~Hope Unseen~

I haven't done a book review in a while... I haven't been able to read much this year.  I borrowed this book from a friend (Thank you Erin!) and wanted to give it back.  So, I picked it up knowing I wouldn't have time to read it unless I made time.  I was burning the midnight oil on this book... and then got up early to finish it!

Captain Scotty Smiley tells of his life before his service in Iraq when he lost his eyes... he tells the story of the unfortunate incident so clearly you can picture it.  He shares his love for his wife and her incredibleness.  I know that isn't a word... but she is!

Two major themes...

As newlyweds we don't often realize what our vows actually mean.  For better or worse... worse is usually not this worse.  She was certainly a rock for her husband through this difficult time.

I also saw how important it was for him to surround himself with Godly friends... before the incident and after.

I am so glad he shared his story... a true American Hero!

Jordan also enjoyed the book for those of you who have kids reading... High School level... it is easy reading, but in my conservative opinion it has a few things I'd rather not explain to my younger boys.

~Audio Books~

We listen to audio books to and from the race track.  It is an hour drive so we go through audio books fairly quickly.



We Listened to Billy Budd, Sailor last month.  The book was written by Herman Melville... Sounds familiar doesn't it!  His very famous tale on the ocean was written before he came to know Christ.  This story was written after.  I was very surprised by the ending... but won't be spoiling anything for you:-)  It was a great "read" for our family... although the younger ones didn't pick up on too much.

The audio book we just finished is The Hiding Place.  I have read the book several times and watched the movie, but the story is just so incredible... worthy of another listen!

This story never ceases to challenge me.  Be thankful in all things... even for the fleas!  So many gems in here!

I have been personally intrigued with World War II.  I just watched The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler.   Some amazing people doing some amazing things for our amazing God!

~Weekend Fun~

We had the night off Friday night... Jordan didn't have a race!  Jordan, Jared and I enjoyed a night out with the teens!  We did a video scavenger hunt.  I had a great time with my team of 7.  They all had great attitudes and really did a good job!  We were able to watch two of the videos and my team definitely did the best job:-)  What a fun night out!

Saturday was a great race day!  It wasn't too hot and there was usually a breeze.

Aaron won his feature... on the last lap... he passed Jordan!

 We have been bringing bikes for Nathan and Kiersten... looks like Eric was having some fun too.

Jared's car got very dirty... again!

Aaron getting ready to race.

Nathan and Kiersten had another picnic lunch with Mrs Burrows... one of the moms from the track.   They just adore her:-)  They were so excited to take a birthday gift for her and were so surprised that she brought blankets for them.  She was cleaning out and thought the kids would like to have them... they have carried their blankets everywhere since then.

If anyone wants to come over Saturday mornings and pack lunches, that would be great! haha!  I never seem to pack enough food... or water.  This week we just about finished 5 gallons of ice water!

~Summer Fun~

We finally had our evaluations last week and were able to close out the school year.  Aaron will be doing math until July 4th and Jared will be doing math until we start school in August.  That was one subject I wasn't teaching and wasn't checking on their work... mistake... big mistake.  I really hope we all learned our lesson on that one!

I have been looking forward to summer since... well, November!!??!  I have been missing out on all the summer fun.  Even though school has been officially done for over a month.  I have had to continue to work on math and a few English papers.

I did fit some fun into the end of the week!

I was keeping some old calenders to make into envelopes... this was the week to get these out of my way!  I cut and folded most of these while Nathan was reading to me. Old calenders make beautiful envelopes!

We finally got the bubbles out!

I threw the Frisbee with Jordan and Aaron for awhile!

It is finally starting to feel like summer vacation!

~New Favorite Recipe~

Yummo!  This is my new favorite "healthy" treat...

Mix the ingredients in a blender and pour into cupcake liners or a silicon pan and refrigerate (or freeze if you are in a hurry to each chocolate)

Pop out of mold and serve... but eat quickly because these melt fast! This was one batch... it only makes 10 regular sized cupcakes treats but 24 mini cupcakes!

If  you want to take them somewhere I'd put them in cupcake wrappers... that way they won't melt in your hands.  I leave them as is for enjoying at home with a fork.

I've tried peanut butter and almond butter.  If you use real peanut butter (like the grocery store sugary kind) they taste REALLY good... but if you use natural almond butter they are still delicious... maybe just a little bit healthier taste. I prefer the natural almond butter to the natural peanut butter but any kind of nut butter would work.

~Race Day~

Summer posts, are racing posts... that is just the way it is:-)

Jordan had a great race night on Friday!  I was home with the rest of the family trying to get some packing done for the next day.  I was checking the twitter account of the race track to see when Jordan was racing.  The last number of weeks he hasn't raced because of rain, Gregg traveling or car problems. I checked and saw this... 

"600 feature 14 down 2nd yellow Hunsicker leads Whary Walton Felker and Espenshade. Great run for Espenshade"

• What!?!?!? What is going on!  I can't see anything... and Gregg isn't texting me.  I knew there were about 13 cars in his class and it looks like he is 5th from the tweet!  I finally see the photo of the finish results... He finished 6th.  That is certainly his best finish yet! He was very happy with the finish but at some point he told me... "mom, I was in 5th and was racing for 4th... I ended up 6th.  It could have been better"  Yep... I know. But I'm still excited for him.

  
  

  I was making rice krispy treats for the track at midnight before I finally was able to get to bed.  We were up at 7 to pack for our next racing event.

  
  

  We arrived to find the whole infield a really big puddle. yuck.  The dads were all making a fuss at the kids... don't you dare spin out... I won't pull you out if you go in there! haha!

  
  

  Gregg had a couple near mud baths but fortunately the boys didn't go in too far.

  
  

  Jared got some air time... and a bent something from this accident (video below)

Jordan pulled a win in the last lap

The weather was just perfect to be at the track!

Video is in slow motion so you can see his air time :-)

~Farm Day~

My big boys were supposed to be gone on Tuesday, but the rain changed their plans... and mine.  I wanted to take my younger kids to the Family Farm Days.  I decided to just take everyone on Wednesday.

The boys have been playing around with a movie making program and I decided to give it a try!  What do you think!?!?!!?

~I Won!~

I entered this giveaway... not really thinking I would ever win... but GUESS WHAT!!!?!?!?

Whooohooo! I WON!  Five winners out of 2,773! and I WON!

I was a little long in deciding what I wanted... I didn't want to taking this winning thing lightly:-)

Should I splurge and get them to make me something or should I be more practical and get some patterns... I went with the patterns!

I got the emerson skirt for Kiersten...

and the chic sisters apron pattern for myself!

I was able to sew both of these over the weekend!  I got a few other patterns as well... I need another sewing day!

Kiersten picked the butterfly fabric from my stash.  I traced a butterfly shape and sewed that on a plain white t shirt.

The patterns were very easy to follow and I really like that the the girls patterns are for size 2 to 14!  We will get many years of clothes out of these patterns!

Marie Madeline also sent some brochures... I am so glad they did!  Their are a lot more photos on there than on the website.  I didn't realize that Kiersten's skirt also came with a gather option and a pleat option!  That was a nice surprise!

~The Violin~

There are several young ladies at church that play the violin.  Kiersten really, REALLY wants one.  She uses coat hangers, books and now yard sticks to play.  She often has a song book open as well.  I'm excited... none of the boys seem very musical... maybe she has everyone's musical genes!

~Back at the Dirt Track~

The kids were excited to be back at the race track.  We raced, we rained out, we raced, we were on break for the holiday and now we raced.  I could be done for the season, but we have til September to enjoy this past time... and the dirt.

 somebody didn't like to wear her shoes... see the foot print... awe!

 

 You should have seen her bath water!  Ugh!

 

 

Eric did a great job!  He moved up to an older class this year and I wasn't sure he was ready.  He moved from 7th to 1st in the heat and from 7th to 2nd in the feature!

 

 

Jordan placed 2nd, Jared 2nd & 3rd, Aaron didn't get to finish.  It was a fairly good week for racing... last time we had so many problems it wasn't very fun.  It was a little hot, but there was a nice breeze all day.

~Play Date~

A friend of mine, Barlet, had the week off work and we decided to have a craft day.  She has one girl in kindergarten and a two year old... so we had most of the day to play before she had to pick Ada up at school. Abigail is so content that we barely knew she was here.

 

The boys kept themselves busy with Lego's... 

 

We melted beads to make sun catchers.  They turned out really nice!  I can't wait to try them with cookie cutters.  I was going to throw the beads away but then I saw this on pinterest.  Now I'll be looking for beads for cheap to melt more!  The kids really enjoyed it too.  My mom saw our project and looked in her craft supplies. Guess what?!?!  She gave us more beads!

 The first batch we did in disposable pans and you can see all the lettering and lines.

We used old cake pans for the next set and those turned out better... but if you have scratches in your pan, they will show up on your sun catcher.

We did all of them on the grill outside and one of them got too hot and started to bubble so you do have to watch them.

Lots of summer fun!

After we used up the beads, we spent time making hair bows!  Fun stuff!

~Happy June~