God's Big Backyard

This year I was asked to help with music at our Vacation Bible School.  We had about 50 kids ages 3-5... woohoo!  What an adventure.  They were so cute & actually learned quite a bit, I think.  I know Teresa, my too young but with me anyway sidekick, is still singing the songs & reciting the challenge Bible verse they learned.  Rebecca knows all 5 Bible stories that we covered.  Love it.  I had so much fun getting to know all these sweet little kids, too.  Here's one group of kiddos.

 This was my favorite song:

With all my mind, with all my mind

With all my strength, with all my strength

With all my heart, with every beat of my heart

I'm gonna serve you, Lord!

This is the greatest commandment

to love God above all else.

Oh, this is the greatest commandment

& then to love my neighbor as myself.

 Carleen led the music as well & had so many fun ideas to keep so many hot & tired littles happy & having fun.

Oh, when the saints go skipping in...

This was such a clever way to keep all of the kids' projects separate.  They each had their own piece of fence "in God's Big Backyard" where they could hang their projects. 

What a fun & exhausting week!

Simile

"Daddy, your face is like a rose bush!"

Think it's time for a shave?

Boys, boys, boys

 We've been blest with another nephew!

Ryder James was born on July 12th

to happy parents Katie & Brad.

He's so sweet.

Welcome, baby Ryder!

Navidad en julio

 July has been HOT.

So to cool us off a bit, we decided to think frosty thoughts & had a Christmas in July party!  The kids did a lot of decorating. 

 Andrew thought we should hang out the stockings just in case Santa might stop by. 

 Our Little People Nativity grew when they added in lots of other animals, fences, & food for them, too.

I tried out these two Pinterest projects...

the mint tray for goodies on the left is made out of melted peppermint candies

& we painted the snowman faces on those cups for friends to take home. 

I forgot to take any pictures after people arrived, but just believe me; it was fun.  I highly recommend making your summer a little more cool .  

Park it

 We tried out a less-frequented park last week for Mom's Group... & even though the only other ones who showed up were our backyard neighbors, we had a blast.  :)

 The have a nice big playset that Andrew & Rebecca barely touched.  They were too busy digging in the sand & rocks.  Did I mention that I usually shoot for the parks without sand?

 Rebecca was collecting pinecones, flowers, sticks, & assorted leftover fireworks pieces.  She filled up two cups!

 "I stirring strawberry milk!"

Andrew was very proud of his pit that he dug.  He found a cup, an old rag (to which Rebecca said, "No, I think that's chicken skin"), & buried way deep was a little airplane!  Quite the find.  What a quiet & fun morning.

Feeding the hungry

 Our local food pantry has been running low this summer, so our friend Andrea had a fabulous idea to walk the neighborhood for donations.  The kids were SO excited to do it!  We even hit about 5 houses just on the way there.

 Our motley little crew walked up & down about 5 blocks or so.  They were so cute! 

 We collected about two wagons full in a little over an hour!

 A couple of days later we took it down to the food pantry to see where it would go.

 They had an abundance of expiring baked goods & insisted that the kids take some.  No arguments there!

 We brought in 88 pounds of food & left with big smiles (& 6 boxes of goodies).

Before we left, we stopped to pray for the people who worked there & the people who would be eating our food. 

This was such a fantastic project.  Thanks for organizing, Andrea!

Reunion

 Hastings is a pretty common destination for us & always a lot of fun.  But RARELY do we ever go there for anything not related to my sister Melissa's family.  They are so much fun & keep us busy, busy, busy without even trying!  :)  Well, they were out of town a couple of weeks ago when a college friend invited us up for a visit.  We're there so often & yet we never get to see his family.  So, this was the perfect opportunity.

I hadn't been to the Hastings Museum since high school & it was a new experience for everyone else.  Andrew was especially in love with all of the military vehicles & weapons.

 The old cars were fun to look at & imagine our family riding in one!

 They have very cool animal mounts & replicas all over.  These prehistoric swimmers were HUGE.

 We also had our first planetarium experience with the kids.  Rebecca thought it was awesome.  Andrew was moderately interested.  Teresa just kept saying that she wanted to go home!  I had to bait her with snacks from my purse.  :P  They all enjoyed digging & pretending in the discovery room.

 Afterwards we met up with Jeremy & his family at the park.  I really wish we had a free splash park like this here!  The kids had a blast & we all had a nice time chatting.

 We dried off, hopped in the van, & drove across town to a reunion of many old Newman Center friends with their families.  Most were alumni by the time I got there, but I still knew almost everyone.  What a great group of people.  It was amazing how many kids were running around there!  Certainly a different kind of party than we used to have!

 So, we all hopped back in the pool, gave a lot of hugs, ate some delicious dinner, danced a little, & caught up with lots of friends we hadn't seen in a very long time.

Thanks for inviting us, Jeremy.

We had so much fun!

Fancy Nancy

 I don't know if it's due to the fact we've been on a Fancy Nancy kick around here lately or just a further explosion of girliness in Teresa, but she has been getting seriously dolled up.

This is post-nap so some of it is missing, but pre-nap she had to "get ready".  She put in a ponytail, headband, bows, necklace, ring, bracelet, & these AWESOME fuzzy pink high heels.  (Thanks, Carmen!)  She even put this dress on her bear.  I'm amazed that she can sleep in all that!  Perhaps primping brings her peace. 

"Mommy, I soooOOO beaUtiful!"

Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!

 Actually, it was jumping Rebecca & her doll Jessica.  Even Teresa's doll Caleb was invited along for a morning of fun.  Rebecca was just tickled pink at the idea of the dollies jumping with her.  "They" were out there for at least half an hour!

4th of July

 For the 4th year in a row, we attended our neighborhood Independence Day parade.  We spent a few hours the day before decorating our bikes & scooter to ride.  Here we go...

 It's such a fun group of neighbors & so low-key that it's right up our alley! 

(not that we have an alley, but you know what I mean)

 Andrew was off like a flash, Teresa was riding FAST but looking everywhere but forward!  I felt like I was human bumper pads & she was the bowling ball all the way down the street.  :P  If there just weren't so many friends, puppies, & decorations to look at...

 Rebecca spent a long time on her bike.  This photo doesn't really do it justice.  It turned out so cool! 

 Neighbor Caleb was seriously decked out (especially with the red, white, & blue popsicle goo covering it all!)

 What do you do when your hands are all sticky from a popsicle?  That's right, PET A DOG.  Mmm.  Then have it lick off your hands.  I actually laughed aloud at myself at this point.  I would have completely flipped out at that identical situation just a few years ago.  No more first-time-mommy-alerts in me!

 The rest of the day we just played at home & enjoyed the "show" around our house.  It was actually a lot of relaxing fun.

 The kids had been begging to camp out (in the basement) so we figured that would be the perfect night.  They were already tired from a late night prior & it's quieter down there than upstairs amid the artillery outside.  They loved it!  Thanks for the idea, Stephanie!

They all wore their glow necklaces to bed.  It was nice to peek in at them & know where they were!