Stockings

Christopher makes me laugh as he got so excited over everything in his stocking!

This is the first morning in a long time that the kids woke me up, so if I don't look awake that's why. The chocolate helps!

Christmas with the Newmans

Opening presents gets a little long so Tim decided to take a nap.
My parents got be an MP3 player. I've enjoyed listening to music as I clean.
Here's Keith's new blanket. It was made by my sister and so much like Keith trying to keep everyone happy. ISU on one side and the Hawkeyes on one side. My kids have both decided to be Hawk fans so they really don't like the ISU side. The best was when Sherry my brother Jeff's wife had the ISU side facing out and someone said wrong side. She said,"No she was just trying to keep the Hawks close to her."

Here is Baby Jael! She liked the taste of this bow the best!
Trevon turns two in March so this was practice for his birthday.
Eli did good watching Treven open his presents even though he wanted a few of them. He did like his presents.
Chris gets so excited about his presents!
Along with this coat for her doll, Beth got her last two "Trixie Beldon" books that she needed to complete the set. She was so excited that she was crying! For those of you haven't heard of "Trixie Beldon" they are books written about a 14 year old girl who solves mysteries.

Christmas Update

We have had a great Christmas Season! God has been so very good to us! Not because we got a great expensive Christmas Present, or we got to see all of our family but because these things remind us that He is with us always and it helping us to grow and become more like him. This year we have had numerous car troubles finally we were down to one car again. A couple in our church allowed us to borrow one of their cars. On Wednesday night Dec. 12 I was sick. Keith called be from church and said I needed to bring that car back to them. When I got to church I was handed keys to a new mini van ! Several people at the church made this possible but mainly a couple who lost their adult son last Christmas time. That truly touched my heart and reminded me that what we may consider tragic God can use for good.
We were able to spend time with my family on the 15th and we will be actually doing Christmas with Keith's family on the 29th. We did get together for my nephew Ben's birthday on the 8th. Also Kevin has been at our house since Saturday and Kent has come for supper and played games a couple of nights!
God has blessed us in our jobs this year. While I really don't want to work outside the home, cleaning house has its upsides. Like I can clean my own house quicker, I have a very understanding boss and really don't have to deal with people. Some of the home owners are home and I enjoy talking with them. I thankful recieved a bonus this Christmas! Keith received his normal bonus, but he also recieved an extra bonus for working hard and one for not calling in sick this year.
We are taking a break from school right now. The kids have been helpful with wrapping and baking!
Well its time for lunch and then we are going to go sledding!

Christmas Angels HA HAA!

Here are my darling Christmas Angels! Our Children's program at church was "Hark the Herald Angel" It is a story of what may have happend in heaven before the birth of Jesus. Since they had the robes for the kids the Children's Choir wore them when they sang as part of our Christmas Celebration.

Christmas Program

For our church Christmas program my kids were angels. Christopher got to change and be a shepherd for this part of the program. Beth got to be a special angel and guard baby Jesus.
Here is Beth with her small singing group.
Here is the whole group Chris is in the second row 4th from the right. Beth is in the back row second from the left. They worked on the program since the end of August during Children's Church. Christopher had really enjoys preforming and singing. He would read the program over at least every other day. It really showed that the kids liked the program and that they had practiced hard.

I'm back!

Ok so I've been too busy to blog, but I've decided to change that. At lease once a week I promise to publish something.
We had a good Thanksgiving. I had the flu from the Saturday before until the Monday before. It made it so I really didn't have to watch what I ate. I have offically gone down a size in my clothes. The pants I wore tonight to youth group were way too baggy. Thankfully I had a belt.

BKB Golf Tournament

This is Beth with Ben at the 4th Annual BKB golf outing. It was held on Saturday Sept. 22. Beth helped watch Ben most of the day. Keith, Chris and I sat at the hole where if you got a hole in one you won a free 2year lease. No one won! It was a great day. Altogether they raised $11,383.77 dollars which goes to buy carseats for babies under 5 pounds that get dismissed from the NICU at Mercy Hospitial in Des Moines. This is where my neice Bailey Katherine Bryant was for her short life before she went to heaven becasue of complications of Downs. Also our son Nicholas was there for 2 weeks.

Throw the computer out the window!!!

Ok so we have been having computer problems again. Anyway I have pictures from Beth's birthday which she enjoyed and the Fun Fair at church. My plan is to post them Monday. Sorry.

The weekend

Last night we went to the Homecoming Dinner at Faith. We sat with my brother, wife and daughter, Johanna. We also had one of our past teens,Andy Mungons, with us at the table and another freshman and professor. It was exciting to see what students did for the summer. Also the kids enjoy the time with other kids. This was also the first time we heard the new president, Dr. Maxwell speak. I thought he did a good job at challenging us.
Today Chris got caught up on all his school work. Next week we hope it is better so we don't have to do school on Saturday. We also went to an open house for a couple in our church. It was their 25 year anniversary and their daughter was able to surprise them!!! Then I had to go to the grocery store. Keith and the kids really didn't want to go, but we are trying to save gas so they went. Keith was amazed at what you could buy at ALDI's. I told him he should come more often as it changes. On the way home we did get into the game traffic. The once a year traffic jam in Huxley Iowa.
This next week seems busy as I have to finish up Beth's birthday shopping. She turns 11 one week from tomorrow! Thankfully we are not having a friend party this year. I enjoy them, but they are a lot of work.

Monopoly

Saturday the Hatfields weren't able to come over so we decided to play Monopoly. It was alot of fun! Christopher won! This is the second time we have done this as a family and the second time Christopher won.

Beth and her gum

While I was working today, Beth calls me and says, "I chewed Christopher's gum." I ask if he is mad was it special gum. She says no. So I'm like what's the problem. She says, "He had already chewed it." She took it off his plate after lunch. I reassured her that it wasn't that big of deal. He isn't sick right now. The college girls that was cleaning with me just laughed. She thinks I get some of the most interesting phone calls from my kids.
We are working on cleaning this afternoon. Tomorrow night we are having Pastor Will, Amy and family over for supper. God has blessed us with such a nice house that we need to share it more often. My plan is not to leave home at all tomorrow. We'll have to see. I'm not sure what I'm having for supper so I may have to run to the store.

Labor Day and Starting School!

This weekend was the weekend that Keith decided to help paint the up stairs at my parents' house. It didn't go as well as he expected so we stayed an extra day. We did get home on Tuesday afternoon with enough time to start school. The first two days have been traumatic for Chris, but today was better. Beth has done great! She finishes and then offers to help him. One of the other cleaning ladies quit so I've had my schedule changed alittle. It hasn't been too bad. I just like to be in a routine.

Hershey Factoy

This show was cool. It included these animals,their trainer and 3 divers. The divers were the crooks and the sea lions and their trainer were the detectives. Actually the trainer was their secretary.

Look at the lights on the light poles. They are shaped like Hershey Kisses. Some are wrapped and some are unwrapped. These are on Chocolate Avenue.

This part of the factory as seen from the mono rail. I ended up riding the mono rail 3 times. The first one was Friday night. I wanted to see the park at night. Only Beth didn't want to ride it with me. Kieth and her didn't ride it. So then on Saturday , we convinced her to ride with us and she liked it. Then the kids had to have Keith ride the mono rail with them, so we did.
Below are the singing cows that we saw on the tour of the factory. Actually it is not of the factory, but a tour they have set up.

Hershey Park

When we came into the park on Saturday morning. This guy was showing the skunk. Hershey Park is connected to Zoo America, which you can enter for free from Hershey Park.

Beth and Chris were not quite as daring at Hershey Park to try new rides. This one was O.K. since it was like a ride at Adventureland. They said their favorite ride was the Frog Hopper which they also have at Adventureland. I thought Hershey Park was a great place for all ages. There was a ton of kiddie rides, but also great roller coasters. We went in Friday night for the "Preview". Youn can go from 7:30 pm -10:00 and then we went all day on Saturday and there were still rides most of us didn't ride.

This year was the first year for the new Boardwalk part of Hershey. It is a water park. My kids had looked up pictures on line and were so excited to be there.

This was an interesting ride. It is suppose to be like you are riding waves in the ocean. Chris waited in line, but decided not to do it as you have to jump off the top.

It was very busy so we didn't get to spend a lot of time doing the water slides.

Lancaster Trip

Here is Keith catching a nap between the competition and the youth rally.

One night after the sessions it had rained so the teens decided to play in the puddles.

Beth and Chris thought I should put this picture in the blog.

This is BEth in the pool at the hotel we stayed at in Lancaster.

The youth rally was suppose to be outside . However it was too hot. They held it instead in a ball room in the hotel. They used the good dishes and cloth napkins. I personally found it humorous as it was for teens and they served hamburgers.

Tirp to Lancaster #2

Here is most of our stuff. It was kind of amazing that we fit 30 people's stuff in 1 trailer! This was taken at Cedarville Univeristy.

Here is Carla, she did a great job with the dramas.

Here is the first drama getting ready to preform.

Here is the second drama preforming.

This is the large vocal group. Don't they look great in their robes!

Tip to Lancaster

I know it has been awhile since our trip, but I thought you still might want to see some pictures. Here are the teens at the church the first night. The church was great! They even bought us Pizza for lunch on Sunday.
Our tire on the trailer blew out! We were following and it was kind of wild how they didn't realize it right away. We also lost the fender, but no one was hurt!

The teens decided to play a huge game of spoons. That is the group of spoons in the right corner. They played in one spot and the spoons were over there you actually had to get up to get the spoons.
We decided we should look at a map before we took off the next day. We had a route from map quest, but it always better for everyone to know where we are going. On the lift is Earl and in the middle is Arvin it was nice of them to go with us.

Keith's Funny!

So Keith calls me on my cell phone shortly after he left for work. He said he picked up our cordless phone instead of his drink bottle. He was in too big of a hurry leaving for work! He seems to do that every night, he reads one more chapter to the kids which takes more time then he expects. Then he has to hurry to get to work on time. The kids thought that it was very funny that the phone was in the back seat of the car.
Last night I went to a meeting for home schoolers. It was a good meeting. Even the new superintendent was there in support of home schooling. They also gave out a list of Field Trips. Beth and Chris are both excited to go to Living History Farms. They will actually get to work on a farm and make a snack to eat.

Parade, Wedding and a Race

We started the weekend with a trip to Pella to get my parents. My mom had to go to the special shoe place in West Des Moines, so the kids and I went to Michaels. They were having a great sale and I bought a pretty shell, candle thing for my bathroom. I'm going to hang it and see how long it takes Keith to notice it. Then we were able to go to my brother Jeff and Sister in law Sherry house. Their daughter Johanna was there. She is always good about playing with the kids. We had a great supper and then we sat around and talked. Jeff also "fixed" my computer. It was a great night! Keith went to Men's retreat for the night and returned home at about 12:30 am.
On Saturday we went to Nevada for the Lincoln Highway Days Parade. Keith's brother was in teh parade. Kim and Steve and Ben came for the parade. This was the first parade Ben really got to watch as he was in parades on the 4th of July. It was fun to watch him. The kids got way too much candy! We went out to lunch and then headed to our church for a wedding. Stephanie my sister in laws Sister married a good friend of Kieth. It was funny as we didn't not realize until the groom started dating Amy(the bride )that he lived that close to us. Joe(the groom)younger brother Jordan was the ring bearer in our wedding. What a small world. It was fun to see my nephew Eli go down the aisle as a the ring bearer. He is only 23 months, but they bribed him with a sucker. It worked! I got to hold my niece, Jael for a while. She wasn't very happy as Stephanie had been busy as Matron of Honor and hadn't spent much time with her. She is growing and getting cuter everyday. Eli even let me hold him for awhile.
After the wedding we went back to Pella. Keith, Christopher, my dad and Joel went to the races in Knoxville. Chris loved it!!! He was so excited he couldn't hardly get to sleep. He also woke up in a good mood this morning. My mom, Beth and I canned 10 quarts of tomato juice. It was a fun time working together.
Today we stayed in Pella for church. Keith had a meeting at our church this afternoon so we all went up to Ames. The meeting went longer than planned, but the kids helped me make some copies and got to play with the Hatfield kids. I was so tired I order pizza from Casey's . Now I"m looking forward to working my last Monday until after school is out. I decided I really couldn't work that many days and school my kids.

Family Camp

This is Beth and her friends Jenny "surfing". They are two peas in a pod. Which means they are two very very silly girls!
Here is Chris at the bottom of his slide. He really still likes the playground. Also notice that he has on no shoes.
We had a great time at Family Camp, however Beth came back sick. I felt bad for her last Friday as she just felt worse and worse as the day went on. We took my parents back to Pella and they took us out to Pizza Ranch. It was good and Beth enjoyed mashed potatoes and ice cream. She didn't really begin to feel better until Tuesday. Then I got it only I didn't get a sore throat.Chris woke up on Thursday night with an ear ache. He doesn't seem as sick and has just kind of laid around.
I'm in the process of getting things lines up for the fall. We had a planing meeting with the teens this weekend and will have a parent kick off on Wednesday so we need to get everything line up.
I still have one more curriculum to order for Beth. Our goal is to start school next week.

Swim Lessons

This week and next the kids have swim lessons in Ankeny at 9 am. that means getting up at 8 am, so Beth is right now asleep on the couch. They really wanted to go to the pool again today for an hour, but we all needed to rest.
Below is Christopher's shirt we got him from Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. I tried to get him to buy a towel instead since he has a ton of shirts from sports, but he really wanted a shirt. I will try to post my pictures from the trip this week or early next week.

Jr. HIgh camp

We had a great week at Jr. HIgh camp! I had a great group of girls that were sensitive to God's leading in their lives!
Now it is catch up week!

Here is Jael. This one was taken shortly after birth. Yes, she was born at home. I wanted to get some other pictures, but it has been a crazy couple of days. She is a very pretty baby!

We are repacked and ready to leave for camp in the morning. If you would like to see pictures of our group from PA you can go to garbc.org and look at the conference pictures. There are some really good ones.

I'm praying that it will cool down for the week at camp otherwise I hope they play lots of water games!

Tirp to PA

We had a great trip! In some ways it seems like we were gone for a long time and in other ways, not so long. Since returning home, we have a new neice! Jael (pronounced Jay l) Faye Newman was born on the 4th of JUly at 8 :10 pm. She looks alot like her older brother, Eli. Everyone seems to be doing well today. Bethany is especially excited for the fact that it is a girl!! Chris says he was hoping for a boy, but a girl is ok. I thought it was especially nice that she was born while we were home as we leave for Jr. High Camp on MOnday.
I some how hurt my knee on Thursday night, so I'm trying to take it easy. I'll go see the chiropacter tomorrow, that should help.

Getting ready for the trip

We are almost done and ready for the trip. Thankfully I went to the house I was to clean today and they weren't there. Anyway I ran a few errands and made it home, so I have time to update the blog. When I got home there was a message from Best Buy our camera is done!!!!!!!!! They have had it since May 31.
Christopher is enjoying being an only child. Keith said last night how little trouble he is. I think it is just because he doesn't have anyone to fight with. We havne't heard from Bethany which is good. Last year she called once, I think that was only because others called on the counselor's cell phone.
Well I have some phone calls to make so I better go.

Beth left for camp

Bethany was able to leave for Jr. Girls camp this morning. She was so very excited, I don't think she slept much last night. I wasn't really ready for her to leave yet. I know she'll have a grat time and I can't wait to hear from her at the end of the week. She is so good about telling us all. Last year she talked non stop Saturday night.
Chris got to go to Jacob Hylton's house while I cleaned this morning. He had a great time playing with Jacob! He especially liked the trampoline! Then we ran some errands. Now we are going to eat pizza and watch TV.

Busy Week

Ok since my kids were gone this week, I worked some extra hours. I also got Christopher's room cleaned and started on Beth's. I made Keith breakfast in bed one day and tried to get things done for our trip to Penn.
Yesterday, Keith went up to Decorah to move his brother Kevin down to Nevada. The move didn't go very smoothly, they arrived in Nevada at about 9:30 pm. Needless to say Kevin slept at our house last night.
Meanwhile..........I called Best Buy and our camera was done, but still needes to be shipped to Ames. Hopefully we will get it back before we go to PA, but we have to figure out something else for Beth this next week.
I went to Pella to get the kids. They had a great time at VBS! They also did some fun things at Gma and Gpa's like playing cops and robbers and going to Thursday night in Pella. It was Shakesphere Night! They even ate supper uptown! My mom said that made up for not getting to eat out during Tulip Time since it was so cold and rainy. We had an ok trip back to Ames. Beth was to be at the lady's house who is to be her counselor this week, to make T-shirts. We got there on time. I shut off the car and then came back and it wouldn't start! I got a ride to get my other car, however our towing company had someone jump it. When I shut it off it didn't restart. So we jumped it again. I decided to leave it there and take my other car. Our other car was loud, but then while I was driving it to Nevada to get Keith and Kevin, it got louder. When we got home we noticed it had something dragging.
Well, we drove it to Chris's baseball game this morning this was his last game. It was kind of a rough start with us all being tired and he forgot his glove. He did get 2 good hits, a good play at 2nd and a chance to be the catcher. Then we went up to Ames and Steve Gray our hero helped us get a new battery for our cavalier.
Then we went and unloade Kevin's stuff. He is basically moved in.
Ok so now I need to say some of the great things I need to be thankful for-

• My car didn't break down on the road and we were able to get both of them running for now.
• Kevin is now only 1/2 hour away from us instead of 3 hours! He has a great little house and really seems to like his room mate and staff.
• Since we had to go back and get our car, we bought a very nice futon for $25 at a garage sale.
• We were able to spend time with Kevin and his roommate and staff.
• Christopher and Beth both helped out alot today!
• We are all safe and home for another night.
• Beth says she's happy because she gets to go to Jr. Girls camp on Monday.
• I have friends and relatives(who are also friends!) that read my blog.

Pella

We came to Pella yesterday. Unfortunately our camera is still not working. We bought a service plan so it is at Best Buy. We were hoping it could be done before we left for Pella so Beth could use it this week. Then if she can keep track of it here, we'll let her take it to Jr. Girls Camp. I'm not sure what we'll do now. Christopher played video games with Dalton and Beth played with Trevon.
Last night I went out to eat with my parents and my aunts and uncles. It was fun and relaxing. Chris kind of had a hard time sitting as it took alittle while to get our food. Then we just sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather. When it was too dark and the bugs came out, we went in. I was able to fix my mom's sewing machine at least it was sewing last night.
Today, we went grocery shopping. My brother, wife and nephew, Eli came. Since it is still nice the kids are outside. We are planning to go out again tonight. Which is an unusual thing when we are at my parents, but oh well. It will be fun and my mom won't have to work so hard.

Swimming

Yesterday the kids and I went to the Slater Pool after I worked. We were even able to go over for awhile in the evening. Christopher's favorite is the diving board. He has already made good friends with the Life Guards. Beth enjoys the board, slide, but mostly just swimming around.
Today, we went to the Aquatic Center in West Des Moines with Kim, Ben and the girls. They have 6 slides 2 for tubes, lazy river, fun kids area and diving board. Both of my kids are at a great age where they enjoy playing in the kiddy area with Ben, but also can swim in the deep water. I didn't have to work so we were there for about 4 hours so I think we got our money worth. They both seem ready for bed, even Christopher just yawned a hug yawn.
Keith has begun to get the areas around our house and trees ready for wood chips. He thinks this will help our yard look better and save him time mowing. I agree that both happened when we did the swing set and flower bed. Now if I could just cover parts of our house so it wouldn't get cluttered and save me time cleaning.

Summer begins!

This morning we were up and ready for the garage sale before 8 am. It was a great day weather wise! However, some people would drive by and not really see my garage so they wouldn't stop. Oh well we all made some money and met new people.
After we packed up the extra stufff, the kids went to the pool! They were so very excited for the Slater Pool to be open. They swam for 2 1/2 hours and then came home and ate supper and went back for 2 more hours. Personally I thought this evening was a little chilly, but they had a great time! Christopher really likes to go off the board even though Beth said it was too cold to get out of the water.
Now the kids are taking showers and getting ready for bed. I'm planning to go to bed early also. Tomorrow is church and practice for TFC and a meeting.
This is the last week of "normal" for quite awhile. Beth and Chris will go to my parents for a week. Then Beth goes to Jr. Girls camp and then we all go to Pennsylvania with the teens for 10 days. Then we are home for 4 or 5 days and then Jr. High camp. It will be crazy, but lots of fun! Beth is so excited about Jr. Girls she is about to burst! (And it is still 2 weeks away)

Moving!!

Kevin is moving to Nevada on June 15!! His meeting on Tuesday went great! He is very excited to be able to work at Happy Joes 3 mornings a week folding pizza boxes. I met his roommate who is ready for Kevin to move in as he says he gets lonely without a roommate. On the trip to Decorah we ran into some rain, but nothing major. I loaded up boxes he had packed and headed out. When I was outside of Elma it started raining for awhile, but I drove out of it. When I got about 1/2 hour away from the rain, I heard on the radio that a major thunderstorm was hitting Elma. God is so good! I actually got to Ames earlier than I expected.
Yesterday and today we have been getting ready for the garage sale on Saturday. We baked cookies and muffins yesterday and today we cleaned out our garage. My thought is we can make money, but it also gets our garage cleaned once a year. Oh and it also get rid of some of the extra junk we have in our house, that we really don't need.
Christopher will hopefully have a baseball game on Saturday. The last 2 Wednesdays it has rained so he hasn't had games. The Slater pool is to open on Saturday, I think. They did have to do some repairs, so I'll call tomorrow and see if they have it done. We had talked about going to the Ankeny pool this week. But with the rain and garage sale we haven't made it.
Well back to work on garage sale stuff.

Project #2 Done!

I just finished the flower bed! I'm alittle worried about all the plants making it, but at least with the tarp and woodchips there won't be a bunch of weeds.
Kevin started mowing, but then it looked like it was going to rain, so he only got 1/4 done. Oh well every little bit will help Keith.
We went to the Ames Memorial Day parade and service this morning. It is held in the cemetry where Nicholas is buried so we also went to his grave.
Tonight we are going to Kim and Steve's(Keith's sister and husband) for supper. It was kind of a last minute idea, but we should have a great time!
Tomorrow I have to work, then go to Kevin's staffing for his new place to live. Then I will take him back to Decorah. Thankfully Beth and Chris get to go to friends' house for the afternoon and evening.

Nice Days

Yesterday it only rained in the morning, however Keith had some things to do so didn't get only 1 thing done on his list. I did begin to get the garage cleaned out for the garage sale on Saturday. We had a good time at the Ames home school graduation. Then Kent and Kevin came for supper. We grilled hamburgers and ate outside at the picnic table.
Today after church Keith was working on a disc for Kevin of pictures and songs he'd liked. It wasn't working right, so I stayed inside and watched what was going on. I did youth group stuff and made a camp cofee cake for breakfast tomorrow.
Bethany helped Keith outside in the floor bed. She managed to get totally dirty. (our camera is in getting fixed, so no pictures sorry) We did get the tarp laid down on the big flower bed under the kitchen windows and the plants all plannted. Tomorrow we'll only have to lay woodchips.
We are also going to the memorial day parade and ceremony in Ames.

1 Project Done!

We finished up the wood chips under the swing set! Keith stayed up and worked until about 7:30 pm. The kids helped him off and on. They also helped with watching Micah. He really like being outside. I helped, but I also did laundry so I could hang it outside. I can't wait to take a nice bubble bath and get into my clean bed!

Night out

Keith and I were able to go out to Perkins. Chris and Beth went to McDonald's with Renee a teen from church. Then we all went to the baby shower at church. It was different, but fun! It was nice to share time with Keith, however it was hard to socialize with all the other ladies with Keith there.
Tomorrow we are watching Micah, a 18 month old from church. His mom is having her wisdom teeth out. He isn't coming until 10 so the kids and I can sleep in some. Then I'm sure Beth will do most of the work. Which is good since I have laundry to do. With rain being predicted for Saturday Keith is planning is stay up tomorrow and work on the yard. Then Saturday we do have a graduation and party to go attend. Then Sunday is church. Monday we are going to try to go to the museum at Camp Dodge. We also are planning to go up to Nicholas's grave sometime this weekend.
I trust all of you will have great weekend.

Storms

Tonight we went to Christopher's baseball game and as luck would have it, it started to thunder. They decided to play until the lightening started. So they called the game. Our coach was disappointed as our team did so good at the last game. Chris walked out of the dug out with a big smile and said " I got a treat!" Of course most of you know that Chris enjoys playing sports for many reasons, but towards the top of the list is the treats.
Then we went to church. While we were talking the storm got worse, so many people stuck around until the storm got better. It is our last Wednesday before the teens join the adults as part of the Season of Prayer for the summer. It will be an awesome chance to see God work in our church.
I am cleaning tomorrow and then hopefully Keith and I will go out for supper and then to a couples' baby shower. I am running the games. I am filling in for a friend who has family coming to town.

Class of 2007

This weekend began the celebrations for our seniors in the youth group! It really hasn't been a sad time as we realize that we can stay in contact and see how God keeps working in their lives. Friday night we attended Grandview Park Baptist Schools graduation. It was good. Pastor Rod Bradley from True Bible spoke. He did a great job! Then yesterday we went to an open houses in the late morning and early evening. Our friends, Jim and Ellen Trunnell were able to come and spend sometime with us before the second open house and then they went with us and we talked some more. It was great to see their boys and talk face to face. Thankfully with blogs and e-mail we have kept up on each other's life. Kyle their 5 year old convinced Chris to give up his swing for him. Then they were able to play together at the open house. It was held at a small Bible camp. Ellen was concerned about Connor at one point, but when she checked on him Bethany was playing with him..
Today we were able to celebrate with the church all 9 of the seniors' accomplishments. It was the first time that Keith and I were solely in charge of Senior Sunday at our church. We actually had all of the seniors there and able to participate in all parts of the morning! We are already thinking of things we can do better next year. Then later this afternoon we had another open house. Next week we'll have other ones to go to, but Keith also wants to do some yard work done. We have been getting mulch to put under the swing set, since the storm we had many places are giving it away free.
Christopher had a baseball game. He got hit by a baseball. It was kind of odd since he was at bat, he said he hit it, then it hit his helmet and then hit by his eye. He of course didn't cry since he was in the game. His right eye is bluish under the eye. However when he fell outside of church he milked it for all it was worth.

Sunny Day

The kids are having a great time outside. It is alittle windy, but otherwise it is beautiful! We have begun working in the flower beds to get them to look better. The last 2 summers we really haven't done anything except weed. Keith would like to get mulch and a border down on each bed. He also wants to put mulch and border around the swing set. This is his job for Thursday night. I need to go measure and see what I need to go buy fomorrow.

Mother's Day 2007

Since we had gone to Adventureland and Keith worked Saturday night, we went out for supper for Mother's Day. We went to Benningans. I had a salad and Death by Chocolate.

Adventureland

We went with the teens to Adventureland yesterday. It was nice to actually have a nice day with sunshine. We rode the raging river 3 times. Christopher's favorite ride was the Falling Star. Beth said she didn't like the falling feeling in her stomach. I think Chris will be like Keith and ride anything. Except Chris didn't look in the Underground, he says it is too scary. It is dark and suppose to kind of be scary.
The kids and I just got back from the park.

Tulip Time????

Ok so we hurried to Pella after I cleaned today. We did get to see most of a parade, however it did rain off and on. We were all wet by the time we got back to my parents.
Tonight we decided not to go uptown to eat since it was kind of raining. We were debating about going to the parade,when we heard it was canceled. The kids took it well and the adults were glad that we didn't have to go or make the decision not to go. We ended up watching the old Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Timothy and Johanna. All in all it was a good relaxing time.
We'll just have to see about the weather tomorrow. Joel, Stephanie and Eli are coming tomorrow to join the party!

Sorry!

Ok I'm truly sorry I haven't bloged for a while and then when I went to log in I found this blog I started. Then I couldn't figure out how to log into the other blog, so I guess I'll just post to this blog. Anyway our life has been busy. I am enjoying housecleaning at other people's houses. I really like my boss!
The kids have been busy with school and spending time outside. Chris is in both Baseball and soccer. Because of weather he has 2 games tomorrow night. Beth is done with tutor for the year. She has greatly improved in her reading and we will enjoy the extra time to spend reading together.
We are going to plant garden tomorrow. My sister-in-law, Stephanie is going to come over and plant. Then I think my brother will be helping since Stephanie is going to have a baby in June.
I'll try to post more often. Again I'm very sorry.