Our Time in Illinois (Part 2)

I've written before about how humbled we are to have the families that the Lord has blessed us with. We have truly been 'blessed beyond what we can ever ask or imagine!' We don't get to see our Illinois family nearly enough as it is an 11 hour trip. We are able to see them an average of about every other month, which really isn't bad considering the miles in-between, but we always wish it could be more. We try to pack in as much together time while we're there as we can. The guys spent a lot of time fishing. One night we all got to go and hang out at the canal. We had a picnic supper and even a bonfire complete with s'mores - THANKS, Jessica!

I guess I took more than enough pictures, after all! I'm just very disappointed I wasn't able to get any of my wonderful grandmother. Thanks again for the great time!!!

Our Time in Illinois (Part 1)

Once again, I did not take nearly enough pictures of our time with family and friends in Illinois. We spent a great week with my family at the beginning of June (yes, I know it is July in two days...procrastination seems to be my middle name). We had a wonderful time with family and this time our dear friends from Arkansas and Oklahoma were able to come too. What a treat it was to be able to be with them again! We lived next door to their family for eight years when we lived in Oklahoma and became lifelong friends. We recounted so many fun times while we were together. Thanks for making the trip,"Macs." All of us (there were 18 when we were all together) headed off to the zoo one of the days. Tom and Diane and their sweet grandson, BrooksOne of the highlights for the kiddos was the train ride around the zoo. I stayed behind and got to see an elephant paint a picture. :) Yes, he actually grabbed paintbrushes in his trunk and created a masterpiece. Of course I don't have a picture to prove it!We had a nice picnic in the park there. When we got home to the HOT Kansas sun, I realized I didn't cherish the picture-perfect weather we had all week nearly enough!!
Aly sure loved my "other little brother," Ryan and his beautiful wife, Lindsay! I think she would have gone to live with them in a second!
I was thrilled to get to meet little baby Brooks for the first time!! He was such a sweetie! All 6 at one time!! :)




I think frinds like those are very rare!

Cousins and VBS

For my children, it doesn't get much better than that!! We had VBS the first week in June and had Chuck's brother, Tim's, three youngest kids with us too. What an exciting week! Tim and Roxie and their 5 children were in the process of moving from St. Francis to Concordia that week, so we offered to keep the three youngest while they tied up all the loose ends and moved all their belongings.
It was a great week. We had a fun time with the kids, and VBS was really good! This year our church did "Operation Space" from Answers in Genesis. My friends Teri and Jenn have some great pictures and posts on VBS if you're interested. I was in charge of teaching Bible to the pre-school group. It was so much fun but also exhausting to try to entertain and try to teach Biblical Truths to wiggly 3,4 and 5 year-olds! I did the same lesson 4 times in a row, so by the fourth time I had to really muster that enthusiasm or I would loose them! It was truly a blessing, though, to be able to share the Gospel with those little ones and know that there could have been seeds planted in those sweet little hearts for the Lord to nurture and grow in His timing!

Happy Summer!

Whew! Summer is here in full swing! I guess we've been extra busy! I thought I'd post a few pictures. My camera has not been working right which is very disappointing! I missed Caleb's Birthday, Aly's cute bee part in her class play, and a trip to Missouri to visit our close friends there!! It works as long as I don't need a flash, so I guess we'll be taking a lot of outside pictures.

Catchin' Up

I've had a few posts started for a while now but haven't taken the time to finish them. So I thought today I better just sit down for a few minutes and catch up a bit.

Aly's Celebration
Aly got to celebrate her birthday last week. Her Birthday is August 4th. I guess you could say that she is now 5 and 3/4ths. She was so excited, you would think it was her Birthday.

Those of us with Summer Birthdays can empathise with not getting to celebrate at school. That must be why Aly's school lets them celebrate their Summer Birthdays before school is out. :) She really really wanted flower cupcakes to bring for snack. I thought that would be easy enough to pull off, forgetting when you bring snacks at her school, it's for the whole school, not just her class. So...fifty cupcakes and 100 flowers later, her grand Birthday snack was completed. She confirmed that it was all worth it with her huge smile and big hug when she saw the finished product.

Caleb's Class Field Trip

This was a first for me - a trip to the Zoo as a parent and not a teacher. I have to say it was a lot less stressful! I had a group of four kiddos including Caleb and got to run after them as they went from place to place excited to see the next animal. I didn't have to collect all the money, make sure everyone had their permission slips, make sure kids were split up into groups and certain kids together, certain kids separated... It was nice The animals were fun for the kids to see, but I think the main source of enjoyment from the day was snapping pictures. They had so much fun trying to catch the animals and each other doing funny things!.Caleb's group shot

Thanks!

I just wanted to thank those of you who signed up for Swagbucks under me! I hit the $60 Amazon Gift Card mark!! I just have to decide what we "need" to purchase with that money. It's funny how it's not even real money, but I still find myself wanting to spend it wisely. Has anyone purchased anything fun with their "Swag"money? Anyone else not wanting to be left out of the fun can sign up by clicking this link or the button below. Here's my original post on Swagbucks if you aren't sure what I'm talking about.

Happy Birthday, Our Sweet Anna Mae!

What a joy you are sweet girl.
2 months old catching some rays. :)1 year old.1 and a 1/2.


Happy Second Birthday!