Almost Caught Up

Hopefully this will be my last multi-day, catch-everyone-up post. I'm almost caught up with what we've been doing. I'm hoping that once school starts for Trinity (next Monday) and especially once Kalyn starts (after Labor Day) I'll be able to carve out some blogging time while Xander has some "play alone" time. We'll see if that really happens, though.

One day last week (it may have been the week before, actually), we got an evening to spend in the pool. Kalyn is such a swimmer - she loves to grab a swim noodle and kick all around the pool. I had just picked up a new swimsuit for Xander that day at Wal-Mart and we got to try it out. It was one that has floats built into the suit. We put it on and he was so excited to be able to move around on his own. The pool is the perfect depth for him, especially, which allows him to touch the bottom without going under (ideally speaking). His biggest problem was that he continually wanted to run, which caused his feet to lose grip. His feet would fly up, and his head out fall back and he would end up on his back just looking at the sky wondering how he got in that position. So, Craig grabbed an inflatable ring and stuck it around him. It kept him amazingly balanced and gave his way more freedom to walk around.

Craig went on his final event as one of the interim youth pastors. It was the Back-2-School retreat up to Ocoee, Tennessee. I've seen some pictures and they look like they had a blast! I have really missed the opportunities to be a part of all the youth events - someone's got to stay with the kids - but I do enjoy my time with the kids. They did tubing, rappelling, a low-ropes course and rock wall climbing. This event is the last one for recently-graduated seniors and the first one for upcoming sixth graders. This is also usually the shortest retreat - they left Wednesday morning and returned Thursday evening. Our friend Cacee's husband was also on the trip so she and I met for dinner (with the four kids in tow) and then hung out and caught up on all going on in our lives. It's always nice to have some quiet time after the kids go down to found out what's the latest happenings.

Friday night, we got to go enjoy the Braves game with our friends, Marc & Teri. We had great seats (thanks Chris & Jenn) and even though the Braves lost horribly, it was a great night with friends. We talked about everything under the sun, laughed a lot and occasionally looked out on the field. An added bonus - Friday night games mean Friday night fireworks. It was a great display and a great way to end the night (however a win would have been nice).

Saturday rounded out our week of birthday parties! Happy 6th birthday, Owen! Another party, another time to hang out with friends! However, just when I think I haven't quite lost all of my mind, something happens to remind me that's not the case. I remember getting the invitation and had 1-3 set in my mind as the party time (I'm sure you can see where this is going). So we pull up and were surprised to be the first ones there. Come to find out (as soon as we walked in the door and met Erica) we were first because the party actually didn't start until 2. Oops. Luckily, we've known this family for 10+ years, so we just asked what we could do to help and finished them getting ready for the rest of the guests to show up.

Saturday night, we had another great fellowship night. We got to hang out with Amy and Michael and their son Bryce. More accurately, we all met at Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then Amy and I got to put the kids to bed and talk while Michael and Craig went to play ultimate. Since we are both bloggers, I'm surprised one of us didn't get any pictures, but we didn't. It was a great chance to just sit, relax and chat. Most of our friends are pretty laid back and real - we can be who we are without having to put on a facade. I love this about our friends.