Question.

Does anyone know any good Sunday School websites? I'd love to put up some nice bulletin boards in my classroom (I have the 2- and 3-year-olds). I want my class with them to be more hands-on, and I just recently took inventory of all that I have, but I'd love for it to be more organized and want to get the kids even more excited about coming to Sunday School.

(copied directly from my other online journal)

For it being so hot, I'm in a pretty good mood (I have a tendency for crabbiness when it's too hot). Part of that, I think, is because I just downed a cold coffee (I plan to stay up late; more on that later), and the other part is due to the water sitting beside me. I really need to drink more, and if it's right next to me, I tend to do just that. I poured about 20 oz. about five minutes ago, and it's almost all gone.

I'm pretty happy with what I've done today. All the laundry from yesterday is folded, though I still need to put Jon's and my stuff away. I've washed and hung out two loads today, and plan on doing one more load this evening (though I'll have to use the dryer for it). I also vacuumed all of upstairs, mostly because we have fleas. Again. Whenever we neglect to put that stuff on the kitties, they come back. Especially since the weather's been so dry for so long. Anyway, we put it on our kitties today (not Tom; Ginny can do him if she wishes) and they've been scraggly looking all day, especially Bunny (aka Simon). He's been extra funny looking because right after we applied the stuff, he kept trying to get in my laundry basket (he's just like Pickles in that way; if there's fresh laundry, he likes nothing better than sleeping in it) and I kept squirting him with my water bottle to get him out.

I cleaned the bathroom yesterday (though not the floor), and I'm hoping to sweep downstairs tonight once it gets a tad cooler. Probably not till the girls are eating supper, though. I'll hold off on mopping, though. It's just too hot for that. And I probably won't vacuum the stairs till tomorrow, either. Like I said, it's too hot.

When we moved to this house, Jon had three organs. Two stayed upstairs; one went to the basement. Later, we moved another to the basement. The heaviest one has always been upstairs, though. Just this past week, Jon put one of them on craigslist for free; the only stipulation was that the interested party come get it. I told Jon I was excited that I wouldn't have to get it out of the basement, but of course wouldn't you know it, the guy complained he didn't think he'd be able to do it. Seriously? Not to brag (though I am), but Jon and I did it. And then we took the super-heavy one downstairs (what an adventure that was! We ended up tipping it by accident, then had to somehow get it back upright!). I've always been thankful for the strength God gave me; back when I was a teen, my brother and I had to constantly help move heavy antiques; since marrying Jon, I've lifted and moved many a heavy organ and piano (and various other furniture) up stairs and through tiny doorways; I've lifted entire sheets of drywall onto ceilings and walls. Obviously, none of that was by myself; I had help. But I'm thankful for the strength that God's given me, and I hope to pass that on to my girls, the willingness to keep trying, to not give up, even when something's harder than they think they can handle.

Wow, this has gotten longer than I thought it would (and braggier :P). Didn't realize I had so much to say.

Here soon, I'm going to go make supper for girls. I told them they could have a picnic outside (Jon got chips today!) at their little table. And I'm going to join them in the pool after supper, maybe even set up the slip 'n slide and slide with them. :)

I think that's everything I had to say. Try to stay cool!

ETA: I never explained why I want to stay up late! I had a goal of finishing Jill's story by the end of the month. Though I worked on it earlier this week, it's not really that close to being done. Jon gets home late tonight (well, 10), but I can't work on it when the girls go to bed because I'll be watching You've God Mail. So I'm going to stay up late and get as close to finishing it as I can tonight. I think it's going to be a lot longer than I first envisioned it, though!

Edited again: Wow, I used the word "though" a lot!

This summer has been so much better than last year's. I worked from April through August of last year, so feel that I missed too much of the summer with my girls. It's almost the end of July, true, but I feel I've had more time with them, and I've enjoyed it. It's gotten too warm to play outside for long periods, so they've been watching too much TV, but even that's okay. The warm weather will pass, and pretty soon school will start up again.

Jill will be in second grade this year, and Bethie starts kindergarten. I hope she does well. She's smart, but she was in preschool last year (because of her speech therapy) and she'd have been in k4 otherwise. I'm starting her in k5 anyway, and I hope she does well. I'll be doing a preschool book with Kate and I'm excited about that, as well.

I don't want to leave you picture-less, so here's one at the beach with the girls. :)

Glasses.

I have horrid vision. I've had glasses since I was five (I picked out my first pair with my dad; they were a light blue, and I picked them because they matched my dinosaur dress I had on that day), and Jon since he was...seven? He was young, anyway. I also have an astigmatism and a lazy eye (which I had surgery for at the age of seven, and though it's not as noticeable as it once was, when I'm tired, it tends to drift), and both of us have really strong prescriptions. Jon's parents have glasses, as do my own. So basically, our kids are determined to have glasses. It's just a fact of life. Jill got her first pair when she was three. Beth's about to get her first pair. We went to the eye doctor yesterday and he determined she needs them.



I was worried that she might have a lazy eye, so the doctor checked her for that. Here she's looking at 3-D images to test her depth perception. She's fine, thank goodness.



And instead of looking through those lenses that adults do, she just had to wear a tiny pair of glasses to determine how nearsighted she was.

And when she gets her glasses in a few day, I'll be sure to put up pictures!

Jon and I have had an ice cream machine as long as I can remember. But though we've wanted to use it, it's just never happened. This past week, though, Jon got all the ingredients and we made vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips. It was delicious!

The other day, I decided to take the girls to play on the playground of Bethie's old school (the one from her first year of preschool). I drove over there, but the gate was closed to the playground. So I took them to her school from this past year. SO glad I did. This playground is HUGE and the girls had so much fun. There are swings, slides (one that's really high!), a jungle gym, monkey bars, and a whole lot more! There's even a giant mural of the US. We had fun running back and forth from one part of the playground to the other; the only sad part was that I had a skirt and couldn't do some of the stuff with the girls. We're definitely going to have to go there more often. Not even the playgrounds at the park near us have as much fun stuff, and I doubt it's ever crowded the way the park gets sometimes.

Jon had this past week off, and we had a good time with him home. We're slowly redoing our house; last summer, Jon tore down the ceiling and walls in the dining room, then the two of us put up new drywall and primed and painted. Now Jon's got most of the room he's working on done. Just the painting is left. And really, picking out colors is such fun!

Also, a friend gave us a tent, and we camped out two nights. Though the ground is hard (!!), it was fun. The girls loved it, and I'm sure we'll do it again many more times this summer. (And I'm sure we'll lay on more blankets!)

Earlier this week, we celebrated Bubby's (Beth) fifth birthday and the whole day is one of those days that you think of when you think of a perfect summer day. We went to the park, had a ton of fun with Bubby's new slip 'n slide, had cake and ice cream sundaes, played with sparklers, and camped out that night.

And now that Jon's back at work, I'm trying to work on Jill's story. I've made it a goal for myself that I want it done by the end of this month. I was up till 1 last night, but I think I finally found the voice that works with that story. And then I'm going to try to write another story by the end of August.

And now I'll leave you all with some pictures. :)