Labor Day Weekend

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I took pictures of this crazy fun family:

And afterwards we headed out to the cabin they were staying at on Whatcom Lake.  We had such a fun evening hanging out and trying new things.

Ha ha Eric got pushed in the lake after the final pictures.  ;)

Raymond was a great driver, giving the boys rides in the kayak and boat.  Sam was the gas station.

Can you find Bryan?  We were sure he had decided to paddle off into the sunset.

He did finally make it back...

We always enjoy spending time with the Kennedy's!
Thanks for a fun evening.

Blessings

This Week in Review

 Saturday after all the hard work on the floor we went out to the river to have a hot dog roast.  It was a beautiful evening and we all enjoyed some slower time hanging out.

(It took until Wednesday evening for Brandon's pants to dry out enough for me to shake all the sand out and wash them.  After folding his socks yesterday, my counter was full of sand...hmmmm.  Pretty sure there was more sand in his boot then foot.)

Bryan likes to come home and lay on the couch after work before supper is ready.  Usually the boys are pretty good about letting him rest but on this day they decided they needed to cover him in as many toys as they could find.  In Bryan's words, "I've been toyed with."

P52 theme this week is "Things that Grow".  Aaron brought me some good quality compost last year, Bryan set up a light system for me and that gave me the courage to try start my flowers from seeds this year.  So far they're doing okay.  I'm hoping more will sprout soon.

 

Time to go try get Micah to drink some more.  He's had a weird fever for the past two days and I can't figure out where it's coming from.

Blessings on your weekend.

PS Yes, we've seen improvement in the boy's sleeping since putting in their new floor.  Neither of them wakes up as stuffed up as they used to be when they had carpet.

The Joy in this Week

So some of these pictures are from last week and most of these pictures were from Monday, but they are all reminders of joy and love.

Very proud to be a cowboy!

Monday we had a friend come over to play for the day.  It was so much fun watching her and Brandon play together.  They are so alike and yet so very different!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" POUNCE

Dainty jump

Micah would not be left out of the fun.  He had to have his own rocket.

After rockets we moved on to rocket balloons.  I blew up the long balloons with a
pump, we counted and let them go, watched them swirl around the sky and make funny noises
then the kids ran after them!  It's great fun.

Ahhh, some quiet and rest time.

Play dough time was especially fun with all the new play dough toys Brandon got for
Christmas.  The coveted (but very well shared) tool was the dentist's drill.

Grandma stopped by for a couple minutes and got suckered in to playing too (it wasn't that hard to convince her). :)

They made play dough donut men.

My favorite line of the day came from Brandon several times throughout the day: "Mommy, she's a girl!" 
I've decided to join a P52 group to keep me accountable for taking pictures each week.  This week's theme was "Made With Love" and I just wasn't sure what to take pictures of until I was giving the boys a bath the other night.  These two were made by a loving God, in love despite their physical difficulties, with so much love to give.  It's been fun watching them learn how to show love to each other as brothers and to others.  It's been fun watching Brandon grow in his love of his little brother by taking care of him, holding his hand, helping him stay out of trouble, and picking him up when he falls.  Micah's learning to give "kisses" and that has love written all over it!

Finally, this week has held some spectacular sunrises!  Mostly I just enjoyed watching them and not trying to capture all the colors.  They have been special reminders to us that God is present, he is faithful and he molds each day for his purposes!  The sunrises have been great reminders to glorify Him this week!

Blessings on your weekend.

A Birthday SURPRISE!!

We have a very dear and special friend.  Brandon and Micah love playing at her house and with Timmy the dog and always are extremely disappointed when I get back to pick them up.

Sally turned 50 a week ago--really, only a week ago?--and her family threw a surprise birthday party for her.  We were privileged to be there and I was able to capture her extraordinarily surprised face when she walked in the door.  It's always great fun to surprise Sally!  ;)

Bumpa and Brandon were the look-outs.

I was on the floor so the angles on these pictures is a bit funny, but her faces are priceless!

The contrast between the colorful Christmas tree and the black balloons was rather interesting.

Happy Birthday, Sally!  May the next 50 years be even more full of life and abundant blessings.

A Tradition Continued

The recipe: Oatmeal Cookies With a Purpose

and it reads as follows...
The Requirements (for parents, neighbor or grandparent):
1. Patience.
2. Loving-kindness.
3. Smiles
4. Praise, given out liberally
5. Wisdom, to help children share tools
6. Pretend dark glasses

Method:
1. Sprinkle flour on the table for each child
2. Distribute pieces of dough
3. Demonstrate how to roll dough, cut cookies and transfer them to the pan
4. Preheat the oven
5. Wear pretend dark glasses to avoid seeing trail of flour from table to floor, or path of dough from fingers to mouth
6. Pop pans into oven as soon as filled
7. Put each child's cookies in separate container
8. When all dough is baked, present each child with his or her container

Results:
1. Sparkling eyes
2. Happy faces
3. Grimy hands
4. Bulging cheeks
5. Sweet voices saying, "Mm, good, it's yummy yummy in my tummy."
6. Spontaneous hugs from flour-covered arms
7. A few cookies

Now doesn't that just make you want to make cookies with your kiddos?  Brandon and I had a blast with his friend Elliot and mom Sandra, carrying on a wonderful tradition from my childhood. 

The boys cut out about 15 cookies each and then went to play while Sandra and I finished up the dough.  Then they came back to paint them (an egg yolk and food coloring mixture) before baking.  With a little assistance in covering the whole cookie, the boys did the majority of painting/decorating.

And Micah had the very special pleasure of being at Grandma's house all by himself!!  ;)
It was a great day.
Blessings on the rest of your weekend.