Christmas Music

Both K and L sang in the children's Christmas choir. K played a piano solo (video below) and T played the drums for "The Little Drummer Boy" (video below).

Springtime Update

We have been enjoying some fun springtime activities. We've been gardening. We are working on developing more flowerbeds around our house and also giving container gardening a try. Tyler has wanted to grow his own carrots for a while now, so he planted some carrot seeds. They are doing well, and we hope to be eating them in about 30 more days!

Bird watching is another one of our family's favorites. We feed finches, hummingbirds, and we have a separate wild bird feeder, and a bird bath. We are attracting all sorts of fun birds and identifying them in our field guides. Tyler is really into birds right now, especially water birds. We had a mother woodpecker make a nest in one of our trees and it was fun to listen to them and watch her feed them.

This weekend, our church had a picnic and we had a wonderful time. Some friends of ours brought a huge water slide and it was a big hit with all the kids (big and little).

So, how about you? How was spring been treating you? We have one more week to enjoy some rest time before we start three weeks of a program called Tennis for Kids, and then Vacation Bible School, and then Heath and I are headed to Ontario, Canada for a mission trip. Once we return from that, my focus will be getting things organized for the 2011-12 school year. Lauren will be a 1st grader, Kaitlyn a 3rd grader, and Tyler a 4th grader.

What's New

It's been over one month since I've updated our family blog, so I thought I'd share a little bit about what's new with us.

Mohawks!

Learning Latin with Dad

Snow Creations

Missing Teeth

What's new in your world?

Vacation Day #7

Wednesday, November 3rd was our final day at the condo. We spent time at the beach, the pool, and at a mini golf course. It was a fun and busy last day!

Vacation Day #6

On Tuesday, November 2nd, we drove over to Sanibel Island. We visited the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

K participated in a junior ranger activity and was awarded a Junior Ranger badge at the end.

We went on a drive through the refuge, and we actually spotted a live alligator in its natural habitat! This was so exciting!

Along the driving trail, there were a few trails you could pull over and park, get out of your vehicle and go on a walking trail and explore.

Along a walking trail, we saw this really cool ORANGE grasshopper!

Of course we spent more time at the beach once we got back to our condo!

Vacation Day #5

We weren't planning on going to a zoo, but we learned that this particular zoo had an alligator feeding show, so we decided to go on Monday, November 1st. K thought it was pretty cool that right when she walked into the zoo she saw a bird that looked a lot like the one on her shirt! The zoo was a small zoo, but it was one of the most relaxing times we've ever had at the zoo. I think it had something to do with the fact that it was a Monday and November!

The alligator feeding show was cool, but don't try this in the wild, folks!

Dad always lets the kids get a small souvenir from the zoo gift shop. The children have things from zoos in Tennessee, Nebraska, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and now Florida.

Vacation Days #3 and #4

This is the beautiful view from our condo!

On Saturday, October 30th we spent more time on the beach. L is just chillin' out and watchin' the waves come in.

Now L is running from the waves. Dad and T like to get out and let the waves hit them. They also liked trying to use "the force" (think Star Wars) to stop the waves.

K was focused and diligent with her sand castle building endeavors. She was really excited when we came back Sunday afternoon and she found it all still standing!

Horseshoe Crab!

T slept on the pull out couch.

These are bunk beds the girls slept on. Actually, they only slept on them for a couple nights and then all three kids ended up sleeping on the furniture in the living room.

On day #4, Sunday, October 31, we went to a nearby church for a worship service, ate lunch out, and then went back to the condo to rest and then headed to the beach!

Vacation Day #2

We made it to the beach around 4pm on Friday, October 29th. We unpacked the van, and headed straight to the beach!

I saw some of the most gorgeous sunsets during our stay here at Ft. Myers Beach, FL.

The tidal pools were fun to wade across and play in. It was fun to look for little fish and watch the beautiful birds eat.

Vacation Day #1

On Thursday, October 28th, we left at 3a.m. and Savannah, GA was our destination. We crossed over this BIG bridge (I am scared of bridges).

We made it to Paula Deen's restaurant, "The Lady and Sons" at 2:30 in the afternoon, and were able to enjoy a late lunch (which was technically our dinner since we ate breakfast and lunch so early since we woke up at 2:3o a.m.).

After dinner, we walked to the riverfront and explored the area. It was nice to walk around after so many hours in the minivan.

This is my favorite picture from Savannah! These oak trees with Spanish moss are beautiful!

I'll post tomorrow about our second day of vacation.

5th Sunday Sing

Our family sang a song at our church's 5th Sunday Sing last night. K wanted to do "Cast Your Cares" from a CD from Seeds Family Worship. Have you heard about Seeds Family Worship? If not, click over and check them out! They make great CDs filled with Scripture-songs! We really like them! I pray our family will continue to praise and worship together! I really didn't know if the children would actually do this when there was a crowd watching them or not, but they did. This video is actually a portion of one of our practices.

Turning 9

T turned 9-years-old on August 7th! He is crazy about LEGOs, and had a LEGO cake, and got lots of new LEGO sets as gifts! It is really cool to see him build these things mostly by himself. Just another reminder he is growing up!

Vacation Bible School

I remember attending VBS as a kid, and I remember helping with VBS as a teenager and college student. I love VBS! Now that I'm a parent, I love how it is a ministry that our entire family can participate in. I remember teaching 1st and 2nd graders at West Helena Baptist Church whenever T was 3, K was 2, and L was just 2 months old. I dropped L off in the nursery, ran to teach my class, and they let me take a break while they were in recreation so I could go nurse her, then I ran back and finished up teaching my class! L was the only one in the nursery, but the nursery coordinator in that church came every morning to watch her so I could teach. VBS has always had a special place in my heart as far back as I can remember. This year I am teaching 3rd and 4th graders. K did a great job this year helping me cut things out for our lessons. Each night the children do something to help me get prepared whether it simply be just helping me carry all my junk into the church. I am co-teaching this year with a wonderful friend of mine, and I'm so thankful! Heath is helping lead the worship rally and he enjoys this so much! Vacation Bible School is a fun week to minister, grow, and learn together as a family, as we teach children about Jesus!

3rd of July Tradition

This year, for the second year in a row, we spent the 3rd of July with some friends. We live here in PA with no family around, and they live here in PA with no family nearby; so we hang out a lot together on various holidays.

We started the night off with a cook out.

Then the children went on a scavenger hunt!

Of course we ate some dessert!

And we ended our night watching a beautiful fireworks display!

Cousins

The children got to visit with all their cousins while Dad was participating in a mission trip in Northwest MO. We spent two days with our Mid-Missouri cousins, and two days with our Southwest MO cousins.

Mid-Mo Cousins

We went to Shelter Gardens to take a few pictures. It was 90 degrees by 9am, so we didn't stay too long.

The girls worked on building a sand castle, and T worked on catching minnows in the lake.

Southwest MO Cousins

We had a blast at Aunt Kim's house. She had a BBQ for us, and set up two kiddie pools for the kids to play in, and Aunt Becca made homemade ice cream.