PHHF

Many years ago, I played basketball for Hononegah High School. Our school colors were purple and gold. Our mascot was the Indian (I know, not too PC these days, huh?)...we were the Lady Indians. Our team was awesome, though we never made it too far in the playoffs. We had a great coach, and I played with some amazing girls.

This weekend, some of us got together for a reunion of sorts. It was so great to catch up and spend the afternoon and evening with special friends with whom I share some treasured memories.

Heather, thanks for hosting. Ladies, we definitely need to make this a more frequent thing....until next time, Play Hard & Have Fun.

Gunderson, Milnichuk, Moore, McCarty, Jensen, Read...


Future ball players?

1 Samuel 16:7(b)

Caleb's Memory verse for July...

1 Samuel 16:7(b)

"Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

We've been talking a lot about what this verse means, and how God is concerned with what is in our hearts. To help him further understand this concept, I taught him about the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). I explained to him that there are certain things that God wants to "grow" in our hearts...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And, while some of these concepts are difficult for an almost-4-year-old to fully comprehend, he seems to understand enough about each word to know what that might look like in his life. For example: peace is trusting that God will always take care of us and we don't ever need to be afraid and self-control means thinking before making choices.

I wanted to have Caleb make something that could serve as a visual reminder of these fruits. So, this hangs on our fridge, and is referred to frequently.


2 Sundays ago, when Kris went to pick Caleb up from his Sunday School classroom, the teacher asked Kris if we practice Caleb's monthly verse at home, because he is always able to recite it during class. I'm more than thankful to know that God's Word is becoming familiar to Caleb, and not just at home.

Good Ol' M&M Math

Counting, Sorting, Graphing....oh, and some occasional eating!

On a Whim

After I dropped Caleb off at VBS this morning, I decided that when I picked him up, we would head to the zoo. This meant that I was ready to go against my usual grain by ignoring meal and nap schedules (except for Shane's eating schedule....I can't mess with that too much) and that I was prepared to just head east and hopefully have a good afternoon. And, while Shane was a tad fussy at times (due to tiredness), we all had a really fun time.

It was very hot and very crowded and very hot (did I say that twice?), but those conditions were nothing that some wild animals, the dolphin show, and ice cream could not make up for.

We didn't have plans to go to Brookfield today, but I am really glad we did. I just love experiencing fun things with my sweet kids, sweaty and tired and all.

While we did see animals other than dolphins, they were definitely the highlight of our visit today.

Measuring up...


Watching them swim from underneath...


Sticking together...


They both loved the dolphin show. Caleb was enthralled with all the tricks the dolphins did, namely anything that involved a jump or a ball; Meredith especially loved dancing and clapping to the music.






Silly kiddos...


Poor guy, finally fell asleep...


Treat time...



We found a spray fountain that the kiddos could run through. They got soaked!





Exhausted, and ready to head home...

Celebrating Grandma

Today is Grandma's birthday....so we celebrated with dinner out at Olive Garden and dessert at Oberweis. Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma....we love you!

Shane's first time in a restaurant high chair: we have always brought his infant carrier into restaurants up until this point...Baby Boy is growing up.


He didn't actually eat much of this bread, though it did keep him entertained for a while...


The birthday girl and her other half. =)


Momma and Shaner-bug...


Daddy and his Princess...


Singing "Happy Birthday"...


Yummy!



Shane doesn't need ice cream to be happy!

Lollipop Cookies

The kids (and I) had a lot of fun making these "Lollipop Cookies" today. I actually made the cookie dough last night, so it was ready to be rolled and twirled and baked today. We got this idea from the Entrusted With a Child's Heart blog (she calls them "Playdoh Lollipops", we have been calling them "Lollipop Cookies"). Whatever you call them, I definitely recommend making them with your kiddos! Click here for the recipe/directions.

Meredith tried to bounce the balls of dough. =)


Smooshing the colors together...

Rolling out the dough...

Meredith's idea of rolling the dough was to literally roll it across the table. She had a great time with this part!

The nice thing about sugar cookie dough is that when it breaks, you can just squish it back together and start over!


Very focused...the "twirling" was Caleb's favorite part...


This is what Meredith did when I told her to twirl it. Not bad. =)

Time to plug the sticks in!


Ready to go into the oven!


Watching them bake. Thrilling.


Yummy!