This past weekend was a great one.  On Friday night my boyfriend Danny proposed to me at the lake.  My parents knew that he was going to propose and were helping him.  Danny and I rode down to the lake with my parents.  Friday night we walked down to the lake and went for a walk on the beach.  He had two candles on the beach with a bottle between them.  I did not know that the candles belonged to him.  We walked over to check out the glow on the beach and noticed the bottle.  He reached down to pick it up.  Inside the bottle was a note.  He pulled it out and held it over the candle.  The note said, "Katie, will you marry me."  He then got down on one knee and placed the ring on my finger. 

I was very surprised and happy.  He and I have been dating for seven years.  Once we finished talking on the beach we headed back up to the cabin.  Danny had given my parents a bag with candles and roses.  My parents had the back porch lit up with candles and flowers.  It was great to have my family and some friends there to support Danny and me on our engagement.  We have not set a date yet but we are planning on getting married next summer! 

The girls and I eat at their house most of the time.  When the girls start running out of food I make a list for their parents.  The other day I started making a list and then thought that I should include the girls in on the making of the list.

The oldest girl is working hard on reading and writing.  I asked her if she wanted to make a grocery list for her mom so she would know what to get at the store.  She got really excited and went and got a pencil and some paper.  The youngest girl did not want to write but she wanted to help us.  First they brainstormed about the food that they had used up that day.  The oldest girl would ask me how to spell certain words and I encouraged her to think about it and try to spell the words the best that she could.  Then she realized that she could copy the words on the boxes or cartons so the two girls went into the pantry. 

The girls had a great conversation about how one girl liked certain foods and the other did not.  They compromised and only wrote down certain foods that they both liked. 

When their parents got home they ran to the door to show them their list.  Their parents took them to the store that night and let them pick out the foods off of the list.  The next day the girls showed me everything they got at the store.  The kids really enjoyed helping out with the grocery list. 

The girls and I have been participating in different adventures this summer.  We have gone to the mall, seen movies, gone out to eat, and even got our nails done.  I was thinking about how I could refresh the girls on their math skills in a fun way.  I decided to take them to the mall.  

First I had them go to their piggy banks and count out five dollars.  Once we got to the mall I explained to them that they only had five dollars to buy something or a couple of things.  I told them that they also had to pay taxes so they should not pick something out that is over four dollars and fifty cents.  Of course the girls had to go into Claires and pick out some jewelry.  I showed them how to look at the price tags and decide if they had enough money.  We were in the store for about thirty minutes.  The girls were picking up objects and making comments such as, "I don't have enough money for that."  I encouraged them to listen to the total and then give the cashier the appropriate amount of money.  They both ended up having one dollar and fifty cents left.  I then asked them where they thought they could spend their remaining money.  They both decided to go to the candy store.  We spent another fifteen minutes in the candy store trying to figure out what the girls could afford.  They girls seemed to really enjoy the math lesson and they learned so much about money and how to buy things.  

A few doors down from the girls house, two other little girls live.  The four girls love to play with each other every day.  The other girls like to partake in our adventures to the mall and the movies.  Recently we went and saw Wall-E and the girls had a great time.