Somewhere Over the Rainbow

We were so excited to have the Arnolds visit us for the New Baptist Covenant conference in Norman. This is what happened when I told the guys to "look Baptist".

Ava loved on Kristyn and little Jack.

Ava has been working on writing her name. We sky write it several times, I'll write it in pencil, and then she traces it with crayon. (The random lowercase 'a' was a practice.)


Josh and Ava have been counting pennies, and discussing adjectives like more, less, and equal. He asked her, "Which group of pennies has four?"

"Which group of pennies has 3?"

"Which group of pennies has 5?"

"Which group of pennies has the most?"

They don't just work hard. On Saturday Josh and Ava spent time at the park so I could make curtains for her bedroom.

Not perfect, but they do the job.
I'm going to make the tabs shorter and paint the "curtain rod" someday soon.

She was excited to see her new curtains, trust me:)

On Monday we took Ava to play at the free splash pad in Norman.
Look who I found Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

Cooling off with Mommy

Mean ol' Daddy

Not sure who is having more fun

I had some fabric left over from my bathroom sink skirt so I made another towel.

Another gorgeous evening outside

Stopping to smell the roses

Playing in the fountain

Ava calls this "running in the shapes".
The flowerbeds are various shapes, that's all I can figure.

"Buzzzz, I'm going to get you Daddy!"

There are these adorable red phone booths all over campus. We just had to pose inside of one.

Doesn't she look like a fairy in this willow?

Darling 16, going on 17...gazebos always make me sing this song

I've already planned a picnic breakfast for us here.

Meal planning helps us save money and use every grocery we buy. I've been using this format that we bought at Christmas from The Container Store, but I'm perfecting my own that is less structured. Instead of each day of the week, mine will just have spots for six dinners, five lunches, two breakfasts, and any fun desserts or snacks. That way my OCD doesn't go crazy when we cook Sunday dinner on Tuesday. I know there are actually 21 meals to eat each week, but we eat leftovers;) Breakfasts are often an egg or cereal so that doesn't require menu planning. Also, I'm careful to write down what cookbook and page number the meal is on, saving lots of time when it's time to cook.

Curious? Click here to learn more.

Farmer's market goods this week, woohoo for native honey. The hives are right here in Norman!

Ava and Josh play Memory with just a few cards to start out.

On Wednesday night our new church had an End of Summer celebration and cook out.
It was fun to hang out with new friends.

I think this sweet little girl was tuning out Ava James, I just cannot imagine why;)

Girltalk to close out the evening, and plans to have dinner on Saturday.