summers gone!?

Wow! this is the last week of summer?! Where the heck did it go?! It flew by! With all the stuff that goes on and 4 kids to keep track of, sometimes it seems like life just speeds on through. But we're ready to head back- even more after a pre-first day visit to the school office to turn in emergency cards. The girls are excited... Evie will be in shock... Schedules will be.... scheduled. So it will be nice to get back into a groove.

School shopping! Emma got the cutest little clothes... Abs got some sweet dresses... Bells got some fun accessories and things that say "bff" and "lol" along with more skinny jeans and a fedora. She's crazy. There were some cute things out there.... the one newest thing that cracks me up are the "jeggings" Jeans/Leggings. Wow. They're so funny and remind me of like 6th grade. Baby doll dresses and leggings.... ikes! As long as the kind with the little loop at the bottom to go under your foot don't come back around ;)

Other than that, not too much. Summer is past! 4th, 2nd and Kinder await!! CrRRRRRAaaaazzzzZZYYY! Right!?

7

Abigail's birthday this last weekend provided the opportunity for another giant slumber party! Painting nails, watching movies, giggling laughter into the wee morning hours. They had a great time!

funny girl

Evie got herself all dressed this morning in Bella's uniform- including the sock! She came out of the bedroom all proud of herself. Pretty pretty funny.

funny things said.

I was on the phone with my friend the other day, when she paused to talk to her boys.  "Hey, can you please get the Steamroller off of the bed?" and later "No!  You cannot be a Gorilla.  Please leave your clothes on!". These things make me laugh all of the time.  I have said some funny things while on the phone also, and I was thinking... I wonder what could be done with these funny quotes- besides blog about them? ...Make a list?  ...Scrapbook them?  And then my partner in handmade-crime told me about a blog she saw on (almost) this very thing.  Check it out on Amy Karol's blog- she has put together a couple of pretty cool sewing & craft books.  Her idea for funny things said, handmade (on your computer) cards!!  Go See!

it was fun.

Last week's camping trip... we had a blast, and we're still recovering.  

We went for a few days, and friends joined us in shifts.  The first day and a half we spent on the lake... knee boarding and tubing.  The girls all loved being on the boat, Belle being a little nervous ...to put it mildly.... but by the end she was a natural.  And Abs is the adventurer.  Every time the boat would stop, she wanted to jump in the lake.  Boats racing by, deep water, Abigail swimming around.  And they both went on the "cone".  A giant cone tubey-thing which you lay inside and hold on to while the boat tows you along.  I was nervous. Each little girl taking turns,  20 feet behind the boat... and we're moving?  Is this smart?  But no one else seemed to think it was a big deal, so off they went.  And the girls were brave and had a great time. Every so often and check on them.  We only got scared once when Abs didn't answer us right away.  For a brief second I started to panic and look all around the lake to see if maybe we lost her somewhere.  But she was fine!  She was safe.  

And we had s'mores.  And we went fishing. And we cooked camp food.  We had a great time.  The weather was perfect- hot during the day and cool at night.  And the stars were amazing.  We left the fly off of the tent at night and watched the stars.  And a deer tried to eat our food. But there were no bears, no mountain lions, and no tarantulas.  So I was happy. 

Santa Barbara Zoo

So here's the Zoo!  For some reason my blogger is acting crazy and I am unable to make my little comments right under each picture.   The first few are on the zoo train.  So exciting!  Evie and Emma rode together with me and it was really sweet.  Emma hopped on my lap when we went through the lion area.  She was a little scared of the big lion paws sticking up in the air (the lion was sleeping on his  back!).  And she wanted to ride the giraffe...  'Mom, I wanna go for a ride' she said.  And over and over.  Why does she think she should be able to ride a giraffe?  Maybe Diego does?  I have no clue...  And the girls had a grand  time with their greatest friends.  Abs loves Michael and Rebekah, as you can see!  And Emma was happy, o so happy, to see her 'best friend Josiah'.  It was a blast, but also, it was crazy.  Too many kids!  I think there were at least 15 kids in our crew.  But it was fun fun.  And we found the carousel.  Look how cute and old fashioned it is? I got 30 seconds of freedom while the girls took a little ride.  So to refresh, I tried catching a little of the cuteness. (a 30 second breather from zoo craziness is so worth $1 each!)

Peaceful Afternoon

2:30 in the afternoon and all is quiet. Ab, Emma and Evie are all napping, and Bella is quietly reading her Junie B Jones chapter book. I am smiling to myself, fully enjoying the silence. I should be doing....SOMEthing- laundry, cleaning....but instead I am wandering through blogs....researching cool new computers....reading a cookbook.....while eating some peanut butter fudge ice cream.

I love summer. Did I tell you it is summer? We had our last meeting yesterday, and right after our teacher left the house, I packed up everything. School is out in the Moore house! So we are enjoying it today. All we have left is a couple of parties next week and we're free.

The vast shore

"Mom, it's so quiet at the beach!" says Abi, seashell held tightly to her ear.
"Listen to how quiet it is!" She places the shell next to my ear. I listen intently.
"Yeah, it is quiet there!" I say.

I remember coming home from beach vacations as a child with my seashell prizes. Free mementos from paradise- little treasures by which to remember the vast ocean and sweet breezes. Sometimes the smell of the ocean remained on those shells even years later. I also remember holding them to my ear- I thought they were some magic portal to the sea shore. I was still connected to that beach so far away. Maybe I could talk to someone there if they picked up the other end. But no one was ever there, on that peaceful shore- just the sound of the tide...it was always so quiet there.

So I don't have it in me to tell Abigail that you can't hear the ACTUAL ocean in the shell. I don't know how she came to believe as I did- but it is so precious and innocent that I will let her grow up thinking she can access the vast shore through her little shell. Maybe there will even be a faith lesson in there somewhere.