Summer Happenings....

Hello! I know I have been really bad about posting..........but we've had a wonderfully busy summer! I'll be posting another post on what we have done this summer, but here's to start you off:

We spent a whole week at our grandma's trailer! It is an hour away from our house, and we don't go there very much.

Everyone decided to gang up on ME! We were having a great time!

The tiny kitchen.

We went to our cousin's wedding, up in the Thumb. Noela is asleep on the be in the hotel room.

The wedding cake was beautiful! Our cousin made it.

We had a great time blue berry picking this summer! On this trip I think we got about 50lbs. We went 3 times this year.

My wonderful brother, Grant.

Little Audrey, who went with us along with her sister, Mary.

Mary picking blueberries!

Ryanne, Lydia, and Mary.

Noela with cherries all over her face.

Doesn't she has cute little lips?

Lugnuts game!

Dad, Vince, Grant, Lance, and Uncle Kyle.

Little Kailey.

Sarah (our cousin) and her little girl, Kailey.

Neola and Kailey had a great time together, playing in the sand box!

We were really busy this year with baseball. Grant was on two team, and he had games nearly every night!

Grant pitched for his U10 team. He's kind of tired in this picture. :~)

Lydia and I spent a day (and night) with Grandma & Grandpa (on Dad's side). We had a great time, helping Grandma clean.

Pretty little Noela........she was upset at us for trying to take her picture though!

Here she is feeding Anthony Bee Balm.

Our suite was right above the Tigers' bullpen.

One of the highlights of this summer was a once-in-a-lifetime Tigers game. Uncle Kyle rented a party suite and invited all eight of us (Dad, Mom, Me, Lydia, Noela, Grant, Vince, Lance) along with some others to come and celebrate his birthday with him. The tickets were $85 apiece! We had a terrific time. The whole way to the stadium, it poured. We were afraid that the game would be rained out. We were praying and praying that it would stop raining. It rained all the way until we parked and were entering the stadium. Then it stopped raining, and the sun even came out! The game was played, they ended, and not five minutes later, it started to rain again! We were thanking God! The only down was the Tiger lost.

Inside the suite.

Grandpa John, Vince, and Lance. Grandpa John and Grandma Rose came up from Tennessee for the game!

The view from the party suite was magnificent!

Thank you so much!!!!!

A banner that Lydia and Marie made for me!!

Yesterday was our meekness meeting. Before the meeting, Lydia planned a surprise birthday party for me. It was great! Everyone arrived an hour early, and went swimming. The pool (and air) were freezing (water about 66 degrees)! Afterwards, everyone got dressed and went inside. We were still cold though, so Mom brought down all of our extra blankets, and we wrapped up! It was fun! Then we went on with the meekness meeting. First we sang, and it sounded great! We had a couple funny skits, raced putting puzzles together (to demonstrate how important it is to have meekness with teamwork), and talked about overcoming anger. I think it was one of our best meetings so far (maybe it helped that you were celebrating my birthday :~).

Thank you so much girls!! I loved all of your gifts! They are each so unique and fun! I have never received so many presents all at one time!

~ All of the gifts from the girls ~

We had full attendance last night!!

After we were done downstairs, Mary, Faith, Maggie, Rachel, and Alexis picked up all the highlighters, stacked the papers, and folded the blankets. I want you girls to know that I really appreciate your help!

Thank you all for everything! I can't wait to see what the group gift will be! Looking forward to seeing you all on the 21st! I love you!

~~~Haley~~~

Monday's meeting

We had a great meeting Monday! Everyone had a good time singing, and we are getting better and better participation! I forgot to take pictures though. :(

Last meeting you probably remember was on Contentment. Monday's was, Sensitivity. Contentment is when you are not concerned about your own needs. Sensitivity, is when you are concerned about the needs of others. We talked about "gloves" to your sensitivity-- friends, busyness, things you do by yourself (computer games, facebook, TV, listening to music on earphones, etc.). All these things can make you less sensitive to those around you. Also, you have to notice. Sensitivity is noticing. If you don't notice if someone is left out, you can't help them feel welcome. It goes like that with everything. You have to notice, or you can't be sensitive.

We pointed out that whenever you are sensitive even in the littlest thing, or are feeling frustrated because you were trying to help but it didn't go right, you won't lose your reward (Matthew 22:39). Also, whenever you do something you are doing it to Jesus. This can be a beautiful thought, or a scary thought. If you are being sensitive and kind, it is uplifting, but if you are snapping at your brother or glaring at your sister, it is not a nice thought to think you are snapping or glaring at Jesus.

The most important, but probably hardest, place to be sensitive is in the home. We are running sprints with our friends, but a marathon in our home, and it is always harder to run a marathon than a sprint.

To end the meeting, we talked about one way to show you care is to make sure you know everyone's name. We played a little game with that, where everyone wrote down everyone else's name, and during snacks asked questions of each person to find out something about them. One thing we found out: the majority of the girls' favorite color is blue!

We also had another little quiz we did, to see how well we know our siblings.

For snacks, we provided strawberry shortcake, Elizabeth brought grapes and watermelon, and Marie brought ice cream sandwhiches. Yummy!

Marie and Elizabeth, thank you for bringing snacks! They are always appreciated!

I'm looking forward to seeing you all on the 31st! We will be learning about meekness. Quick question: do any of you know who the Bible says the meekest man was?

Madaline, MaKenzie, and Abigail are bringing snacks next meeting.

Love,
Haley

P.S. Faith, thank you for picking up all the change on the floor, it really was appreciated!

Updates......

Here are some picture I took lately:
Lydia, holding a large toad we caught in our yard.

This was several weeks ago, when we were planting our garden.

Team huddle! A picture that Lydia took at one of Grant's baseball games.

I showed you the eggs from this nest, so I thought I would show you the little bird. There were actually four little robins in the nest. They are grown and gone now.

This week Lydia, Grant, and I have been at HPA's summer drama camp. It is fun and busy! Tomorrow, when we are supposed to be at camp again, we are actually missing a day to go to a Tiger's game. Our uncle is taking all of us for his birthday! Our Grandpa and Grandma from Tennessee will be there too. It will be fun, but I hope we don't get too far behind at camp. Friday there will be a performance, I am doing a skit with two other people, our whole group is singing One Short Day (from the Broadway musical Wicked--I never heard the song until Monday), and will be doing a dance. I don't particularly like the dance--I guess I am to used to Irish step dancing, holding your arms straight, etc.

Simple Berry Cobbler

Here is a recipe for a simple cobbler that we made recently. It is very simple and very tasty. We used mulberries and strawberries, but any berries will work.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First combine in bowl:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instead of using milk and baking powder, I used 1 cup of soured milk (you can also use raw yogurt or buttermilk) and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Pour into 9 x 13 baking pan.

Then, chop up at least 2 cups of berries of your choosing. (You can also use frozen or canned fruit, but fresh is always best.) We used considerably more than 2 cups of fruit. Use your own judgement as to how much you like fruit. Add the fruit to the pan evenly.

As a last minute thing, I added little pieces of kiwi to my cobbler. You could add kiwi or any other complementary fruit to your cobbler.

When it is all together, put in oven and bake 4o minutes or so.

And it is done! Happy eating!

Love~Haley