When Life Gives You Beef, Make Hamburgers

It's been a rainy week here.  June was so packed full of event after event that I could barely find time to stop and blog about it!  And now July has been pretty uneventful so there's not much to write about.

This week was supposed to be swim lessons.  Katie, a sweet college student from our church, has taught the boys for 2 summers, so this summer I decided to let Coleman sit out and have Spence and Allie take lessons.  Monday was great!  Allie is really brave and loves the water.  And Spence just picked right up and did great too!  But yesterday and today the rain has cancelled our lessons.  Oh well, last summer was so dry that our foundation cracked and cost us thousands to have repaired, so I'll try not to get all whiny about the rain!

One thing about summer that is hard for me is getting all my errands done with the kids around.  I'm pretty spoiled by having them in Mother's Day Out during the school year.  Maybe I should have trained them to go to the grocery store with me when they were younger, but it was just easier to go when they were at school or leave them with Brian on the weekends.  Now when I have to take them to the store, it's a stressful event!  Coleman can keep it together in the store, so I see it won't always be like this!  Until then though...  Yesterday in the grocery store, I had picked out a 1 pound roll of hamburger meat when I looked over and Allie had poked her finger through a $14 package of beef!  I felt my options were to either take it over to the meat counter and ask them to rewrap it, or buy it.  Buy it seemed like the easier choice.  So when we got home I made 8 burger patties to freeze, baked some meatballs, cooked ground beef for tacos and spaghetti sauce, and put another pound of meat in the freezer.  We're set for a while!

Last night at bedtime after I sang a few songs with Allie she wanted me to say Bible verses.  She's never asked for this, so I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do.  I said, "You want me to sing Bible verses?"  To which she answered yes.  I was able to think of about 5 songs that are taken directly from scripture (like Seek Ye First and As the Deer).  She laid there quietly and listened.  It was so sweet.  Totally made up for that finger-through-the-beef-thing.

Some nights Allie wants Brian to lay on the floor and they usually chat for awhile.  He told me that the other night she asked, "Why did Jesus have to die?"  Oh my goodness!  I pray that she will keep that desire to know more about Jesus!

A few years ago Rita gave us a book that was Brian's when he was little:  The Name It Know It Book.  He had written in it and the book was falling apart (thanks to our kids).  Allie calls it The Name It of a Worm It Book.  No idea why!!!  But it's so cute that we all call it that now!  And she wants to read it every night.  It had gotten to be in such bad shape that Brian wouldn't even let her hold it.  Finally I hid it because my hand would cramp up trying to read it and keep it from falling apart.  Luckily you can find anything on the internet, even a copy of your childhood book from 1977.  It finally arrived today and Allie was so excited that she had to call Daddy and leave him a voicemail.  Most of all she's excited that she can hold it!

Well, I said July was pretty uneventful, but it seems I've just gone on and on.  I'll try to get a picture of Allie and The Name It of a Worm It Book soon.  And hopefully some swim lesson pictures too!