June Round-Up!

The first half of the year is officially over, and our summer has been flying by. We've had a very busy month, but it's been full of blessings! Here are some of the things that have been filling our time this month.

Summer running club began the first week of this month, and Brooke and Brecklyn were excited to join in the group this year. Sadie and Caroline are also running, so that makes it even more fun for them. Coach sent me the photo below after the first day of practice, haha!

They looked so cute doing their stretches!

Brenson worked on a project with Grampy at the beginning of the month to restore a pellet gun that Grampy has had since he was a kid. They spent several days working on it, and it turned out really nice. 

One Sunday evening, the Halls and Mrs. Thrasher visited at Oologah on their way to Texas for a conference. We were happy to see them, and all went to eat at Cane's after church before they continued on their way. 

Chloe, Vaneza, and Brianna

Ross, Bren, Dad, Zach, and Chris

Sarah, Tia, Julia, Chelle, Mom, and Lisa

Julia and Mom

Brooke, Leyha, and Brecklyn

Vaneza, Brianna, and Chloe

Lehya, Vaneza, Brooke, Bri, Kylie, Chloe, and Brecklyn

Brianna has decided she is interested in volleyball, so we had her do a three day volleyball camp at the local junior high. She really enjoyed it!

They worked on footwork, volleying, serving, and setting up spikes.

She even knew a few girls at the camp from her Catalayah days. 

Brecklyn is still my girl that will fall asleep in the car in a snap. It's always a toss up whether she'll be awake or asleep when I look at her seat. 

One morning, I walked into the living room to see that someone had left me a present on my leather furniture. KIDS!!!

We used to do tie-dye projects nearly every summer when Kaylee would come stay with us. It's been a few years since we've done any tie-dye, so I figured we were overdue for a good project. We decided to do t-shirts and pillowcases for the big kids to take to camp this year!

Brianna

Brenson

Brecklyn

Brooke

They came out so pretty!

Another thing we haven't done for a few years is scripture writing. It had become a source of tension and stress for us, but after a good break we have revived it. The kids are doing great with it!

Brooke and Brecklyn took a weekly class during this month on apologetics. They met every Thursday in Catoosa, Mr. Randall was their teacher, and they did all kinds of fun projects. 

I went out on a limb (and out of my comfort zone) and joined the Claremore Civic Band this year. I have an acquaintance who started playing with the band last summer, and she posted several times about it on social media. It definitely piqued my interest, so this year I decided to try it out! I am certainly rusty on my trombone and my brain has to work harder than it should during practice, but I am also loving it! 

The band practices every Tuesday evening for two hours, then we perform a concert every other Thursday at Gazebo Park throughout June and July. We get a new set of music every two weeks!

Due to excessive heat, our patriotic concert had to be in the gym at the community center (where we practice) this year. I sit between a nice man named Charles and a man named Jim (who plays baritone). Charles is pretty quiet, but Jim keeps me laughing with his sarcasm and jokes. 

In addition to the twins' Wild West Camp and Brianna's volleyball camp, Brenson did TWO basketball camps this month. 

Basketball is the sport he really loves, so the camps were right up his alley.

At the end of the first camp, he won the Hot Shot Champ award!

The second camp was in the same location (at RSU) and held by the same coaches, but focused on different skills. 

This camp was held in the evening, and Brianna went with Chris and Bren one night. She had all her beads there, and one kid misfired a shot that landed right on Bri's beads. It was a huge mess and beads flew everywhere. Coach Justin even joked that a bead flew in his mouth, and he choked, haha! 

The crew at camp #2!

Food Truck Thursday happened while Jeremy and Shawna were in town visiting, so we all took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy that!

When Jeremy and Shawna went back to Tennessee, they took Bri with them so she could stay at JT and Mallory's for a week. Mallory sent me this photo of her napping with Nugget. 

And this one of her eating ice cream.

JT worked all week, so Bri spent most of her time paling around with Mallory. She really enjoyed herself and felt so special!

Meanwhile, back at home, the other kids and I did our best to stay busy. We made slime, and Brenson was super impressed as you can see.

We also paid a visit to the splash pad.

And, Bren tried to catch my kitchen on fire. He was frying squash from our garden and had the plate too close to the fire. The paper towels caught flame, and it was almost a bad thing. Thankfully, we got it put out quickly with no damage to anything else. When Bri found out, she banned Bren from trying to cook without her, haha. 

Whew. This month has been a flurry of activity, and July looks to be shaping up the same way. However, I know these are days I will dearly miss, so I'm trying to just soak it all in.