Church Campout

After VBS this year we went with the church on their annual campout. It was up in the Northern Cascade Mountains in Washington.

It was absolutely beautiful!!! There are just no words to describe it!! We went on a couple hikes with the church, one to a dam and then to some waterfalls. Honestly didn't want to leave... except to maybe get some clean clothes :) That and I think Layne (Jason's mom) was a bit cold. She spent most of the campout enjoying the fire.

VBS 2010

I have so many great pictures of VBS this year but unfortunately I can't post them on this blog because they have other kiddos besides just mine.

This VBS was my training to be the new Children's Ministry Director at Oak Harbor Church of Christ. It was the first time I have every planned a VBS by myself. Man I had so much fun with it!!! I picked the them SonHarvest Fair. You know that so FITS me, haha! The curriculum was all about learning the fruits of the Spirit. I am happy to say that even I learned something new. I have a terrible time memorizing verses and I was able to memorize 5:22

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Of course, more impressive is that the kids learned it too, haha!

It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot about the planning of VBS that I will be sure to put into practice next year. Overall I think it was a success!

Double Birthday

This year Noah and I celebrated our birthday together. We wanted to make sure Mamaw got to be here for Noah's birthday and we wanted to do something special. The day Toy Story 3 came out at the drive in was on my birthday, so we took our "party" there. Noah and I opened all our presents in the back of the truck before the movie started. Noah has been wanting a "real" buzz lightyear so that was his big present this year. He was SOOOOO excited and watching the movie with his new buzz was the best! My momma got some great new cookbooks for me and the boys picked out some beautiful jewelry for me. It was a wonderful birthday for both of us!

New blog background

Felt like I needed an update today, so I fiddled around the the layout on the blog. I love this background with all the homeschooling and college work that is going on this really fits my mood right now :D

Day on Camano Island

One of our last big outings while my mom was visiting was a trip to the wooden boat club on Camano island. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day so I brought the boys swimsuits and let them go in the water.

Noah is in love with the water. You would have thought the kid had won the lottery. He was just JOY personified.

Abby loved gathering up all those beautiful rocks. I don't know if my washing machine can handle yet another rock collector, haha!

Oh and the little professor, his wheels are always turning!! A shell and a piece of driftwood, wallah, he's invented a "tool".

The water was a little cold, but thankfully the rocks were sooooo warm.

Sometimes the sunshine hits those blue eyes just right, wow... what beautiful kids I have :)

Thanks for a great day momma! Miss you like crazy!!

Smart Cookies

I have some good readers in this house. These two boys really surprised me one week this summer. We are homeschooling and our curriculum is literature based so we are constantly reading. Well I took the boys to the library to pick out some picture books, just for some lighter reading. What do they do? They both insisted that they wanted to pick out their own chapter books to read. Doesn't matter that I am reading two at the time TO them. No, they want to read a chapter book to themselves. So I told them, "that's fine, but mommy just doesn't have time to read it to you. So if you get it you have to read it to yourself." Apparently that isn't a problem. They both read their first chapter book BY THEMSELVES in a week and half's time.
Noah read Night of the Ninjas, a magic treehouse book, and Gabriel read the first book out of the Hardy Boys series. WOW was I impressed, but more impressive is the fact that they didn't stop. They are both continuing to read books on their own time. Gabriel is on his 5th chapter book of the summer and Noah is on his 3rd. Can I remind you that Noah is going into 1st grade and Gabriel into 2nd!! A mom just can't help but brag sometimes, my boys are just so stinkin' smart!

Mama's Girls

My sister didn't stay very long but there are somethings you just have to do while your in the Northwest, so we tried to do as many as we could.

Deception Pass

Crab Shack

Pike's Market

At Pike's Market my mom bought Tasha a chinese stamp with her name engraved in it. The man did the engraving right there while we watched.

The Space Needle

TeeTee Smooches

Eating Pie at Greenbank Farm

My big sis came to visit us this summer. Never really thought it would happen, but she braved out the plane ride just for me :) We had such a great time with her and I hope she will come back again (hint hint)! While she was here we took her to Greenbank Farm for some pie. It is definitely one of our favorite spots on Whidbey. When we went this time the goslings had just hatched so it was a special treat for the kids to see all the babies. Of course, having pie is a pretty good treat too!