Keeping Cool

As the temperatures sore into the triple digits here in Florida, we tried to stay cool! We went over to mom and dad's house this afternoon for some time in the pool. We celebrated Father's Day by cooking out with my mom and dad. I snapped a few pictures while we were in the pool.

Erin loves to jump...

...and jump

I would like to wish all you dad's out there a happy Father's Day!

Hope it's a great one!

VBS 2009

It has been one busy week! We had Vacation Bible School at our church this week. I must say, that it was a success. I co-taught Grant and Erin's class. We averaged 15 little ones every night! Talk about having our hands full! We were lucky enough to have several teenagers to volunteer to help out with the group. We are now exhausted from some very late nights (I don't think we got home before 10 pm each night), but it was worth it to see and hear Grant's excitement throughout the week about VBS. He has learned some new songs and hopefully something new about Jesus.

Each night the lesson were centered around teaching the kids about Jesus. The first night the kids learned that he was human just like us! As we were getting the kids out of the car when we got home Sunday night Grant saw Erin's baby doll. (the same baby dolls they have in the classroom at church) He picked it up and said "Baby Jesus!" I think he got it!

Grant leading "Pat the Bible"

Erin "patting" the Bible

Each night the "Sesame Street" puppets came down to do a puppet show just for us!

Erin LOVED the puppets! She'd yell out "Oscar! Oscar! Elmo!" It was so cute! She is really getting into the Sesame Street characters. Grant has never been into them, but she loves them.

Craft time

An attempt at a group shot! Erin was screaming in the background!

Grant: Future Missionary

Over the past few months Grant has become a little chatterbox. I recall questioning his doctor when he was Erin's age because the boy hardly spoke at all. I was concerned that he had a speech delay. She looked at me and just smiled (probably because she hears parents overly worried about things such as this all day) and said, "He's a boy. Don't worry. He will be talking up a storm soon enough." She was right!

Grant has a routine before we leave the house. (He has a routine for everything...but that is a while other post.) The last thing we do before we leave is sit on the island in the kitchen and I put on the kids' shoes, wipe faces and comb their hair. After everyone is presentable we (meaning Grant AND Erin) must give Hunter a treat. Grant will throw him a bone and then he says. "See you later Hunter. Be a good boy. See you at church tomorrow!" Every time! He invites the dog to church! I just laugh to myself .

Now he's expanding his outreach. The other night the FedEx man brought a package to the door. As he was leaving Grant cheerfully said, "Bye! See you at church!"

Then the other day at Target he saw another little boy about his age in the cart in front of us in the check out line. They were saying their hello's back and forth as we went about paying for our goods. The family was parked next to us in the parking lot. Grant looks over at the little boy and says, "Bye! I'll see you at church!"

Boy, wouldn't life be wonderful if everyone did go to church with us! The world would be such a better place! Or, maybe I need to take a lesson from my little boy and invite some people to church!

Catch Up

I must admit that I have not been a very good blogger recently. We have been very busy around our house. Stephen bought me a new sewing/embroidery machine and a serger for my birthday! I have spent much of my free time working on several new projects. I will share them with you soon. I love my new machines!!!!

Even though this is a picture of Erin, Grant has made some progress in the potty training department. I have pictures of him and his new potty chart, but they are on the other computer. Anyway, we have told him that we will buy him a bicycle when he doesn't wear diapers anymore. Every time he uses his potty he gets a star on his chart. This has motivated him somewhat. I will take what I can get...he wouldn't even go near the potty a month ago.

Stephen is going back to school. Poor guy was trying to do his school work this past Saturday, but he had a few helpers. We were stuck inside because of the rain. Over the past few weeks we have received around 32 inches of rain!!! (These are my estimations using our rain gauge) This has left the property swamped! In the nine years we have been out here we have never seen standing water like this on the property. Not even in 2004 when four tropical storms and hurricanes criss -crossed the state!

So what so you do when you little guy just can't stand staying inside any longer....

....you lather them up in bug repellent and let them go! Grant actually met Stephen on the porch in nothing but his diaper and his rain boots. He will probably not like me when he is older for these pictures, but he had a blast!

Erin wants her own boots. In fact, we had a wrestling match between the two of them tonight over the shoes. (The girl loves shoes, and clothes, and jewelry!)

I hope I can back into the habit of posting more often!