Church Christmas Program

This year the church did a musical. Neither of my kids were old enough to be in the main program but they did get to be animals in the Nativity and sing on the last song with everyone. They both sang out great and had a wonderful time! The second service when they did it I was sitting on the ground a few rows back and could hear Ally belting it out above the rest of the kids! I was so glad they were able to participate and have a great time! Here are my little sheep and bull!

Dylan's School Christmas Program

This was Dylan's 3rd year doing a school Christmas program and every year he gets a little more comfortable with it. Notice I said "a little," he still tends to lean towards the shy side but it makes everything that much cuter! They sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" while holding pieces of cake with candles! It was so cute and very uplifting.

Ally's School Christmas Program

Tonight was Ally's first Christmas program at school and she did so well! She sang and did all the hand motions. It is incredible how God uses our children to bless us and remind us to have that childlike faith. What a blessing it was to experience all those children singing songs about God and reciting memory verses!

Soap Making

Today we made some soap. This is going to be little gifts for the kids teachers this year. They got to help with putting the glycerin in the pan and then we just let it liquefy, added a scent and some food coloring. then poured it into our little snowflake molds. After letting them cool a few hours we popped them out of the molds and....TA-DA!

Field Trip: Pumpkin Patch

Today was Dylan's first field trip, they all headed out to Davis Family Farms. I was planning on going but due to an unfortunate bout with Strep Throat I was not able to go. Luckily my wonderful mother-in-law stepped in and took my place! She took my camera with her, here are some shots from the day. Enjoy!

at school waiting to leave

picking out the perfect pumpkin!

enjoying doughnuts and cider!

hay stack climbing

class picture on the hay stack

wandering around the corn maze!

Power Tools Performance!

Power Tools is the kids choir at church that Dylan has been involved in. They have already had one performance this summer when we had Church in the Park. Today they had a "traveling" engagement! Our church has 3 services and the choir got to perform for all 3 today! The kids did a great job!!! Here is a video from one of the services, enjoy!

Happy Birthday Grace!!!!

Tonight we celebrated Grace's 4th birthday. We are truly blessed to have such a beautiful wonderful niece to love and adore! Here's to another year of growth, love, and learning!

Church in the Park

Today we had church in the park down at Montieth Riverfront Park. It was a beautiful day to be worshiping outside! Part of our worship service included the kid's choir performing for us. Since there is a break in Sunday school this summer Dylan was able to be a part of the choir! Here is a video of the performance, you can see his lips moving but you probably won't hear him. At least he looks good!



Here are some pictures from the day also. It was a wonderful day, thankful to be a part of such a wonderful church family!

I have a 5 year old!

This year we celebrated Dylan's 5th birthday by breaking the day up a little bit. We had a "friends" party from 2-4, which included 3 kiddie pools, a slip and slide, a water table, and a sandbox. It was a blast! With the help of one of my best friends, McKenzie, we made up about 4 dozen cake batter cookies and served them up along with Freezer Pops and juice boxes. The kids had a great time just running around and playing, breaking briefly to watch the present opening. We wrapped this party up around 4:30 and then got into high gear for the family dinner starting at 5. I really enjoyed his party this year, it was so much more relaxed and it gave Dylan time to spend with his friends and a separate time to spend with family. This may have to become my new tradition! Here are some pictures from the day, mostly taken by my father.

Zoo!!!

Today we headed up for our favorite day at the zoo, $2.00 Tuesday! I knew that most public schools were not out for the summer yet so I was thinking this will be a great day to go, busy, but not too busy. WOW, was I wrong! There were countless numbers of schools on end of the year fields trips. It was INSANE! After we got through the long line and in there was more room to breathe and move as people dispersed in different directions. So we headed down our usual path, making our way through The Great Northwest, passing by the Mountain Goat, Bobcats and Black Bears, then winding our way down towards Eagle Canyon. My kids posed as baby Eagles for me!

As we continued on the trail I snapped a picture of my slave labor, aka, my brother.

The kids paused to take in the faux fish swimming up-stream, being silly like usual.

Next up was the hollowed out log you can climb through, one of the kids favorite things to do.

We continued on down through the fish tanks,

past the turtles,

and also had a little peek at a snake, eek!

At the bottom of Eagle Canyon we tried to see the cougar but he was hiding. On our way to see the Black Bears again the kids found a little "nature path" and decided to meander over the hill.

We went over to look at the Black Bears again and EVERYTIME we have gone they are pacing over to the window and then back, and again, and again, and again!

The kids love to watch them and it is always cool when you get to see the animals about and moving around.

Next came the Trillium Creek Family Farm,

this time when we went, there were calves

and a baby pig! It was getting closer to lunch so we decided we would try and head through the Bears and then over to the big field by the Elephants for lunch. What a disappointment, we didn't see any bears!! So off we went to have some lunch. We grabbed a nice piece of grass right in the middle of the field and met up with some great friends, Jessica and her family and Jen and her girls. As we were finishing up lunch they were starting the Birds of Prey show so we watched as birds flew overhead entranced by their beauty. One of the birds we saw was a Turkey Vulture. Well, he decided that he wasn't particularly in the mood to fly over and land on the platform behind us, so instead he landed on the grass, right behind us!

It was awesome! After finishing up with lunch and bidding good-bye to friends, we headed up to see the baby elephant. It was rather anti-climactic. Since there were so many people around the kids got about a 2 second peek each as we lifted them up so they could peer over the heads of all the other people straining to catch a glimpse. We backed out of there and made our way down to Africa! The first stop was the Rhino's. They were no where to be seen. Okay, moving on. Next along the path was the Hippo's, they were laying out sunbathing and napping, using rocks for pillows.

Next came the zebra's

followed by the giraffe.

One last stop along this path had us peering at Bat's.

Ally had hit her wall and had climbed up in the stroller pushed by Uncle but Dylan was fascinated with the bats, "Why are they upside down?" So I tried to explain with my limited Mommy knowledge, hopefully some of what I said was right?? We decided to try and cram one more stop in, even though Ally was done, so we headed over to Pacific Shores. There the Sea Lions were! Swimming in their circle pattern making little adjustments here and there each lap, so as not to run into each other. They swam right past the glass tummies to the window.

Dylan loved it! Ally was grouchy in the stroller.

Finally we headed towards the exit pausing once to see the Tiger and one last time to see the train take off. Then it was up the hill. We got one last peek at the Mountain Goats,

then went to squish our souvenir penny's. Finally out to the car and onto home. It is always an adventure when we go to the zoo, this time it was a zoo at the zoo!