Sweet summertime

Hands-down summertime is my favorite time of year. I love the slower pace, the warm sunshine, lazy days at the pool and lake, and time for friends and reading. Now that our neighborhood pool is open it feels like summer time. David, hope, Sydney and I enjoyed a lazy afternoon at the pool on Saturday.

Kyle drove us on the golf cart to the pool and dropped us off. David is now brave enough to go off the diving board by himself. The bad news is he scratched his leg pretty good when he slipped off the diving board.  His vision without his glasses is so poor it's amazing he does as well as he does swimming. Our great lifeguards handled it beautifully and he was back swimming in the pool happily five minutes later.

Saturday evening Sydney's parents and brothers came to pick her up from our house. We were all chatting out in the driveway when Mike walked outside and invited the Pughs to stay for supper. We were all exhausted from the yard sale, pool  time, and baseball, but Mike grilled us some awesome hamburgers and we all dug in. My house was certainly not "company ready" but it was a spontaneous blessing. Our kids ran amok in the yard playing and the adults got to sit on the deck catching up. We are blessed with good friends that do not judge us on how our children behave, how clean our house is,or how we are dressed. We could not have planned a more pleasant and fun evening. Great idea Mike! 

 Even though my pre-school year is over, I got together with my fellow teachers and we hosted an indoor yard sale at the church Friday and Saturday to benefit our preschool program. It was quite obvious that we were not veteran yard sale hostesses, but we learned a little laughed a lot and made some money.  

Our children have one last week of school this week. All three of ours have had a wonderful school year. Bring on all the end of the school year events and welcome sweet summertime!!

Snapshots of life

Life can sometimes be very hard. Our days are full of high expectations and short deadlines. This week our schedule has been brutal. Mike has had evening events every single night. We have been in survival mode counting down the days until summer. This week at our Challenger baseball game one of the volunteers, Matt, captured this photo that has made us all smile. This is Mikey who had just gotten a hit and is running to first base.That fist pump and huge smile make me want to weep. Challenger baseball has been such a blessing in my life this year and this awesome picture of Mikey is a snapshot of the joy of the season.

My dad, pops, has been down to visit us this week. My mom is on a trip with some friends so pops came to visit. It has been a blessing since Mike has been gone so much. Pops brought us this golf cart from the lake and the kids are loving it. I love seeing my children together outside! Listening to the giggles as they cruise on the golf cart brings me such joy

This is my final snapshot of the lake before leaving the other day. My grandmother was giving me some of the lawn furniture from the lake after it sold, so I went and visited briefly, got my furniture, and said goodbye. It felt like a punch in the stomach to say goodbye to a place that meant so much to me. Extended family drama can be so hard .

Pops , Kyle, and myself have worked hard around the house to make room for all the new furniture and to work on my landscaping. I am desperate to teach Kyle a strong work ethic so he learned to mulch!

At the Challenger game the other night David got a huge hit! He was so excited because…

His teacher and her husband came to watch his game!! Everything he did he yelled out to the crowd " for you Mrs. storie!"  This snapshot touches my heart to think that God has blessed David with a teacher who would take her time during a busiest time of year to come to his game. 

Today I was blessed and got to go on a kindergarten field trip today with my best girl. It was a wonderful field trip to hungry mother for all the kindergartners. Here are Colton and hope fishing together. Hope has had a wonderful kindergarten year with a super sweet and special teacher. 

The children on the field trip got to do different stations and here is hope with the local legend Miss Carrie who got in the creek with the children and helped them catch things and identify them. My girl caught a crawl dad and was so excited! All local folks know what a gem Carrie sparks is!

After a long day outside on the field trip, hope was too tired and complained about going to ballet tonight. I made her go because Chautauqua  festival is coming up and she needed to practice her dances.!On the way home from ballet we were on a standstill on the interstate due to a bad wreck. I looked up in my mirror and saw these two cute ballerinas whispering about something pretty important. It touched me so much that after two boys Misti and I both were blessed with these precious girls. I know when they're all grown up teenagers, it will no longer be cool to ride to ballet with mom. I treasure these days with these "hot messes" ❤️

Welcome summer

This preschool teacher is officially on summer break! The boys are officially done with SOL test! We still have a few more days of school but most of the stress is behind us.

we had the sweetest preschool graduation Thursday night. Hope wanted to go to watch her BFF Sydney graduate from preschool. Sydney and Hope have been together at preschool for many years since they both started attending while merely toddlers themselves. The Robinson and Pugh girls have made a lot of precious memories at preschool over the years. With both of our girls going to kindergarten it is the end of an era.

Our little girl is obsessed with reading. This makes me so happy because I too am a book nerd. We go to the library several times a week to get new books and recently she has started reading some beginner chapter books. It made me smile to turn around in the car and see hope and David reading books in the car.

It was another baseball weekend. Kyle really loves the other guys on the team. I love seeing the boys huddle up win or lose, put their arms around each other and pray.

While the boys play baseball the girls play cards.

Kyle had a baseball game this afternoon so he had to wear his uniform to church to work the projector. I am so thankful to be in a church that matters more that you are attending than what you're wearing to worship ❤️ Kyle loves being part of the praise team by running the computer during worship.

We have had a full weekend of holiday fun, but we have taken some time to enjoy some family time on the deck in the evenings. Love this picture of Mike and our two youngest. Welcome summer!! 

Photo Dump

The sun is out and the temperature is rising here in beautiful Southwest Virginia. As the year winds down we have been going full throttle trying to fit everything in.

Here is David with his sweet teacher Mrs. storie. One night David was procrastinating going to sleep and after we fussed On him several times for not obeying and going right to bed he burst into tears and started crying that the next day was his teacher's birthday and he wanted to get her some flowers.  The next day he took her some flowers ❤️.

this past week was our last week of after school at church.  Wednesday afternoons are one of the highlights of my week as we teach almost 50 children each week about Jesus. To celebrate a wonderful year we had a picnic and play time at Hungry mother state park. Hope is wearing her birthday crown from school because her teacher celebrated her summer birthday early before school got out.

I am so thankful my children have so many Christian friends to church.

David with sweet Jack. Clearly David did not use his napkin because he has  pizza sauce All over his face!! 

After the picnic at hungry mother for the church we then had a Challenger baseball game. Not only has it been a joy to watch David participate as a player but it has also been amazing to watch Kyle and hope participate as buddies for the players.

Here is hope and one of her girlfriends from school helping adorable and amazing Mikey play ball.  This young man has such determination and an amazing smile ❤️

Saturday for the Challenger baseball game David and Caroline saying the national anthem. ❤️ there really are not enough words to explain how awesome Challenger baseball has been.

Saturday night we went as a family to relay for life. This is Stephanie posing with David and she too had cancer as a child and was treated at UVA. A doctor and a few nurses that treated her as a child are still at UVA!! What a treat to see both Stephanie and David wearing their survivor T-shirts

Here is the bag that someone purchased in honor of David. Relay for life is pretty emotional for me. It still blows me away that we had a child that fought cancer.

Today was the second half of a baseball tournament that Kyle has been in this weekend. Kyle's bat was on fire this weekend and he racked up three triples!! He has really struggled with this confidence lately and it was so nice to see my boy smiling on the field again.

He also got to pitch a little bit!! 

After four winning games our 13 U team won the championship! Here is the team sporting their rings with their hands on home  plate! 

I love that win or lose this team gives God the glory and begins and ends each game with prayer.  

Gods blessings

This past Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day weekend. Because Mother's Day is always in May our calendar is always incredibly full. The kids had SOL test the next day so we are unable to visit with my mom in Radford. 

Here are my sweet blessings from God before church on Sunday. I have wanted to be a mommy for as long as I could ever remember. I am still amazed that God has blessed me with two boys and a sweet little girl. Raising these three children is the hardest work I've ever done in my life but it's also the most fulfilling. 

This little guy certainly keeps us hopping but he also blesses us as well. Watching him praise the Lord Sunday in church overwhelmed me. He certainly loves his worship music and he certainly loves his Jesus. If I get nothing else right as a mother I pray that I will instill in my children A love for our Lord. If I give them the world and never teach them about Jesus I have not done my job. 

Walking into church Sunday morning sweet Gracie came up to me and showed me this picture that she had made of David. The one on the left was in 2012 when he was in the middle of cancer treatment. The one on the right was taken just a few weeks ago During our first Challenger baseball game. Only God could have brought our boy this far

We are also still honored to be considered a children's miracle network family and we were asked to take a picture of our boy with the logo on the balloon that will be sold in stores to raise money for UVA Children's Hospital. Monday morning David had on a shirt and tie ready to tackle his Virginia studies SOL test. We snapped this precious picture of him while he was dressed up ready to go take this test. 

Hope is still having a wonderful time with her new American girl doll. Due to her vision issues it has been recommended that she wear her glasses pretty much all day. It is been somewhat of an adjustment for her so we made sure her new doll wears glasses as well. I think she looks adorable and oh so smart in her glasses ❤️ 

Little girl fun and Craziness of May

This has been a wonderful but busy last few days.  During the month of May our calendar is incredibly full with school events, SOL tests, sports stuff, and work events for Mike.  That man has been going full throttle, I am not sure how he is even still standing!

Today we spent some time watching our oldest play tennis in a local round robin match play.  He did not play his best tennis today but he is still learning.  I love watching him play tennis even if it is hard to keep up with the points because he talks to quietly! 

Today was another Challenger baseball game and each week it just keeps getting better.  I love these kids, I love these volunteers, and it is the best baseball fun I have ever had.  Each week I have to work hard to hold back happy tears as I cheer on these amazing ball players.  We continue to add players to our league and it is really growing!  Blessedly God also continues to send us volunteers.  Our sassy ball player sang the National Anthem today for the game! 

Yesterday Hope and I took a little road trip with our dear friends, Misty and Sydney to the American Girl store in Charlotte.  Sydney has a birthday this month and Hope's is coming up mid-June so for a girly birthday treat, we visited the store and let them pick our their big girl doll and we also had reservations at the Bistro for dinner.  It was precious time with our girls.  Misty and I are both Moms of girls after two boys and we treasure our girl time!  Here is Hope pouring her own pink lemonade during dinner. 

Hope chose Grace Thomas as her doll to buy and Sydney did as well.  I have to admit that I have been reluctant to jump on the American Girl bandwagon because it is crazy expensive.  Working the food pantry has changed my mentality on money and being a wise steward of what God has blessed us with.  I never want to live a lifestyle that is not pleasing to God financially.  This was, however, a rare treat for our birthday girls and it was such fun to have a girly day:)

It was hard to get these girls to slow down and let me take a quick picture before heading into the store to pick out their dolls!  These two girls are such special friends and I am so thankful that Misty and Sydney are in our lives.  We have such fun together laughing at our crazy girls! We got home so very late last night and our girls were so tired they were silly. Making  memories with friends is what makes life so sweet.

Before our American Girl roadtrip, Misty and I, along with Christy our other teacher, hosted the Mother's day tea at preschool for our four year olds and their special person/Mommy.  It is a lot of work but it is a tradition that we love doing.  The Mommies get a special placemat, a poem that the children wrote about them, flower pots with their special fingerprints, and a recipe book that we have made.  Between the mother's day tea and our American Girl roadtrip, the bed felt very good last night:)

 

This week has also been teacher appreciation week in our public schools and I have had such fun coming up with cute (yet cheesy) little goodies each day to say thank you.  Our teachers have so much on them, yet they love our kids and give their jobs their all.  It is SOL season here in Virginia so teacher's and families feel the stress.  I will do another post another day about David and his experience taking SOL test this year:)  He goes to a school full of some pretty incredible folks.  It has been fun to come up with some creative and fun ideas to say thank you to the folks that teach our three children each day. 

God is so Good. He Really Is.

I apologize for being a blog slacker.  Between prepping for my own kiddos SOL tests, Mother's Day Tea at preschool which is coming up, baseball for all three of our kids, and life, I have been a slacker.  Thanks to a few of you that have reminded me that I am a blogging slacker and to get with it:) 

 

Kyle is in the midst of travel baseball season.  He loves the boys on his team and this weekend it was beautiful baseball weather.  Saturday between our three kiddos we had four baseball games.  We missed Kyle's first one but made it to his second one.

 

Sunday afternoon I was headed to the tournament with the kids and Kyle got sicker and sicker the closer we got to the field.  Instead of playing ball we visited the nearby urgent care.  Poor guy has had a sore throat, fever, and has just felt yucky. SOL test season is not the ideal time to get sick:(

 

A bonus from the weekend was that my nephew Clayton was also playing in the same tournament!  They played in different locations but we still got to see Chad and Clayton for a while. 

Besides seeing Clayton and Chad, another huge highlight from the weekend was Challenger baseball.  Our boy can play ball!  This season of Challenger has blessed me beyond measure.  I am amazed at what God has done for this program, I am touched and blessed by the players, and the volunteers impress me with their dedication and love of this league.  Saturday there was a big article about Challenger in the paper and then during the game Saturday, WCYB came and did a news story about it!  The kids were so excited to "be on tv!" 

 

Hope has officially become a reader and writer!  She loves to read and I found this precious quote on the magna doodle that she had written.  I love that she can read and write so well, but I love it even more that she knows in her heart that God is so good. 

 

We are in a season of craziness in our house as Mike is finishing up a budget season for the school system and year end events, he is also finishing up and grading for his ODU class, I am finishing out my awesome preschool year, and we are in full study mode here as SOL tests are upon us.  I always get so emotional thinking of David and SOL tests, but I will save my toughts on that for another day.  For today I am thrilled that my kids know and love God, their Daddy works his elbows off for all the kids in this county and future educational leaders, their Momma loves teaching little preschoolers their  ABC's. 123's, and about Jesus.  We are busy here in the Robinson household but we are blessed because we know that God is so good. He really is.