She's Back!

Our sweet Anna went away to church camp for 6 days! We are so proud of her. She's a homebody, shy and loves being with her family. She cried buckets when she left last Sunday. We knew that she would have a great time if she would just get on the bus! She did get on eventually and we didn't hear from her all week, which was a good sign. She came back full of excitement and many stories to tell. We are so happy she had such a wonderful experience and that she is home... especially in time for a very special birthday tomorrow...;-)

Love you, big girl!

 

The Bike Trailer

After coming back from China on December 1st, we entered the holidays and then my post-holiday funk and then lots of doctors appointments and then surgery for Isabel in April and then post-op recovery and... well, you get the idea.  My personal care of eating well and exercising went out the window and boy did I start to feel it!  By late April, I was having many undesirable side-effects that were also tied to me entering the peri-menopause stage. (Don't get me started on that!)

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I completely changed my diet, went to my homeopath, dusted off my bike and bought a bike trailer for the littles.  First, I love my bike.  I bought it 16 years ago when I was seriously into biking.  It was an expensive purchase back then, but it has held up well!  We live in a small town with wonderful bike trails.  It's about 1/2 a mile for us to get to the bike trail, but once we're there, we're golden!  We make quite a scene with all of us riding, but it is so good for us all!  The littles like the bike trailer, even though Izzy can get quite squished back there.  Nate takes up more then his share of 1/2 the trailer!!

I'm feeling SO much better.  If I have a babysitter or Jim's home, I'll ride on my own or with just Anna. I'm back on the treadmill too.  I've completely changed my diet and have added important supplements and vitamins as well.  It feels so good to be (almost) back to my ol' self!!

This bike trailer is the best purchase I've made in a long time!

Ready to go!  Waiting for me to put their seat belts on!

Izzy {Sunday Snapshot}

I just love this picture of Izzy fresh out of the pool.  Her look is so wistful... the reflection of the pool fence on her cute little body... hair still wet and tousled.  Such a doll!!

VBS

We finished this week's VBS at our church.  This is the first year that I worked a station and I'm exhausted!  Will was a crew leader, Anna was an assistant crew leader, Kate was in the elementary group, Dan was in the preschool group, and Nate and Isabel were in the toddler room!!  It was a lot of work getting them all out the door bright and early, but we did it and had a good time.  I took one decent picture of them one morning as we were heading out. It's so hard to get everyone smiling and looking at the camera!

The littles were already in their car seats. : )

One of the Bible verses this week was Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path."  In crafts, they used a an invisible ink pen to write out words and then the special light to shine on the ink to see the words show up.  Neat demonstration to talk about the verse.  My children brought the pen home and proceeded to draw on each other!

Nice mustache and goatee, Dan!

It was a good week, but I'm tired!  Today we pack up Anna for summer camp.  She leaves tomorrow morning with our church and will be gone all week.  I will miss her!

Dan Swimming

This is about the age that our other children started to swim without a vest.  He has all summer to just get better and better!  Yay Dan!!

Irish Dance Recital

Last night was the girls' Irish Dance recital.  We are so proud of how they are continuing to improve their dancing, as well as enjoying it.  We took some pictures out front before the recital.  Based on past experience, we hired a babysitter for the little boys. : ) Isabel sat in my lap the whole time and it was a pleasure to watch and not chase after little ones the whole evening!

Jim got some good video of some of the dances before the battery died. : (  We have a break for the summer and if the girls would like to continue, they'll start up again in the fall.