Swart Life Continues: July!! Saylor's visit continued, Independence Day, Jeff's birthday, Bev's visit

On July 1st, Rachel brought her kids over to spend the day with us and Saylor 💖💖💖

The morning was spent in the backyard with balls

Water guns

and the Sprinkler....

The kids call our brick pile, their "fort" -- Saylor wasn't too impressed 😁

Around noon, it was time to come inside, everyone got baths and playtime

And lunch from Chick-Fil-A

Then while Saylor, Kipling, Gideon, Papa and Mama took naps, DeDe, Copeland and Eisley played games...Candy Land

Uno

War (and yes, Eisley was cold so she had on Papa's jacket)

Naptime over.....

Time to say goodbye after a great day together!

Aunt Ray Ray with her niece

I was so tired after they all left and didn't have any desire to fix dinner, so we went to eat at a nearby Mexican restaurant....yes, we always wear our masks and social distance!

Next day....she loved to scare her DeDe with this plastic spider 😬

Still enjoying the deck and the water guns

Friday, July 3rd.....we were going out to eat that evening with Grandma, so decided to do our 4th attire for the outing....

After getting home from eating.....a pic by our flag

Watching it rain....

A collage I created of our family from 3 years ago on July 4th and then added the 3 babies who came after this picture....😍😍😍

On July 4th, we stayed home and didn't do anything special

We did buy some sparklers for Saylor, but she was afraid to hold one

A little walk

After dark, Papa tried again

She tried to blow it out

Conway didn't have any firework shows, so we watch some on TV

Pictures sent to me of my other grandkids on the 4th 💖💖

Rachel and family spent the holiday with Jonathan's parents, sister, etc. Love this picture of them and used it to also wish them a Happy 8th Anniversary which was on the 6th!! Love you both and love the wonderful family God has blessed you with! 💗💗

Late Sunday afternoon, July 5th, we met Michelle's parents, Danny and Sheila in Clarksville (about half-way for us as they live in NWA) to exchange Saylor for her visit with them.

She was all smiles!

The first of July, Rachel resumed homeschool for Copeland and Eisley

They are supposed to do coop classes one day a week at Geyer Springs Baptist Church this fall....but of course, with the virus, nothing is certain. 😢 Sure praying they are able to do that.

Pictures Laine sent us of her with a unicorn head 💓💓

Andy & Carman celebrated their 15th year anniversary on July 9th! So thankful for them and the family God has blessed them with!! Love you all! 💗💗

I got a really good deal on a swing set and Jeff did great getting it put together. Hopefully our grandchildren will have some good fun on it.

We met Sheila (Saylor's other grandma) on the 11th to get Saylor. Saylor loved the new swing set!

She spent the night with us and then late on Sunday afternoon, Mom, Jeff and I met Josh and Michelle in Memphis to exchange her. It was a happy reunion for Dad, Mom and little girl!

Jeff and I were given the wonderful gift of an Alaskan cruise by First Baptist, Galena as our going away present last August. We were scheduled to take that cruise July 11th (2020). Well, the corona virus totally messed that up 😢 so we are postponing til 2021 -- hopefully! Another year of something to look forward to!

Since the cruise was scheduled to coincide with Jeff's 67th birthday, we didn't do much for Jeff's birthday....a little outing to Little Rock was it for this year. So thankful for God blessing me with Jeff and the 67 years of life he has been given! 💙💙My birthday Facebook collage:

Several commented how much Saylor looks like Jeff in that second picture (top row). And I agree!

Avi decided to spend one more week with her Dad, so on the 18th, we met her Dad here in Conway and then drove once again to Memphis to meet Josh to exchange her. That was our 4th trip to Memphis this summer to exchange the girls.....we are getting to know that road well. It takes us about 3 hours (one way) and Josh and/or Michelle about 3 hrs. 15 minutes so about halfway for both of us. So thankful we are able to do that as it sure helps out with the girls! 💗💗 Just Josh came this time and Michelle and Saylor stayed home.

SUNDAY, JULY 19th, was a RED LETTER DAY!! Mom, Jeff and I went back to church!! (It was the 2nd Sunday for Kaye and Rob). Since it doesn't appear things are going to change anytime soon, we made the decision we were going as it had been 4-1/2 months (who would have ever dreamed)!! Yes, we donned our masks (which is a mandate now for our city and state) until the service started and did social distance. However, it was SO good to be back in the House of God! Continuing to pray for much wisdom for our Pastors and Staff and all Pastors as they lead their church families thru this Pandemic!!

My sister, Bev, who lives in Texas came to Mom's to spend this past week. We had a great time while she was here! I did want to copy and paste this from a Facebook post as it was too funny not to have in my memories!!

😂😂😂

Mom said she heard a knock on Sunday and she went to the door...no one there but a gray cat starring up at her. She shut the door and went on with her life. Monday morning, her neighbor called and asked if she had seen his missing cat....she told him her story. Later that day, she found this flier in her mailbox.

Bev arrived that afternoon. That evening, Bev kept hearing a cat whining. And at 2:30 in the morning, the noise was so loud she couldn’t sleep. She got up twice and looked out their door but saw no cat and got no sleep from that time on. When she was doing some cleaning for Mom that next morning, she was shocked to see a gray cat run out of the bedroom she sleeps in—to another room! So that stupid cat probably had been in Mom’s house for 2 days!!! And probably was under Bev’s bed during the night...had it jumped up on the bed, Bev said she would have been with Jesus 🤣🤣🤣. She had a time cornering the cat—finally it ran into the laundry room. They called the owner, a very elderly man, who had a time getting it out from behind the washer!! We realized later that the cat used the bathroom rug for his litter box 😩😩. But it’s a story we will laugh about for years to come!! 😂😂

Bev graciously colored my hair for me while she was here!! I have found that the cost of color, highlights, cut, etc. is very expensive here (I paid $165.00 plus a tip 5 months ago). Bev does her own color, so volunteered to do mine. Cost $7.00 and she did a great job. Thanks, Sis!

Kaye fed us a delicious meal Tuesday night and we enjoyed playing games with Rob and Jeff included. Didn't take any pictures but this was a picture Bev took after getting back to Mom's. So pretty!

Wednesday afternoon, Mom, Bev and I went back to Kaye's. Thankfully, we had a wonderful rain/cooler temps that morning, so was able to play games on the patio all afternoon! That evening, Mom treated us all to a meal at a local Mexican restaurant and then back to Kaye's for another game with the guys.
And on Thursday, I fed everyone and then we had a fun game of Charades 😍

Rob was trying to get Jeff to guess the old show, “Smothers Brothers.” He wasn’t having any luck, so Bev tried to help out 😂😂. Jeff still didn’t guess it! What made this "extra" funny to us was the fact Bev has always said she wants Don (her husband) to put a pillow over her mouth and smother her when she turns 70 as that's long enough to live 😜😜