So much going on

We've been pretty busy lately. Here's an abbreviated recap of the past couple of weeks.

First Padawan turned 8 and we had a little birthday party that somehow morphed into something bigger (more people than we were expecting!). It was fun and loaded with lots of kids swimming in the pool, playing on the slip-n-slide, and doing crafts. Also there was the obligatory cake and ice cream. We were all having such a good time that we forgot about opening presents until the first of the parents arrived to pick up their child. Oh, oh, hurry open the presents!!

Eight days later is PonyGirl's birthday. She turned 10. She wanted a sleep over with four of her friends. That was a calmer party in some ways because there was only the five girls. But five giggling girls is in no way calm!

In the middle of this I started not feeling well and ended up having strep throat. The second time in about 3 months! Miserable. Now the strep is gone but I have a nasty cough that sounds like I'm bringing up a lung. I've pulled a muscle in my lower abdomen from all the coughing and now I have to curl into a tight ball in order to cough without pain. Makes for an interesting sight while in line at Wal-Mart...

Lastly, on Father's Day, PonyGirl left for church camp. This is her first time to be gone for a whole week of camp. Up until now she has gone to First Chance Camp which is much shorter. It's a Thursday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. We'll see how the week-long camp goes. We are halfway though it now and I haven't heard from her so I'm guessing she's just fine. She's there with at least 6-10 kids that she knows. She probably doesn't miss us a bit. We are busy enough here at home that we aren't missing her all that much ourselves. Monday morning Padawan said, "This week just isn't going to seem right." He's doing just fine tho'! :-) Sadly, I must admit that it's been pretty calm around here without the 10-year-old, female drama that we are accustomed to! I guess it would get boring around here if the drama were gone too long! We'll all be happy to see her back home again on Saturday.

Here's another picture of PonyGirl's birthday. I love the shot of BonusBoy in the background observing and enraptured by his big sister. (Click to enlarge) (arrgh! you'll have to check back for this photo as Blogger isn't letting me upload it for some reason!)