Water Day

On Monday the children and I purchased lots of shelving units and we spent the afternoon assembling them with a rubber mallet (they are pretty do-it-yourself). Now we actually have shelving to put all the boxes on when we move them! My new house is only a few miles from my old house, so every time we go anywhere I take a lot of bins over to the new house in my truck. Having shelving at the new location makes this arrangement much easier. The girls have gotten used to the routine of packing and then unpacking the truck before every swim class, trip to the community house, etc. Tuesday we took a load over before swim class and then another load over before movie night. During the day we went to Water Day at the Community House, which they do every Tuesday from 10 am to 1 pm. This means sprinklers, hoses, water guns, kiddie pools, water balloons, you name it. Everyone gets soaked. My girls were busily making friends and playing (boy did they nap HARD). Leah came over to me at one point and held out a full water balloon, asking me cheerfully, "Mom, can you tie this and then let me throw it at you?" Of course I dumped it out on her head instead. We had a good time!

My girls are so funny as we pack and move. Each time I give them a fabric grocery bag and ask them to pack up some of the books (this is my favorite trick for moving books -- the bags are cheap, they don't get so heavy that you can't carry them -- which happens when packing boxes of books -- and they then can fit into all kinds of nooks and crannies in the truck) I come into the room instead and find three children sitting on the floor, silently absorbed and reading. They stop to caress all the old favorites and just open one for a peek at the illustrations and bingo, no one is packing. Everyone is reading. Natalie has recently discovered two books which she is thrilled about and can't put down. One is The Enormous Egg(a favorite from my childhood)



and the other is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- another classic.



It is so cool to have my kids reading. Natalie is into all the books I remember and loved -- Pippi Longstocking, Ramona Quimby... It's like seeing my old friends again. It truly is. And I keep thinking of books I want to share with her. Paddington Brown. The list goes on and on.

Leah stopped reading the unabridged version of Alice in Wonderland, having decided (rightly) that it was too hard for her. She's now deep into my old collections of Peanuts cartoons and Calvin & Hobbes. But the other day I found Leah reading



She was entranced and came wandering through the kitchen saying slowly, "Mom, this is a very special book." And I thought, she's right. What a perfect time of year for creating your own Celebrations. Seeing the box turtle so close up. Picking wild raspberries. S'mores. Water Day!!! I highly recommend this lovely book by Byrd Baylor for inspiring your own families festivities this Summer. Enjoy this wonderful time!

The children have been saying such wonderful graces lately. They are excited and thankful for our new house. But Natalie said one last night that just knocked my socks off. It was,

"O Lord, Thank you for my day, my life, and the good I have had. Amen."

Amen.