Savannah's Wall Project

For weeks (maybe months) Savannah has been begging to do a project with lights and chalkboard paint on her bedroom wall.  I tried to ignore her but she was pretty insistent and determined so I finally gave in.  We talked through many options and finally decided on painting a small section instead of the entire wall with black chalkboard paint.  Instead, she chose a dark navy chalkboard paint which matches her room and scalloped edges.  After the paint dried she hung the lights a friend gave her as a birthday gift.  This in itself was a challenge with them constantly falling off. :(  Superglue did the trick and then it was time to select pictures.  I begged her to consider doing all black and whites, which turned out great.  The pictures came today and he finished the project!  I'm so impressed with how great it looks!!  The perfect addition to a teenage girl's room!

Summer Running Club

Thankfully Coach Diane had one spot left for her summer morning running club.  It is so close to our house (at the JMR track) and has given Preston something fun to look forward to twice a week. 

Savannah's Lake Getaway

Mrs. Poats, Savannah's Sunday school small group leader invited their small group to her lake house. These teenage girls were SO excited Thursday morning.  Armed with lots of snacks, pillows, and a specially made playlist, they hit the road early Thursday morning as well.

They made it safely and wasted no time before heading out on the boat for some tubing!

My pictures are limited, but I do know that they had a grand time!  The girls played hard, ate well, and enjoyed lots of laughs together.  We are so grateful for Mrs. Poats and her dedication to this group of girls.  Even though we have been quarantined and away from church for months, she has faithfully kept up with the girls through weekly Thursday zoom call check-ins and also Bible study on Sunday mornings.  She has loved, encouraged, challenged and taught this group so much.  We will miss her so much next year.

Preston's Mountain Getaway!

Today is a rare treat for the Bachmann kiddos.  They were both invited away for a couple of days with their friends.  First up is Preston, who was invited to stay with the Marions in their mountain house Thursday through Saturday. As we met up with Savannah's friends the Marions met us there to take Preston.  I have to say I was a bit nervous about him being gone to the mountains without me . . where there is a lake and bear sightings on their property!  BUT, I knew he would be in good hands and deserved a little getaway.

Kristin sent me lots of updates through the few days . . . they wasted no time with getting into the lake!

What a view at sunset!

They even hiked to a waterfall on Friday.

And it was back to the lake!

This was such a unique opportunity for Preston.  We were so grateful for the Marion's hospitality and that the boys had such a wonderful time in the mountains.

Ps in a Pod

This summer we have been SO thankful for Patrick next door.  He and Preston have spent a lot of time together and are always building some creation outside or getting into some "fun".  Today we got an afternoon shower and this is what I found when I looked outside.  They used some plastic the contractor left years ago (that is also used for slip n slides), added the pool floats we bought for our family adventure and they created a fort-like shelter for the storm.

They also spend a LOT of time playing together on their Nintendo Switches.  Huge thanks goes out to Patrick's mom for figuring out how to get the systems synced so they could play in the same game together. 

July 4th Sparkles

This year was quite different than most July 4th holidays . . . no traveling to see fireworks and no races, but we made the best of it!  Thankfully nearby neighbors had some fantastic fireworks that we could watch from the comfort of our driveway and master bed too.  We grilled out and stayed home.  The kids found some sparklers that we had leftover from last year and enjoyed those too.

Maybe next year we'll choose to stay at home too?!  It was sort of nice not driving all over town and still being able to celebrate our country's freedom.