Twin Groves

If you've been reading this blog for very long, you know we live pretty much smack in the middle of what is now the Twin Groves Wind Farm. While we don't get any of our energy from these huge turbines, we do enjoy seeing them whirling around and around.

There've been many evenings when we've come home from town, turned onto our road and seen an amazing sunset to the west! But usually I am rushing to get the kids home to bed and/or don't have my camera with me to stop and get photos. (This evening I had gone into town to have dinner with the EPIC Worship Band from church, to say farewell to Anthony & Jesika Moore, who are moving to South Dakota this week. I'd taken my camera, but didn't take any pictures at dinner, as we were cozied into several different tables.) But I happened to catch a fairly decent sunset on my way home, so I stopped at the side of the road to shoot a few pictures. The corn is very tall right now, so it was tough to shoot over it!

Summer Slam VBS

This week, we had family VBS at our church! The kids and I had a blast!!!
I was honored to be one of the leaders of the Blue Raspberry Arctic Rush team. We used the KidMo (Johnny Rogers) curriculum, and the theme was the Fruits of the Spirit. I know my kids learned a lot, and even made some spiritual steps, and I hope a lot of others did too!

the leadership team and student leaders leading worship

Caeden really got into cheering our team on!


worship on Friday evening..."I lift high my hands and I worship you!"


One of the best things about the week for me, was watching Caeden learn how we worship God with songs. He really got into the songs, learned the lyrics, and enjoyed the motions.


The kids have been busting into the songs all week at home too.


strikin' our surfing pose for, "Hey God I wanna tell ya that I love ya!"


Of course I forgot my camera on the day that Pastor Todd's game had people eating dehydrated BBQ larvae and dehydrated salt and vinegar crickets! There were some very brave people munching those things down FAST!

One day, people had to "shoot" Kix cereal out of their noses and try to make a basket for points! I almost gagged myself shooting a Q-tip through a straw in that same race! Whew!

On a tastier note, my super talented friend Jesika made these awesome beach cupcakes for snacks! Aren't they the cutest?! I love the brown sugar "sand" and the mint beach ball!



Mr. Jerry led us in some really fun fruity recreational games all week---like banana toss, banana between the knees squishy relay race, strawberries on a spoon relay, watermelon seed spitting...Oh it was fun!


This morning was our VBS closing service in the sanctuary with our whole congregation. It was fun to have all the families and adults who weren't able to attend during the week there participating!

Of course, Pastor Todd had another bug-munching game for us today too. And, both Jeremy and I were "lucky" enough to be chosen to participate! Here's what we had to eat in our race...
Krispy Kreme with crickets! Ooh yum!


This brave little girl ate the bugs for our team both times this week! What a team player! (I love Caeden's look of shock as he watches her eat those bugs!)


We had a super time, and I'm so glad our church was able to have a VBS this year!

a REAL mohawk

Jeremy decided to cut Caeden's hair this afternoon. Apparently, Annah thought Caeden would like a mohawk, and she suggested it. Of course Caeden liked the thought, and Daddy went along with it. Jeremy said he always wanted to try having one for a day or so when he was a kid and never did. So...

He did a pretty good job. And, I will admit, I think Caeden still looks pretty cute.



He is very excited about his fun new 'do!

We're going to Disney World!

For the past couple years, Jeremy has been doing insurance courses on his own, working towards earning his FLMI designation. He passed his last exam on June 30th, and earned his designation...which will be conferred on him during a reward trip in Orlando this September!
Since his and my airfair, lodging and food will be covered, we have been planning to take the kids along, extend the trip, and go to Disney while we're there! We figure it will be our only chance to get them there, and we are SO excited!!!

We've booked our flights, got a great deal on a vacation package that includes staying at a Disney Resort with FREE dining, and are off and running on planning! We can't wait!!

Camp Time!!

This has been a very exciting day! It started very early, as we woke Sylvia at 6:00 a.m. to get ready for her first day of State Farm's Kids' Day Camp. She is not a morning person, but was excited enough that we got her around and out the door by 6:40-ish. Annah got up and ran to the end of the driveway in her jammies to say goodbye to Sylvia and give her a hug. They are really going to miss each other this week, I'm sure!

Then, we started getting Annah ready to go out the door with her bags packed for church camp! I drove her up to Manville, and even made it there just fine--despite my nervousness about driving there and finding it! Pastor Scott greeted us at the camp's entrance, and we soon saw many of the other 5 adults and 16 campers from our church who are there for the week!

After we made our way through the registration line, we started towards Cabin 101!

Counselor "Miss" Sherry was there to greet Annah, as were some of the other campers! Annah seemed only very excited, not nervous or scared at all (at least outwardly!) It probably helps that Brooke & Madeira are in her cabin, and Abby, Emma, and Sasha are right next door.

She picked a top bunk, and climbed right up and started unpacking her things! I made her bed for her, and Caeden kept climing up and crawling in her sleeping bag. He was getting more and more excited about camp, and I knew it was going to get harder and harder to get him out of there. So, I asked Annah if she was ready for me to go. She seemed like she was going to settle in just fine and have a great time. She said, "I don't care. Yeah, you can go." She was very happy to be there and already having fun checking things out with her friends as we left. I am praying she has the best week of her life so far, and grows closer to Jesus!!

So, Caeden was pretty grumpy as we drove back to Bloomington. I decided to take him to QDoba for lunch. He wasn't happy that it wasn't McDonald's, but after he decided to try his food, he said, "We should eat here every day!" Whew...that turned out well!

We went home and eagerly awaited Sylvia's and Daddy's arrival. Forgot to mention...Daddy took her for pancakes at McDonald's before dropping her off at camp, which was a majorly exciting part of the deal! THEN, when he picked her up from camp, he took her to get a chocolate dipped ice cream cone at Dairy Queen! Can we say spoiled?! I think he just wanted some more time with his sweetie girl to make her feel special!

She was soooo tired when they finally got home. She didn't want me to take her picture, but I snuck one. She went right to bed after supper and shower...so sleepy!

Little Sparks

We never made it to any fireworks show this year, but tonight the kids convinced Daddy to help them do the sparklers Gram & Krampa left. The girls were very tired after their exciting week with Krampa & Gram, so we did them at dusk and not really dark. Still it was fun.

Gram bought Annah a pair of sunglasses, and she hasn't taken them off all day. When they're not on her face, they're at least still on her head! I think she likes them!

Caeden didn't want to hold a sparkler a few weeks ago, but finally tried the last few tonight and thought it was pretty fun.



We also used up the Pop-Its, and some of our neighbors set of some really nice fireworks after dark tonight too. Whoo!

First Rides

Our sweet friends, the Crowleys, invited our Life Group out to their beautiful home this evening. We had such a great time!

I got to ride a horse for the first time ever in my life!


Thanks Toby! (And Jennifer and Todd too, of course!)


Caeden jumped on the trampoline almost constantly for the 2 1/2 hours we were there.
He and Samuel took turns trying on the helmet for the 4-wheelers and running around laughing at each other too.


Just before we left, Caeden got up the courage to go for a ride on a 4-wheeler. Daddy was going to take him, but Pastor Todd was already riding, so he took him.
(Caeden said he was showing Pastor Todd what Luigi does with his arms when he wins a race on Mario Kart Wii.)


Thanks for a fun ride, Pastor Todd!


We have such great times with our Life Group friends. We are sad the Crowleys will be moving away to Iowa in a few weeks, but we are really excited for them and their next step in life!


*Nope, no pictures of Annah and Sylvia this week---Gram & Krampa decided to steal them away to Indiana when they left! So we'll meet them partway later this week and bring them home. We miss them A LOT, but know they're having a wonderful, special time!!

Day at the Park

Church was fun this morning! I taught Caeden's preschool class during 1st service, then helped Jeremy in the elementary kids' service for 2nd. Mom & Dad raved about Pastor Todd's sermon, though, so we will have to listen to it online!

After church we took Gram & Krampa to State Farm Park. We had lunch at the clubhouse, then took a walk around a bit of the park.

We had to feed the fish and geese over the railing.


The park is so beautiful. These are definitely the coolest color combo I've seen on daylillies!





We let the kids play in the pool for a while. They were quite entertained by putting the chairs over the little fountains and sitting on them with the water coming up under them. Brrr!






I was informed that this little spot underneath the water slide is their "clubhouse."


After swimming, we did the mini golf course. If you go by the lowest score being best, Krampa won. If you go by the highest score being best, Caeden won. Heehee.

Relaxing 4th of July

For some reason, we haven't been able to plan our lives more than a few days in advance lately. When we finally decided we weren't going to travel for the 4th of July, it was already the 2nd of July. When I told Sylvia we weren't going to Gram's & Krampa's, she decided she wanted to call and invite them to come to our house...So she did! We were really excited when they said they would come for the weekend!

Jeremy had the day off yesterday, and it was a beautiful sunny day! We ran errands in town, including Krispy Kreme, and then he spent the afternoon ripping down our deck. It collapsed a few weeks ago, and we decided taking it down was our best choice. He got most of it done, except for the frame.

It rained all day today, so we stayed inside and relaxed.
Gram has much more patience with the Easy Bake Oven than I do. She helped Annah make 6 tiny s'mores, and it only took about 2 hours.

Krampa has been working on a barn siding project on his farm. Sylvia had to talk directly with him to convince him and Gram to leave the project for a couple days and come visit. When Krampa asked Sylvia what we would all do if they came to visit, she said, "I know one thing we would do!...Snuggle!" This was all without her being coached, so I think she really tied the knot around Krampa's heartstrings and he would have driven across the world to come snuggle with her this weekend!

While we didn't have sunshine, a picnic, swimming, or fireworks...it still felt like the 4th of July!

Tonight we stayed in and shared our family's favorite movie Prince of Egypt with Krampa & Gram. We're so glad they're here!

A little fun for lunch today...

A little fun for lunch today...