Memorial Day Picnic

Every year, a family at our church hosts a picnic.  We love the time of fellowship and time of rest.
There is always a lot of great food!  But I liked this picture of the tea.

The lake was the huge attraction for the kids!  Kyle and Clayton used the peddle boat.  Then Adrian used it with Clayton to take the girls for a ride.

The older kids moved the dock out into the lake, and our kids loved jumping off the dock swimming around.

My dad and Adrian took the canoe out into lake with Keira and Mercy.  The kids from the dock swam over to say hello.

Kyle swimming in the lake.

Mercy didn't want to get out of the water!  She jumped and splashed as much as she could!

A family at our church treated us to a small Bluegrass concert.  It was a lot of fun to listen to!  I hope to get to hear more soon!

My grandmother sat with Sophia and Paige while listening to the music.

I spent a good bit of the picnic sitting with my grandmother and just chatting about nothing in particular.  I wanted to just be with her as we don't get to see her very often.  And that was an added bonus to this years picnic!

Camping at Lake Lanier part 2

{If you haven't read part 1, you may want to go do that.  I didn't balance the picture load well!  The previous post has many more pictures.}

After returning from the playground, Patrick cuddled up on me and fell asleep.  I really enjoyed the rest, too!  Everyone else went for a bike ride around the camp ground.  Several people played 7 Wonders after the riding bikes, the others played by the lake.  One of these days I will get in on a game of 7 Wonders, but I haven't yet. When the game was over, we had lunch and hung out for a bit.  Then Patrick got fussy again, so I snuggled up with him for another nap/rest.  Adrian and the Presley's took the kids to the little beach area to swim.  I really enjoyed the quiet with Patrick!

Megan's husband grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for all of us, and we had a bunch of chips and things to go with them.  We enjoyed a quiet night around the fire again.  I put Patrick to sleep early and Mercy quickly followed.  But while the others were at the bath house, I got a text saying that my grandmother was in the ER.  So as everyone returned, we gathered together and prayed for her then went to bed.
In the morning, I saw another text saying that she was sent home to rest!  We ate breakfast and cleaned and packed up.  When things were packed in the car, we played Race for the Galaxy with Megan and Clayton.  The kids all ate lunch together, and just enjoyed being together.

(Mercy was just wiped out!)


We had a great time, but it was a bit short.  I don't think I could have planned for more time.  Maybe next time I can do that!

Project 366: Week 23

This week was a nice week!  We had a great time enjoying summer.  We spent many hours reading The Green Ember out loud.  The kids (and I) really LOVED the book!  We backed the Kickstarter for the next book and Avalyn can't stop talking about getting it.  The kids also spent a good amount of time outside playing.  The temperatures and humidity were not too bad this week, so I sent them out in the mornings.  They got to play with our neighbor for almost the first time.  They enjoyed their time with her.  I just hope we didn't overwhelm her as she is the younger of two children, and we have six crazy kids!  This post covers June 5 - 11.

Sunday: Sunday was Kyle's birthday.  I forgot to take his picture until just before bed.  It was too dark to take a good picture outside, so I got two pictures inside and promised to take better pictures another day.  I am thankful for this loving boy.  Kyle is thoughtful and caring and loves reading and riding his bike.

Monday: So good friends took ALL our kids for the whole day!  Adrian and I planned to make a day of it ourselves.  We went to Conyers to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.  We wanted to see their bonsai collection.  Adrian and I enjoyed the afternoon wandering around the grounds.  It was so quiet and peaceful!  Learning about how they founded the monastery and how they built the church was fascinating.  I am thankful for good friends who love us and our kids!  I am thankful for time with just my husband to enjoy some quiet time together.

Tuesday: Avalyn made a Gardenia garland for Mercy.  Mercy wasn't as excited about it as I thought she would be.   I am thankful for these beautiful and wonderfully scented flowers!  Every time I walk out of my house at this time of year the smell of the Gardenias almost overwhelms me.  God even created smell that brings great pleasure!

Wednesday: This little guy loves balls!  He can play with this ball for an hour by himself!  I am thankful for this little red ball (and the little boy who likes it)! :)

Thursday: I didn't take a picture this day.  This picture is from the monastery on Monday.  As a way for the monastery to make money and to preserve the environment on their large parcel of land, the monks have set up a natural cemetery.  We drove back to where the office was, but decided not to ask where the burial grounds were.  What we saw was heavy woods with small paths through it.  It was beautiful.  I am thankful for peaceful places.  Though many people are creeped out by cemeteries, I find them peaceful and beautiful.

Friday: We have a tradition in out home of reading comic books during quiet time on Fridays.  Also kids have to be 8 years old before they can read Calvin and Hobbes.  We want them to be able to understand at least a little bit that Calvin is not the most well behaved kid.  It also gives them something to look forward to!  Kyle has anticipated this day for a LONG time!  I am thankful for fun things to look forward to!  And I am thankful for Calvin and Hobbes!
 

Saturday: Our good friend and pastor's daughter got married!  The wedding went well and Caroline was beautiful.  I am thankful for another picture of how Christ loves us!  God is constantly showing us how he loves us and I am thankful for the opportunity to witness this union and pray that God will use them as a witness to him through their marriage.

Kyle is 8!!!

Kyle's eighth birthday was on Sunday this year, so we celebrated on the Saturday before.  He requested small penguin cakes and breakfast for dinner. 

I decorated cupcakes like little penguins.  Originally they didn't have feet, but Kyle insisted that they had to have feet!  I think they turned out rather well!

Kyle enjoyed opening his presents from his siblings. They went to the DollarTree and each bought him a gift.  They were very thoughtful in their choices. 

One of the gifts that Adrian and I gave him was a little stuffed penguin.  Kyle named him Magellan.  So now Captain Cook has a fellow explorer joining him in the penguin crew.

We got 8 candles on Kyle's cupcake, but he did not manage to blow them all out at one time.

We are thankful for God giving us our first son.  He is thoughtful and reserved.  We pray that God will continue to show himself to Kyle as he grows in grace and faith.

Birthday Bowling

Many months ago, Kyle got a coin from Stars and Strikes.  I think he found it at the thrift store or from the Kidsignment sale.  From that time on, Kyle has asked if he could go to Stars and Strikes for his birthday.  We weren't sure about going there since we have so many kids, something like that could be expensive!  Adrian started looking around for options for bowling and found Kids Bowl Free.  We were so excited that we signed up all the kids and took them bowling on Saturday before Kyle's birthday!
None of the kids really knew what bowling was, so Adrian explained it to them before they got started.  Here is a little known fact.  Adrian was on a bowling league while in college!  He really enjoyed it then and enjoyed bowling again with the kids!

It took him a little while to get his throw back, but he finally found his groove.

The kids had a wonderful time!

 Keira really wanted to bowl like the big kids and not with the kids ramp.  She did well!

 

Mercy and Sophia started out using the dragon ramp. Mercy loved it!  Sophia decided later that she wanted to try bowling like the big kids.

Mercy was so excited that hers and daddy's shoes matched!

The bowling ball was bigger than Mercy!

All the kids had a great time!  Kyle got 3 strikes and Mercy got 1!  Avalyn had a couple of spares.

Camping at Lake Lanier part 1

Several months ago, Megan asked if we wanted to go camping.  I was tired of trying to find a time and place to go, so I told her sure, sign us up and let me know when and where.  She made arrangements for us to camp at Shady Grove on Lake Lanier on Memorial Day weekend!  She wasn't sure what the sites would be like, but we were happy to go and enjoy the experience.
I will say that I was incredibly overwhelmed leading up to the trip and really just wanted to stay home!  I knew that the kids would really enjoy going, so I kept plugging along trying to just make it to the camp site.
We left for camping after school let out on Thursday.  It was the last day for the kids, so the schedule was shorten and more exciting than usual.  Once we got to the camp site, we saw a wonderful view of the lake!  As we set up, we realized that we had stayed in this group of sites before when we camped with a couple of families at the church a few years ago.

(We have a 15 passenger van and still filled it up!  If you look closely, you can see three of the bike tires that were inside the van.)

(The dog squeezed himself between the rows of seats.  He wasn't sure what to do with himself!)

Adrian and the kids set up the tent while I tried to make order of all the kitchen stuff and prepare for dinner.  Megan was bringing the meat while I brought sides.

(Mercy hates bugs!  This is how she stomped on bugs while we were trying to set up the camp.)

(Patrick loves to sit in chairs, so to get him out of the way, he was chaired.)

(Our view from our campsite.)

As it got dark, the kids gathered sticks and built a fire so they could roast marshmallows.  We had a wonderful time of Bible reading and singing and praying before heading to bed.  Patrick snuggled sweetly while we watched the fire.  He fell asleep and slept the rest of the night!  Mercy on the other hand had a hard time sleeping away from home and woke up several times crying for mommy.  Eventually I just pulled her into the cot with me and we slept together until morning.
On Friday morning, I was thankful for the electric hook up as I cooked breakfast on the griddle and started lunch in the crock pot.
Most of our family and the Presleys rode their bikes to the play ground after breakfast.  I drove with Patrick, Keira, and Cheyenne.  The kids played for a long while.

To be continued...