I quit work (over 6 years ago), I have NOT had to get up EVERY morning to get myself dressed, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and get out the door by 8:15AM! Oh, and I need to mention that I'm not the only one that has to get ready....I have 2 kids that also needed layers of sunscreen (and they typically sleep until 8AM or later each morning)! Being a stay at home mom and a homeschooling mom was supposed to keep me from doing that.

Welcome Summer!!!

This year I decided to get Annalise involved in a few camps to find out her interests and to allow her to meet new people. Well, the first camp chosen was Soccer Camp! Annalise has been saying that she wants to play soccer. So we signed her up for a free camp! She had another friend that would be going and we decided to take her cousin, Sydney along with us also!

Day 1

Each day started at 9am and ended at noon. The weather hit record temperatures during the week and these kids were HOT and sweaty! I was pleased to know that every 15 minutes they took water breaks. Lots of exercising, drills, and games were taught! And the church that sponsored the event also gave snacks and drinks while teaching a Bible lesson.

Trying to kick the goalie!

Mommy and Allison

Bible Lesson and Snacks!

Run, Sydney!!! Run!!!

Making new friends (or at least smiling at them)!

Some of her teammates!

Day 3 was a little hard on Annalise. It took awhile to "get in the game." As a matter of fact, most of the girls followed suit and decided they were done for the day also. The coach had to give a little pep talk to encourage our little princesses to get on their feet. Annalise definitely found a friend that day and exercised the bare minimum :)

By the end of practice, she was excited to come back again the next day! I wasn't sure if she'd make it. I think she was looking forward to those snacks! She did say that was her favorite part of camp!

So, is she gonna be the next Mia Hamm? My gut says, probably not. Will she look at soccer to be a future passion? Don't know that yet either. I don't even think she has any idea what her passion is yet. But she enjoys the opportunity of trying to find out!

Countdown to First Grade!

Annalise Kate Largaespada

K-5 Graduate

June 12, 2009

Our family is always looking for a reason to celebrate! And this time it is the achievement of Annalise completing her Kindergarten year! As you all know, we are a homeschooling family. This, however, doesn't hold us back in "Embracing Each Moment!"

We wanted to commemorate Annalise's accomplishment in a special way! Because this was her very first official year of school, Jarrett and I wanted her to experience a graduation ceremony. So, I contacted a friend of mine who's son had just graduated kindergarten and found out where to purchase a child's cap and gown. I was so excited that we held her graduation off a week because the gown was on sale! Love that! Then I dressed her up in the black robe and took a few GREAT pics, narrowed it down to one, then framed it for her ceremony (using the pic above).

Graduation night was SO fun! Annalise was able to pick what she wanted for Graduation Dinner: Spaghetti and Garlic Bread with Raspberry Lemonade to drink :)

Here is that adorable picture I posted recently...in it's true context! She thanked Jesus for her "sissy" and for her "EAT!"

After dinner we grabbed the video camera as Annalise ran down the hallway to begin her walk while Jarrett and I whistled the tune of the Graduation Processional Song (we are SO cool)! Annalise giggled the whole way down the hall to receive her diploma from her teacher and mommy! She was so proud! And we were too!

Here she is reading her diploma! Don't you just want to grab those cheeks!

Immediately following the ceremony, the family headed outdoors for some proud pictures with the graduate!

Remember when Annalise wore Daddy's cap?

Now it's Daddy's turn to wear Annalise's!

Just the girls!

After pictures, we enjoyed some cake in Annalise's honor and gave Annalise her Graduation card with a whopping $15.00 Toys-R-Us card inside (gotta love Grad money...that's why we graduate, right?)! Then we turned up the music and did some dancing and playing! It was a great after-party :)

Annalise wanted to pose with her graduation decor! Oh, and there's that framed pic below. I found a great frame with a tassel! It was perfect!

We are so proud of our little graduate! She is one smart girl! She's now ready to start 1st grade!