July 2014

July has been a month full of swimming and outdoor activities, as well as continuing our summer reading and other programs at the libraries. Will and Emma both took their first swimming lessons the first 2 weeks of July. They had never had lessons, although we've worked with Will a little on holding breath, kicking and floating. They loved the lessons, and were always first to volunteer for each part. Emma finished the 2 weeks, and then ballet/tap started up again, so we're waiting until next summer for more lessons for her. She still needs to work on holding her breath and floating. But Will completed level 1 lessons, and moved on to level 2. He just completed level 2 today, and he's swimming so well now! I can't believe he went from not swimming at all to swimming so well in only a few weeks. He is looking forward to level 3, whenever he can get into more lessons. I posted a video below from about 2 weeks ago at our community pool when he first started swimming. It was like one day he couldn't, and the next day he was swimming! Now he can go halfway across the pool.

This month Jered started back to college, beginning his junior year of his bachelor's degree. His first class is pre-calculus, and he is working very hard on getting back into the groove of studying and testing, as well as keeping up with his job. He has been so busy, but has gotten a few days to go swimming with the family, and a couple of family movies. We take advantage of the $3 movies on base when we can. We just watched How to Train Your Dragon in 3D on base, followed by supper at the McDonald's down the street, for less than $30. Gotta love being close to a base! We definitely missed that part of the military lifestyle in San Diego.

We have one more month of summer since school doesn't start up until after Labor Day for both kids. We are hoping to enjoy more swimming, the beach, and summer library activities before school begins in September.

June 2014

In June, we celebrated Emma's 4th birthday and the last day of school (both on June 13th), and enjoyed a visit from Baba, Meemaw, and Abby, who also flew in the night of June 13th. We went down the Kitty Hawk, NC, to see Kill Devil Hills, where the first flight was made, drove up to Williamsburg to see the historic town, and took a tour on the Victory Rover of the naval base areas in Norfolk. Abby stayed through the weekend to see Emma's first dance recital at the Sandler Performing Arts Center on June 21st. June also signaled the end of the Awana year, and a break in dance classes for Emma after her recital. She loved dancing on stage. I was afraid she'd get nervous or freeze up (the theater seats right under 1500 people), but she had a blast. Her class was very cute, and we enjoyed seeing the other performances too.

We had Vacation Bible School (themed Agency D3: Discover, Decide, Defend) June 22-26, while Jered was on a work trip in Fort Worth, Texas. I taught the grades 1-3 Bible Study class with our pastor's wife, and really enjoyed the curriculum. Each kid was a "secret agent" investigating the evidence of Christ's saving power. The kids were very excited about it, and Will was totally on fire about the study. They gave the kids a song CD to take home (definitely not the same kind of VBS songs I remember - think secret agent movie themes!) that they listen to in the car a lot. Will had been asking us about baptism for a couple of months prior, and attended a class on baptism the week following VBS. We are very happy that he has decided he wants to be baptized and make public his personal relationship with Christ.

We also started Summer Reading programs through the Virginia Beach Public Library (and partnership with Will's school, Shelton Park Elementary), and the JEB Little Creek base library. The kids read a certain number of books per week, and they get prizes. Will finished all 20 of his books for both programs within a couple of weeks, and Emma and I have about 15 each, so we're still getting some prizes.  They also have programs like weekly crafts, movie afternoons, puppet shows, and other weekly activities like Lego Club that we have been enjoying this summer.

May 2014

Trying to play catch up from all the summer activities - starting with May. In May, we had our 11th wedding anniversary, Mother's Day, and I took a 2 night girls' trip to the oceanfront with Abby for her 30th birthday. We stayed on the boardwalk at the Surfside Inn, and had a lot of fun enjoying the oldies and cover bands out that weekend for the "Beach Music Cruise-in." Will received the May Student of the Month for Self-control award at school. We also found out in May that Will passed his gifted exams, and will in the gifted cluster classroom at our neighborhood school next year in second grade. We are very proud of him! Emma spent a lot of time in May getting ready for her first dance recital in June.