For whatever reason, I can’t seem to formulate any words but b-e-d.

Have an awesome weekend, friends!

Us? We’ll be purging more clutter, celebrating two special people getting married, DVRing some World Cup Soccer and sitting in bleachers watching 43 guys drive around an oval a few hundred times.

Until Monday!

I can’t really think of the last time I tried to bless someone and didn’t get blessed back at least double–and usually more than that! (okay, so sometimes my blessing attempts just bomb, but that’s a horse of a different color)

Anyway.

I can’t remember how it all came down exactly, but Ava’s teacher and I are new friends on Facebook, and I had commented on my status that I had been to my mom and dad’s and purged a bunch of junk. Then Mrs. M. said she needed help purging stuff in her classroom. And I raised my hand high in the proverbial air and said, “Me! Me! Pick me! I love to help people purge and organize!”

So, Tuesday was the last day of school, and on Wednesday morning at 9:00, the girlies and I made ourselves at home in Mrs. M’s classroom. We asked for jobs, she gave them to us, and we had so much fun that we overstayed our welcome and even came back after lunch.

So, the plan was: we would help out a wonderful teacher who has loved on my child (and 24 others) all year long and has done nothing but give and serve and give and serve and give and serve.

And guess what happened instead?

She gave us supplies for the kids in Cambodia.

She gave my girlies, who love playing school more than anything else in the world (except maybe swimming and soccer), all manner of papers and fun school-playing items.

She gave us leftover microwave popcorn and hot chocolate and juice boxes (I did throw away the ones that expired in 2006-2008, because I was afraid my kids would get drunk. Although that might’ve been funny.)

She let the girls pick treasures from her treasure chest.

She bought us gifts! American Girl journals for Livi and Ava and a Fancy Nancy Sticker Book for Nina. And a 16-pack of Crayola Pip-Squeak Skinnies (markers) for each of them.

And a Barnes & Noble gift card and Graeter’s (ice cream) gift card for me!

And donated $ to our Cambodia trip.

And lavished us with praise for hours on end. And bragged about us to every single person who came through her door from the principal to the janitor to fellow teachers to random strangers.

And I got to hear more about her incredible story, like how she adopted her beautiful daughter (now 22) as a 9-month-old from an orphanage in India, then gave birth to a beautiful little boy (now graduating from high school) a few years later.

And she let us borrow AS MANY OF HER AMAZING BOOKS AS WE WANTED!! I emptied our living room bookshelf so all 119 (I’m not even kidding) would fit.

Mrs. M. claims that we saved her a week of work and gave her the nerve to pitch things that have been taking up valuable space forever. She SAYS that WE blessed HER and blah, blah, blah.

And maybe we did.

But it sure feels the other way around to me.

So today’s our First Official Day of Summer Vacation. The girls both had great years and amazing teachers. We love you, Mrs. H and Mrs. M! Speaking of Mrs. M, the girls and I are spending a couple hours this morning helping her clean out her classroom.

When I told Gabe, he said, “Ava’s not going to be happy that she has to go back to school on the first day of break.” He obviously does not understand the joys of purging and organizing and helping your teacher when school is already out. Ava is thrilled! And so are her sisters.

Then, if the rain holds off, we’re heading to the pool and buying our first pool pass. I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve been to a public pool in their lifetimes. And I decided this would be The Year of the Pool.

Honestly? I’m not a big fan. I’d rather sit on the back porch (or in bed! or on the beach!) and read all summer long. But those little crazies love water, and since I don’t have any babies anymore, I’m thinking it will work.

This is also going to be The Summer of Intentional and Purposeful Mommy-Daughter Quality Time. I’m a girl of many ideas and ambitions, and this summer I intend to raise one of my ambitions high, high above the rest. To have fun with my girls.

Yes, there’s Cambodia (woohoo!!) and yes, I’ll do some writing, but I’m reeeeeeeally feeling an uncomfortable crunch right now. By the time summer chills into fall and fall freezes into winter, my oldest will be in the Double Digits Club, and my youngest will turn five. FIVE.

These are the glory days, and I want them to drag by in slow motion. (Although I have a feeling they won’t cooperate.)

So, things might ebb and flow here at the blog. I’ll try posting every day for awhile, but I may cut back to Monday, Wednesday, Friday or something like that. We’ll see.

Thanks for making my blog a place I love to be. And for loving my family so sweetly.

Happy, Happy Summer, friends!!

A big storm blew through our area last night, and our electricity went out for a few hours, so no blog post. But we had a delightful candle-lit time as a family. Very Charles and Caroline Ingalls-ish. Okay, so not really, since we had Gabe’s fully-charged iPhone to help get us through.

See you tomorrow!

She talked me into it AGAIN! First, she got me to show you where I live and now she has me telling you what makes me HAPPY. You can play along on Kelly’s blog too, if you’d like!

My list is, by no means, all-inclusive. And it’s not very deep or thought-provoking. And just like last Saturday, I’m going to cheat by scouring Gabe’s Flickr pics for things that trigger happy thoughts. And apparently, I can’t move forward without offering disclaimers in triplicate.

Finally. Here we go!

My family makes me happy (as does the ocean).

Going to zoos makes me happy.

Giraffes make me happy.

Pei Wei makes me happy.

Sisterly love makes me happy.

Hanging out at my in-laws’ cabin makes me happy.

This guy makes me happy.

Seeing his face when he first laid eyes on this made me happy.

Scrabble letters make me happy.

Texas makes me happy.

My grandma makes me happy.

These two little girls make me happy (as do my other 3 nieces and 3 nephews).

Nina makes me happy.

Ava makes me happy.

Livi makes me happy.

Writing makes me happy (and so did that tree, but Hurricane Ike knocked it over–boo!).

Hanging out with family makes me happy (miss you, Steph!!).

God’s Word makes me happy.

Traveling makes me happy.

Dolphins make me happy.

Zoo shirts make me happy.

This day made me happy.

Mating tortoises make me happy (sorry).

Speaking of mating, baby animals (and giraffes! did I say that already?) make me happy.

Storms make me happy.

Watching my husband with our girls makes me happy.

The fact that you made it all the way to the end of this post without going away makes me happy.

What makes YOU happy??