Sliiiiip. Slip and slide!

John had the boys outside playing with the Slip and Slide that Whit & Carolyn got Haydn for his birthday. Gwyneth and I were inside and thought we'd go out to see what was going on! Gwyneth didn't have her bathing suit on, but that didn't stop her from having some fun!

Goofy-Faced Haydn

Surfer-Dude Hutch

Won't-look-at-the-Camera Gwyneth!

VBS Begins

I am the leader for the "Middler" aka Junior 1 group in VBS this year (grades 3-4). John, Tiffany, Ethel and SueB are helping. We had such fun getting our room ready. Oh, the theme is Polar Extreme! Here's my favorite parts of our room:

The ice fishing hut. You can't see well, but the fish is coming out of a hole.
John made us a polar bear thing to put faces in for pictures!

Tiffany, posing before our "mountain"!! We knocked this thing over about 5 times before we really got it! (Those are the prizes for our classroom. The best: a Walrus Webkinz and an MP3 player! - Although neither one is in this picture)

Our "snowmobile"-complete with bicycle handles! (I'm going really fast here)

Just a cute picture of Lainey and Camdyn while we were setting up!

Tonight was our first night of VBS. We had a great time. Here was our game- we raced ice cubes down a ramp, and called them penguins! So much fun! Can't wait for the rest of the week!

Baby Bedhead!

Gwyneth has some KILLER bedhead! On Saturday morning, she was sitting on John's lap, and it was just too adorable, I couldn't resist taking some pictures of my early morning baby!

Cleansing

Camping Trip

Last weekend, we went camping with some friends at a nearby campgrounds. We had so much fun! Here is our group at dinner the night we had a "potluck". The bird sat in a low tree right above our campsite the whole trip!(: Santa visited the kids, since it was Christmas in July weekend! I put the picture of Gwyneth in there, just because it was cute!

Thursday night, (the first night we were there), Haydn looked out at the pond at night and said, "Ohhhhh! Mommm!! Go get your camera! We need to take a picture of this! It's beautiful! It looks like New York City at night!" (;

Finally, the last night we were there, Haydn and I snuck away from the campfire to take some pictures of the pond. We messed around with my camera and I got to explain some concepts to him. We had a lot of fun taking them. These were our favorites! And then we almost got eaten by a few raccoons!!

John's Look-alike!!

We did this last year, and I couldn't resist posting this again! Isn't the resemblance uncanny?!! (ha)

Ball Awards!

The little boys' ball games have finally come to an end. They both did a super job- Haydn was in the coach pitch league, and Hutch in TBall. The last night, they each got a really cool trophy, which they are very proud of! Great job guys!

Now, John has tournament to finish, and we are officially done!!

"Nature Walks"

We went camping last weekend, and there were trails in the woods. The boys constantly asked to go on "nature walks"! They loved it!

Catcher Haydn

Look at that intensity! Catching is serious business! (:

Rain!

Last Saturday, the boys both had ball games, and they were both cancelled because of rain! Rather than sit around and do nothing, they decided to strip down to their shorts and run around the yard in the pouring down rain! Here are some silly faces!

*hope*

Fashion Oven

I've got some catching up to do!! I will work on that this week. For now, here's Hutch's spin on the centerpiece. He called it the fashion oven!

Bracelet

Lainey made me a bracelet a couple of weeks ago. It's just precious, and I love it! She has such a big heart!

Luke 10:2

Centerpiece

Last night for dinner, Haydn got to make the "centerpiece". Usually, he goes for a candle, some flowers, a puffy-painted rock. You know, the usual. Last night, he went all out, as you can see. Verrry classy! (to go right along with our classy meal of hot dogs!!!) (and wearing no shirts to the dinner table!!!!)

*note the addition of his recently purchased art piece.

Vegas

Who couldn't love this face?!

John's Church Softball Picture!

With all of the ball picture-taking going on around here, I thought it would be mean to exclude John from having his taken (: I was surprised when he agreed! Why don't they take team pictures like little guys do?!

Hutch's TBall Pictures

Hutch played Tball for the Tastee Twirl this year. Last night was his last regular season game, then it's off to tournament! Sounds so grown up, doesn't it?!!

Last night on his last bat, he did a Petie into home plate! Way to go, Hutch!

The Creation Museum

We went to the Creation Museum last week, and it was great. Wow! It explains Creation (and the dinosaurs) from a Biblical perspective. And, it's really exciting and fun for the whole family.

Hutch asked me to take a picture of him riding the deer, BUT he settled for petting them instead (:

Noah's ark

The Dinosaur Den

Happy Independence Day!

John Adams 2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be." --Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

Chateau Laroche

John had vacation time this week. We decided to do a mini-vacation at the beginning of the week, and then just hang out at home the rest of the time. It was a great decision! We didn't totally feel like bums, but we also got the total relaxing part of not having to do anything if we don't feel like it! On Monday, we went to the Historic Loveland Castle, Chateau Laroche. We stayed in Kentucky (barely) on Monday night and headed to The Creation Museum Tuesday.



The courtyard/walkway was one of our favorite parts!

The kids sat in a throne.

(I probably should have cropped this one, but.. oh well!)

There were beautiful gardens. We sat in this little secret garden-type cove and ate a picnic lunch. So fun!

As soon as Gwyneth saw my camera, she sat down!









One man built this entire castle over a span of 50 years. Wow! He made his own bricks. Here is his name.




Scary stairs!

John!!


The balcony.

I want to live there!!