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Well, upon our arrival at home, I was welcomed to artichokes in our garden.  I was pretty pleased at their growth, though I learned too late that they grow for five years.  Five years and I planted them in the ground instead of in pots!  Oh well, they are fun to eat while not paying several dollars for each one (though those are much larger than mine and I paid for water!).

We have literally just been hanging out with friends, swimming and trying to enjoy our last few weeks here while still getting SO much done for the move.

Zoe's little sister, Lily.

Hiding from the new puppy...she jumps and bites clothes...but she is so cute!!

And what is a BBQ without smores?

Sammy is doing well, though he is a stress cadet these days.  Let's face it, he has lived with us for nine years now...he knows when something is up and this is quite obvious.  I just wish I could explain to him that he doesn't need to panic every time I go to the grocery store.  Poor boy!  Yes, I took a pic because I walked out and he was sitting flat on his bum, like that though the picture doesn't do it justice, starring at me.

We have managed to do school...here and there.  I have been terrible.  I took vacation off on purpose and as soon as we did, K started writing in capital letters only.  I thought, "No big deal, she just prefers them."  Then her 'S's turned backwards and I thought, "Maybe I can't take the entire summer off."  Then she started sounding out words like "was"...a three letter sight word, and I re-instituted reading, creating a 100 book chart.

Unfortunately, that is about as far as I have gotten.  They keep asking me to do school and I find I don't have the patience for it right now.  I think it is just all that is on my mind and everything to get done before we leave coupled with trying to hang out with friends as much as possible, but I am not sure.  :-)  With the house selling so fast, we have found ourselves moving before we had anticipated and now looking at being away from M (his transfer is effective Sept 2) for over a month.  That's way too long for us!

Jini and I have also been doing TONS of research on curriculum for homeschool, trying to find one that will work for her (she is affiliated with a charter and cannot do a religious-based curriculum) and one for me that I can afford and will be willing to stick to while on my own.

See?  So much rough hanging out time!

We were playing "Ocean Waves".

July 4th was, surprise, surprise, windy and beautiful.  We went to a friend's house and I failed to remember to take any pictures...must have been very fun!

Let's see, we swam, had a BBQ, played a lot of volleyball, and played some table games.  It was a nice day!  Since we forgot to take pics, I made Steve go out and pose like we were playing again...look at us play! Sadly, 'auto' on my camera hates me.  :-)

Well, in sad news, I decided to rotate my tomato plants as one side appeared to be doing far worse than the other.  In the rotation, I found these guys.  They are BIG too.  I am so sad.  I am not sure my one tomato plant will survive.  The other seems all right but only time will tell.   Aside from that, their camouflage is so amazing and really, really good that I had to have a photo to share!

Well, I am steadily packing a few boxes a day to lessen the last minute craziness but there is just a lot that cannot be packed.  Deciding what to take to the storage unit and what to take to my parent's house is actually the most taxing.  We plan to move in with my parents for a few months while M decides if he can do the commute and while we look for houses (either one for them or for us).  Pray for us, it will be a tight fit!  We just need to still like each other when our time living together is up.  :-)  God Bless!!