Growing Up

Yesterday Noah went off to camp for the first time. Not only will he be gone all week but he'll be out of contact the whole time...unless of course he gets too homesick and needs to call home. I honestly hope that doesn't happen though, as much as I'd like to talk to him. It's kinda hard. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it but I have yet to actually shed a tear. I'd say I'm handling it pretty well. He's bunking right next to his cousin, Alex, who has been there before, and I am sure that he is going to be just fine.
Lily misses him too. She was very reluctant to come home to a Noah-free house yesterday and stayed up as long as we would allow her to. They share a room and she's never had to sleep in it alone before...

Today though was all right. She was a bit bored and I indulged her with some TV time and computer games when she asked but we also had a tea party, baked scones (sadly not for the tea party--woulda been a good idea had I thought ahead but the whole thing was bit unplanned...) and she went to her first ballet class. One of the schools around here has summer classes and I thought she'd enjoy that plus I wanted to make sure she actually does before I enroll her for fall classes. She had a good time--the teacher said she did well (parents are not allowed in the studio) and picked everything up. So, we'll go back next week for the last summer class.
Tomorrow evening, Grammy is going to help relieve her boredom by taking her for a sleepover. I think we will both be appreciative of that. I won't have much chance to be lonely since I watch my friend's kids on Wednesdays. I'm not sure they'll have fun without Noah here (they're both boys and Lily is just the annoying younger sister anyway...) but them's the breaks ;) I'm sure we'll manage.

These are just some pictures I took with her hair up. She looked so sweet I couldn't resist.This one reminds me of a picture my Grandma Nadzia painted of my sister, Loey, when she was about this age...

Memory Verse

Lily and Noah have been attending Vacation Bible School this week. So far they've learned about Gideon, who Lead, and Queen Esther, who Risked, and the Disciples when they were in prison, who Obeyed. Today Lily spontaneously recited her memory verse for me and allowed me to get it on video...

Guest Contibutor

Noah took this video and thought you all would find it amusing...so, here you go...

Warning: may induce dizziness and/or nausea. Watch at your own risk.

Summertime Staples

Swimming Lessons:

(you'd think that Noah was so excited here because he passed this level but, no, he's just excited because he got 5 lollipops! At least he was being a good sport about it...)

And Blueberry Picking

With Good Friends!

Fun with Family

My sister, Jen, and her family came up for a long weekend a few weeks ago (I realize I am very late in posting this but, hey, at least I did it...). It was really nice having them here. The kids had so much fun together and there were of course late nights with movies and conversation for the adults.

After catching the end of Brian's bike race, which was part of the reason they came up, we headed up to the Higgins Armory where the kids got to see and play with all things medieval. Then Monday we hit the beach. The weather turned out to be much better than expected and it was a great day.