Summer Fun



This summer has turned out to be quite busy.  I couldn't for sure tell you what all has been occupying our time, but we've had a lot of family time and fun hanging out in our simple home. 

 

Earlier this summer, we took to the tradition of making our summer list again.  Summer has always been a time when we work on those projects that we don't get to during the school year because of lack of time or just not a time of year to work outside.  This has become a fun family event, and now that Jaycee is old enough to be able to include some thoughts and ideas, she had joined right along with us.  It is fun to hear what she thinks we should get done over the summer.  We started this tradition so that we would be more intentional with our time and not waste it away.  I must say that with me being a list person and Tom being very task oriented, this plan has been awesome for us!!!  There is something so great about checking off those things you plan to get done, and seeing what still needs to be done and planning our time to include those things.  Ahhhh!!!

 

So, here are a few things that we really wanted to accomplish this summer:

 

- Join YMCA                                                                          

- Garage organization

- Frisbee golf                                                                           

- Deep clean the house

- Dropzone area                                                                       

- Eat more fruit

- Attend kid's summer movies                                                 

- Visit friends

- Visit area water parks                                                            

 - Miles' birthday party

- Exercise (hence joining the YMCA)                                     

- Thrift stores

- Swimming lessons                                                                 

- Women's Bible study

- Library story times                                                                  

- Photo projects

- Parks and playgrounds                                                           

- Sewing projects

- Bake new recipes                                                                    

- Walk with friends

- Date Nights                                                                             

- Nature center

- Grandma's house                                                                    

- Softball

 

These are just a few of the things we have wanted to do this summer.  I would have loved to have gotten pictures of them all, but sometimes you just get to live life and the camera stays in the car/ purse.  That's just how it goes sometimes.  But I hope that my kids will remember the great times we spent this summer chillin' together.  We've had a lot of family together time.

 



 

 My little boy is really fast!!!!  He has just been growing like a weed, and I knew that walking would be next on the baby agenda.  Jaycee absolutely loves Miles (a little too much for his liking sometimes), and she has been wanting to help him learn to walk.  Maybe she thinks that he will have more interest playing with her if he starts to walk.

 





 One of the things we wanted to do this summer was to visit our local nature center.  Luckily for us, Great Plains Nature is close by.  I had been saving the heels of our bread.  You know the end pieces that we don't ever eat for just a time to feed the fish and any other animal that should happen to come along.

We ended up seeing more turtles than anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also decided to take this time to let Miles get out of the stroller and practice his walking, with a little help.  He has been doing awesome at this whole walking thing.  I'm not in a big hurry for him to walk, b/c I will be chasing him that much more, but it is fun to see him learn and grow.  

 

 

This duck jumped right up on top of the railing and was not scared at all. 

 

It was so cute to see how this Mama duck took care of her babies.

 

Another huge turtle.

 

What a cheesy grin!!!

 

 

There is still more summer fun to be had, and this is just a little snippet of what we do all day. 

 

The internet and digital photos have not been friendly to me very much and as I become frustrated, I tend to give up for a while until I get the nerve to figure out the problems.  Mainly, I use nap times to do these things, and when that time is very precious, I usually find other things that are more pressing of my time.  Keep reading an following us and I will really try to be more consistent about the updates.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's



Made To Crave

Every summer I along with some other teacher friends have a weekly Monday night Bible study. This year we have been following the book Made to Crave by Lysa Teurkerst. I have learned a lot about myself through this study. I realize that I do sometimes have an issue with eating too much food and looking to it for comfort.

There was a time in my life when the whole world fell apart and I didn't eat at all. So my choice comfort food/ drink was cherry Pepsi. I drank it all the time and it satisfied me when nothing else would. But once I started eating again, I didn't give up my Pepsi drinking habits and my weight just kind of crept up on me.

Through this study, I have learned that my cravings for food are not healthy when I look to it for comfort instead going to my Holy Father. God has really blessed me over the years, but I haven't always liked the circumstances that He has allowed me to be placed in. At times it angers me, but I am starting to realize that each difficult circumstance has helped me grow so much in my Christian walk, my outlook on life, my relationships with friends and family, my marriage, and the way I feel about myself.

It may come as a surprise to some, but I have struggled a lot over the years with not liking myself. There are many things that have attributed to that, but mostly I have felt different all my life. Whether it was the fact that all of my friends had beautiful straight hair and mine was curly, or that I seemed to have a year round tan that made some people I met uncomfortable, or that I just don't always follow the crowd and do my own thing. All of those things and many more have made me have a hard time loving myself at times. There are many days that I have just wished that I was normal.

I am starting to realize that "normal" is different for everyone and that we all have something that we wish was different or that we could change about ourselves. Through this study and I learning that I need to start loving myself the way I am, and to change the things that I can and accept and love the things that I can't. God has a plan for me and He created me this way for a reason, and He doesn't make mistakes, so I need to stop treating myself like I am a mistake, and give myself a little mercy and grace to be who I am the way I am.

Mira