The Weekend

I know I haven't been blogging as many updates lately, and that is mostly because I am spending my free time taking pictures and then editing them a bit.  I'm having a lot of fun doing it, I might add.  I truly am so thankful for a creative outlet that is fun, relaxing, and rejuvenating to me.  Everyone needs something like that, I think.  I have no aspirations to start my own business, but there is so much to learn, and it is so fun for me.


That being said, I'm having a hard time remembering what I even did this weekend.  Friday seems so long ago.  Okay, I remember now.  KJ and I had a good discussion about our England trip coming up in September.  (Have I mentioned that this trip looks like it is going to become reality?)  I am beyond excited.  We discussed our possible route.  We're planning on renting a car and driving to the places we most want to see.  This is not a tourist trip to London but more like a road trip through the English countryside.  Here's what's on my list so far:

• Winchester Cathedral - Jane Austen is buried here.  It looks magnificent.  There is also a King James Bible exhibition there through October, celebrating its 400th anniversary.
• Steventon Church - This is the church where Jane's father served as rector, as well as her brothers', James and Henry, in later years.  (This is not entirely a Jane Austen-themed trip.)
• Jane's Home in Chawton - This is the home Jane lived with her sister, mother, and another family friend after the death of her father.  It's where she lived when Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice were published and where she wrote her other novels, I believe.  
• The Kilns - C.S. Lewis's former home
• Tolkien's grave
• Oxford University
• The Eagle and Child in Oxford
• Bath
• The Eye of London
• 10 Downing Street
• 221b Baker Street
• The Houses of Parliament
• Chatsworth House - This house was used as Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. 

Chatsworth House might be negotiable if we decide there's another estate we would like to visit more.  But I think the rest of the above-mentioned are written in permanent marker in my mind.  I'm so excited and thankful for this trip.  Happy seven years, KJ!  

I spent some time Saturday afternoon plotting our trip on Google Maps, which was super-fun to do.  KJ cut the grass and changed the oil on his car.  Ella colored the sidewalk and driveway with her friend, and Saturday evening we spent some time with Hillary and David.

Don't you love the pure, unbridled spirit of little girls?

Yesterday I had to stay home from church because James woke up with green snot streaming out of his nose again.  Claritin is helping keep it in check, but I don't like to send him to the nursery with his nose running constantly.  I felt horrible for missing KJ preach, but a quiet morning at home was such a restorative of spirits for me.  Life is so busy and constant, and silence and solitude are not something I have much of during this season.  But once James was down for a nap, he slept for nearly two hours.  I prepared lunch without his hands around my legs, pulling and hollering at the top of his lungs for food.  I took a shower and got dressed without people running in and out asking me what I'm doing.  I cleaned, and prayed, and read in silence.  [Insert a deep sigh.]  It was so nice.  And while James took his afternoon nap, I got to use some beautiful and amazing camera lenses that David brought over.  It was so relaxing and fun.

Ella's not really sure what to think about this new relationship.

Why can't Hillary concentrate on playing ball with her?

"Okay, this has got to stop."

It's a good thing David lets her play Sonic on his iPhone,

or stealing Hillary's attention might be unpardonable.

At least Daddy hasn't changed.

And neither has Hillary, really; her world has just expanded.