What do you do on a hot summer day?

Caeley, Emma, Anna and Kate enjoy freezy pops

Grant and Erik dry off by the pool

On the Road Again

A few days ago we packed up the ol' minivan and headed west. We are now mostly settled in an apartment in Colorado and this will be our home away from home for the next six weeks! The kids are thrilled because our apartment faces the swimming pool and because there are a lot of kids around here to get to know! :-) My husband is taking classes at the university in town for the next four weeks and then we will both be attending a training conference for the following two weeks. There will be a lot of information to stuff into our brains, but we are excited to be here and looking forward to what God will teach us this summer.

P.S. Thank you, Megan, for house-sitting for us while we are gone!!!

Katie and Grant were excited to FINALLY hit the pool that is right outside our front door! :-)

Katie made a new friend, Anna, who just happens to be the daughter of a friend of mine! How fun is that? :-) Katie and Anna are like two peas in a pod and their moms are delighted that God has brought them together!

School's Out!

Do you see those happy faces? Grant and Kate finished their school work for the year last week and they are officially off for the summer! Now they have time to play at the park and spend time with friends. That is their friend, Krystal, in the photos above, whose cat recently had kittens. :-)

Oh, Happy Day!

Today is Grant's "Gotcha Day." It is hard to believe that NINE years have passed since that day that God brought our son to us. Wow. We were so excited and nervous. Grant was placed in our arms and suddenly we were parents. All of the sorrow and pain and aching melted when we looked into his face. Oh, we still remember the journey, but the sweetness of having Grant in our lives has softened it and given purpose to the pain and the long wait.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
~Proverbs 13:12

Grant is full of energy, always bouncing and running about, rather like Tigger. :-) He loves to ask questions and express himself and he will talk your ear off if you let him. He has a great imagination and is lots of fun to be with. Grant loves people and makes friends easily. He is smart and capable and has compassion for people in need. It is such a joy to be his mom!

Grant's Gotcha Day is also Dave's birthday! What better birthday present could he have ever gotten than the gift of a child and the privilege of being a father? :-) We are so thankful!

Slip - N - Slide

Whenever the temperature reaches the 70's, my kids start begging to play in water. We have a small hill in our yard and my husband put down a long piece of plastic to slide down on. We turn on the hose and, voila!- instant slip-n-slide! :-) Soon neighbor kids joined the fun and we had a slip-n-sliding party going on...and it's not even summer yet! :-)

Homeschool Class at the Zoo

Last week the kids took part in a class for homeschoolers at the local zoo about animals in the African Savannah. I was impressed with what a great job the people from the zoo did at presenting the information in an interesting way and letting the kids have fun as they learned. Part of the time was spent in a classroom and the rest was spent outside looking at the animals.

After class, we explored the zoo a little longer and the kids got to ride a carousel in the park, before we started for home.

Baby giraffe up close and personal. :-)


Fun on the carousel.

Mother's Day 2007

I am a mother because of God's gift of these two precious ones.


This is what Grant wrote on the card he gave me. I love it! :-)

Neighborhood Garage Sale

When Dave and I first moved to this area, long before we had kids, we saw some signs advertising for an upcoming neighborhood garage sale ~ involving 200+ families! Now, I love garage sales, but I had never heard of so many sales in one place at the same time and I couldn't wait to check it out. That Saturday, we drove to the neighborhood where we had seen the signs, and the closer we got, the worse the traffic got. We finally parked in a grassy field by some other cars and set off to see the sales.

Oh my goodness. It was unbelievable. Throngs of people filled the streets. There were garage sales at several houses on each street. There were people selling hotdogs, hamburgers, pop, coffee, bottled water, cotton candy, cookies, chips, doughnuts and candy. There were even port-a-potties! It was like a carnival. We stood there with our mouths open for a minute and then my husband said, "I have never seen anything like this in all my live-long days!" That was about 12 years ago and we have gone to this neighborhood sale almost every year since. Even my kids save their allowance and look forward to this particular day of garage sales.

Well, today was the day. Grant and Katie brought their money and looked for kid-sized bargains at each sale. I brought the old baby stroller along to hold our purchases. We shopped. We bought snacks. We saw friends. And, we even visited the port-a-potties. (At least Grant did. :-))

Many years ago, Dave saw the money-making potential at this event and now uses it to help high school students earn money to attend our ministry's summer conference. So, the kids and I shopped like crazy and Dave grilled 350 hotdogs and 175 hamburgers and we are all exhausted. :-) But, it was a great day. Now we can start saving for next year...

Grant waits in one of the port-a-potty lines. :-)

The "grill master" and students raising money. :-)

Katie and Grant at the end of a day at the sales.

Mother’s Day Giveaway

5 Minutes For Mom is having a Mother's Day Giveaway! Check out the link below for great prizes you can win!

Happy May Day!

The kids made May baskets today to give to some of our neighbors. They flew through their school work so that they would have time to do the baskets. They had a blast making them and then leaving them on doorsteps, ringing the bell and running! :-)

Not braces...yet

Grantie recently got a retainer that he has to wear as much as possible for the next six weeks. He is only supposed to take it out for meals and playing sports. After six weeks, he won't have to wear it quite as often, but will have to wear it some for a few months. He has really been a trooper about it so far. And he is learning to speak pretty well with it in his mouth, which isn't all that surprising because he always finds a way to talk! :-)

Spring

Happy Easter!
April 8, 2007

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. ~ 1 Peter 1:3

Where does the time go? Easter was over a week ago, already. The days have been sunny and warmer and the kids spend every moment possible playing outside with their friends. It is a relief to see the sun and feel its warmth. Spring has really come!

I could not resist buying a bunch of tulips at the grocery store today. Such a simple thing, but they make me smile every time I look at them. They are beautiful and seem to be bursting with joy. I love tulips! :-)

Happy Birthday, Grant!

It was early morning and the house was quiet. Everyone was sleeping. Well, almost everyone. All of a sudden, we heard a happy voice shouting, "Wake up, everyone! It's my birthday! Wake up!" And that is how Grant's 9th birthday began.

After a breakfast of cereal and jelly beans, Grant opened presents from Katie, Dave and I. Then we loaded up and headed out to...Chuck E. Cheese's. Yep, we did it. We had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Wow. There is so much stimuli there...lights, bells, whistles, games, prizes, videos, music, dancing, cake and pizza. Grant and the other boys at his party could barely manage to sit at the table long enough to eat and watch the opening of presents before launching themselves back to all those games, just showing their faces when they needed more tokens. :-)

This is the first time one of the kids has had a party that we have not hosted in our home and I have to admit it was rather nice not to have all the prep and clean-up. It was definitely a different kind of party than we've had before, but I think everyone had a good time.

Happy Birthday, Grant! You bring so much life and joy to our lives. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with such a wonderful son as you!

Construction Zone

We have finally begun to finish the lower levels of the house! Dave and the kids started with the area that will become Grant's room. These pictures were taken the first day Dave started working and he has gotten a lot done since then. It is so exciting to see walls going up and closets and doorways taking shape. It sure makes it easier to imagine how it will all look now! :-)

Birthday

Today is my birthday. :-) My husband is giving me some time to myself today while he watches the kids. I will probably go shopping and then to Barnes & Noble to read and enjoy a cup of coffee. Later, Dave is going to grill steak for dinner and we will watch a movie.

A nice, low-key, relaxing day. Sounds perfect. :-)

The kids made paper flowers and cards for me and showered me with hugs and kisses. What could be better than that?

On the Road

Watching movies on the computer.



Playing "Red Light, Green Light" at a rest area.

The Snowstorm

We had a huge snowstorm, resulting in about two feet of snow, before we left for Colorado. This is Dave snow~blowing the driveway. The kids had a blast playing in all that snow. Now it is all gone!

We're Back

We miss seeing this view every day!

We got back from Colorado a few days ago. We drove out there for Dave's Mom's funeral. Both of Dave's parents are gone now. They died within a year of each other. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Dave's Dad's death last year. This is a difficult time for Dave, of course, while he processes all that has happened in his family in a year.

While we were in Colorado we enjoyed being with family again. And, Colorado still feels like home to us, even though we have not lived there for over ten years! Ahh...the mountains are beautiful!

We tried to make the trip fun for the kids as it is a long drive for little ones. They did great in the car and enjoyed watching movies on daddy's laptop. We also made sure to stay in a hotel with a pool on the way out there and back so the kids could swim. We played quite a few rounds of Marco Polo, as well as tag and other chasing games, too.

We had great driving weather and while we were in Colorado, the temperature reached almost 80! When we got back home, all the snow had melted ~ there was about two feet of snow when we left! But, we are glad for the warmer days and we hope the snow is gone for good!

Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

Dave's mom went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday. She died in her sleep early in the morning. She knew and loved Jesus, so we have the peace and comfort of knowing that she is with Him now and that we will see her again some day. We have gathered with Dave's siblings and their families to celebrate their mom's life. There is a lot of joy because Jo Ann was a fun-loving person. Although she is dearly missed, this is really a time of celebration, because of the life she lived and the confidence we have that she is now with the Lord.

God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27

Gotcha!

Today is Katie's "Gotcha Day!" Seven years ago , we brought our baby girl home. We were so excited, so thankful, so happy to finally be holding her in our arms. She was, and is, a delight.

Although she is shy, she is definitely not quiet~having one of the loudest, ear-piercing, glass-shattering screams possible and using it often. Katie can hold her own with her brother, but she also loves playing house, baby dolls, dress-up, crafts and pink everything. She can organize like a pro, likes to help me cook and is a great help around the house. Katie is so much fun and when she laughs, she throws back her head and completely gives herself over to it.

We are so thankful that God has blessed us with this precious daughter.

We love you, Katie, and we are so happy that we "gotcha!" :-)

(God) determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

~Acts17:26

February 2007

Cold and snowy days

Science experiments

Valentine's Day

Better

Everyone in our household is better, now. All the medicine has been taken. Katie still needs nebs, but not as many as before. We heard that our neighbors had the flu...oh, boy, I feel for them.

Katie and I had a fun mother-daughter teatime at a local tea room last week. She piled whipped cream, jam and lemon curd high on a scone and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. :-) It was fun to spend the afternoon with my girl. This special outing certainly made up for the

horrible, no good, very bad birthday

a couple weeks ago!

It has been cold, like an icebox, for what seems like forever now. It is hard to be motivated to do anything, except curl up under a down comforter. I hope there is a warm-up on the way soon!

Snow Day

It is snowing and blowing out there. The roads are slippery. We ventured out to take one of our cars in for repairs this morning. It normally takes about 5-7 minutes to get there. Today we inched along. Cars that had spun out were on the sides of the road. There was an accident on the highway nearby, which was the cause for all the backed-up traffic. Dave dropped the car off at the shop and hopped in the other car with the kids and I and we slowly crept back home. The whole trip took about an hour.

Now we are back home and we're not leaving again today! Dave's meeting downtown was canceled, so he will just be at the office, which is not far from home. I gave the kids some hot cocoa and made myself a cup of strong, hot coffee. We are hunkering down for a cozy day with lots of time for cuddling and reading stories together. From inside our home, the snowy day outside is beautiful. :-)

Happy Birthday?

Poor Katie! Two days before her seventh birthday she started coming down with something. We planned to celebrate on Saturday with a small family party, even though her actual birthday is today. Well, on Saturday she had a fever and a cough, although she still wanted to open presents and eat birthday cake! :-) (She also insisted on wearing the dress and crown she wore to her princess party last year.) We kept an eye on her, but went ahead with our celebration.

Today we saw the doctor, where Kate was subjected to a blood test and a swab HIGH up in both nostrils to test for the flu. That was awful. She has the flu and her asthma is acting up as well. Grant also has a fever and cough, so he is taking the same medication as Katie. He didn't have to go through the nasal swabbing, though, because they just assume since Katie has the flu, that is what he has, too.

After we left the doctor's office, we headed to the pharmacy where we spent $100 in co~pays for all the meds for both kids! What a day! As Katie said when we got home, "This is NOT a fun birthday!"

He's Home!

Dave was at a conference in Santa Fe this week and just got home last night. The kids had a hard time with him leaving this time. They cried all the way home after we dropped him off and Grant was inconsolable until he talked to Daddy on Mom's cell phone. Dave asked Grant if he could be strong for him while he was gone and Grant rose to the challenge. Grant remarked several times after that, "I feel so much better after talking to Daddy." :-)





We kept busy with the usual activities, as well as a field trip to a local museum for a homeschool class about magnets. The kids were doing great and the time flew by until Katie got sick. :-( So we spent the last couple of days holed up in the house while Katie rested with a big bowl next to her at all times, just in case...

When Dave is gone, I never sleep that well. I guess my brain kind of stays on alert through the night. Anyway, I'm glad Dave is home and the kids are glad Daddy is home and everyone slept well last night. :-)

Homeschooling 101

After our break over Christmas and our trip up north, it took us awhile to get back into the routine of doing schoolwork again. One afternoon Grant started asking Kate to spell words on a board with magnetic letters. Then he asked her to read to him. It was so cute! Grant was being really sweet with his little sister and she was sounding out words and reading to him. Then something happened that sent them into a fit of laughter. And, I had my camera in hand as the whole thing unfolded. :-)