High Five for Friday (6.23.17)

1. My boy comes home from camp today! Though I've missed him terribly, I am so proud of Will for taking advantage of this opportunity*. Never in a million years could I have gone away to camp not knowing a single person - he's so brave!

* A few months ago Will's fourth grade teacher nominated him - and he was selected, based on "academic success, demonstrated leadership ability, and involvement in school and community activities" - to attend the Education in Action's Lone Star Leadership Academy summer camp. While developing their leadership skills, campers are taught about the state of Texas and its leaders by visiting a number of significant sites (U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Texas Civil War Museum, For Worth Stockyards National Historic District, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Cowboys Stadium, and Rangers Ballpark) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We're so proud of him, and we can't wait to hear about his adventures!

2. Speaking of missing Will, Hallie wrote these notes and asked me to sneak them into Will's suitcase. Insert all the heart-eyes emojis here...

"Roses are red, violets are blue.
Come back to me because I love you!"

"Work hard, be kind, and be sweet. And play soccer. I love you.
P.S. Eat your breakfast to get energy." They DO listen to me! 

"I love you, Will. I hope you are having so much fun. I really
miss you." That's her crying in the bottom lefthand corner and
Will with braces on (?!) in the upper righthand corner.

3. Thanks to the generosity of a student of Tom's and a friend of mine, I stepped up my beverage game this week: coffee from Columbia and wine from Napa. Yum!

4. I finally captured Hallie's last-day-of-school pictures! I took Will's pictures a day early because I wanted to use them for the blog post about the end of elementary school, and then I accidentally forgot to take Hallie's...oops!

5. Happiness Highlights:

She always stops to smell the flowers. She also goes
for walks wearing just her swimsuit and athletic shoes.

Over the weekend I introduced Will and Hallie
to the world of swim caps. Without "boy" hair Will
looks an awful lot like his mother at 10 years old...

Not Hallie tho - she looks more like her daddy.

After two weeks of swimming lessons, these two
besties ended up with coordinating swimmers ear
infections to go with their coordinating swimsuits. 

A mama bird built her nest above our front porch. She's very
nervous when we approach the front door, which makes me think
she actually has eggs or babies in there - we can't wait to find out!

It's so hot in Texas that Will has to play soccer with the sprinklers
on. As I'm sure you can imagine, this situation turned into a
hysterical slip-and-slip game rather than a soccer practice.

Already long enough for braided pigtails! Sort of...

Happy Friday, Chasing Roots!

Linking up with High Five for Friday here: