"And we're off!"

The new school year has definitely begun! And we're off with lots of exciting new adventures....and what fun all of our new activities have been...but whew! We've been busy!

Last Thursday was "book club and lunch bunch" for the girls...the girls' little "club" meets once a month in the children's dept. at our Barnes and Noble, and then we head over to Piccadilly with a few friends to have lunch and let the moms catch up with one another! This year in book club, each child brought a report (or narration) of the book that they chose to read over the summer. And this year, Miss Betsy is having the kids step up onto the stage, tell their name and age and on what book their report is. Macy did really well...although I thought that she might pass out at any given moment, but she stood up there and read her LONG report! Last year, she and a friend were in constant competition to see who could write the longest book report, and Macy would tend to report the book word for word...from memory! Well, I'm assuming that her report won't be quite so long this next time!

Then on Friday, the girls and I met Eric downtown after he worked a half-day, and we all drove down to Atlanta to have lunch with his brother Josh, his wife Vicki, and their new precious daughter Ava Nicole. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and loving on little Ava! Then we went to Harry's to walk around leisurely...usually, we are in such a hurry! The girls had the best time pushing their "Little Customers in Training" buggies! They were so cute, and they enjoyed putting our things into their carts! It's amazing that Vicki and I were able to visit while little Ava slept , the girls pushed their buggies around and snacked on samples, and while we waited for the guys to get out of the large wine and beer section (not to mention us all hovering for some time over the olive bar)! We picked up some great foods for our picnic that we had with them and Eric and Josh's mom Debi and their niece Arielle at Stone Mountain. Thankfully, we all got there in plenty of time before the sun went down and to set up our dinner spread and to watch the wonderful laser show and fireworks display! After the show was all over, we hugged everyone goodbye and rushed home to get back for a very busy Saturday!

Saturday was filled with Annie's first day of soccer, a birthday party for Macy's sweet friend Susanna, house-cleaning and cooking for friends to come over for dinner. Perhaps it seemed like such a busy weekend, for it was the first weekend that we have ever had to coordinate who was going to take whom to what!

Then on Sunday we were able to spend some time at lunch with our new friend Nicole Lanni and also Beth Brodersen. Then that evening we spent with our dear friends Jonathan and Amy Stoddard. Jonathan graduated from Covenant a couple of years ago, and his sweet sisters Amy and Celeste are still students there, so thankfully we are still able to keep up with this wonderful family that we have been blessed to know. Our dear Jonathan is now living in Hawaii and is headed for a mission abroad...our prayers are with you, Jonathan! Hurry home!