I am entering this picture in a photo contest at 5 Minutes for Mom. This photo captures my daughters joy as she was introduced to swimming in the Chesapeake Bay. What summer fun this wasClick here for more pictures of summer fun.

A few weeks ago I was given a voucher for a free gallon of milk from a certain grocery store. Today I finally made it back to the store but when I went to pull the voucher from my purse, I had a bit of trouble finding it. When I got home I decided it was time to clean out my purse. I really could put Mary Poppins to the test for who has more in her lovely bag.

We had an incident a few weeks ago at the park. One of those, turn your back for one seconds, incidents. The kids were frolicking in the grass and I turned to look at the baby, when I turned back my two year old was gone. After suffering the sick feeling of panic in my stomach and running around like a crazy mama I heard her crying. She had fallen down during her frolic and I couldn’t see her in the tall grass.

Applying Sunday’s lesson this week has been quite a joy. I’ve started each day by working on a lesson from Beth Moore’s Bible study of the Psalms of Ascent. Some mornings I did it in bed before ever leaving my room. Other mornings, I was working on it on the couch with a kid snuggled on my lap. Either way, it was the beginning of my day and it helped me to get my focus in the correct place.

My hubby and I had the sad realization the other day that we aren’t as good of parents as we thought we were. See our son is 4 years old and we haven’t taught him to ride a bike or to swim. So, we decided it was time to get the boy a bike. Hubby thought a consignment shop was a good idea, because why spend a butt load of money when you don’t have to.

Some may call it a sickness. Others may think of me more as a loyalist. It all stems back to an experience I had as a middle schooler. Who knew that a trip to the grocery store could have such a lasting impact on a girl? I was shopping with my mom one day when I was an early teen and they were conducting a blind taste test for Coke and Pepsi.

Thanks to all of you that wrote with song suggestions last weekend to help me Pump it Up as I ran 7 miles on Sunday. Some of you asked me to let you know which songs I picked so here goes… Bootylicious-Destiny’s Child (b/c when I run I think about looking good for my hubby ) Can’t Get Next to You… Temptations (b/c KP you were right I love the oldies so I went with some Temptations, picked the song b/c I liked to imagine I was running soooo fast no one could get next to me… ha ha) Unbelievable-EMF (You were right StellaG this song totally brought me back to middle school) Getting Jiggy Wit It– Will Smith ( b/c I really like Will Smith and it is just so fun) MMMBop-Hanson Bros (again thanks to Stella for a trip down memory lane) Straight Up- Paula Abdul (took KP’s advice and went for an 80s–maybe it is early 90s not sure… tune I remember singing out loud in the old days… ya know before American Idol)  This wasn’t the only music I download on my MP3 player though… my friend Megh had made me a mix CD for Christmas of fun, upbeat Christian songs… I took them and combined them with my 6 new tunes for a fabulous running soundtrack.

A Father Son Camping Weekend… With 2 Dads and 2 Boys Full of firsts… First fish caught First canoe ride Not the first smore, but good none the less. Memories to last a lifetime… For more pictures (probably with a few less words), check out 5 Minutes for Mom or, to see what the girls did while the boys were camping, click here.

This weekend my husband and my son went away for a Father/Son camping trip. More pics and details to follow later this week. For now, it’s girl time!!  I stayed home with the two girls. We had a wonderful time playing and bonding. We baked chocolate chip cookies. Because a girl has got to have her chocolate fix, right?  And then to be completely stereotypical, I took them shopping at the mall.

The Lord convicted me of something this morning at church and I had the urge to share it here on my blog, which is incredibly ironic when you read what it is I’m convicted about. Our pastor spoke to us about idols. He shared an idol that he frequently struggles with worshipping in place of God. See an idol doesn’t have to be an object. It isn’t necessarily a little gold man that you bow to.