July

So, I have lost my habit of writing in the blog during the month and created one of writing all of the past month's adventures in one swoop. Instead of always feeling bad about this I decided to embrace what is working for me right now and write an end of the month summary of what we have been doing. This will fit my timeframe and help with Gramma's letters. So here is the summary for July and August, since I missed both of those months, since they are always super busy.

Amelia was busy hanging out with friends the month of July. She regularly had a gal pal over for the day or was over at someone's house. I am glad she is able to have so many nice friends. Really, she is constantly on the phone with one of them now. Usually over Facetime, which is a very cool invention for the preteen girl! She did volunteer at two different Vacation Bible Schools. The first one was a weekend sleepover for Hillspring Church. She was excited to be in a leadership role for the weekend, and especially since she was going alone to do it. She came home exhausted with many stories to tell about the good and sassy kids. The other VBS she volunteered at was at the Presbyterian Church. It was the same theme, so she knew all the games and Bible stories being told. That VBS was in the evenings during the week. Much to her surprise the one sassy girl from the Hillspring VBS was at the Presbyterian's VBS AND in her group! She learned a great lesson in patience those couple of days. 

For July Jack was super busy with Scouts and tennis. The boys went to Boy Scout camp in Idaho this summer. Jack had a great time at camp. He was part of the best/funniest camp skit. It had to do with birds and eggs, not really sure the details but Jack wore his pigeon mask and another boy had on a blowup chicken costume. I am assured, even by the adults, that the whole camp was rolling with laughter. Jack also participated in tennis for two weeks in July. His group this year in tennis not only included a lot of tennis but 30 minutes of athletic training. He did well and took the opportunity to improve his court movement and serving skills. He too helped at the Vacation Bible School at the Presbyterian church. He had fun because several of the Scouts helped so he had friends to hang out with at the same time as volunteering.

Jacob started July off with a fly-fishing trip to Montana with Uppa. Uppa's friend has a house and boat that his friend invited him to. Jacob was lucky enough to be invited too. Jacob caught the most fish but Uppa caught the biggest. Jacob said he really enjoyed himself and of course now needs a fly-fishing pole. Scout camp this year was not Jacob's favorite. He still had an ok time, but it just wasn't as fun as last year's, he said. I told him at least he didn't get pinkeye like last year. Jacob helped with the VBS at the Presbyterian church also. Really, he is the reason they all volunteered in the first place because Jacob needed 6 hours of service hours to rank up to First Class in Scout. He got his hours and is now First Class. He has to be First Class for four months before he can rank up again, which he will do as soon as the four months are up. When Jacob first started Scouts he wasn't really interested in ranking up or Eagle Scout. Now he is two ranks and three years away from finishing Scouts, so he says he might as well get Eagle since it is so doable. It is doable but the casual way he says this is ironic to me because ranking up to Eagle takes a lot of time, hard work and dedication. Jacob just naturally has all of those characteristics; he just doesn't see those as being anything unusual or something someone may have to create a habit around. 

One major milestone for Jacob this last month, which is directly related to Jacob's characteristics of hard work and dedication, was the purchase of his first car! Jacob set his sights on buying a car two years ago at the age of 13. He has spent the last two years umpiring, doing odd jobs and saving like crazy for his first car. He diligently looked on Facebook marketplace and Truck and Auto Auction for different cars he could purchase. He ended up deciding to bid on a 2008 Honda Accord from the Auto Auction. He bought it at the very top of his bidding limit, but he got it. The night he purchased the car he was in the throes of buyer's remorse, wondering if it was the right decision. :) And of course, it was a good decision! It is a very nice car for his first car. Now to clarify, we had said we would match the amount of money Jacob put up, so it was a 50-50 purchase. We could not be prouder of how hard Jacob worked and his financial savvy it takes to save up for this kind of purchase.