Goodbye, June. Hellooooo, July!

My sister tried to give me the ol' "don't you need to update your blog?" the other day. It didn't work, because another week passed before I was ready to blog. What can I say? I like reading her blog better. Check out her adventures here. No pictures of redheads, but pretty good scenery anyway.



Memorable moments from June: Jason and Gabby's cheeks disappearing under their grins when she gave him this picture in a Gabby-hand-painted frame for Fathers' Day. Jason grinning like that again when he got home from youth camp and saw us. Ben laughing so hard he could barely breathe because Gabby was "doing ballet." Gabby screaming, "I'm gonna do my best job everrrr!" as she's doggie paddling in a lake with swimmies and a pool noodle under her arms.

...aaaaand, we're back! This computer likes to reboot itself whenever it feels like it. Thank goodness blogger autosaves. Well, I'm not much in the mood for being retrospective anymore. Here are a few things on our collective plate.

1) I'm not sure if it was the money-saving potential added to the quality-of-life potential or the QoL added to the $. But somewhere, those two reasons got mixed together and we have decided (pregnant pause) to turn off (deep breath) our cable. Not downgrade. Cut completely. Go ahead. Laugh. I don't care if you're laughing because you think TV is such a non-issue you can't believe I'd blog about it or if you're laughing because you think we must have been drinking when we made this decision.
























It's definitely a big deal for us. The TV is on at our house a lot. Like right now, I'm [not] watching Wimbledon. Andy Murray just beat Ferrero. For me, TV is something of an addicting presence, and it's a bit numbing. It feels weird when it's not on, and that's not good. I imagine there are lots of families who live like this. It would probably be best if I could just develop the discipline to turn it on and off when appropriate, but I'm trying to develop discipline in so many areas that this is not the battle I pick. I'm excited about living more simply, more purposefully. No TV will pretty much force me to do that. I'm very excited about the affects it could have on the kiddos and my parenting. (However, I'm allowing for one video a day, so it's not like we're putting the TV in the attic.) It really comes down to that passage in 1 Corinthians... Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Nothing will be my master. (My paraphrase.) I love days where we do stuff. Now we'll have a lot more of them.

2) VACATION! Days where we do stuff, and days where we don't. Yay. (And family!!!)

3) Tea parties. Our family attends a tea party every day, hosted by Gabrielle. She makes marvelous stews and "blended tea." Yesterday's stew was so good, and I complimented the seasoning. Just the right amount of salt and pepper, I said. "Yes, welllllll... It called for 3 ounces, but I only put in 2." Food Network is one of my favorite channels, and now you're starting to see that we really should turn off the TV.

I leave you with a few more pictures. Jason is definitely mocking Gabby's pouty face. She was a little jealous of the Father/Son photo shoot.