Sally

A few weeks ago we stopped by to see Sally! She could come home as early as this weekend, but since we'll be over that way for Andrew's birthday in a few weeks, we'll bring her home on the 19th! It was fun to see how much she's grown and how sweet she is!

This past weekend we picked up the fencing we need, and the shed-turned-goat pen is just about finished! I'll try to get pics of Butterscotch posted before too long...

Anna's 1st Birthday!

Finally...caught up enough to blog about this baby's big day!
We had her party on the Sunday after her birthday, and she was all dressed up for it!


It was a gorgeous day, so we actually got to utilize the backyard for the family gathering! My whole family (less Kimberly and the kids, who were getting ready to move the next weekend), along with Ben and Rosella, came to celebrate with us!
Anna ate lunch in her highchair in the kitchen while we got lunch ready, so when we were eating outside, she got to hang out in her new Exersaucer. (It was her only gift from her cheap frugal parents...a used one off Craigslist for $15, to be kept outside for while I'm gardening, etc. Oh well...she likes it)!





She really liked her birthday cake...though somehow I don't have a picture of her with it!

(I'm sure Tricia has one...feel free to stop by here and encourage her to handle her storage issues quickly!) :)








She received many nice gifts, primarily much-needed clothing. Her fun gifts were a kitty cat that meows and walks (somehow I don't have a picture of that, either!) and this ball from Aunt T and Uncle Jerry!

I hope a pooped party girl is an indication of a fun party!

Gourmet

This baby is particularly fond of berry smoothies and of spaghetti...not usually at the same meal!

New Ramp!

For years now, we've wanted to get a handicap-access ramp built for the church. It's always been a combined issue of not having the funds and/or not having the time/manpower to get it done.
Well, the Colorado team handled both for us!

They graciously sent on ahead $500 towards materials for the ramp, and brought along two builders to get the job done. As God would have it, one of the builders was actually a foundation expert. Good thing, since when they were getting prepared to build support for the ramp onto the church, they discovered that the foundation on the front corner of the building was completely rotten!

So, it took a good deal more work and a good deal more in materials than expected, but they did a fantastic job and finished it up the night before they left! All we need to do now is get the roof over it before the snow flies!

Backyard Bible Club

During the week of VBS, part of the team came to our house to run a Backyard Bible Club for a few afternoons. We really had no idea how something like that would go over in this neighborhood, but wanted to give it a try nonetheless.

It was a very small crew, but they had lots of fun anyway. It was basically our kids (well, actually not even Jacob-he was always taking a nap), and our neighbor friends from across the street. There were two other kids who were only able to come one day each. At least some seeds were planted, and it did give me the opportunity to connect with a new neighbor from a few streets over that I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Vacation Bible School!

We had an absolutely fabulous team from Colorado Springs come to do our VBS this year. There were 20 of them, about 10 adults and 10 teenagers. I was a bit skeptical about all the teenagers, but they were the best thing ever to hit our community. They were all responsive, mature, helpful, and above all...loving! They just loved on all the kids, tangibly sharing the love of Christ. Most of them were able to stick with the same child through the whole week, helping them with crafts, being their partner for games, sitting with them during the story, etc. We had as many as 22 kids attending, and 4 of them accepted Christ as their Savior! This team did so much for our church, and were such a huge blessing. There were many tears when it was time to say good-bye!

Andrew just soaked it all up this year, learning the hand motions with the songs, getting involved in all the games, volunteering to answer questions and help act out Bible stories. Everyday on the way home I would ask him what the best part of his day at VBS had been.

"Everything, mom...just everything."
Even he got attached to some of the teens, which is very unlike him! And he cried bitterly when we said good-bye and headed home after the closing program, through his sobs asking when we would see the Colorado team again.

Jacob had some rough days with VBS, I think due mostly to his tiredness, as I had to wake him by 7:30 every day to get to MP on time. He was also really complaining about his ears, and was in general whiney and clingy to me. But God sent just the right person on the team specifically for Jacob! Deanna was very sweet, gentle, and quiet...tending to be more shy as Jacob is in new situations. She was just wonderful with him, and was such a trooper, as most days he wasn't easy to deal with!

Anna was Miss Popular with the team! She did great all week, just hanging out for the first hour, then I would put her in the nursery in her carseat for a nap for the rest of the time! The last day of VBS was her birthday, and they even sang to her and had a present for her!
All in all it was a fantastic week, and if ever this team wants to come back, we would take them in a heartbeat!

Swingset come home!

Well, when the snow finally melted, we were able to move our swingset to our backyard! Andrew was beyond thrilled to be able to drive up in the big work truck to get it!













Back at our house, it sat on the truck till the team that came to do VBS stopped by after their run in to town, and they had it unloaded within minutes!
















Before Mark even had it all put back together, the neighbor kids were over and they were all enjoying it!

Andrew's First T-Ball!

Weird how something so American and commonplace as summer t-ball can make you feel positively old. Someone (who at the time was expecting her 6th child) wisely told me that I shouldn't fret about the kids "growing up" out of the baby stage...because every "first" they experienced as they got older would be just as thrilling as those first steps, words, and other things we traditionally view as milestones of our kids growing up. She was so right!

Andrew was very excited, yet a bit nervous, about starting t-ball. Some of the nervousness was soothed with the realization that our neighbor friends across the street were playing, as was Jonah from MP.

I'm very impressed with his teams' coaches (a married couple whose daughter is on the team). They have a very gentle and encouraging spirit with the kids...none of the hollering and criticism that I can't believe I hear from the sidelines (from just one parent), but I do.

These pics are from his very first practice. He's a good hitter, and this one is from his first time on base...I think he surprised himself at how well he hit!
















Some shots of his fielding, which is improving game by game! Mark was quickly recruited as a base coach, which Andrew loves (and I, too, feel better about him being "way out there on the field without a clue what he's doing" when Mark is out there. Are these thoughts I shouldn't be verbalizing? Maybe).

After the first practice, they tried recruiting Mark to actually coach a third team (there's about 16 kids on each of the two teams, and more were on a waiting list)....this is what happens when you are a parent base coach who knows what they're doing!
Mark felt badly about it, but had to refuse at this point...he already has enough on his plate to satisfy two people (at least) as it is!




Andrew was so proud of himself coming off the field after practice! They actually only had this one "practice," and they just have games Tues/Thurs. nights. No one keeps score, they bat as many times as necessary, everyone gets to hit, and there's a position for everyone out in the field...gotta love it!

Two-Edged Sword

There is a downside to a snowblower...too much of it ruins your sledding hills!
(Taken 5/28)

An apple a day...

Anna was delighted that I was giving her the whole apple! Thought they were too cute not to post, even though I did realize partway through the sequence that I had a huge smudge on my lens!

Gramps in town!

The construction company for which my dad works during the summers puts bids in on jobs all over the state, and then everyone travels to the worksite and lives in camp trailers for the duration of the job. Not an easy thing to do, but there are tons of people up here who end up working apart from their families during the summer, simply because that's the only way to make it (some work construction, others are fisherman, others work on the oil slopes...not uncommon whatsoever to have a spouse off working for weeks or months at a time. I'm grateful we've never had to do that)!
At any rate, my dad is working...here! And his camp trailer is at an rv park in our neighborhood! Because he works such long hours we haven't seen as much of him as we would like, but he did get to see Andrew's first t-ball game, and we've biked down a few times to see him in the evenings. I feel badly for him and my mom (he does drive home for the weekends), but it's working great for us!

Clay

This summer we're "babysitting" Clay every Tues. and Thurs. afternoon. He's a great kid, and being 4, he plays equally well with both the boys. So even though I'm technically babysitting him, he helps add fun and variety to the boys' summer days!

Ah, the love!