Mama Betty, Papa Scott & Ally's visit

On Friday Jonathan's parents and Ally, our niece, came to visit for the girl's art camp exhibition and for Jonathan's mom's birthday. It was so good to see them all, and we're so happy Ally came, too. We haven't seen her in a few months and the girls really miss her. We all went to the exhibition to view the girls' artwork. They both did well, but my favorite was Madison's fantasy garden sculpture. She used construction paper, glue, paper bags, and cardboard to create an amazing garden of funky flowers and bugs. It was detailed and very creative in its concept -- I was so proud of her. And both girls did a crayon resist abstract that Jonathan & I liked so much that Saturday we went and had it framed. We're now arguing over where it will go -- his office at work or here at the house.

After the exhibition we cooked out and celebrated Mama Betty's birthday. Jacob got to open his own birthday gift from his grandparents, too. It was a huge pop-up pirate tent! He loved it. He and Macy put it on top of the bed and even slept in it Friday night. I think that's why they were up at 6:30 the next morning, too! the girls left Saturday to go back to Decatur to visit their grandparents for a few days. It will give me some much needed time to get some projects done around here -- cleaning out all the closets, drawers and cabinets among many other probably too ambitious things I plan to have done before they get back. It'll feel so good to get this house back in order from the inside out -- I've kind of let it go while I've focused all my "free-time" on learning photoshop. I may not be blogging all that much this week, so I'll catch up with you soon.(Click the 'X' if the slideshow stops)