Church Picnic

Our church shares our building with two other churches--a Spanish-speaking church and a Hmong church. This past Sunday, all three churches got together for one big church picnic on our new property. It was great! There was great food, great fun, and great music. Each church's pastor spoke for a few minutes and then each church's music team played two songs. So fun! Greg was on our church's music team...more on that in a moment.

It was crazy hot out at first. As soon as we stepped out of the car, Sophie said, "I'm hot! Are we going to eat in the shade?" There was no shade. Just a field. We aren't really sure what was in that field (a former farm), but we were allergic to it! Sophie was instantly itchy, runny and irritated. Greg too. It came later for me. Only Owen remained unscathed.

That didn't keep the kids from playing all over the field. They were loving it. Every few minutes, Sophie ran back to get her nose wiped.
Listening to another church's music team.

Waiting "backstage" for Greg's turn to play.

Owen desperately wanted to be up there. He's wailing in this picture. There was no room on the platform for him, or we would have let him up there.

Here, he's eyeing another set of drums that were on the ground. I tried to encourage him to play these, but he would have none of it.

Trying out his pensive, rock-star look.

Kum-ba-ya, my Lord...

I'm a blogging loser, I know it. We've been having technical difficulties around here, and I can't bear to sit here for the time it takes any webpages to load. I think we're on the mend, though, so here are some belated pictures from a few weekends ago.

With our church group, our family visited the Bible camp that Greg grew up going to. We hadn't been there since before Sophie was born, so it was fun to be back, especially with the kids in tow.

We made a stop at Treasure City on the way. Treasure City is not to be confused with Pleasureland, Pure Pleasure or Sugar Daddy's which are also stops along the way. Stops that we did not take nor were we tempted to take. I just wanted to be clear about where we were.

Outside there was a (dilapidated) pirate ship. The kids loved it!

Greg did too.

Owen likes to do everything we do.

He chose this person himself.

Here we are in our room at camp. Sophie chose to sleep on a top bunk. She called it a "bump" bed.

The kids ran wild around the hallways the whole weekend. I was certain there would be injuries, but it never came to that. They had a great time.

Some of the older kids even put on an original puppet show for us.

Our kids loved camp.

And loved hanging out with church friends in a new place.

The adults did work projects during the day (which I did not take pictures of!) and at night we met for some singing and teaching time. While we had some quiet time as a group, the kids were bundled off to their rooms. Ours watched a movie for a while before going to bed.

We had a great time as a family, and great time with friends. I'm pretty sure we'd be up for camp again, especially since no one came home bleeding or bruised...from our family, anyway.

All About Me

I know this blog is meant to be a place to share pictures and stories about my kids. But today is my birthday, so it's going to be all about me today. A friend forwarded me this list of questions forever ago. I love to read other people's responses, but I hate to spend the time making up my own. Several people comment about enjoying the "Simple Woman's Daybook," so I thought it'd be fun to mix it up for a change. I'll give it a shot today and see how far I get. Any deleted numbers took me too long to think about!

65 Questions You've Probably Never Been Asked...

1. First thing you wash in the shower? My hair

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? I call it a sweatshirt, and it's red

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? You bet!

4. Do you plan outfits? Yes, I tend to choose my clothes the night before so I don't have to deal
with it in the morning. I don't lay things out ahead of time though.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? on the verge of tired

6. What's the closest thing to you that's red? my toenails and a toy ride-on car

8. Did you meet anybody new today? the worker at Caribou--she just finished her first year at the college I graduated from

9. What are you craving right now? to read a book

10. Do you floss? yes, several times a week.

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Borscht & childhood (German soup/stew...love it!)

12. Are you emotional? not really, though my friend Brenda likely doesn't believe it--I've cried at every movie I've ever seen with her!

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? I don't think so

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? Both, when the need arises

15. Do you like your hair? yes, though I'm ready to dye it again...maybe later today

16. Do you like yourself? I do

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? Yeah! He probably knows where to get good ribs!

18. What are you listening to right now? the hum of the computer...I love (almost) silence.

19. Are your parents strict? They were to a certain point, though less so than some may expect from a pastor's family

20. Would you go sky diving? If someone else paid for it, I might give it a try.

21. Do you like cottage cheese? Yes, with strawberries cut up on it

22. Have you ever met a celebrity? Can't recall, but my family did own a former MacGyver film unit vehicle (mini-van). Does that count??

23. Do you rent movies often? No. After having kids, it takes Greg and I too long to finish one. Though we do get kid movies from the library every week.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? A little dish on my desk.

25. How many countries have you visited? 5, although if layovers count you can add a few more

26. Have you made a prank phone call? maybe to a friend when I was in junior high

27. Ever been on a train? in a mass-transit sense, yes

28. Brown or white eggs? White, out of necessity, I guess. Where do you get brown?

29.Do you have a cell-phone? yes

30. Do you use chap stick? yes, constantly, the green minty kind (and only that kind)

31. Do you own a gun? Not personally, but we have some in the house. And I'm a decent shot, so I've been told.

32. Can you use chop sticks? Yes

33. Who are you going to be with tonight? My husband Greg and my kids Sophie & Owen

34. Are you too forgiving? No, I'm sure I can always get better at that

35. Ever been in love? I am right now!

37. Ever have cream puffs? Rarely

38. Last time you cried? At a church picnic when we prayed for dear friends who are moving away

39. What was the last question you asked? Have you picked out your books?

40. Favorite time of the year? Summer, generally speaking

41. Do you have any tattoos? I wish

42. Are you sarcastic? I think so

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? No

44. Ever walked into a wall? It's likely

45. Favorite color? green

46. Have you ever slapped someone? Define slap...I have slapped my children's hands

47. Is your hair curly? No, but it does have parts that flair out now and then

51. Is your phone bill sky high? Not that I'm aware of. Greg and I share minutes on the lowest plan we can get, and we still never max them out!

52. Do you like your life right now? Yes

53. Do you sleep with the TV on? No

54. Can you handle the truth? Certainly--I'd rather handle the truth than deal with trying to figure out what someone means but won't say

55. Do you have good vision? with my contacts in, yes, otherwise, I couldn't see to walk around my own house.

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? I'm pretty sure that I dislike 3 or more, but I can't say that I hate anyone.

57. How often do you talk on the phone? not much at all, I don't enjoy it much

58. The last person you held hands with? Sophie & Owen

59. What are you wearing? brown cargo capris and turquoise t-shirt

60.What is your favorite animal? monkeys and flamingos

62. Can you hula hoop? for a moment, yes

63. Do you have a job? I'm a full-time mom, and the only paying job I have right now is to help coordinate weddings at my church periodically

64. What was the most recent thing you bought? baked treats at Caribou to go with my free birthday coffee!

65. Have you ever crawled through a window? Not that I can remember.

Quote of the Day

Yesterday, while reading a book to Sophie before bedtime, I read part of a chicken story that went something like this, "This room has everything but worms in it."



And Sophie chimed in, "What are BUTT worms?"



Oh, dear.

This is a picture I keep forgetting to post. Aren't they the cutest?

Camping...for real this time

So, we went camping for four days this past weekend. We're getting better at it as we go. This was our second time out with the camper, and we're starting to get a system down. I love to have a system.

Here, Sophie is working on a "wind-mobile" project.

Owen did one too.
Paul Bunyan. He's everywhere around there!

The first s'mores of the trip. So good!

The bench we are sitting on here is the one that Owen, moments later, ran full-tilt into, knocking himself flat on his back with his legs flying up in the air. He was chasing the big kids and didn't see it, evidently. All I heard was the "whack" of his head, and I quickly spun around to see Owen falling with his legs flying up. I thought he fell from the playground equipment above. It scared the life out of me. But Owen was okay. It was to be the first of many bruises, though.

Sophie's a climber.

Blowing bubbles.

Playing "hockey" with a walking stick that Grandpa made.

Playing in the dirt while collecting rocks in a plastic cup...a favorite past time.

Our first catch of the weekend.

While we were all distracted with the fish, Owen stepped into the lake...with his shoes on. He had to go barefoot after that.

The kids loved checking out the fish in the bucket.

Group bike ride.

Sophie has gotten to be quite a good bike rider. She even rides one-handed at times (very fancy), and stands up on the peddles to push up a hill (super fancy!).

More play time at the park.

Greg thinks this looks like a senior picture pose. I don't think I would have climbed a tree for my senior pictures.

Owen did some fishing with his new fishing pole too. His had a little tire on the end (in place of a hook) because the pole had a "Cars" theme. He loved casting and reeling it in.

Here it comes, Owen! You got one!

We ate dinner out at a local pizza place on our last night. This is Grandma & Grandpa's family picture.

And this is ours. Our side of the table was a little unruly. It was right about now that Owen, while throwing a fit, flailed around and smacked his head into the table, cutting his eyelid and blackening his eye.

Ice cream treats. Sophie chose bubblegum.

The traditional ice cream shot.

We really did offer Owen a spoon. He declined.

On our way home, we came to a bridge and I said, "Look! There's the Mississippi." Sophie piped up from the back, "Who's Mr. Sippy?"

We had a great time, despite several (minor) injuries for Owen and our heater running out of gas at 4 in the morning our last night. Sophie has been asking when we're going again and wants to cross off the days on her calendar. I told her we can go again after Owen has healed and all the laundry is done. It'll be at least a couple of weeks.

Camping Teaser

I've been told by two different people today that it's been a while since I updated my blog. So, I figured I'd better get cracking. These are two pictures from our camping weekend. Just teasers since there are a ton to share and no time today to share them in. Stay tuned...

This is what Owen does when I say, "Smile!"

Sophie loved fishing...well...she loved the bait. Catching fish was just a bonus.