Just Christie

Playing in the Rain!

After a hot day at the Cline family reunion at Pine Creek on Saturday, we welcomed some rain on Sunday while we were at Nana’s house. The girls were thrilled to go out and play in the rain in their swimsuits. They ran up and down the sidewalk, just goofing off and having a blast. Sorry some of these are fuzzy – the screen didn’t help my auto focus with almost-dead batteries. Oops.

Molly was kind enough to pause just briefly enough for a good snapshot

Second Grade

Right before we left for Pine Creek (in between our two trips) the UPS man delivered the materials for second grade. We got around to opening them over the weekend. For those of us who love new books and learning, it was like Christmas! Megan was excited and asked if we could start right away! Unfortunately, the course outlines aren’t available to us yet, so we can’t start. I think she needs a few more weeks of summer vacation, anyway

Proud girlie. She is so excited to be going into second grade and even more excited to be doing it at home. She loves being able to work at her own pace and spend more time on the things she’s most interested in. She has already started reading some of the books for next year, and is thoroughly enjoying herself. I love seeing her so enthusiastic about learning!

{this moment}

{this moment} – A weekly ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

{this moment} – A weekly ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

Dutton-Marshall Reunion

After the trip back from St. Louis, we were all happy to be home, but we were only there for a short while. We arrived home Sunday late in the afternoon. We unpacked the car into the living room and I threw in all the laundry that evening. By Monday afternoon, we had repacked the car for one more trip – up to Pine Creek for the Dutton Marshall Reunion at Happy Acres. This reunion has been going on for years, every other year. Each time it’s hosted by family members descended from Minnie and Oscar Marshall – my great grand parents. This year was a special one because it was right here in PA, near where Minnie and Oscar spent their life together. Even though we were tired from the long trip, we decided to go anyway to see some family members we don’t see often and some we’d never met!

We stayed at the Happy Acres Lodge (with accommodations for 21) with my Uncle Vin’s family. I think we should have called it “kid central”. With us, there were 10 adults and 10 children…fun chaotic times! The little cousins all had a blast playing together and the big ones had a lot of opportunities for catching up and visiting. It was well worth the trip.

A few glimpses of the chaos that arises when 10 kiddos are living in one house…

Breakfast…