Camp Mennoscah with the family

Pat and I both have great memories of days spent with friends at Camp Mennoscah. Pat was very homesick as a camper, but as we can all imagine, he was the perfect counselor and spent many summers making young kids laugh and guiding them in their faith at camp. He is still running into people who remember him from his counselor days (I never got to witness this side of Pat in person, but I can only imagine what he'd have been like...)

Anyway, Pat and I were excited to relive some memories and share things we'd remembered with Emily and Jake, so we were eager to spend the night when our church planned it's retreat. We stayed in the new retreat center so we didn't really rough it, but with two young kids that wouldn't have been too relaxing anyway. We were able to stay with some other good friends from church and because of how housing was set up, we put the kids down and enjoyed some far too occasional adult time with friends!

We enjoyed exploring camp, singing old camp songs by the campfire, eating marshmallows, dancing to silly songs, finding God in the nature around us and exploring river play. What a fun weekend! :)
Jake and Noah trying out a canoe on the safety of land during the church service.


By the time we got out, Jake was wet from head to toe and VERY HAPPY! :) That's what river play is all about!

Making Noise unto the Lord!!

Pat and Matt have been planning and researching for awhile to find a new drum set for our church worship team to use. A couple of weeks ago, they found one that would be just right for our church; and by donations from members of our congregation it was paid for within about two weeks. Pat, Matt and Jake went to Wichita to pick it up. Pat and Matt were so excited to try it all out, that they set it up in our basement for a couple of days. I think all three of the kids in my house love to make music!!

Anticipating Baby

Baby's movements have been pretty discrete until the last few weeks. He/she would only get very active while Emily and Jake were either napping or asleep for night. This was fine with me, because then I got to totally enjoy this new little one without distractions, however, Emily had been pretty eager to feel baby move. One Saturday morning, we were just being lazy together and I thought maybe this would be a good chance to share some kicks with the kids. Emily was SO thrilled to finally get to feel her little baby kick. She was talking to it and then sitting really still so she wouldn't miss anything. Jake didn't have quite the same amount of patience. Each time the baby was kicking while his hands were on my belly, he was moving his hands and I'm not sure he ever noticed other movements. However, he did like showing the camera where baby lives and giving my belly kisses.

Our little kid is a preschooler!!

Wow! I have been excited for this day for quite awhile because I knew Emily would enjoy it so much. Today, Emily went to preschool for the first time. Pat took her because my schedule didn't have the flexibility AND I was afraid I'd be more hinderence than help. She seems to be more clingy with me than Pat when faced with a transition. Pat said they were the first ones there and she proudly went right in and started playing. When he was ready to leave, she rushed back for one more rather grown-up "Bye Daddy!" and then she was off to play again.

She also informed him as he took her to preschool that she has already decided who she'll marry someday. Justin is a friend at daycare and he is also going to come to preschool with her. Because of these two commonalities, she plans to marry him! That's some pretty big growing up to do all in one day!

All ready to go to preschool!!

Jake wanted to be in on the pictures too! He was saying, "I'll go to preschool when I'm bigger too!" as we took these pictures. He didn't want us to forget him in all the excitement :)
Emily came running down the hall to me after Ms. Kristen told her that I was there. What a nice way to be greated after your little one just had such a grown up morning! :)
Emily was too tired to smile nicely for a picture at the end of her morning. Here she is with all her preschool things. She had a nice smile for me when she was with Ms. Sarah (a helper) and Ms. Kristen. Emily's snuggle and hug on the last picture shows her true admiration for Ms. Kristen.

Birthday Date Night

Part of Emily's birthday gift from Matt and Danielle was a special night out with them. Matt and Danielle were looking forward to the special night almost as much as Emily was. They didn't tell here where they were going, but she was excited at the prospect of McDonald's for supper! They took her to Build a Bear workshop and let her create her own new friend.

She quite proudly showed us what she had chosen.

Emily found a pink teddy bear with hearts all over her. Danielle said Emily knew right away the bear needed a Cinderella dress, and of course glass slippers!! Thus, the bear is named, Cinderella.
The evening was only complete when she also shopped with Aunt D and found a pink sparkly headband and Skittles flavored chapstick to keep in "Cinderella's" fancy purse.
Thanks Matt and Danielle, for showering her with such love and support! :)

Labor Day

We enjoyed a very relaxed family day on Labor Day. Pat and I both enjoyed the day off. We have been wanting to plant a couple more trees in our backyard, so a sale at Stone Creek Nursery caught our eye! We bought an Autumn Blaze Maple and Shumered Oak. When we bought this house, there was a dead Autumn Blaze Maple in both the front and backyard, so we're hoping to beat the odds! :) I suspect the previous owners didn't spent as much time playing and working in the yard as we have, so we have high hopes for the trees. Emily and Jake were very excited to help us plant the trees. Digging a hole uncovered a whole day's worth of fun! There were worms and grubs, not to mention helping Pat dig and mix the soil with the compost! They were both covered in dirt by dinnertime, but SO pleased with their efforts! Jake was quite pleased his dump truck could help us out. We put the extra dirt in it as we put the tree in! He loved getting to dump the dirt back into the hole after Pat finally gave the okay.

Hunting for worms is a BIG job. At first neither kid wanted to touch the worms, but by the end they had bucket full of them that Emily was carrying all over the yard.

Pat and I often comment on how children seem to enhance the emotions of each part of our lives. I totally enjoyed our day together exploring and planting!!

Growing up so fast!!

Emily wanted to take the training wheels off her bike last night, so we put on jeans (to protect against a tramatic skinned knee) and her helmet and she worked really hard. She was very confident until she realized that Pat wasn't always holding on. We could only get her to go a couple of feet on her own. Today after coming home from Leisa's she was eager to try again. I only gave her a little push and she was off! She really has the hang of balancing. Next we'll work on using the breaks to stop rather than coasting. She is really proud of this accomplishment. She also is aware that she's not perfect yet and that seems to frustrate her. We always have known she is pretty determined, and she likes to be right! This will be so valuable for her someday. We're praying we have wisdom to help her use those as strengths rather than fight against what God has given her. Enjoy!

You can hear Jake trying to keep up with his three wheeler in the background. Guess he'll be next! :)