of couse we didn't have real wine...they were only kids.

I grew up going to Bible School. It is a cool memory of mine from childhood. And it's something I want my kids to grow up doing. Last week they did. But this is nothing like I grew up doing in the 80's. My kids took a trip back in time & went to Rome.

They got to go to Paul's house and meet Brutus his house arrest guard (who is asleep in this picture) oops..better not tell the Roman solders, they would be HOT!

They went to visit the underground church and all the danger that went with that. They went to Extollo...which means praise.

The kids also had chariot races.

One of my favorite little Romans.

Another couple of my fav's, in the market place.

Every night the kids were given 3 denarii and could go to the market place to spend them. Several booths were take home projects like the above picture where they could make an abacus.

The stand where I worked was the food shop. Every night we offered rat on a stick (kind of tasted like chicken), snake on a stick (similar to hot dogs), olives, grapes, bread, almonds, dried fruit, or cheese. For drinks we offered wine (watered down of course) or water. The kids could pick one item for one denari. (Did you know back in Bible times...they really did eat rodents???)

They could also visit the metal working shop and make a necklace.

The animal sacrifice shop. Where they could pet a baby deer, goat, lamb, chickens, baby kittens, or a rabbit. Thankfully we had no sacrifices last week. I don't know how we would've gotten blood out of the carpet!
There was also a toga shop, an architect shop, and about 6 others which names escape me now.

My friend Bobbie, came from up north and won the prize for coming the farthest for Bible school. Making a 2 1/2 hour trip to be there. :) I was happy for her help in the food shop. Here she is with her oldest son, Chase.

Donovan was a group/family leader and it was so fun to both be a part of such a special thing at our church. We had some very energetic and creative leaders last week! It went so well and by the end of the week on Friday night we celebrated with a pizza party for the staff of Bible School.


Saturday night we gave Donovan his Father's day gift......


By the looks of it...the gift was a hit! See my wrapping job was a red blanket...caught in mid air in this picture.

Hooray for a homemade ice cream....Suzy looks a little nervous don't you think??

We put it to use the very next day at a Father's day picnic in honor of our favorite dad in this family. We tried out a coffee ice cream recipe. Our new goal for the summer is try making a new flavor every week.

Some things I love about Donovan as a father:
-His ability to make things fun around here when it gets a little mundane.
-The way he will jump and jump on the trampoline with the kids.
-The way he plays with them in the pool so I can take a break.
-The way he makes the beach fun and builds things for them.
-The way he prays with our kids every night at bedtime.
-His silly names he comes up with for the kids.
-His steadfast love and devotion for our family.
-His commitment God, me & his kids.

What a fun weekend! More to come on the rest of the weekend....later.

I think I'm raising the next Neil Armstrong......

I had never had an ultrasound when pregnant with Isabella. So you can imagine the thrill when I had my first one a little over 7 years ago. And after the awe of seeing a healthy little baby I cried. I remember being with Donovan that day and after the Dr. appointment we went to lunch to celebrate. But I had lots of tears. Tears of disappointment. In my mind I was growing a little sister for Isabella inside my womb. I felt so guilty for being disappointed, after all I had a healthy baby. But it still loomed. It took me several days to get over what I had wanted, or thought I wanted.

After I changed my thinking to a boy...and all of what extra parts he would come with...I was getting used to the idea. Then we picked a name for our son. I grew to get excited. Then we went to pick out his very first outfit to bring him home from the hospital in. I was very happy and thrilled with meeting this new little boy.

I was so glad God gave me time to adjust. Because God really does know the very best for us. I love his plans. Sometimes I just need some time to adjust to His way of thinking.

It was so cool to add our 2nd to our family...I loved watching Isabella mother this little baby. I loved having blue all around us. I was in for a huge adjustment as far as the work load! I could not believe how much time and energy 2 required. Isabella and Jack are 23 months apart. I was so sleepless and thinking back to that time I may have had some postpartum depression going on in the mix. It seemed Donovan and I were both busy with a baby in each set of arms...and when he went to work....well it was me in a balancing act. We made it through and somehow when I think back to those days of just 2 kids at home....I sit in awe of how did I think that was so hard????

Celebrating Jack turning 3 at the park.
Jack's 2nd birthday

And a fast forward to last Monday...June 15th when we celebrated turning 7 at my sister Holly's house.

She invited us to go swimming for the day. What a blast our first time in the pool this summer!

Aunt Holly has a special gift for making birthday's special. This greeted us on the front porch that day. She also ordered pizza that day and had it delivered! What a treat!!!!

What a guy! This boy Jack is one of a kind. He has such a strong will, I'm learning how to relate to him- I hope better in the last couple of years. He has a hilarious sense of humor! I love it. He has humbled me on more than one occasion. I love that for the most part he is outgoing! He makes our family so much fun. I can't imagine our family without him.

Last week was so so so full! We had Bible school, swimming lessons, plus it was the first full week off of school. Over the weekend we had our small group here for dinner, and celebrated Father's day with 3 different groups of family. AND...we had to showings on the house last night. Are you starting to see why I didn't have time to blog????

Quote of the day
from yesterday over lunch

Jack: "Where do people go to the bathroom in outer space?"
Me: " I have no idea, Jack."
Jack: "Probably just where ever they want to, and then rockets would smash into it."
Me: "SICK!"
Jack: "Wouldn't that be cool if we could go to the bathroom where ever we wanted?
Isabella: "No, that would get smelly."
Jack: "Can Isabella, Dad, and me go to outer space sometime? I really want to see what it is like. For real."

jelly and bathroom breaks....not in that order necessarily

cleaning

washing

tasting

dipping into sugar

blending and chopping

and into jars

how fun to have so much help with jelly.

quote of the day:
Suzy after going poopy on the potty.

Suzy: "look mama- I went a mama poopy, a daddy poopy, and a baby poopy."
You guessed it...it was 3 turds. Should I be offended?

what I have to look forward to when isabella turns 18 in about......... 9 years....

The cakes were finished Sunday morning...I was so happy how they turned out.

I am not very good at writing on the top of cakes...I tend to write going down hill. So I used my ol' fall back plan on cake decorating.

We went early to the open house to help my parents set up. We got many perks for going early....

450 egg rolls were made that day.....it took all morning to make, wrap, and fry. Oh so very delish. My step-mom makes the best egg rolls you have EVER had in your life.

We left my parents for a couple of hours because my nephew was also graduating that day..

Ryan, graduated from Burr Oak High School.

Which was pretty special because that was the same exact school my mom graduated from, back in 1962. We found her class picture framed on the wall.

There is an award the school gives for most outstanding & exceptional student in character. One is given as the "man-hood award" and the other is awarded to the woman. We were so excited for Ryan that he won the Man-hood award. He has a heart of gold. Ryan is a sweet sweet man and I was bursting with pride for him and all he has accomplished in high school.

Here is one tired little girl that did pretty well despite missing her nap for the day. She is holding the roses I was given by Ryan at the graduation.

After graduation we headed back to my parents were the open house was in full swing.....

my sister, Michele and her boyfriend, Lucas.

photo shared from jim carpenter

What a fun, fun day. But LONG. We got home about 10:30 that night and fell into bed. So glad we could be part of the day.

Quote of the day:
Jack: "I need the camera"
Me: "Why?"
Jack: "I need to take a picture because this is spectacular!!"