It's that fun, chaotic, hectic time of summer when we take on Vacation Bible School! This year, all 4 of us are active participants. :) Michael is leading the adult study as well as playing guitar for the kids' closing, I'm leading the Bible Challenge and both boys get to attend. :) Josiah is having fun and especially loves the cookies and singing along with Michael at the end. Noah has several little boys that follow him around ceaselessly. He calls them his minions. lol And he loves every minute of it. There are lots of pictures from the first 3 days, including pictures of our friends, Beka & Matt, who are visiting their grandparents for the week. Their dad is a pastor too but they used to be members at Immanuel. It's been fun having them back for a variety of reasons - 1) they already did this VBS so they've been great helpers with the songs; 2) they are the most polite kids in attendance; 3) they actually answer questions (their hands, Noah's and our friend Alison are usually the only ones that are raised) and 4) I just love them both! :) For the StoryTeller site this year, the leader is having the kids dress up and act out the Bible story. You'll see Noah as Moses, Josiah as the disciple James, Noah carrying the sacrificial "bull" and Josiah carrying the fire of God, which is actually sort of ironic, since 3 of his fingers are currently bandaged because he dropped and then tried to pick up a lit sparkler...
Speaking of sparklers... we finally got around to doing the sparklers we had from 4th of July on Monday night. The boys were wound up from VBS and the weather was clear, so we set everything up. The 1st sparkler Josiah held was the one he dropped and between that and the mosquitoes, it wasn't the fun activity we had intended it to be. You'll see a picture of Josiah sitting with Michael, holding a glow-stick... that was AFTER the burns and he was doing his best to look happy about things.
I also uploaded the pictures I mentioned last week - they'll be mixed in there somewhere. :)
Next week we'll be in Myrtle Beach and the week after we'll be heading home, so no promises that there will be posts. But I know there will be great pictures to share afterwards!!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
It rained.
The title of this post pretty much sums up our last week. It has been raining - and not just a few sprinkles here and there, we're talking downpours - and the skies are clouding up again today. Noah is at Art Camp this week and is loving it, as I knew he would. :) He gets to go every day from 10:30-5 and there are four different subjects - Abstract Painting, Ceramics, Cartooning (his favorite) and Printmaking. Josiah and I went to the pool for a little over an hour yesterday before the rain started again and today we went shopping at the mall and had lunch at Panera. :) Not exactly his idea of a fun way to spend the day, but he was a very good boy. (and everything was on sale! and I had gift cards to use!)
Looking at the pictures on my phone, I have a picture of a tick (yes, a tick), Josiah wearing a cape I made him, Josiah sleeping in his new NASCAR hat, Noah & 2 of his friends playing a game with Josiah and the aebleskivers I made for breakfast on Saturday morning for Noah's sleepover. Not very exciting. If you're my Facebook friend, you've already seen all those pictures anyway.... What I should've taken a picture of was the water POURING into our basement on Monday night through a window that needs new sealant or something. Or maybe the small pond that shows up every time it rains... oh well. It's supposed to dry up for the weekend, so maybe we'll see some sunshine!
One other short anecdote before I close... a few weeks ago, friends from church brought the boys 2 goldfish. I had to be talked into this little pet adventure and for good reason. I bet you can guess who has fed the fish a majority of the time and who cleans out the fishbowl twice a week... At any rate, not surprisingly, one of the fish died yesterday. Now, I would expect that the normal reaction to the loss of a pet might be sadness. Maybe even a tear or two. When Michael told the boys that we would have to flush the dead fish down the toilet, they actually got giddy. They were excited to toss in good ol' Barney (or was it Boo Boo? Who knows!?!) and watch him swirl away to fish heaven. I'm sure if we had girls there might have been tears but with my boys? No way. I love boy-land. :)
Looking at the pictures on my phone, I have a picture of a tick (yes, a tick), Josiah wearing a cape I made him, Josiah sleeping in his new NASCAR hat, Noah & 2 of his friends playing a game with Josiah and the aebleskivers I made for breakfast on Saturday morning for Noah's sleepover. Not very exciting. If you're my Facebook friend, you've already seen all those pictures anyway.... What I should've taken a picture of was the water POURING into our basement on Monday night through a window that needs new sealant or something. Or maybe the small pond that shows up every time it rains... oh well. It's supposed to dry up for the weekend, so maybe we'll see some sunshine!
One other short anecdote before I close... a few weeks ago, friends from church brought the boys 2 goldfish. I had to be talked into this little pet adventure and for good reason. I bet you can guess who has fed the fish a majority of the time and who cleans out the fishbowl twice a week... At any rate, not surprisingly, one of the fish died yesterday. Now, I would expect that the normal reaction to the loss of a pet might be sadness. Maybe even a tear or two. When Michael told the boys that we would have to flush the dead fish down the toilet, they actually got giddy. They were excited to toss in good ol' Barney (or was it Boo Boo? Who knows!?!) and watch him swirl away to fish heaven. I'm sure if we had girls there might have been tears but with my boys? No way. I love boy-land. :)
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Crazy
Is it seriously July already? I swear June just started yesterday and yet my calendar has July showing. We had another busy month and there are a few pictures to show for it.
We started June with a geocaching adventure with our friends, the Campbell girls. I finally scored my 100th find. I'm sure there's a picture somewhere of that momentous occasion. :)
Noah & Josiah both went to Learn-to-Swim-week at the Y the first week of June. Both boys did a great job and I was actually quite surprised at how well Noah is swimming. Josiah has continued swim lessons this summer, though his last one will be next Monday. I hope it will work in our schedule for him to continue this fall. He gets the concept but has a hard time putting it all together without a little assistance.
The boys & I went to the Ft. Wayne Zoo and had a really wonderful day. Many of the animals were much closer than usual, though most were still sleeping. It was nice to get an up-close view of them though! Josiah loved the zoo and we didn't just run through - we actually stopped and looked at the animals and talked about them and Josiah was happy to tell anyone who would listen what sound each animal made, especially the lions. :) They have a little sprinkler area in one section and a fountain to play in as well, so the boys started the day playing in the water and stayed cool the whole day. They were soaked through but by the time we left, they were just slightly damp.
Despite our cooler, wetter summer, we have managed to get to the pool a few times and hopefully will be there again this afternoon.
Noah went to Camp Lutherhaven again this summer and spent the week getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. :) He had a great time and loved the new cabin he got to stay in. The Saturday before Noah went to Camp, my great-grandfather, Roy, passed away. Josiah & I made the trip to Dubuque for the funeral and were SO blessed to be able to spend time with lots of family and friends. Gummy flew in to Des Moines and so was able to bring Grandma Bobbie as well. It was a very nice, unexpected visit with Grandma and I'm so thankful it worked out for her to make the trip. We had a picnic at Eagle Point Park in memory of Roy, complete with KFC. We also were able to see family members I hadn't seen since Roy's 90th birthday four years ago. We shared a lot of memories, looking through old photos and laughing at old clothing styles, glasses and hair styles. It was a true celebration of Roy's life.
Josiah & I also made a day trip down to Cincinnati to visit friends. Noah was supposed to come along but got sick, so he had to stay home. He was a little disappointed that he was left behind with Michael, but that day was the only day all summer that we could coordinate schedules with our friends. That just proves how busy our summer is!
Noah & a few friends put together a "garage band" the last couple of days and gave a performance yesterday. It was very funny and creative and they ended the concert with a silly string war. The audience consisted of 2 moms, a grandma and a grandpa but it was still a stellar performance. LOL
Along with everything else, we joined a playgroup, have done a lot of bike riding and playing, Noah started playing horn (he took lessons at school for a few days this month), enjoyed a night in the backyard with friends and lots of good food, more geo-caching and very little sleep. No wonder I'm so tired! ;)
Pictures are here.
We started June with a geocaching adventure with our friends, the Campbell girls. I finally scored my 100th find. I'm sure there's a picture somewhere of that momentous occasion. :)
Noah & Josiah both went to Learn-to-Swim-week at the Y the first week of June. Both boys did a great job and I was actually quite surprised at how well Noah is swimming. Josiah has continued swim lessons this summer, though his last one will be next Monday. I hope it will work in our schedule for him to continue this fall. He gets the concept but has a hard time putting it all together without a little assistance.
The boys & I went to the Ft. Wayne Zoo and had a really wonderful day. Many of the animals were much closer than usual, though most were still sleeping. It was nice to get an up-close view of them though! Josiah loved the zoo and we didn't just run through - we actually stopped and looked at the animals and talked about them and Josiah was happy to tell anyone who would listen what sound each animal made, especially the lions. :) They have a little sprinkler area in one section and a fountain to play in as well, so the boys started the day playing in the water and stayed cool the whole day. They were soaked through but by the time we left, they were just slightly damp.
Despite our cooler, wetter summer, we have managed to get to the pool a few times and hopefully will be there again this afternoon.
Noah went to Camp Lutherhaven again this summer and spent the week getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. :) He had a great time and loved the new cabin he got to stay in. The Saturday before Noah went to Camp, my great-grandfather, Roy, passed away. Josiah & I made the trip to Dubuque for the funeral and were SO blessed to be able to spend time with lots of family and friends. Gummy flew in to Des Moines and so was able to bring Grandma Bobbie as well. It was a very nice, unexpected visit with Grandma and I'm so thankful it worked out for her to make the trip. We had a picnic at Eagle Point Park in memory of Roy, complete with KFC. We also were able to see family members I hadn't seen since Roy's 90th birthday four years ago. We shared a lot of memories, looking through old photos and laughing at old clothing styles, glasses and hair styles. It was a true celebration of Roy's life.
Josiah & I also made a day trip down to Cincinnati to visit friends. Noah was supposed to come along but got sick, so he had to stay home. He was a little disappointed that he was left behind with Michael, but that day was the only day all summer that we could coordinate schedules with our friends. That just proves how busy our summer is!
Noah & a few friends put together a "garage band" the last couple of days and gave a performance yesterday. It was very funny and creative and they ended the concert with a silly string war. The audience consisted of 2 moms, a grandma and a grandpa but it was still a stellar performance. LOL
Along with everything else, we joined a playgroup, have done a lot of bike riding and playing, Noah started playing horn (he took lessons at school for a few days this month), enjoyed a night in the backyard with friends and lots of good food, more geo-caching and very little sleep. No wonder I'm so tired! ;)
Pictures are here.
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