this week on the island

hello there on this fine july morning! there's been a lot going on around here. what have you been up to? it's summer and things have not slowed down here.

here's the randomness!

i painted my daughter's fingernails and toenails last week for church. she wanted them red. the fingernail paint is starting to chip off her fingers. it's the kind that drys in 60 seconds so it doesn't usually stay on that long. this morning she came to me and said, "mommy! my fingers are starting to come off." meaning the fingernail paint.

it's thursday but it feels like monday. the officer started back to work today so it feels like the beginning of our week. the officer gets to do something a little exciting for him this month. there is a new motor officer coming over to the unit today. my officer gets to train the new motor officer for the first month. it's his first time and he was sort of nervous. i prayed a little extra for him last night and this morning. it's a little dangerous (as riding a motorcycle in and of itself wasn't enough) to be training a new motor officer. when you ride with a partner in the motor unit you ride very close to each other. you could easily reach out and touch them. from my understanding, the officer on the left is the lead. when they are riding, he decides when to change lanes, how they will get where they are going, and any last second decisions. the rider on the right's only job is to do whatever the rider on the left does. the rider on the right is not suppose to check the lanes for oncoming traffic, that is the lead's job. the new motor officer has experience riding motorcycles so that is helpful, but he's new to partner riding. if you remember, say a little prayer for protection for my officer this month. :)

on sunday night, we spent the evening with some special people, my friend becky and her family. i met becky about 3 years ago. she's very sweet and hilarious!!! she has a servant's heart. they are leaving today :( to go to romania as missionaries :) for three years. she gave me lots of hugs that night. i've enjoyed getting to know her these past 3 years and i so look forward to what God has in store for them as they are obedient to His calling.

monday we had to take my car into the shop bright and early! the air conditioner has been going on and off lately. in this heat, that's not a lot of fun! they had the car for 3 days and could not duplicate the problem. so we picked it up yesterday and the air conditioner has been working fine. they just said when it happens again, drive straight here so we can diagnose it. okay no problem.

tuesday i was supposed to go bowling with my friend, shirley. have you heard about the 2 free bowling games a day (that's right i said 2 FREE bowling games A DAY)? you can do that here. anyway, due to a daycare with 50 kids there, there were no lanes available. we'll try to bowl again even though it will be our third attempt to go bowling. third time's a charm, right?

tuesday night i went to crest. i know you may not think a grocery store is worthy of mentioning in a blog post but they are opening a new store across town. since they are opening it, all the crest grocery stores are having some fantastic sales. the great thing is crest just started to take internet coupons (under $3 and no coupons for free items) so this really helps with their sales. with coupons, i got free glade fabric & air odor eliminator spray, free cheez its, .25 cheeto zingers, .22 16 oz. sour creams, $1.25 hormel meatloaf, and .25 ziplock containers and baggies.

when i came home, the officer and my kids were outside along with several neighbors. i brought the groceries in and in my attempt to be more neighborly and social, i went right outside and spent the evening chatting and getting to know my neighbors a little better. it was a lot of fun.

wednesday, my sister-in-law came down and we took our kids to a local spray park. even though it was pretty crowded all the kids did great and had a good time. this particular spray park is in the middle of a neighborhood and has a small playground and basketball court right beside it. i think that helped with the amount of kids there.

last night i also went to my mom's for a birthday dinner. she gave me a very cool gift. this past year in school she has done a writing class with my kids. she brings books over to read to them. she talks about plots, characters, story lines, and helps them make up stories. i'm usually not in the room when she does this. for my birthday, she had all the stories my kids made up made into a book. she got the book from shutterfly. so the book has all the stories, pictures of my kids she has taken, and some pictures my kids have drawn. i LOVE it.

here's one of my son's stories:

If I Had A Cow

if i had a cow
i'd paint her legs pink
and the rest of her blue
i'd splash a bright green
on to her face
and feed her on pumpkins
until halloween.
yeah, that's what i'd do.

here's one of my daughter's stories:

The Little Dog

the little dog,
black and white,
didn't want to be a dog.
he wanted to be a people
because he didn't like how
his ears is sticking up.
he liked people ears.
another dog told
the little black and white dog,
told him to go
to a dog wishing pond
like at the neighbors
one mile away.
he would have to look at himself
in the water and
stick his ears up one at a time.
he changed to a people dog!
he didn't like being a people dog
because his mommy and daddy
didn't know him.
he changed back
to a black and white doggie
then he grew and
he liked being a big dog.

can't beat that story with a stick people!

thanks mom! she came up with the perfect gift that the kids and i love!

so that's only half our week so far but like i said it feels like monday. this weekend is my birthday and i think the officer and i are going to go to a movie and then take the kids out to eat. looking forward to it! what do you have going on for this 4th of july weekend?