recent happenings..

first off...wow! it's been a while since my last post..just so busy. i am going to do my best to get you all caught up on our happenings since my last post.

well...the weekend before last we headed back to tn for father's day weekend. it was mainly a work trip, but we squeezed in some fun while we were there.

saturday we headed to hiwassee river for canoeing and tubing. we encountered thunderstorms while on the river complete with hail...we were very blessed to be able to make it off the river quickly before being pelted. Praise GOD!

here are some glimpses from the trip to tn...(which, unfortunately...does not include photos from the river adventure as that was a very wet trip and well...water and my camera do not mix).

a snooze on the way to tn.

one of tina's new kittens getting his bath. ;-)

gary and debi's (my in-laws) first tomato of the season. isn't it a beauty?

first cucumber of the season...and it is so cute!

the above photo is of my sister-in-law tina working on one of her beautiful ceramic creations. you can check out more of her work on her etsy shop, Xarine Creations. she is super talented!!

time at the duck pond

making father's day cards..

then this past week included another VBS for river...he had lots of fun learning about ways we can take care of God's creation through recycling, preventing pollution, leaning more about the animals God created and how our actions can put them in danger, etc.

here is a snapshot from VBS...

'the little zoo that could' brought in animals to help the kids learn more about them. here is one of the monkeys.

while river was at VBS, lily and i got to enjoy some time together..here, she is clearly getting tired of all the picture taking..oh, but i can't help myself. i mean..look at those gorgeous eyes!

also this week we had friends come to visit us from tn....our buddies, kent and his son daniel.
here are some photos from the activities which took place while they were here...

meet daniel.  ('beast')...a new term i learned from him. i will forever remind him i know this word. haha! he thinks it sounds funny when i say it because i'm not a kid. oh, that makes it even more fun to say around him.

oh my! i love this man!!

making pancakes...river supervising. ;-)

i also finished my homeschooling list (which includes the subjects as well as a materials list). you can find the subjects/curriculum list under the 'homeschool' page. i will be frequently adjusting this list (especially once we actually get started...so, you might want to check back often.

and then saturday fires broke out in gulf shores...what a terrible mess. when we were at the beach we saw this....

afterwards we drove around and snapped a couple more photos of the fire...
here is a news bit on the fire in case you didn't hear about it. gulf shores fire news story.
my friend amy reminded me that the trees being burned are the ones that had just started to fill in from being hit from hurricane ivan. how sad!





well, how's that for a catch-up post? ooh...remind me to keep up with my at-least-twice-a-week-posts so, i can keep the posts a bit lighter. ;-)

i hope you all are doing great and have a fantastic week!

love,
kelly

beautiful one

both of the kids have been walking around singing 'beautiful one' by jeremy camp, as well as others, because of VBS, which is going on this week.



so...i had to listen to it for myself again, as i have always liked this song, but haven't heard it in a while.. the video has some pretty photos, too.

also, here is picture 7 of 365 of my 365project (a photo a day for 365 days)...you have total faith that i can complete this project, right? i hope so! ;-)

the kids doing hand motions during a song at VBS

there is something just so sweet and precious about children singing and worshiping God. it is heartwarming, to say the least. melts my heart through and through.

must go now...have a wonderful rest of the week (in case you don't hear from me before then).

*oh...in case you haven't seen the first six photos from my project 365 and care to...just click on the above picture and it will take you to my flickr.

love, kelly

VBS

Vacation Bible School started today!

to say that leafy was excited is putting it mildly...and though i ,unfortunately, do not have a photograph which captures his happiness.. i do have this one...

(just please ignore the the graininess of this shot..i know i can not, but hopefully you can... (my iso was way off), but i love the moment captured just the same.

this was taken the day before the first day of VBS..so, quite possibly he was thinking about all the fun he would have while learning more about Jesus and what life was like when He was a kid? let's go with that..;-)

so..let's see...we showed up at the Church and of course, i stuck around for a while snapping photos and though leafy was excited he became very shy and really wanted me to stay around for awhile. i was completely fine with that...as i really didn't want to leave anyway..

after meeting in the Sanctuary for some worship singing..we (yes, i was still with them at this point) headed to the market place in Nazareth to learn more about some trades such as toy making, bead making, dye shop, and they also learned about synagogue school, and played games that  children might have played in Jesus' time.

each child was given a bag with tokens and they had to "pay" the market shop owners a set amount of coins for each shop. (notice the market keepers hand reaching for the coins leafy is getting out. ;-)

leafy and lily loved making beads..

leafy really is having fun, despite his body language communicating another message.. promise. ;-)

would have been nice to get a few better shots of this experience (oh, how i could put to good use a speedlight flash for my camera)...lol. but anywhoo...

the other nice part of the VBS was that lily got to partake in the fun today,too. leafy's teacher went ahead and let lily participate in the bead making and a couple other activities since i was taking there for a bit taking photos. and then when it was time for me to leave (it had to happen i suppose) the teacher requested that lily stay if i was fine with it since she was working so nicely and having fun. you see, lily doesn't turn four until july and to participate in VBS you had to be four by june...so, i was thankful that the teacher allowed her to do this. i asked lily if she wanted to stay and of course, she did.
i registered her and then was on my way...but, was saddened to realize that i was without my babies (if only for a couple hours).
i made the most of it by going back to the apartment and exercising at the club house then having a quiet lunch with rocky..it was certainly nice and much needed (both the exercise and alone time with the hubby). God is so good to work all that out!!

i hope you all had a wonderful day,too!!

much love,
-kelly