Join Hands Day

While I was at the baby shower, the men of the family were out helping out in the community. Three Lutheran churches in our community got together and tore the siding off an elderly woman's house today to prep it for new siding later this week.

This is part of a bigger community outreach done every year by all the churches in our area, called Servant Week. Members of churches from all over town are part of various volunteer efforts ranging from cleaning parks, to painting houses to feeding the homeless.

It is a tangible way to show God's love to our community and to join together as God's Church to love our neighbors.

Great job guys! It looks great!

Amy's Tea Party Shower

Today my mom had a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Amy. They are due with their first on July 4th.

Amy and her mom

Maggie and Doran making everyone feel welcome

We had a lovely tea party themed shower with LOTS of lovely goodies like cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad puffs, cranberry scones, fruit, lemon curd, Devonshire cream, cookies,

toffee pudding and so much more!

getting all the food ready

Not only was there wonderful food, but wonderful company as well. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in years and meet my cousin's daughter for the first time.

Mitzi and Quincy

Tanna and Ruby

We had lovely sunny weather for opening gifts and ooo-ing and ahh-ing over all the adorable baby things.

my sister Theresa made this for Ada (it's beautiful!)

Quincy and Grandma admiring the baby gifts

Ada is going to be one of the best dressed babies ever! Now we just can't wait to see her!

Garage Sale Days

A few weeks ago I went on a MAJOR purge of our house. I decided it was time to get rid of stuff. Stuff seems to multiply around here like bunnies. So room by room, the stuff went into the garage until an entire half of the garage was piled high with stuff! It is amazing how good it feels to get rid of stuff you don't need!

Usually, the stuff just goes to Goodwill. But this was more than a couple of boxes or bags. A garage sale was in order. After all, we have been here almost 3 years now and historically we would have moved by now. This is the longest we've been in one house!

I picked a date, put an ad in the paper, put up the signs with Chris' help , put out the stuff (it filled the tops and bottoms of 7 tables and two clothes racks) and sold.

Despite the horrible weather (we crammed everything into the garage to keep it dry) we did a steady business on Friday from 8am to 5pm. It was great! Saturday had much better weather, but not as much traffic. But all in all, we did very well. Thanks guys for all the help and being willing to part with some of our stuff. I really appreciate it!

When it was all said and done, everything we had left fit into the back of the van and went to Goodwill. Well, all except the couches...

all that was left

VBS Work Day #1

With a fully-packed June and July 19th coming quickly behind, we had our first scheduled Work Day to prepare for VBS. Today's job was to get our promo display and bulletin board ready and to cut out pickets for our "fence" in the hallway.

Here's a peek at what we've done so far...

Bye Bye Tree

Today we cut down a little tree in the front yard. It was a unique little tree and I think it was dead, so we let it go.

Here are the before and after pictures...

before

after

Nursery Shower

Our church nursery is in great need of a supply update. Some of the things in the nursery were there when our nursery coordinator was in the nursery.

So we got the idea to throw a baby shower for our nursery. Great idea Susie! She sent out invitations, made a gift list, made desserts and decorated.

our decorations

It was a great fun idea to get the things that we needed and have a social gathering for the ladies at our church!

a new toy!

What A Day!

Some days are just too full! But they are still fun (sometimes). This was one of those fun ones.

Since it was supposed to be over 90 today (and it did get up to about 96) we decided to get up at 6am to get school done early so we could go to the river. So we did it.

the water was really low today

Unfortunately, we were at the river a little early. It was still pretty chilly and breezy.

Zack and Andy are thinking about swimming

But it started to get warmer and more crowded just about the time we were leaving. We are looking forward to more sunny days to spend on the beach.

Today is also opening day of Prince Caspian! That's why we couldn't stay any longer at the beach. Our homeschool group went to see it this afternoon. We sort of invaded the theater. But it was fun to see everyone again and the theater had Prince Caspian themed activities to do while we waited.

making shields

a completed Narnian shield

The kids have been so excited and they loved the movie! I highly recommend it. If you haven't read the book, or it's been a long time, I suggest you go see the movie and then read it. It is a wonderful story full of powerful spiritual lessons.

Following the movie, Chris, Zack and Andy left for the Mountain Man Retreat (our south end district's men's retreat).

Will and I, full of popcorn and soda pop went to pick up something for supper and headed home. The weather was still too nice to be indoors, so we played a couple of lively games of croquet.





Afterwards we came in to play a few games of Buzz Jr. while the pizza cooked. We enjoyed our fine supper out on the deck and came in to watch a movie before retiring.

eating on the deck

All in all, it was a very good day!

The Son (Sun) Is Back

Today, the sun finally came back and with a vengence. And Zack came back from 2 days at work. It was good to have them both back again.

Just 2 days ago it was only 53 and rainy. It was a cold and miserable "spring" day (and I use that term loosely). Today it was 83 and gorgeous! So we did some work in the front yard and scrubbed the winter grime off the patio table and ate supper on the deck.

Thank you God for the sun!

New On The Web

Our church has an all new website!

You can check it out at http://www.fflbc.org/

Mother's Day

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! I did!

The men at church made breakfast during Sunday School hour. Not only was it a very nice breakfast(much better than our normal hurried bowl of cereal) but I didn't have to teach Sunday School either. It is nice to have a break.

After church we just came home, called our moms, opened my gifts (I got Cookin Mama for the Wii), played Cookin Mama with the boys, took a walk around the Lake and did a bit of sewing. Will told me this was my one day of the year to be in charge, so I'd better take advantage of it. So I did. :o)

River Time

Today was a beautiful sunny day, and Chris' day off, so we took the boat out on her maiden voyage on the Columbia. Thankfully, we live only about 10 minutes away from a boat landing on the river. Last summer we found a great place on an island on the opposite side from the shipping lane. The water was pretty rough in the channel today and we were all braced for the bumps. There weren't any! She just cuts right through those waves!

our spot on the island all to ourselves

Zack and Andy making a volcano

when the ships go by all the water is sucked out and then it has to come back

and when it comes back it's like being on the ocean

the boys dig a river on the beach

by the time we were ready to head home we had lost about 20 feet of beach on all sides!

headin' for home

Behind The Wheel

The van needed to be moved up the driveway to make room for basketball.

Zack just turned 15.

So Chris decided it was time to get him behind the wheel...

He was a little nervous, but no one was hurt and the van has no new scratches or dents. But he discovered it's not like video games.

Good job Zack. You'll be on the road before you know it!

Not-So-Baby Baby Shower

Last night my friend Sally and I threw a baby shower for one of the moms in our co-op. She just had her sixth baby about 3 weeks ago and she deserved a party. I am of the opinion that moms need a shower for every one of their babies, not just the first.

Cheryl and Luke

After all, a shower isn't all about getting stuff you need (although you can ALWAYS need diapers). It's about encouraging new moms, fussing over the new baby, oohing and ahhing all the cute little stuff and having fun food!

Since this is Cheryl's fifth boy, we decided a girly-mom theme might be more fun than pastel blues and toy trains.

food table

We decorated in reds and whites, served teas and lemonade and made LOTS of really good girl food. (That means we had LOTS of chocolate!) :o)

chocolate treats

Our inspiration came from the baking class that one of the moms taught at Friday School this last session. They weren't as easy as they looked but we learned a lot that will make it easier next time. And there will be a next time. There were chocolate dipped strawberries, Oreos, marshmallows, mini-donuts, rice krispie treats, angel food cake, and chocolate cake. The best part was that everything was small so you could eat quite a few and not feel too full!



The shower was lots of fun! We had fun visiting, talking about babies, adoption, homeschooling and just stuff. Cheryl and Luke got lots of cute things, too.

Luke fell fast asleep