It is here on the eve of the first day of school and wee Apple’s first birthday that I get to post a photo of my J with a missing tooth. His tooth had been wiggly for a while and when he woke up on Saturday morning he said, “My tooth has gone crazy!”. It was sticking straight out. About an hour later after he played with it for a while it gently fell out into his hands. I for one was very happy the way this played out because I have memories of tying a string to a tooth and slamming the door and blood pouring out of my mouth for hours. But, not for J. He put it in a container and waited until bedtime for the Tooth Fairy. And is now waiting for it to rain.
Hubby and I told him since he just got a lot of fun stuff for his birthday to put his money away for a rainy day. Every morning this past week he has woken up and said, “Oh Man, it’s sunny again”. So if it rains tomorrow, I see a trip to the toy store for us.
This past Labour Day weekend was the perfect way to round off our summer. We had beautiful, no gorgeous sunny and hot weather, something that was lacking for a good part of the summer. We cleaned up the pool and went in instead of our usual shutting it down for the summer. We lazed around and had a dinner party for my Mom’s birthday and attended the annual street party, meeting our two new neighbours one directly beside us (with a boy the same age as J) and another directly across from us. We are thrilled with them both as we have not had the best luck with neighbours in the past but it would appear that our turn has finally come. All in all it was the best way to say good-bye yet again to summer.
Tonight, J is anxiously awaiting his first day of school. And although I just found out that I had thought he had had a different teacher than he does, I decided to let it go even though I do not like the one he is getting. She is pretty close to retirement and I don’t exactly enjoy the way she talks to the kids. All the more reason to volunteer this year and keep a close eye on her. That and the fact that J’s best friend is in another class was a little tough but, it might be good for them to be apart for a bit at school, it will make it all the more fun when they play outside of school.
And little Miss Apple. Well, it is hard to believe that a year ago, I was not convinced she was going to arrive at all and the next day was as asking you all for prayers that she would be born soon. Here we are loving every minute of her being with us. J has adapted to his big brother roll well and she is not giving him a break. She is walking, running and climbing. Her words are coming in along with her teeth. She surprises us every day and we are so thankful that she was given to us. I am sure I will have some fun photos to share of her first birthday as well as some first day of school ones, tomorrow.
And this Church is still standing. It is located in Laurel, Delaware, not far from my Aunt’s house. I have been to Laurel many times over the years, but I never noticed this little Church. If you didn’t know it was a Church you would think it was a barn and keep on driving.
One of the days that we were at my Aunt’s house and heading out to do a bit of shopping, Hubby remembered seeing this Church in a book on my Aunt’s coffee table the year before. Hubby loves old buildings and Churches and is always wanting to stop and look at them. We looked it up in the book and got the address onto his GPS and headed over. It was beautiful. Not that it is fancy or anything, but the sheer fact that it was built 300 years ago using timber from the land and iron from the Nanticoke Indian Tribe. And the fact that it has boxed seating and the interior has remained unpainted for 300 years is amazing.
I guess you are wondering how I know all this? Well, after Hubby took a walk about, I got the kids out and wanted to take some photos. When I was finishing up and we were getting ready to pack everybody back in the truck a little red car pulled up. I was thinking, that we were going to be in trouble for parking on the land or walking around or something, but no. The couple that pulled up asked us, “How would you like to take a look inside?”. How would we, we would love it!!! They were the keepers of the Church! They attend the Christ Church in Town and nobody had been taking care of the Church for a few years, so they offered to do it. There are at least four weddings a year, one of which was theirs some 20 years ago, and every Sunday the Pastor holds services there during the summer.
Here is a photo from inside the Church. Each box was owned by a family, the pulpit is on the right wall (This photo has it cut off a bit), and there is a balcony for visitors, which is where I took this photo from. The couple wanted to open all the windows for us, but I stopped them at one. It was such a treat to be able to see inside this piece of history, we felt blessed. For all the years I have been going to Delaware, it was nice to see a little something extra.
Now that the heat wave has passed (for now) the pool is up and ready to go. We think this is the last year for the take-down pool. Not only is it a bit of a pain, but it is time to go permanent. We have had these kind of pools for six years now, they are wonderful and I can’t say enough great things about them. But, the time has come. That being said, we will see what next year brings.
J decided all on his own that it was ok to get soaking wet in his clothes, since it was bedtime we didn’t stop him. He tried desparatedly to get his father wet, but sadly he was the only one.
I am going to do a bit of a rush post here because I just can’t seem to get enough time in the day to post and this is two days in the making. And we have so much going on that I have another two or three posts stuck in my head already. Time to set aside time for me again.
Since the pool was still filling up yesterday. J had his best friend over and I couldn’t let them go in, so I let them have a waterfight instead. J had his trusty sponges, something he has been asking me for forever and I couldn’t understand why… until now…, and I set out two buckets of water and a sprinkler. The two of them ran around throwing water and having a blast. Then to top it off they cleaned the play structure! Nothing I love more then watching my son have fun with his friends. I will admit that I rewarded them with some sugar lollipops but, it was all worth it.
And just for fun I took a photo of Apple and I using the back door as a mirror. We were out there, enjoying the water fun, but I was hot. Carrying her in the carrier on a hot sweaty day outside is no fun at all. At least we weren’t stuck inside.
On to more fun again today!
