Blue Raspberry Lemonade

My beautiful little girlies, in coordinating blue dresses. Jeff and I were also wearing blue today, to support BGMC blue raspberry lemonade!

All during the month of July, our kids ministry and youth ministry sell lemonade before and after church in the foyer, to raise money for their missions projects. They are specifically raising money this year for a missionary couple to start a dual church/coffee shop/playground in Namibia, Africa! Each kid gets a chance to “work” the lemonade stand if they choose, and Emmie worked today on this first Sunday of the month, and she did such a great job, and she was so happy to do it!

In big church, Meg was on the worship team and sounded great, and Bo preached an amazing sermon. And my parents actually joined us at our church this morning to hear Bo preach, and I loved having them sit with me! (Especially since Jeff was on the tech team.)

In little kid church, Addison moved from the “toddler” room to the “preschool” room for the first time today, and had a great morning with her little bestie, in their new bigger-kid classroom!

After a great church service, we all went out to lunch together at Milano’s in midtown. I ordered their baked ziti, and it was huge, way bigger than some other places in town. I brought some home with me!

After lunch, we all went home and crashed for nap time, around 2:30, well, the girls and I did. Jeff stayed up working on some invoicing for his side jobs though. I didn’t actually sleep very well, so it didn’t last long before I was awake again.

I wanted to try a little “experiment” making “sun tea,” which is just steeping tea outside in the sunshine during the summer, for a couple of hours. I chose three of my favorite flavors (lemon, raspberry & peach), and left enough room in the jars to add ice later. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes after putting these jars outside, it got super dark and gray, so I went ahead and brought them back inside. But it worked just as well! At dinner-time, I added some Splenda packets to them, and then added ice in the peach one for my dinner drink, and it was so nice.

It was so dark outside, that with all the curtains and blinds closed, it got super dark inside. So I lit a candle, opened the curtains, and put all the lamps on a dim setting, to make everything nice and cozy. As much as I love the sunshine, these are actually my favorite summer afternoons, dark, rainy, and cozy.

Emmie and Addie were being really sweet playing together, making “hotels” in the dining room with blankets on the floor, lined with lots of stuffies and pillows. Addison had to take a very important phone call though, so I found her chatting away like this on the couch with her little phone up to her ear.

With it pouring rain outside, and both girls cuddled up to me watching tv on the couch (before they started playing hotels), I finally got tired and ended up taking a quick cat nap for about 20 minutes. And then I hopped up and put together this last-minute Instant Pot chicken & rice with broccoli, based mainly off this recipe, with a few of my own modifications, like usual, and I actually didn’t use any cheese. And this was really yummy.

Addie has this weird habit of not eating at the dinner table, but wanting to eat 15-20 minutes after everyone else is finished. So we always just move her plate/bowl to the coffee table, and let her graze. Tonight, she ended up eating every single bite, and cleaning out her bowl.

Emerson received some surprise, early birthday packages in the mail today, from her favorite preschool teacher, Ms. Quanicia. Ms. Q was always the best teacher, and is still just the best, nicest person for always remembering Emmie’s birthday and sending amazing gifts. Emmie loved her gifts, and Addie loved sitting in the Amazon box!


I had put my puzzle board away when we cleaned yesterday, but I already got it back out again tonight, so I can get started on a new puzzle. I know this one is gonna be hard, but I love the vintage citrus, and think it will be perfect to frame and hang in our house!

The girls are both asleep now, but I’ve got some dishes to wash before I can get started on my puzzle. So I’m gonna go knock out the dishes as quickly as possible, so I can get started sorting out all the pieces, and maybe organizing by color or something? We’ll see how long this one takes me….