Relaxing...

After a very busy week last week, and not much "family" time, we decided to head to the lake for a little R&R :) We took off mid-afternoon and had an early dinner at Catfish Charlies then hit the lake! It was a little cloudy out for part of the evening but the weather was warm and the sun did come out some so it really was very nice.

Waiting for our yummy pizza.
Nicholas was a little excited! Funny thing is, when I suggested the boat idea everyone was moaning! (except Todd of course ;)) But when we got there, they were all so happy and excited!

They are building this whole new section and I fell in love with this house! Bay window, multiple level deck, right on the lake...wow!
We stopped in this little tucked in area for a little fishing. Them not me! I was busy taking pictures ;)
Nicky's self portrait:
The sun came out some at the end of our little boat ride and was so beautiful on the water!

This has been one of my favorite things to do. Truly so relaxing and private! No messy house to distract me :) Love it!

Breathing is Overrated

The day didn't end as I had planned. Todd and Brandon made it home safely but were running late so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear more details, but I can tell you this...that boy had fun! We were all glad to be reunited even though it was literally only for five minutes because Kristen is spending the night with her cousin ;)

It's always something...

The next time we will all be together is Thursday evening.

~Sigh~

Another "First"

This weekend has been a little different around here.

Kristen was at an Acteens (our churches all-girl group) retreat. Although she has gone on a FEW overnight trips without parents, it isn't a common occurrence. She prefers to spend the night in a familiar bed for the most part, with the occasional sleepover with her best friend. Don't get me wrong, she had a good time, but she's glad to be home! And I'M glad she's home :)

But...

Brandon is on his way to a boyscout camping and canoeing overnight trip. This is a first for him! Todd is going with him, of course. Otherwise the answer would be NO WAY! While I'm excited about his participation in boyscouts, I'm just not that brave. Where Brandon is concerned, I tend to be more cautious about these sorts of things (if that's possible!) because he is allergic to peanuts. Too much can happen. The risk is too great. So, you see, he can only go if Todd goes! I felt sick watching them leave as it was.

I know Todd will take good care of our boy, and I know they will have a great time (although Todd's not too keen on the sleeping on the floor part ;)) but I miss them! And I'm not the only one. Nicholas said he wanted to sleep on the floor in his sleeping bag tonight so he can sleep like Brandon. So sweet!

Tomorrow, everyone will be home together and I will be able to breathe right again :)

A Beautiful Day for the Park

We headed to a park yesterday with some co-op friends. We almost didn't go because it's on the other side of town and I still have so much stuff to get done around here, but I remembered from last year how much fun my kiddos had so I packed us a lunch and we headed on over. I'm so glad we did! There's a "wet" area with water hoses were kids can hose each other down so, of course, that's were we headed first ;)

There's a fort-like structure to run around in trying to dodge the water:

You can bring your own water guns.

Nicholas experimenting with the hose:
Taking aim. At who you ask?
His sweet, little sister of course!
Big brother to the rescue! They played and played! When the bus with all the daycare kids showed up, I called them in for a quick lunch then off to explore the rest of the park ;) This mama doesn't really do crowds :)
After lunch, we headed to the van to put our things away and guess who we ran into?? Angi's gang! They had been to the ponds while we were getting wet so we didn't see much of them this trip, but we got to see their great finds! These are for you, Angi!
Look at those smiles! I think they had some fun :)
You can't really tell by this picture, but there were like 20 or 25 (?) tadpoles in this bucket (only 2 visible). I can't remember how many Chas told me. They all had legs too! Mid-metamorphosis! My boys were giddy seeing that!
We headed over to the beautiful ponds after that! We didn't have any fishing gear or buckets with us but we really wanted to check it out and it was worth it! Gorgeous!

Then it was off to the "dry" playground.
This park had trees and shrubbery everywhere! It was really beautiful.
This is how we all felt when we got home :) Then we had soccer practice and picture day! It made for a longish day but it was alot of fun!

Jenny, thank you for setting up these park days for the co-op families! We have really enjoyed them!

A Great Field Trip!

Last Friday, we headed down to Kentucky to the Creation Museum. As you can tell by the name it is a museum that supports a literal six day, young-earth creation that is described in the Bible.

Several years ago, I struggled with this concept. Like others, I'd heard all the theories about how earth supposedly came to be and those theories were not what I read in my Bible. I'd come to the conclusion that maybe we'd never know...maybe it didn't matter.

Then I took the kids to hear Ken Ham speak at a church in Granville. He is the founder of an organization called Answers in Genesis. It made all the difference to me! For the first time, I heard the Biblical account of creation defended by science! It changed me. I feel truly blessed by the events of that day.

At the time I heard Ken Ham, the Creation Museum was still under construction. They were paying for it as they were able to raise the money so it was a long process. It was completed last year and I finally had an opportunity to go!

I've been using materials from Answers in Genesis for several years in our homeschool so we were familiar with some of the things they had but still we were amazed at all the wonderful information! We saw several shows including the planetarium, which was really wonderful. The Men in White show though may have been my favorite!

Of course I took some pictures to remember our day;)

Upon arrival:

The Noah's Ark displays were some of my favorites!
There was a wall that looked like what the construction may have looked like and it was huge! But it was only 1% of the size of the original ark. That thing was a monster!
This is just a picture of one of the restaurants. I loved the palm trees and lights!

Outside the museum were the Botanical Gardens. We had a picnic lunch there and explored for a while...gorgeous!


This rope suspension bridge was tons of fun:

I don't know what it is about dinosaurs that makes me take a bunch of pictures but...yeah...I always do!
The foundation of this organization is that we can't properly explain salvation, God's saving grace through Jesus, if we don't first tell folks why they need it to begin with! If we know that in the beginning man was perfect, created by God in His image, then rejected God's authority. It then tells of God's plan for redemption. Then, when you tell someone Christ died to cover their sin, it all makes sense. It's all in Genesis.

Month of "Firsts"

A few months ago, we had a "month of lasts" where I posted, as we celebrated, some of Kristen's last special things from high school. Now it's time to celebrate the "firsts" coming up!

Today was the first soccer game of the season for our boys. The very first one ever for Nicky! They had a ball! They have been practicing so hard for the last few weeks and so today they were really excited about playing.

This is my first year having two kids in sports at the same time so I was a little nervous at how to divide my time because, of course, their games were at the same time ;) It ended up not being a problem at all! Their fields were right beside each other! Right from the start, Brandon was playing and Nicky was sitting out so we were at Brandon's field while still able to keep an eye on Nicky so we would know when it was his turn to play. When it was his turn we switched fields. Easy! As the games progressed, they did end up playing at the same time. Still, no problem since we could easily see each field no matter which field we were standing at!

Brandon scored his FIRST GOAL EVER! Of course I did not capture that on film as I was very busy shouting! It was very tense as the other team was right on him and they were all right in front of the goal kicking at the ball! Great job, Brandon! His star for the day, though, was for "most Christ-like behavior". That's the best star EVER!

Nicholas did really well too! He got right in there and went after that ball! His star for the day was "best goalie". He did great (well except near the end when he really wanted to chase the ball!)! Great job, Nicholas!

They will continue to have practice each week so the coaches can work on things they noticed from the games. Giving more informed directions based on observation. Should be fun!

Here's a few pics of my athletes :)

Our "month of firsts" started off with a bang!