Happy Labor Day!

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day of rest and relaxation today! We are about set to begin our Fourth Annual Labor Day Cup competition here (read about the last two years here and here). This year’s teams are:

Team Pokemon – Michael and Dad
Team Scooby Doo – Tommy and Sarah
Team Invaders Zim – Anna and Laura
Team Toy Story – David and Mom

The events in this year’s competition include -

Balloon Toss
Hockey Shoot
Jarts Throw
Balloon Launch (giant slingshot)
Horseapple Roll
Oreo Stack
Croquet Putt (new this year)
Relay Race (new this year replacing our usual finisher the car races – the kids thought they had gotten too big to fit in the little cars!)

Check back later and I’ll update with the winning team!

We will finish off the day with swimming, burgers on the grill, corn on the cob, and funnel cakes for dessert.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Nancy

***Update: Team Pokemon (Michael and Jeff) ran away with the competition this year winning 4 out of the eight events! They were awarded gold medals and lots of candy for all of their winning events. Everyone is tired and satisfied this evening, after the day’s festivities. I’ll post a few pictures of our fun as soon as I can.***

Our Day at Six Flags

Last week Jeff and I and six kids braved the 100+ temperatures to take our annual trip to Six Flags over Texas. We had 4 free tickets from the Six Flags Reading Club and Jeff got a good deal on the rest of them at work. We might have waited for cooler weather, but the free tickets were about to expire and we didn’t want to waste them!

We drove through McDonald’s on the way and ate lunch in the car, arriving at the park about 12:30 p.m. We coated everyone with sunscreen, loaded up the stroller and headed into the park. It was hot . . . really hot. We managed to ride a couple of rides before we had to stop and buy some water bottles.

We wrote our initials on the bottles and kept them on the stroller all day, refilling at water fountains. I think this really got us through the day. We found out later in the day that free ice water was available at all of the food stands, so we took advantage of that too.

We spent the day walking around the park, taking turns riding the rides that each one wanted to ride. There were a lot of people there, which really surprised me – I guess we Texans are a courageous bunch – or maybe just not very smart! We would duck into the stores periodically to get a blast of air conditioning, and check out the merchandise. Most of the time was spent riding -

We had snacks about mid-afternoon – you can really see the effects of the heat in these pictures! Jeff and the big kids were off riding the Titan while the rest of us sat in the shade -

We were glad to get inside in a “semi-” air conditioned building to watch the Looney Tunes characters put on a show. We sat right up front which was fun for the kids (but really loud!) -

After a few more roller coasters and a pizza dinner, we boarded the train for a trip around the park – always a favorite attraction.

Another favorite, especially for the littles, was the Yosemite Sam ride – a boat ride that takes you through a tunnel filled with Looney Tunes scenes -

Jeff took the big kids to the top of the tower – the littles, me, and my fear of heights stayed at ground level. Jeff took this great picture up there in the sky -

Evening, and it was still very hot, but we were glad for the little relief that the sun’s setting gave us. David got to meet one of his favorite characters – Scooby Doo – actually it was Scrappy Doo, but noone could tell him that!

We ended up staying until closing, which was preceded by a “Glow in the Park” parade at 9:45 p.m. This was really neat with floats and people all dark except for the beautiful lights that they wore. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of it – I was just too tired to pull out the camera at that point!

As we headed back to the van, we were tired, sweaty, and had achey feet, but we were all satisfied with the day, and have fond memories of our time there. David is still asking if we’re going back again “in the morning”.

Blessings,
Nancy

Our 4th of July Weekend

Before we get too far away from it, I wanted to share how we spent our 4th of July weekend. The weekend started for us on Thursday with a trip to the minor league ballpark. This is always fun because it is a much smaller stadium than the major league, so every seat is a good one. This trip was for Jeff and I, Laura, Tommy, and Sarah. Ryan came over and stayed with the rest of the kids for the night – a treat in itself for them! Here are a few pictures from our outing -

While I watched the game I spent most of the evening perusing the new Stampin’ Up catalog that I had just received before the game -

And of course, we had our traditional hot dogs, burgers, nachos, and some of these, too -

Jeff was off of work for the rest of the weekend, so Friday morning found us packing up the kids and heading out to the movie theater to see Toy Story 3 -

We all really enjoyed the movie, even though we ended up on the front row of the theater! We may go back and see it again next week. After leaving the theater, we stopped off at the fireworks stand to stock up for the rest of the weekend. It started to rain while we were there, as you can tell by the dark clouds in the picture -

We spent the rest of the day cleaning up and getting ready for the family to come over and celebrate on the 3rd. Rain threatened to ruin our plans, but it held off and we ended up enjoying the day and evening together. There was swimming and snacks to start the afternoon, and then we cooked out and enjoyed this delicious spread of food -

My sister-in-law’s grilled corn was a highlight of the meal – sweet and tender – yummy!

Remember the one about growing teenage boys and their appetites? Check out my nephew’s plate -

Laura got full and started playing with her food – she created this little guy to serve as dinner mascot -

After dinner we got the ice cream ready to freeze and did some firecrackers and sparklers until it got dark. The big guys organized and shot off the big fireworks while the rest of us enjoyed our homemade ice cream -

The next day – the 4th – was just our immediate family – a relaxing day of swimming and cooking out (again). Those burgers sure were delicious! -

Just before dark, we hopped in the van and went to find a spot close to a park to see the local fireworks show. After the show, Mattie stopped by and bought more fireworks at the stand, and the kids had some more fun to end the day. After all of the excitement was over (and the noise, which David and Anna had had enough of!), all of them brought down pillows and sleeping bags; we put in a movie and they camped out on the living room floor for the night.

The next day Jeff was still off work, and we spent the day recuperating from our busy, but fun weekend, with more swimming, a run to McD’s for lunch, and one of our favorite meals – Cashew Chicken – for dinner. Tuesday it was back to normal life, but the fun memories live on.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Thankful Thursday ~ July 8th

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I Thessalonians 5:16-18

My Dad went to be with the Lord last year at this time, and my thoughts have been very much of him in recent days. I am devoting my thankful list this week to my Dad, who will forever be a part of me and will live in my heart and thoughts until we are reunited in heaven.

~ I am thankful for Dad’s comforting arms throughout my life – from the time I was born up until the day he passed away – being held by him always made me feel protected, safe, and loved – it is a memory I will treasure always.

~ I am thankful for the way Dad cared for and provided for his family – working hard his whole life to care for his wife and four children.

~ I am thankful that Dad grew his family up involved in the church, and was an example of service and leadership to us.

~ I am thankful for Dad’s listening ear – the way he lovingly discussed our troubles with us.

~ Along with that, I am thankful for Dad’s wisdom and guidance in my life and that he was always willing to help out when asked.

~ I am thankful that Dad taught me to be organized – maybe more caught than taught – he was a master organizer, which I always admired.

~ I am thankful for Dad’s sense of humor – I always loved it when he laughed and my memories of those special times are especially dear.

~ I am thankful for Dad’s faith in the Lord, especially in his later years. It was a joy to me to share that faith with him, and a true comfort in his passing – to know that he is with the Lord and is experiencing all of the joys of heaven.

I heard something on a radio program yesterday that really touched my heart. The speaker said that the people in our lives that we love – our spouse, children, parents, siblings, friends, relatives – are gifts from God to us for a time. They are His and we are blessed to share our lives with them. Their passing away is only a temporary separation. The reality is that we will be with them again for all eternity, if they (and we) have placed our trust in Christ for salvation from our sins. I hope that this will bless your heart the way it blessed mine!

Thankful Thursday is being hosted this month by Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage. Please visit Lynn to find the list of participants in this week’s Thankful Thursday.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Bowling Fun!

Have you heard about the “Kids Bowl Free” deal that is being offered at bowling alleys around the nation? You can sign your children up for 2 free games each day, any day, all summer long. Or to make it a family event, you can buy a family pass for just $24.95 – a one time payment – and each member of the family can bowl 2 games free each and every day this summer. All you pay for is shoe rental. You can find out all of the information and sign up here – www.kidsbowlfree.com

Jeff heard about this and signed us up for a family pass a few weeks ago, and we’ve already started putting it to use. Here are a few shots of the kids bowling -

We had a great time, and two games took us about two hours, which was just about right. The bowling alley we went to added a new dimension to our fun when about halfway through our second game, the bright lights went off and the fluorescent lights came on making our pins, balls, and even our shoes glow in the dark – the picture doesn’t really do it justice -

We plan on taking advantage of this deal all summer long. Be sure to check it out – cheap summer fun is always welcome around here!

Be back soon ~

Blessings,
Nancy

Another great season!

Saturday was our final basketball game of the season. The awards ceremony was held last night. As always, it was a great experience for our family. We have been doing Upwards basketball for 4 or 5 years now, and it is always lots of fun. This year we had Michael playing ball, and Anna cheerleading. They both had wonderful coaches and thoroughly enjoyed the season.

While I did take a number of pictures throughout the season, I won’t post them here, as they include so many other children that I don’t have permission to post publicly. I did crop a couple of shots so that I could post my two in their uniforms ~

Michael in defensive action -

Anna following a cheer -

It will be nice to have a little more time in our schedule now (although one of the things we like about Upward is the low time committment), but we will miss the fun of the games, and even the practices until next year.

Be back again soon!

Blessings,
Nancy

Our new Keepers of the Faith year has begun!

Keepers of the Faith is a club which meets at church once a month. The boys (and Dads) club is called Contenders of the Faith, and they meet separately from the girls (and Moms) club. Each monthly meeting the kids learn about one of many different topics – skills to learn, etc. During the rest of the month, they work at home on badges that they earn when they complete the requirements for the specific badges. The club runs from January to October each year, with a final Expo night held in November when the kids can share what they have learned, worked on, and the badges they have received during the year.

We held our first Keepers of the Faith meeting of the new year last week. The boys learned all about knife sharpening, while the girls wrapped candy bars in colorful papers and ribbons for gift giving.

Being the first meeting of the year, all of the children turned in a list of badges that they would be working on throughout the year. They can work on and finish other badges, too, but if they finish the ones on their list they earn a special “Finisher” badge. The badges are listed and explained in their handbooks, which are great resources for learning lots of new skills.

Here are the badges that my children chose to work on this year -

Tommy
Bible Reading – The Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy)
Bible Memory – The Lord’s Prayer
Skills – Lapbooking
Ice Cream Making
Diorama

Sarah
Bible Reading – The Pentateuch
Bible Memory – The Lord’s Prayer
Skills – Card Making
Singing
Album making

Michael
Bible Reading – The Gospels and Acts
Bible Memory – The Widow’s Offering (Mark 12:41-44)
Skills – Lapbooking
Trees
Diorama

Anna
Bible Memory – various Love verses
Skills – Ice Skating
Muffin Baking
Card Making
Snacks & Drinks (preparation)

I will share pictures throughout the year of their works in progress and the things they are learning in their club meetings. We have some fun meetings planned for this year – Volleyball, Honey Bees, Chess, Rip Circle Flower making, to name a few.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Keepers of the Faith program, you can go to their website – Keepers of the Faith - and check it out. The clubs can be run formally through your church or with other families, or you can simply work through the badges individually as a family. We were so happy to find this program already in place at our church when we started there 4 years ago.

Have a nice day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Hello There!

Well, it’s a new month in a new year! I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us in 2010, and pray that it will be a blessed year for you all. Whatever comes our way, it is all in the Lord’s sovereign hands and we can find such peace and rest when we trust Him to work out His plan in His time.

We have started back to school, which has had a few bumps, but seems to be going smoother now – it’s hard for all of us to get back in the routine, but also feels good to have more “regular” days at home, rather than being so busy outside the house all the time.

Yesterday we celebrated Matthew’s 19th birthday! How does the time fly? We will be celebrating with the whole family this weekend, as well as celebrating his graduation, even though he has basically been finished since last year. He begins taking courses at a local college in a week or two. He will be taking 4 classes – English, Speech, Sociology, and Humanities. He has been saving furiously for a car, and should be able to buy one when the right one appears any day now.

Along with starting back to school with the kids, I have been spending my days packing up the Christmas decorations, and redecorating the house. I usually just put everything back out in their normal spots, but this year I am finding myself wanting to change things up, not putting out so many knick knacks and moving things around a bit. I am trying to lighten the load around the house – less cluttered and more space than we have had previously.

Basketball and Cheerleading have started up for Michael and Anna – they have had two games already and are enjoying it. We do these through the Upwards program at an area church – this is our 4th year there – we are always pleased with the program – good teaching with a Christian focus, and not too much pressure or time involved. Tommy and Sarah have started back their ice skating lessons once a week and are learning some harder moves already this year.

Our ladies Bible study has begun a new study that will last throughout this year. We are studying Martha Peace’s book “The Excellent Wife”. We have a lot of ladies joining in, and are looking forward to a good year of study.

Well, enough updates for now ~ I’ll be posting my Daybook next, a little later than usual, but one of my favorite ways to start a new week. Have a wonderful day wherever you are, and stay warm!

Blessings,
Nancy

A Few Snapshots From Last Weekend . . .

Last weekend was a busy one for us, but thanks to a glitch with my computer and uploading pictures, I haven’t been able to post about it until now. But, I have managed to outsmart my computer for once in my life . . . heh, heh, heh (evil scientist laugh) . . . when even the resident tech go-to support people couldn’t solve the problem. It just goes to show you that if you fiddle around and have a little patience you can beat it at it’s (the computer’s) tricks – either that or completely crash it – in which case, the computer has the last laugh. But, not this time. Thank you for indulging me as I digress.

Anyway, like I was saying, it was a busy weekend for us last weekend. Friday night was our annual Reformation Day celebration at church. Costume opportunity #1. Everyone is invited to dress in medieval attire, which means six costumes around here. Thankfully many of these are worn and handed down year to year, and we only ended up having to purchase 2 new ones this year, which wasn’t too bad – especially since we waited until the last week and they were already marked down 30%. Here are a few snapshots we took before leaving home ~

We spent the evening enjoying a fellowship meal, hearing a short talk on the life of John Calvin, and, after the costume contest, the children ran around the church – attending various booths to play games that each, in some way, taught about Calvin’s life. Jeff and I ran the “Authority of the Bible” booth, where the children had to throw balls and knock down every book (cardboard reproductions) except the Bible. It was lots of fun, but I was so caught up in the events that I forgot to take pictures! So, these will have to suffice – and the older girls looked so lovely in their long medieval dresses, too! Oh, well, maybe I’ll do better next year!

Costume opportunity #2 -the next night we attended the Fall Festival that we have been going to for many years back in our old town. It is full of games, bounce houses, ponies, and candy. It seems to get bigger every year and is sometimes a lesson in patience as we wait in line with the crowds for each event. This night required 5 more costumes (now you know what I spent the previous week doing). I managed to get more pictures this night ~

Our group included three clowns, a cheerleader, and Elizabeth Swann -

We played Limbo . . .

Baseball (or should I say “air-ball”?) . . .

Decorated cupcakes . . .

And pet the animals in the petting zoo . . .

When we were sufficiently worn out, we headed to my mom’s house (an annual tradition) and the kids dumped and sorted their candy – always a highlight of the evening – especially since the rest of us can sit down and relax finally!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend – ours is gearing up to be another busy one, but at least no costumes are involved this time!

Blessings,
Nancy

A Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

Monday found us with a beautiful Fall day just perfect for our trip to the Pumpkin Farm. After our morning studies and a quick lunch, we packed in the van and headed for the farm. It was a lovely drive, down country roads lined with farms and Autumn trees.

We arrived at the Pumpkin Farm and were greeted inside the front gate by many friendly (and hungry) goats. Thankfully, they were behind fences! We had been given cups of feed when we entered and the children started feeding them while I started taking pictures -

In addition to the many goats, there were also sheep to feed -

And a few Longhorn steer, too – in classic Texas style -

Next we took advantage of the abundance of Fall decorations and pumpkins around the property for a few posed pictures -

We spent some time climbing on the hay bale spider, one of several neat hay bales around -

The next part of our adventure was the hay ride, always lots of fun -

Finally, it was time to hit the pumpkin patch and pick pumpkins. Each person was allowed to pick one small pumpkin from the patch to take home (part of the entrance fee). It was fun wandering around the field looking for the ones we wanted -

We did a little more socializing with the animals before leaving -

And took this group picture – they really did have a good time, even if they don’t look like it! ( I told Jeff it looks like a mug shot!) I think they were just a bit tired by this point – I know David was -

And speaking of David – did you notice how many pictures of David are in this post? Can you tell he’s the baby of the family? Well, here’s one more, for the road, because I’m a mother and I just can’t help myself (again) -

Blessings,
Nancy