Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I Scream


You Scream
We all Scream
For Ice Cream!!
...and neat shrimp boats with crazy seagulls
...and splash grounds!!!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Snapshots of the Weekend

Another busy weekend! Here's a glimpse! Family bike ride Saturday morning... we even saw two alligators (Nat has a picture on his phone... I wasn't savvy enough to figure how to put that on)!!
Some playtime in the (barely working but still feeling a million times better than outside) AC
Putt-Putt Tournament with the youth group (G even got a hole-in-one!)
And some ice cream when we finished up!
Sunday we spent the afternoon with friends after church and came home for dinner and Bible Study. Today we had some nice downtime... Graham went to school, Kate slept until 9:15 this morning (very tired) and we enjoyed having Nat with us for the day. He even made our van shiny!!
Now we're back from a long walk, kids are bathed and in bed and I think we'll put our feet up to watch a movie. Popcorn? Ice cream? Yes please!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Officially a Preschooler

Graham's first day of preschool was yesterday and he loved it!! We plan on having Nat drop him off most days since the school is at the church, but I wanted to take him in the first day, thinking he might need a few minutes of mommy in there to transition... Nope! He walked right into Mrs. Jacobs' classroom, dropped his backpack on the floor and immediately sat down to color with the other kids. He barely gave me a side glance when I kissed him goodbye and as I walked out of the room I could already hear his teacher instructing him on how to pinch the crayons. When we picked him up he was so excited to tell us about the craft that he made, about his new friends, and that he gets to go back to school in three days! As hard as it is to realize that our (not so) baby boy is 3 (and still growing!), it is so so much fun to see him growing and learning and for him to be so excited!! I am also looking forward to some sweet alone time with Kate that we don't have much of (and maybe even a quiet moment or two to myself)! Anyway, here are some pictures of G getting ready to start his first day!!
Heels against the door... we'll see how tall he is on the last day of school! :o)
Sister wants in!
And... I couldn't resist... Kate doing some sort of happy loud noises while we were waiting in the pick-up line!!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Cookout in Catan

Sunday wasn't finished after the beach... Nat started a Bible Study for the young adults in the church at the beginning of the summer (Tim Keller's study of Galatians - it's really been a great study!) and some of them are heading back to college this week so we had a cookout to send them off again. We missed those of you who had to head back early and some of you who just couldn't make it - We had such a fun night!!

Grilling
Our cooking project of the night: Fried Ice Cream! Yummy :o)
After dinner, Bible Study, and fried ice cream we played a game of Settlers. David brought his Catan duck that you have the privilege of signing if you win... Congrats to Austin!
Game faces?
The crew that lasted until 1:30am
And, I suppose, what 1:30am does to you :o)

Hot Day at the Beach

We had such a busy weekend! Some new friends from church came over for dinner on Friday, on Saturday we went to a volleyball tournament for one of the girls in the youth group and then to an Astros baseball game that night, and on Sunday we went to the beach after church. I have actually been planning on boycotting the beach until fall because it has been so hot, but it really was such a fun time! We went with our friends, the Brummers, so that we could meet Danielle's brother and sister who are visiting from Minnesota this week. We were thankful for a yummy lunch, a big breeze, no jellyfish(!!!), and an afternoon to relax. Most of all we are thankful for these sweet friends - it is such a blessing to have friends who we enjoy but friends who also love playing around with Graham and Kate... I sometimes think that strangers probably wouldn't know which adults our kids belong to, they are so wonderful to them!

Time to get messy!!Note - G is walking with Nat and Tyler here...
Now you only see his hand - oops!!! He was fine, by the way :o)
Getting some love from Danielle!
Kate with her Daddy :o)The breeze really felt wonderful and it was perfect for flying Nat's kite!
Yay for the beach! As you can see... we had a good enough time to wear out at least one of them before we even made it to the main road!!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Summer Days

I really can't believe that the summer is almost over! There could be so much to catch up on for this blog, but the thought of that is slightly overwhelming, so perhaps I'll be able to catch up in bits and pieces (flashbacks from time to time, if you will!) and just try (!) to focus on keeping up with what's current-ish. This summer brought weddings, new babies (not us), Nat's Grandma passed away, a car accident (we were protected from injuries but my little Sentra was totaled) which led to the blessing of a minivan, a visit from Bernie, Chelsie, Joel and Ella, lots of fun with the youth group, a retreat and mission trip for Nat... I could go on and on. We have rejoiced in a lot. We have also been challenged by a lot, but God has provided strength, energy, patience, and love when we feel spent - being reminded of his sovereignty and goodness in all things and of our need for reliance upon him and not on ourselves! Anyway, with the fall starting up I'm sure the busyness won't exactly end but I'm looking forward to a little more routine than what we've (not) maintained over the summer. Graham starts preschool next Friday (!!! - I really can't believe he's big enough for that) and he is pumped about it. Other than that, both G and K seem to be growing bigger and faster (and Kate is becoming one sneaky little lady!)... I'm not sure how to balance not being to general with not writing a book in one blog post so I think this will have to do for now. A very special sorry to parents who I know thought that they would never again see pictures of their grandbabies... I'll try to keep it up! Until next time...