Grammy & Papa Tom Visit with bonus pics

Grammy and Papa Tom came for Labor Day weekend. It was a short visit, but we had tons of fun!

Backyard play

 

 Grammy must have said something very silly.

 Boys will be boys, right?

 Puzzles

 Tanganyika!

They took us for our first time to a hands-on zoo! You can feed and/or touch lots of the animals. So much fun!

The boys weren't real sure about how close the giraffe was getting. 

 Family shot!

 I was holding a syrup to feed the birds. The obvious boss of the bird group jumped right on my hand and ate the whole thing while fending off the others. It was a bit more than I bargained for, but fun.

This is as close as Nate would get. Ben wouldn't get that close even!

 We got to pet kangaroos! Some of them had joeys in their pouches that we could see wiggling around!

 Ben touched the tortoise.

 Watching the tortoises - they are faster than you might think.

 Watching penguins with Grammy and Papa Tom.

 Ben wanted to ride the horse. He paid his money and proudly walked up to it. Then, quickly fussed and tried to get off...

 ...so Nate rode instead!

 Papa Tom had treats!

 

In other news.

Ben has taken an interest in learning his letters. He recognizes most of them (something I only learned today). He has chosen his left hand. And we thought he had switched to his right. Oh brother! I can't figure him out.

Nate does a little art from time to time too!

 Both boys like to dress up in our old costumes! Is he not the sweetest horse?

Ben came out looking like this and said, "Look mom! I'm a babysitter!" Random. No idea where that came from.

 One afternoon Ben was very excited for me to come see how they had cleaned the playroom. This is what I found - we usually have two rugs in the playroom. Hum? 

 And then he so proudly showed me this! All their toys and rugs on MY bed!

 Nate has taken an interest in the potty. Nothing has happened yet! Just a lot of up and down and up and down. 

I co-hosted a baby shower for a friend on staff. We had a blast making this is a wonderful evening to honor the new mom whose baby surprisingly came four weeks early and spent two weeks in the hospital! It was quite special to be able to do this for her.

With flash so you can see it all.

 With the soft lights and candles! So fun!

We also got to celebrate Ben's best buddy's 3rd birthday this past weekend!

My sweet boys!

 This cracks me up. The battery doesn't work so they took turns trying to push.

 A new buddy that just moved to Wichita! He is just a little older than Ben so we are thrilled that Ben will have someone in his grade (school. ugh. I can't think about that yet).  

That's all for now!

First Day of School

Today I began Community Bible Study. This will be the first time in Wichita that I have done a study outside of World Impact and the first time the boys have been in any kind of childcare. I was talking to Ben about it last night and he was so excited. He said, "Mom, I have been asking and asking and asking to go to school!" I don't remember all this asking that he is talking about, but I was glad he was excited. Now, the few times we have spoken in a church and taken the boys to the nursery, Ben talks all about it the whole drive there and then freaks out when we get to the door and refuses to go in. Today, we got lucky and his best friend Jackson was pulling into the parking lot at the same time we did. They held hands and proudly walked all the way in to their classroom and Ben never even turned to say goodbye. I was too excited about this big step for my firstborn to be sad that he wasn't going to miss me. A few hours later though and it makes me a little misty that he is growing up. Nate screamed and didn't want me to leave, but he was happy quickly (they tell me) and did great! When I asked Ben about his favorite part of CBS he said, "Going to my first grade!" He is so proud that he is a big boy. I'm proud but also a little reluctant to admit that my baby is growing up.

Ah, the first time Nate came home with a name tag sticker!

CBS meets every Wednesday for two hours! This will be such a wonderful time for the boys to gain some independence and for me to have some time in the Word with other ladies.

Great Ending

Today was a long day. I'm tired. Ryan is teaching an evening class. More tired. 

But then I got to share this moment with my boys and it made me feel better.
What a great way to end the day!

Sharing and Teamwork

Sharing and teamwork seem to come up in conversation constantly in my home right now. Nate wants to be just like his big brother which means he is constantly taking things from Ben and Ben does not tolerate such rudeness. Ben also accuses Nate of making all the messes and wants no responsibility in cleaning it all up. Nate's favorite word seems to be "me" and it isn't possible for him to say it once. He must say "Me! Me! Me! Me!" at the top of his lungs to get his point across. Yesterday I heard them screaming at each other outside and found them with all four little hands wrapped around one little shovel and they were pulling and tugging back and forth.

So, we talk about sharing. We talk about teamwork. We talk about how we can do things more fun and more efficiently when we share and work as a team. Sometimes it works and we all get along great and the playroom gets picked up in record time without an uprising from the littles. But, other times there are tears and stomping and pushing and pulling (yes, my sweet boys do this too).

In all my training up of my little people in my house, I have been learning this lesson for myself as well. Life is so much more fun and efficient when we all work well as a team. We are privileged to work with an amazing group of people, but we are all still people and we don't always function perfectly together. But, lately, I think we have really shined.

Just a few short weeks ago our director's wife (and really great friend) gave birth to their second son FOUR weeks early. The baby had to remain in the hospital for two weeks and spent some time in the NICU. Everyone on staff was talking about it! How can we help? What can we do? Can we clean? Make dinner? As their life settled a bit they did allow us to help and we are still bringing meals! It was so exciting to watch everyone get together, share in the joy of the new birth as well as the fear in the uncertainty as we waited for each update on the new baby. We prayed and then prayed some more! We all went through this together.

The body of Christ, when we truly put aside our selfish desires of the flesh, is the best team to be on! We have the same foundation and the same goals but individual ways of going about things. When we function together, each using our own unique gifts, we can do amazing things! It is our prayer that we do this as we plant churches, as we raise our family, even as we play!

Sanity Projects

In the middle of the crazy busy summer, I had to squeeze in some sanity projects. Warning: Lot's of pictures coming and only one has the boys in it.

Way back in January (think shut in for the winter) I decided that my boring pantry needed a face lift. It was dark and boring and it made me not want to be in there. The shelves were a dark wood stain and the walls only had primer. But, I do a lot of laundry and it is a really big pantry that makes other people jealous, so it should be a fun place.

Before

When our pipes froze during our first winter here (4 years ago) the property manager cut a whole in our wall and just left it there so the pipes would get the warmth of the house. Very unattractive. Ryan insulated and patched it for me!!

My boys were very helpful.

My kitchen looked like this during the day and then I put it all back together before Ryan came home from work.

 I chose white shelves and a bright orange wall. I love it!

But, stuff came up and I had to pause with a few shelves not yet painted, picture below.

It stayed that way until earlier this month! So not like me. I finally got it done and I am thrilled with it.

Ta-da.

 

 I made a little chandelier of sorts.

 And ordered vinyl lettering from this cool shop.

I needed a new way to do my menus so my mom bought this stick-on calendar for me when she was in town. It lasted about a three weeks and then kept falling off the wall.

So, thanks to some Pinterest inspiration, I made this.

I spray painted a cookie sheet, drilled holes in the top to attach a hanger, and used printable magnetic sheets to print all my dinner options. I love it. And yes, I forgot some things after I printed so I have added a few handwritten ones. 

I have been thinking Ben needed a chore chart of sorts. Again, on Pinterest a saw this printable. It hasn't really worked for us because I don't remember it, Ben already does some of those things without needing a reminder and he thinks it is more fun to erase the checks than write check marks.

 

Eight years ago we were given a table from Ryan's stepsister. I recovered the chairs then but recently decided it was time for another upgrade.
White stripped original pattern on the chair.

My first recovering.

 Curtains before to match. 

 Curtains after to match.

Chairs and curtain before.

 

Chairs and curtain after. Similar, but fresh and brighter.

Diaper box and mailing tape became...

An organizer for all our junk that clutters my counter.

I LOVE to bake. This summer I made Cherry Limeade Cookies. Amazing!

And a Banana Pudding Cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce. Amazing! 

 After all that, maybe I stayed sane. Or maybe I just need some new projects now!

Two More

While I'm on a roll...here's two more videos...

The boys caught Olympic fever! We had all kinds of sports in our living room.

This evening we took the scooters out. Now that we are getting upper 80s for high temps we are playing outside a lot more!