Rodents Looking for a Theme Park

I very much enjoy a cup of coffee on the back porch in the morning. This morning when I headed for the porch swing with my coffee & laptop, one of the bunnies was up on the porch. I'm sure she wasn't in the garden . . . hmm. Then on the fence there was a squirrel who apparently had been eating food out of the bird feeders. So much for Padme', the fierce watch dog! Jon said it starting to look like a rodent theme park in our back yard.

Today was the third dentist appointment in three weeks for me. Yuck! Hopefully two more appointments and my dental work will be complete!

Today was also Daddy's back surgery. Janice called and said he made it through surgery and was resting, not comfortably, but resting.

Chips n' Salsa

.
.







Today we enjoyed visiting with Granny & Donnie for lunch. With it being a five hour drive between us, sometimes each of us drive half way so we can have lunch and visit together. On the drive to meet them the little kids napped on Sissy. We enjoyed some great Mexican food and conversation. Bucky, their yellow lab, even came along for the ride! Frankie went back with Granny and Donnie to help them get ready for the fourth of July celebration. It seems strange that the kids are old enough to go off without Mom & Dad. Of course, it wasn't that long ago when it was Sissy riding in the back seat napping on stuffed animals with her hair in braids!

The Boys

Caleb had a great weekend with his friends. Caleb & Blake took off with Richard to his grandparents house. The boys had their pictures taken in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (Texas). The boys had a great time camping, fishing and using the paddle boats. He came home worn out and dirty!

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Caleb was gone this weekend, so it was a girls weekend! We took a trip to Home Depot and picked out shelves for the girls room. We re-arranged furniture with their new daybed, so they were needing storage options for the toys. Jon mounted the shelves and moved furniture around. Frankie was a big help with tools helping Dad.





I braided Abigail's hair to get ready for summer swim lessons. It is so much easier for her to wash it herself when braided. Abigail loves it in braids, no tangles!

Caleb's Birthday

The kids spent most of the day playing with the Roman Colosseum, Roman ship, catapults and Roman soldiers. At one point, even Padme' was under attack! You can tell how worked up she was!

We closed off the day with a 'Narnia' themed birthday cake. Chocolate of course!

Caleb's 11th Birthday

.

.

It's Caleb's birthday! Our 'Little Man' is eleven years old! Last night Caleb and Abigail were so worn out from VBS that they fell asleep in the living room floor. So, we had our birthday celebration this morning in the living room. Breakfast in bed was chocolate donuts and Diet Rite. There were lots of Roman soldiers, a 'Taters of the Lost Ark' Mr. Potato Head, Longhorn clogs, and an educational toy or two! The great news about him being eleven is he can do the 'some assembly required' himself! He's looking forward to taking the birthday money and buying the PlayStation II Lego Indiana Jones game.

Rockin' Memorial

.

.

.

.

.

Today's VBS story was Joshua and the Israelites stacking the 12 stones as a memorial of God stopping the waters of the Jordan river. Our skit was a press conference with Joshua. Caleb was one of the reporters asking Joshua questions about God's instructions. During evening services the different age groups performed songs for the parents. Since Caleb helped with the 3, 4 & 5 year old chorus classes, he helped them get arranged on stage. The photo of Abigail is her with her buddy Cade. Every time I say Abigail during VBS she was with Blake & Cade. We were so happy during our final wrap up that our hero, Scout was able to catch the prospector who kept stealing parts of our memory verse!

Rock Solid Plans

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It's day 2 of VBS. Today my drama kids from LTC performed the my interpretation of the Wise and Foolish builder parable. We had 187 children in attendance. The performance went really well! Everyone was a great sport.

The theme of VBS is, 'He is the Rock.' All of the Bible stories we're using have a rock component. With that in mind the VBS coordinators have brought in a rock climbing wall each day of VBS to re-enforce the symbolism of God being our rock. 'No fear' Abigail loved the rock wall. I think she climbed the wall twice yesterday and twice today!

Giant Expectations

Today was the first day of Vacation Bible School. Our story was the story of David & Goliath. Caleb played the part of David and did a wonderful job. I was so proud of him. Frankie and I spent most of this past weekend finishing costumes for the three Bible dramas. Dale played the part of Goliath and was such a good sport. I dressed him ironing board fabric, a window visor and lots of duct tape, he never complained! Then I let Caleb throw a rock at him!

Here's Your Sign

.




We worked on a sign for Vacation Bible School today. With VBS coming up next week, the congregation will host a thank you dinner for all the volunteers. We painted a sign for the fellowship hall.

Madame Blueberry

We tackled the blueberries today! We started by making half pints of blueberry syrup, perfect for ice cream, pound cake, cheese cake, pancakes or bread pudding! The children took turns washing, crushing, mixing and stirring the syrup. We mixed the blueberries with lemon juice, sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt. When we finished the canning process we had nine half pints of blueberry syrup, plus the twelve pints of blackberry jelly from yesterday. But we still had a lot of blueberries! We used the rest of the blueberries to make thirty-six muffins and six loaves of bread. It's a good thing we have a big freezer!

Berry Picking

Today we went berry picking with our friends Ms. Amanda, Ian, Seth, and several other homeschooling families. We picked about a gallon of blackberries and a gallon of blueberries. We even ran into friends from church at the farm! We followed up with a picnic lunch. When we came home we had lots of berries to wash, and sort. We had enough blackberries to make 12 pints of jelly. Tomorrow we will work on the blueberries!

Good Times

This is my photo for today! I went to the dentist because I chipped a tooth on a popcorn kernel. Seems as though I have 3 wisdom teeth that need removed! Apparently most people do that at about 18, not 40! Good news is they are not impacted!