Summer Doings

As always in the great northeast good weather is short and sweet.  We had a few major events that I will highlight in a separate post (like the west coast Starks coming to visit) but as I sit here under a blanket sipping my hot tea I thought I would share with you all the happenings we crammed into the few short weeks of good weather.

Princess #3 graduated from her preschool

 Some of the best teachers

Rollerblading has become the new favorite thing to do, but what good mother lets her kids rollerblade in their pajamas... apparently I do!

My newest 5th grade princess, 3rd grade princess, and Kindergarten princess

More wedding bells are ringing

Strawberry picking

Swimming Lessons

Bonfires

Wildlife viewing with Prince Charming

Lots and Lots of pool time

Riding in the parade

Princess #3 learned to play soccer

Camping

Vacation Bible School

Summer School

Celebrating life and 50 years

Peach Picking

Hiking my favorite valley

And finally redecorating the princesses room

June Bugs, No Wait... Bluebirds!!

Ok I forgot one picture in the last post about May...

Prince Charming and I at a marriage conference, located at the beautiful Camp Pinnacle

Ok now for more about June, which seemed to FLY by, probably because we were away more than at home!!  To kick of the month Princess #1 and I took a trip to PA attend the Witness Festival together. A group of us (13 in total) ladies and girls went down to the free concert for the weekend.  The weekend was so crazy it was actually funny... first we tried to get around NYC traffic by taking a "short cut" which was actually under construction and detoured which made our 4-5 hour trip more like a 7-8 hour trip!!  We got up the next morning super duper early to get the best lawn seats... it was first come first serve seating.  What we didn't think about was open field in the blazing sun for ummm, 12 hours??  Ok maybe not really that long but it sure did seem like it!!

Here is Princess #1 and I waiting for the first concert

Here are all her friends waiting for the long anticiapted Britt Nicole concert



One of the reasons why we moms choice this festival was because the girls all love the Christian artist Britt Nicole, and she was playing at this venue and did I mention it was for free!! We also got to here great bands like Reilly, Jamie Grace, Big Daddy Weave, City Harmonic, and Jeremy Camp!! 

The long awaited Britt Nicole concert

The best part was that all the performers did signings right after the concert.  Here is Britt Nicole signing Princess #1 tee-shirt for her.  Princess #1 also made a picture for Britt that she was able to give to her.

So the rest of the weekend was filled with an overnight hospital stay (longer story), an overheated van, getting lost in Amish country and almost hitting a cow, missing seeing my hubby for a week by 5 minutes, forgetting carseats and having to drive 2 hours out of the way for them.  But really, would I do it again... in a heartbeat!  The Lord was amazing through it all and his blessing way out numbered the pitfalls.

I spent the rest of June going on fieldtrips and final days of school for the girls

Princess #1's 3rd grade class on a field trip

And celebrating Father's Day at the lake fishing (with no luck)...



 One of the special treats we had during the month was some residents bluebirds right outside our living room window in our bird box. We have named them Bonny and Billy...

Their family has seemed to outgrow our small little birdhouse and they have moved onto bigger and better things.  It was a thrill to watch them grow up though!

 The final week of June was spent living at Prince Charming's parent's home because Prince Charming was replacing the insulation in our home.  I don't have any photos of this time because my camera bit the dust... but that is another story for next month!  Keep checking back...

Master Bedroom Remodel

Way back here I said I would update you on the master bedroom... sorry it has taken so long but here it is, the finished product...

This is what we started with....

Newest Picture

A little here and a little there...

The Days of our Lives

Progression of the Living Room

Ok... I have really tried to find the time to post all these wonderful "blog" entries that run around in my head but the day goes so quickly and it doesn't get done, so here is one of them that I thought I would send along. I thought maybe you would like to see how the living room has progressed since we have been here. It is still not done b/c we need to update the paint, but the current color is not too far off from what I would like to do so you get a general sense of what the living room will look like.... now on to the bedroom!

Here is what the living room looked like before we moved

Here is what the living room looked like the day we moved in.  Yes!  There our bedroom was in the living room because we needed to put flooring down in our bedroom, but that is for the Progession of the Bedroom post soon:

Here is the living a two days after we moved in. Prince Charming spent one night in the living room and worked hard the next day to get the flooring down in the bedroom and we moved the bed in the next night.  But I do have to admitt it was kinda nice to lay in bed and watch a movie on the flat screen and surround sound.  You will notice the new playroom where the bedroom used to be:

Our almost done living... notice the rearrangement of furniture, pictures that have been in storage for years and new curtains: