Celebrating One Year!

This past week we celebrated Declan's first birthday. I blinked. I didn't think I did, but I must have. How has this year gone by so quickly?  I tried to take advantage of each moment to snuggle my tiny baby, but those moments have passed by too quickly!  At birth, he was our tiniest, almost a pound smaller than the others and more than an inch shorter. Now, at his one year check up, he is two pounds heavier and two inches taller than all the girls when they were his age!  He is solid boy and such a sweetheart. Compared to his sisters, he is quieter and more laid back overall, but when he wants something, he can bulldoze his way through. He is rough and tumble, a lot like Amberlyn.  The girls still absolutely adore him and he mutually loves them back.  Happy Birthday to our dear boy. We can't imagine our family without him and are so thankful that God has given him to us!

And Now Summer Is Almost Gone....

How did summer already fly by????  I was going to get those pictures of Elizabeth's birthday on here, and before I knew it, all these weeks have flown by.  I feel like I am perpetually playing catch-up.  We're not even going to mention what my house looks like.  Embarrassing at this point!

Instead of full summer commentary, I'll offer some summarizing pics and explanations.

Celebrating Lizzy's 3rd birthday

Amberlyn with a friend at camp

This little cutie on the right asked if she and Amberlyn had the same face paint, so I took this picture and showed them. The little girl said, "Look, Teacher, we're sisters!"  💖

Josh and Lauren hanging out and playing guitar at camp.

Lizzy and Noah, best friends.

A pic from the back of our chapel

Slip n slide at Grandpa and Grandma's in OH

We got to celebrate Grandma's 60th birthday with her. Excuse Amberlyn's pout.

Look who is standing up!

A visit to Lake Erie

Happy 60th Birthday to my sweet Mama!

We explored a local park.

A visit to the zoo for Amberlyn's 5th birthday

Happy Birthday to our rainbow baby!  5 years old.  She asked for a dinosaur birthday party. I showed her some different cute dinos, and she saw this Jurassic Park set advertised on the side of my computer screen and asked for it. So here is her decor and cake.  She loves all things dinosaur, mud, and outside. And wearing tutus and dresses and frills while she is at it!

Family pic!

He loves hanging out in the office with me at camp.

The girls spend a lot of time playing over the air vent in our hallway.

3-legged race at camp

Making Solomon's Temple in Sunday School. We average 10-12 in my class, which is the 3-5th graders. We usually have another 5 or so in the k-2nd class, and a handful of toddlers.

Love this grin!  And the dog has learned the best spot for getting a snack.

Making ice cream at camp.

The kids could make their own ice cream by shaking up their mixtures in these gallon bags.

After a well-child check, I stopped along the road with Amberlyn on the way home and let her climb around for a few.

Art time at camp.

Declan loves pizza crusts....and his daddy.

Off to another busy day.  It's Saturday, so time to catch up with all the work I need to get done around the house. Josh is working on some miscellaneous projects and prepping for a sermon tomorrow. Matt is preaching at another church in the morning, and Jeremy and his family are back in TN, so Josh is filling in!

Camp is out for next week, and during that time I will be attending a training practicum for Classical Conversations.  Then July 31st begins our last week of camp. Our home church from VA is the team coming in and we are so excited to see some of our friends. After that week, we will begin our road trip back to VA. 

Blessings on your week.

Week One is Done!

We have survived Week One of camp!  Before I get to that, let me show you a little glimpse of the parsonage, where our kids' ministry is now meeting. Sarah and I decorated it for the summer and I think it looks very cute! We still have a background piece that should be arriving this week, and that will go under the little tent area.

Alrighty, now to camp.  Last week, starting with Tuesday, we had 143, 160, 174, and 123 kids attending, respectively.  Wondering how those numbers compare?  Well, last summer we had only two days with numbers over 100, and the most we had was 109.  The year prior, the average was in the high 40s each day.  Has this camp grown or what???!!!  We had a lot of fun this past week and are really looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Photo from the back of our chapel room

Sarah with her Samuel (left) and Declan

So tired by Thursday!

Wiyaka and Declan. Love this girl!

This coming week, we will be celebrating Elizabeth's 3rd birthday on Tuesday, the 7th, and Josh ends school on Thursday, the 9th.  I'll try to share some pictures from our little birthday party. It's hard to believe our baby girl is growing up. She has changed so much this year.

~Jess

Some Family Moments

This evening we indulged in a bit of family time between rain showers. It has been raining off and on today, and we got a 30 minute window to spend around our little fire.  Toasting marshmallows has become a favorite with the girls. They love their sugary confections and singing songs together. It has turned into a great way to connect together for a bit, and I find this to be extremely important as we head into camp season next week.

This next Tuesday marks our first day of camp!  We have 10 full weeks lined up with kiddos this year, although our family will be missing the week of July 4th to travel to OH to see my parents and celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.

For a couple weeks, we have been a bit tentative, wondering if that trip and our planned VA trip in August could still take place.  The transmission on our Yukon went out unexpectedly. Initial repair costs were expected to be in the thousands, which was unmanageable for us at this time.  Then, last Friday during a group dinner, an acquaintance was telling us about a friend of his who hit a horse with his truck, totaling the vehicle. Our acquaintance had bought the truck from the guy to use for parts, and there would be a transmission available, and the mileage on it is comparable to our Yukon!  He is hoping to be able to pull it out and put it into our vehicle sometime in the next couple weeks (for a much smaller fee than the cost of rebuilding would have been). I will keep you posted on when we have a working second vehicle again!  I am thankful for this door God has opened for us.

Shannan ended school today. We will have a few lessons throughout the summer, but generally, we are planning to keep the academics at a low simmer during camp.

Declan is doing great and continuing to delight us with all his smiles. He is up on all-fours frequently now and rocking back and forth. Though he is not making forward progress yet, he is scooting backwards in an often circular direction and frequently finds himself partially stuck under the couch or his crib, depending on which room he is in.

The block parties this past week ran really well, with even more attendees than we expected!  All three days were so good and we got to catch up with a number of our families and kids that attend camp, and meet new faces in the communities around us. Shannan was really excited to catch up with some of her friends from camp last year and church.  Oh, and Lizzy allowed me to put her hair in a ponytail for the first time ever!

On one final note, Josh and I celebrated our 12th anniversary last Saturday.  It has been a crazy roller-coaster these past years, no doubt, but I am so thankful to be on life's journey with this man!  We took a few hours to explore the Badlands, with our adorable little third wheel (Declan) in tow.

~Jess

It's the Weekend!

Can I just say what a fun weekend we have had?  It all began Friday morning when our neighbors, Shawnna and Kim came over for breakfast with Kim's little girl Makenna.  Because of the mud out here (which is beyond crazy!), Shawnna parks in our driveway and so I see her go by for work each morning. She works at a local school, and I realized it would be a great time to connect. We visited over blueberry muffins, egg and cheese muffins, and peaches with coffee. I had a fantastic time. It feels so wonderful to sit for breakfast with friends!  We decided to try it again this upcoming Friday. I'm hoping to make fried apples and maybe biscuits with sausage gravy.

Later that day, we drove up through Rapid City on our way to one of my student's homes. As his tutor, I needed to proof him for memory master. He passed with flying colors, which delighted him, his mother, and me.  I have had him in class the past two years and his mother has become a precious friend.  She and I chatted for a while as our kids played together before we drove home.

Saturday on my part was spent cleaning and baking. I made cinnamon scones for the kids at church, and then pizza for my kids and pull-apart buffalo pizza bread for Josh.


Josh left the house a bit before 8am and returned near 7pm.  He joined a group from Ohio at the camp who is working on the new pavilion. Previously, kids have been walking almost a quarter mile to the bathrooms from the basketball courts and the main area where the outdoor activities take place. This pavilion will not only provide shade and picnic tables, but bathrooms!  We are so excited to have this structure coming.  If you haven't been out here, its an absolutely beautiful place, but there are few trees. It does get very hot here in the summer and though the almost constant breeze is nice, it will be a relief to have a shaded area as well.  The picture below was taken near the end of the workday on Saturday.  On Monday, I believe they plan to pour concrete. By the end of the week, I know they will have a lot done.

This coming Tuesday will be our final CC meeting before the summer. It's hard to believe that May is nearing and the schoolyear will be coming to a close in a few weeks.  We have only a couple more Wednesday nights of AWANA before our awards ceremony--complete with ice cream social. Sarah Mouw and I are talking about summer program plans for the kids.

It's in the 70s today. I have the windows open to allow a breeze to flow through. The girls are outside with popsicles while Josh chops up some brush. He does have a good bit of maintenance to do around the property we are renting. I think he enjoys the outside physical labor, tho that might end as the summer heats up!  I'm really hoping we will have AC before it gets too bad.  Last summer we had so many days over 100 degrees.  When we moved in, Josh and a friend, Steve, installed some ceiling fans and I am every so glad we have those!

Have a blessed Sunday.

~Jess

Spring Break

Before I share the fun stuff, let's chat about today.  Declan got a bath and Lizzy is currently in one.  Me?  I'm still in what I wore yesterday. As in, I took a shower yesterday and threw on a t-shirt and yoga capris and I'm still wearing them. On the other hand, I have 2 piña colada cakes ready to go for tomorrow night and these little rice krispie treat nests ready to go for snack time at church tomorrow!

It's a few minutes shy of 4 in the afternoon and I'm still working on a cup of coffee from this morning. Oh, and I just ate my lunch (a bowl of Cheerios). But I also got my lesson plans done for the next two weeks of our CC (homeschool) group, so all in all, I'm feeling pretty ok about the day so far.

Now, on to Spring Break. I don't normally do much with Spring Break, or have one at all, seeing as Josh gets a 4 day weekend but not a whole week off. This year, I let Amanda, Pam, and Sarah talk me into joining them up in Rapid and the area around for some fun activities. We visited Reptile Gardens...

and went to a trampoline place.

We went hiking....

and to parks.

And to end our week, Shannan completed her Memory Master proof with her CC tutor, which means she had to remember roughly 500 pieces of information involving history, science, geography, English, and Latin, and be able to recite it without help. I'm so proud of her!

We celebrated with cake pops and having Leah spend the night on Thursday with us. I made cinnamon rolls in the morning.

And that ends our Spring Break week!  We are slowly winding down with our AWANA group on Wednesday nights, preparing for an ice cream social, awards, and a presentation to the families of what we have learned this year. That will be in May, and then we will begin our Summer Wednesday night programs that will take us through the camp season. Camp is so close. I can hardly believe it's coming again already. And I'm so, so glad that I won't be pregnant through it this year!  Hehe. Now, if we could just do something about AC. Josh and I both had major dental stuff come up and had to pay for significant work on the truck, so there went our tax return this year and our plans to buy window units for this house.  I'm hoping we can at least secure one. It is downright toasty out here in the summer!

I'm off to fish my little Lizzy out of her bath and check on preparations for tomorrow's Easter service. I'm excited for our kiddos to be singing in church and hopefully reciting a Scripture or two. 

I'll sign off with this. He brings life and makes all things new.

Blessings to you, and Happy Easter!

~Jess