Family Camp

Each summer, our Christ the Victor Churches gather at Morning Star Ranch for Family Camp! We have one English-speaking church, two Spanish-speaking churches and the families from Club4.12, our English-speaking youth program. This year we had 80 people laughing, learning and growing together as the family of God. While it is a lot of work for our family personally in preparing for camp and teaching sessions, it is also a lot of fun to get away for the weekend and play! I enjoyed myself more than I thought to take pictures for the most part, so I don't have as many as I normally would, but here is a sample and then a video that I put together for the ministry. 

Ben looked a bit over-protected since he chose to wear the swim wings and ride in Nate's boat.

 Nate was NOT a fan. The water was cold and crowded and he let us know he wanted no part in it.

 He came over to tell me about his Daddy putting him in the water. He was very serious!

 He finally ended up like this as we watched the loud pool raucous.

 We took a little stroll that ended up being too long for my napless little ones. At one point I was pushing the stroller and Ben was on my back. Not wise planning! And the sun was beating down on us. Live and learn!

Helping Daddy run powerpoint and sound.

Watch the video here.

We are so grateful for our church family! Even though some don't speak our language nor do we speak theirs, there is an unspoken bond that unities us together in Christ!

STL

This past weekend we were able to take our first trip to St. Louis. Ryan was asked to come give their staff a 4 part training following the recent church plant school. None of us had ever been to St. Louis, so the boys and I tagged along for the ride. It is about an 8 hour drive for us. The boys always do great on the drive, but this trip was a little rushed since it was just a weekend. We drove all day Friday, Ryan did a session that night, three sessions on Saturday and then we drove all day Sunday. 

While short, we had a great time. I took the boys to a really cool place, Magic House, on Saturday morning. There were tons of hands-on things for the boys! We also were able to enjoy some adult conversation with the other missionaries in St. Louis after putting the kids to bed or during and after dinner. The STL staff took great care of us and we are already hopeful of going back again someday! 

Rest stop along the way.

 Magic House

There was a huge tree slide of sorts that started on the second floor and went to the first.

This picture proves a point. Ben insists he is older and wiser than he really is. He couldn't stand on the hole a little smaller because he insisted he was tall enough for that one. Obviously not!

Amazing water table.

 

The 2 year old and under area.

 A fully stocked grocery store.
It had a cash register with play money and the scanner beeped when you moved items across it!

 Shopping

 Automotive shop.

 Veterinarian Clinic - Nate loving on a cat.

 Ben getting the cat's measurements.

 The fishing pond.
The kids could "catch" a magnetic fish, take it off and then put it back in the pond on the other side of this area and then watch it float back down to the pond in the river in the floor with plexiglass on it. I don't know if that makes sense, but it was super cool.

Awesome sand table.

Net tunnel in the littler kids area!

The tunnel led to the slide.

Nate crawled up to the top of the slide on his own, but got his foot caught under himself. He screamed! I had to climb up, free his leg and then he slowly slide down. I had enough time to grab the camera, but forgot the flash so it is blurry.

 Head gear was a fan favorite when playing with friends for some reason.

 The best part of home - your own bed!

Riverfest

Each year Wichita's big deal is the Riverfest. It is a week-long carnival type atmosphere and for a $5 button you can enjoy free entertainment, all the fried food you could ever want and some other activities for minimal costs. For our first Riverfest in Wichita we took our three month old baby to the fireworks, but we haven't been back until this year. I encouraged our family to enjoy it and I think we did!

First stop - the parade.
Jodi, a missionary friend, and I have two kids each and we packed our dinners and kids and braved the crowds together. We had a great time!

Our great spot along the parade route until people starting standing in front of us! Ben intentionally turned for the picture. Ugh.

 Nadia's chair was a huge hit!

 There is room in my lap for two!

 There is room in Ben's lap for one!

There is room in Jodi's lap for two too!

 

Ben and Nadia doing a little street dancing during the parade.

Another day we took a family trip to Riverfest. We bought Ben a ticket to ride a horse and then he freaked out. So, Nate rode in his place. After walking around for an hour or so we started to leave and Ben put on his brave face and decided to ride if Ryan would ride with him! It was a big deal for Ben.

 We saw Curious George. The boys waved and were so excited...from a distance. When we got close they both freaked out. I forced Nate to try because I thought he would warm up. He didn't!

 With our $5 Riverfest button we got in free to the Wichita Wingnuts baseball game. We arrived during the second innings (after naps) and the boys lasted the whole game! We even ran (walked) the bases after the game! It was also "Bark in the Park" day so there were dogs everywhere. They were a welcomed distraction. And it wasn't very crowded so the boys jumped from bleacher to bleacher without distracting anyone and we enjoyed the game. It was great fun!

See ya next June Riverfest!

Warm Weather Happenings

A brief update in words and then loads of pictures and videos.

Ben has started eating again! I am beyond excited, but still trying not to get my hopes up too high. Most days he skips a meal completely and some days he barely eats at all. We don't know why. In just the past few days he has started eating a decent amount of food (of course, Nate still easily eats double what Ben eats). He seems a little happier even. Or maybe that is just me. And he has started napping again! He was just playing quietly in his room from 1-3pm every day, but recently he has been sleeping 2-3 hours and a few days even longer! Weird. 

Nate's language is really taking off. He jabbers constantly and I can understand a word or two in each sentence. Videos at the bottom. He has pretty much given up his morning nap, but not completely. Honestly, he still needs something but he wont sleep. By noon he is exhausted. We put him down at 1pm after lunch and he will only sleep an hour to hour and a half. Ugh. So, sometimes he and I are up playing for a good hour, sometimes two, before Ben comes to join us. 

My routine isn't very routine anymore, but what about raising young children is routine?

Alright, enough words...here they are!

Aren't they so cute in their matching shirts?! Nate obviously wasn't in the mood for a picture.

Mother's Day

First, a trip to the zoo. 

 Feeding the giraffe with Dad.

Then, to the patio of World Impact after naps. 

Love 'em!

 Finally, he posed.

 Caught Nate.

 Apparently, Nate was tired because we got these two pictures!

 

 Ben insisted on swinging. 

July 2009 - Wow! What a difference three years makes!

 Back to Mother's Day...I wanted a pic of me and my boys. They were NOT in the mood. Ryan took these two gems and said it was me "mothering." Sadly, he's right.

Other Recent Happenings

 With this great of help, I don't understand why my house isn't spit spot all the time!

 Bubbles on the patio.

 Reading books with Auntie Lynn. 

 Nate's first time-outs. 

Now, before you get all worked up...He completed his time-out, we gave hugs and kisses and then I asked if I could take his picture and he went and sat back down. It is a perfect representation of how sad he did look in time-out though. However, he completely deserved it! No doubt!

 Me, a time-out?
Yes! Yes indeed!

 I caught him reading alone after we came home with 26 kids books (and 8 Ryan books) for $15 at a local used book sale. FUN! We haven't stopped reading them since!

The boys had gotten wet outside and so they were stripped to underwear/diaper. They disappeared to play and came back like this...

They both love music.

Nate's words.

He says "Yeah" all the time! All. The. Time. I can be asking Ryan or Ben a question and hear a "yeah" from across the room. But, he does know how to actually use the word. He shakes his head "no" if he doesn't want to answer in the affirmative. 

I have excellent helpers.

Houston Trip

We took a trip to Houston a few weeks ago to meet our new niece, Ella. She is Ryan's sister's new little baby. She was exactly one month old when we got to meet her. Here is our trip in a nutshell.

From there we went to my uncle's farm in Brenham for a little family reunion. There was a lot of food and laughter and the great outdoors. Here is that trip in a nutshell.