Our First Church Retreat

Hannah was devastated to learn back in August that I signed us up for the church retreat campout on her birthday. We spent the night at the camp on Saturday and her birthday was on Sunday.

We had time in small groups, time for hiking and playing in corn hole tournaments, enjoyed lots of good food and watched a church variety show on Saturday evening.

Sophie enjoyed a puzzle full of pictures of church folks

Homemade ice cream churned by bike power

Sophie and Hannah each had a turn on the smaller kids' ice cream bike

Some impromptu bluegrass picking, including "Rocky Top"

Much time was spent playing Foosball over the course of the weekend

Hannah and Sophie both ended up having fun, and we even surprised Hannah with a birthday cake and singing at the noon meal after the church service Sunday morning.

Hannah's buddy for the weekend joined the photo

The entire church sang Happy Birthday. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Happy birthday, Hannah!!

Circadian Rhythms, August 2014

Walking the tightrope while picking a friend's garden

First delicious tomato sandwich of the season

Trying to make ice cream in a baggie

New running shoes for half marathon training

Snuggling with the huge bear at the library

First loaves of bread I've baked in quite some time

Picking blueberries at a nearby farm

Homemade blueberry muffins

A visit to NC with Grandma while I started school

1st official training run for the half marathon

Garden goodies

First home cooked meal in awhile: pineapple teriyaki chicken and corn on the cob

This pile of tomatoes produced 15 pints of salsa

Grandma brought Grandpa with her to dinner, in a bag

Kelly and the boys came to help take care of Grandma after her surgery

Up close and personal with Henry

Grandma rests post-surgery with some of her favorite people

Cousin selfie

Playing ball at dusk at the park

Charles accepted the ALS ice bucket challenge

Captured on an 8 mile long run

Creating forts in the library

Or are they reading nooks?

Photo from going to see the Wizard of Oz. Our neighbor was the wizard.

Summer beauties made into panzanella and yummy peach cobbler with ice cream

Back to School 2014

We've now been back at school for a week. I was dreading a return to routine, but now that we're here it feels good to be back at it.

We kicked things off on the Sunday before faculty conference with a pool party at our house for the 5th grade families since Charles is the 5th grade room parent this year. We had swimming, snacks, bouncy house, and corn hole. We were pleased that most families were able to attend. (Somehow we both neglected to take a single picture, however!)

That evening, faculty and families gathered for an informal dessert get-together at Morrison Park in Harrisonburg. I took a blueberry pie made from berries we had picked just the day before. Delicious!

Faculty conference officially started on Wednesday with our annual omelet breakfast prepared by our administrators. It's not a bad way to start the year! Middle school teachers had gathered the day before for a morning meeting and lunch potluck, filled with delicious food as always.

After breakfast Wednesday morning we all went to Mr. Landes' home for get-to-know-you activities and time to just play and be together. His home is beautifully situated. Folks played kub and corn hole, took walks, rode the zipline, and tried to walk Curt's slack line that he brought.

And some of us jumped on the trampoline, which was a blast! I hadn't done this in a long time and found it to be a great leg workout and a lot of fun.

Thursday evening was Back to School Night at the girls' school. Families gathered for a potluck meal with tons of food and then got to see classrooms and drop off school supplies.

Hannah with the 5th grade girls (all except two)

Sophie found her desk, situated with the only other girls in her class

Sunday was Back to School at the middle and high school campus, where parents got needed information for the year and students had a chance to reconnect.

I'm excited about the fact that I have a classroom set of Chromebooks to use this year! Classes didn't start until Tuesday, so Monday afternoon was spent getting these ready to go.

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early, and we took many photos to commemorate the day. Everyone reported a good or even great first day of school. It seemed to fly by!

Showcasing their first day of school outfits

Showing off some of their things

Holding each other up

Taking first day selfies in the back seat on the way to school

Ready to hop on the shuttle to school!

3rd, 5th, and 7th/8th grades, here we come!

Yard Sale 2014

My mission this summer was to seriously organize and declutter our home, as mentioned in a previous post. In between my various trips to California and Florida, I spent time going through the house, room by room, to see what all we had and what could be trashed or donated. The end result of all my work was a yard sale held this past Saturday and contributed to by Grandma, Granny, and Kelly.

Along the way we sold a few items separately by listing them on Facebook, either on our personal pages or on a "For Sale" group for the Broadway/Timberville area. I quickly sold a bunch of kids DVDs on the group page, and we sold too-small bikes and the play kitchen with food/dishes by listing them on FB where friends expressed their interest and purchased them.

Nevertheless, we still had a LOT of stuff for the yard sale. It ended up being approximately half our stuff and half Grandma's, with a number of things donated by Granny and Kelly as well. We decided not to advertise in the DNR (Harrisonburg newspaper) because it was somewhat costly to do so. Instead we bought a classified ad in the local Broadway paper for much less and advertised via the Facebook "For Sale" groups in this area.

It seemed to work! We had a nice flow of people and managed to sell quite a few things and make a decent amount of money despite having everything priced to move. When the sale was done Charles took a carload of books and movies to the local library for donation and everything else fit in the blue truck to go to Gift & Thrift. Boy, does it feel good to have all that stuff gone and know that my home is tidy and organized! Now to keep it that way...

And to cap off the day, my family graciously allowed me to dictate my restaurant of choice after a week of hard work preparing for the big day. (Though I must acknowledge my mother here, who worked just as hard, if not harder, than me.) Mmmm, delicious Jaliscos Mexican!