Stop Light

The kiddos just happened to dress like this.

Then we added Philip in too.

It's the best picture of all of them I've taken in awhile!

Bits and Pieces

We've been busy this month so we haven't gotten too carried away with projects but we did do a couple cool ones. We broke out the watercolors for Father's Day cards. Even Philip got to paint and Thomas did some of his best work ever.

Philip's work.
Thomas painted this mulberry tree with a ladder for picking because Grandpa Steve loves mulberry pie and Jeremy and the boys had been picking some mulberries for a Father's Day pie.

We also did this experiment. You put a ping pong ball in a hair dryer's air stream and then slowly tip the dryer to see what happens.

Julia got hit by a swing- ouch!
And one Julia story:

After driving by a freshly baled field Julia says to me, "Mommy! Look at all those hay bales! They're so cute!" She's a true country girl I guess.

I just like this picture of Philip. :)

Headed to the Pool

I love Julia in this picture. It's from just before we went to the pool for the first time this summer.
Yesterday Samuel was saved at the pool. No, he didn't accept Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, after 8 successful crossings, he fell off the lilly pads and into the water I thought he could touch in. Turns out his nose isn't exactly out of the water when his feet are touching there. He was totally fine but we decided Mommy or Daddy better be watching any more lilly pad crossings. It was a little embarrassing (more for me than him though I think). To top it off Philip spent most of his pool time climbing out of the shallow end and trying to make a run for the deep end. Obviously I was watching him and not Sam. I don't know what his attraction to the deep end was but it wore me out!

As a side note I discovered why my pictures don't enlarge when you click on them. If you drag and drop your pictures to move them around- which I always do-they no longer enlarge. Huh, now I know.

Caboose Fun

We enjoyed a few days staying at our nearby state park in the cabooses again this year. Our friends Chris and Anne and their boys joined us in the fun. Here's the whole gang. We had a 7 year old, two 6 year olds, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 1year old. How fun!The boys (including Jeremy) rode a lot of miles on their bikes. Whenever we weren't doing something specific they biked around the parking lot or on went on a ride. Julia recently got a new bike but she hasn't gotten the hang of pedalling yet so she rode in the wagon Anne was smart enough to bring.We enjoyed the sand on the beach during one bike ride, I'm not sure what Philip is doing but he did it for a long time!and actually played in the water the next day. The kids spent a good chunk of their time building dams in the sand. They built two rather big ones and Jeremy filled them up to see if they'd hold. You can see Thomas's in the bottom right. Julia built a whole bunch of piles and when they collapsed lamented, "Mommy! It's melting!"

We tried our hand at fishing again this year but didn't catch anything. Well, Julia was very excited every time she caught some moss. Thanks to that her attention span for fishing was amazing.

We enjoyed smores every night. Julia ended up not liking them so she ate raw marshmallows. Philip enjoyed his a little too much, see the hair? Good thing I read Lynn's blog and brought along a rubbermaid tub for him to take a bath in. The sink was too little and a shower wouldn't have worked!

The kids loved my thrown together scavenger hunts.Philip really loved going in and out of this cupboard and then closing himself in.

I love this series of pictures of the kids in trees. And here's the family.It was a great time!

VBS

This week for our first big summer activity we attended Kids for Jesus vacation Bible school. It's a really nice program and it's specifically Catholic so you get to learn about cool saints and the Eucharist along with the normal songs and games. We all went (well, except Jeremy) the big boys participated, I taught one of the stations and the two little ones went to "daycare." One of the coordinator's daughter and her friend watch any volunteer's kids who are too little to participate. Philip did really well the first two days but the last three the two ladies who coordinate the whole thing ended up carrying him around on their hips and then he did okay. He's teething (still!!) and he couldn't do much in the classroom they were using for daycare so he got tired of being in there. The ladies didn't mind too much, neither of them have babies at home anymore so they got some good snuggling in. Good thing Philip likes everyone.
I got to teach about the saint of the day and do a little activity with the kids. There were five different ages groups so I had to tweak the lessons for age a little. I had to tweak the content of a couple too. One day they wanted me to have each kid build a pioneer church out of a milk carton, pretzels, glue and chocolate frosting. We had 25 minutes and it wasn't the only activity for that day. Needless to say, we skipped the pioneer church!
The kids and I all really enjoyed ourselves but if I ever had any inclination to teach even part time while the kids are little I've been reminded not to. The house was a disaster all week, we ate out three times and we're all EXHAUSTED. I think a nap might be in order...

Lifting Up My Heart...

And pondering
Unconditional love- God's for me and how I can reflect that love for my husband and children
In thanksgiving for
Love
Peony blossoms
A long chat with an old friend
A swimming pool with zero depth entry
Warm enough weather to go to the swimming pool
Resting time
In prayer for
My husband as planting season wraps up

My children and teaching them how to be loving

Lynn and her family at FOCUS training
My parents and Beth as they travel to AZ
Rachel and Carl as they prepare for their wedding this weekend and married life
All of you