Last lunch date with Jacob!

 Today we headed up to school to have lunch with Jacob for the last time as a 1st grader!  :)  Can't believe how quickly this year has gone by!!  Only two more half days and then summer vacation here we come!!!

AWANA Awards

Another great year wrapped up of AWANA!  I grew up with this program and can't say enough GREAT things about it.  I still remember Scripture verses I learned through AWANA and think it is an awesome way for kids to memorize God's Word!  This year, we had a Puggle, a Cubbie, a Sparkie, and a TNT - one kid in each level of AWANA!  :)

 The Sparkies sang their theme song - which I remembered EVERY single word to - thank you very much!!!

So proud of all of our kids for receiving their book completion awards - keep hiding God's Word in your hearts!!

PS - Pastor Rocky spoke for a few minutes before they started handing out the awards.  One of the things he mentioned was how important it is to keep reading God's Word and memorizing what it says.  He was encouraging the kids to stay in the Word even though AWANA is over for the summer.  As we were driving home from church later on that night (at around 10 pm!!!), Callie says to me "Mom, will you please continue to read the Bible to me at night?"  :)  Absolutely sweet girl.  I texted Pastor Rocky the next morning and thanked him for what he said and assured him that my 5 year old was paying very close attention!  :)

The Glory of God

We were doing our first complete run through in anticipation of our Worship Concert on Sunday night.  We were having issues with the positioning of some of the lights again in the Worship Center.  We had some that were burned out, some that were still in the position from my kids' musical, etc.  Anyways, they were messing with some of our instrumentalists.  I loaded my sunglasses to Melodie - our keyboard player - and took this picture.  I love it - you can see the words to "Our God" in the background, and the way the lights were shining down on her, it just looked like the heavens were smiling down on her!  :)

100 Book Club & An Afternoon with Josiah!

In 1st grade at our school, they encourage all of the 1st graders to log all the books that they read during the year with a goal of each student reading 100 books by the end of the year.  They do a big celebration, the kids that reach that goal get a t-shirt, etc.  I love to see the kids excited about reading!!!

 This year, all of the 1st graders read a total of 22, 270 books!!  Way to go!

 Here is Jacob receiving his certificate and his shirt that he earned from his teacher.  

 I think he read a total of 250 books...he really wanted to set the record, but we sort of slacked off towards the end of the year with recording them each night...of course the mother's fault :)

 The design of the shirts was kept a secret, so Jacob was fascinated and wanted to see it...

 On the back of the shirt was listed the business sponsors that contributed towards this celebration...Jacob kept the shirt up in front of his face for a good 5 minutes...I knew he was looking for his name (which was not there...it was business names!) But because we just finished our kids musical - where all the kids' names WERE on the back of the shirts - I knew that was exactly what he was looking for!  :)  Made it hard to get a good picture of him standing up there!  We were proud of him though - keep reading Jacob!!!

We headed home for about an hour and a half, packed our lunch boxes, and then headed back up to school to have lunch & recess with Josiah for the last time!!!

 They were having a special classroom celebration where the kids got to share some excerpts from their 3rd grade memory books that they made.  Josiah was SO excited for us to come and hear it.  We were there early since we just stayed after lunch/recess, so Caleb and Callie got to sit with Josiah and watch a little bit of Charlotte's Web (they were finishing a unit on the book...)

 Callie laid down next to Josiah as she was watching the movie and the next thing I knew, most of the 3rd graders were laying down too!  :)

 This is Josiah sharing his memory book with us - I love seeing him so proud of his work! He really had a great year!

 They sat RIGHT next to Josiah and listened quietly to the other kids while they were sharing too - it was shocking really seeing as how it had been a full day and this was RIGHT during what is usually rest time!  :)

 We came home from school to find this blessing waiting for us on the steps!  Is God good or what?  Callie asked me who it was from and I said I didn't know.  She said "I guess God told someone that we needed this for our new baby"!  I guess so!!  So very thankful.

A quieter Tuesday

It was definitely quieter on Tuesday!  After taking the boys to school, I sat in the chair for a little bit and watched Callie and Caleb attempt Wii boxing...Hilarious.  I don't even think they were holding the right controllers.  It's always a little sad after company leaves - the noisy house is strangely quiet!!

After catching my breath, I decided at the last minute to throw the kids in the car and attempt to do one more strawberry picking.  I had wanted so badly to pick some more before the holiday weekend but just did not have time to get out there.  I ended up buying some from the store and not only were they overpriced, they just were not very good!  I've gotten very spoiled...So the kids and I went off to see our favorite farmer!

 We picked another 3 baskets full and I left happy :)

When I came up to bed that night, this is who I found in my spot...again!  What's with this boy?? :) I think he's going to like sleeping in the boys' room!

The Rock Wall - from Beth's Camera

Beth and Anthony were at the rock wall watching our climbers while I was with Caleb, Callie, and Addison on the carousel.  Aren't these pictures fun??  :)

 The encouraging daddies!

The Zoo - from Beth's Camera

Here are the pictures from Beth's camera from our day at the zoo!

 As you'll see from some pictures later, the boys decided they were going to do this ropes course.  My boys had done it once before and were dying to try it again...and so they convinced Harrison to join in the fun!  It's not for the faint of heart though!

 Oh Anthony...

 With all that safety stuff, makes you a little nervous, doesn't it?  Beth and Anthony stayed to watch the boys while I took Jackson, Addison, Caleb and Callie to go see some more animals.  I'm thrilled she took such great pictures since I didn't get to stay and watch!  :)

Harrison said once he got up there he got a little freaked out!  It is HIGH!!  My boys were the same way their first time but were a little more confident this time.  It makes me nervous just looking that high up!!!  :)