Merry CHRISTmas 2010

Wow, Christmas came and went. It is now 2 days after Christmas, the house is full of new toys and piles of stuff. We had a great Christmas around here (even though Drew is sick today). Kids are watching Toy Story for the billionth time and just sitting around relaxing. We were hoping to go to G.R. to a Holiday Inn (with a slide and kids water park) on Wednesday, but it looks like we will have to postpone that trip. Hopefully no one else will get sick.
Well, we'll still enjoy our Christmas vacation. They have new toys,Wii games and movies to watch. That's what vacations are for.
Hope you all have a safe and healthy New Year!

Ready for Thanksgiving

I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving. Time is flying. We have been busy picking up leaves outside and getting ready for the winter. I can't believe that Dish Network is playing Christmas music on its music stations and the t.v. stations are playing Christmas commercials. I am finding I am humming them throughout the day. It's kinda nice - for a change. The kids and I have been working on doing sign language to "We Three Kings" these last 2 weeks. It is much harder than it seems. I find that I look to Hannah for some help on some of the words. We hope to have it "perfected" (verse 1 only and the chorus) by Christmas Eve so we can perform it for family and friends.
Well, soccer is over with for the season. They will start back up in the spring with the same teams. The boys loved it. It was fun to watch them.
We are all looking forward to the Christmas traditions that we do around here. But first, we are going to get thru Thanksgiving. We will be going to Grandma Hedges house this year. Looking forward to spending time with Jason's cousin and family. I wonder if we have snow on or around Thanksgiving. We often have our 1st real snowfall around that time. Kids can't wait to play in the snow.
Have a great Thanksgiving!

School is Underway

Wow! The summer is gone and school is underway. Robby is now in kindergarten, Drew: 3rd grade and Hannah: 8th grade. It gets easier in some ways, yet harder in others. Robby is already reading small words all by himself. Not bad for a kid who can't sit for more than 30 seconds. What do you know, he is listening to me and learning along the way. He also started soccer. He's had 2 games now and he scored his 1st goal last night (in his own team's net). That's ok. He's having a great time. He just runs around the field with a big smile on his face.
Drew scored his 1st goal in soccer last week. Yah Drewman! They ended up tying the game 3 to 3. But he scored the 1st goal of the game. We were so proud of him! Soccer is so good for him.
Hannah just got her braces off. She's very excited about that. She looks so beautiful (with or without braces). I can't believe she's in 8th grade this year. She is growing up so fast.
Jason took a day off at the beginning of the month to go with us to Port Huron. We had a great family day to celebrate the boys' adoption a year ago. We got to go on a light ship and the retired Brambles Coast Guard ship. We followed the tours up with ice cream as we watched a freighter heading north on the St. Clair River. What a good day it was!
Hannah and I got a chance to go to Chicago to see Uncle Jeff and Aunt Marta (Jason's brother and sister-in-law) last weekend. We had a great time. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, an art gallery (Aunt Marta was helping set-up a non-profit fundraiser there), and most importantly, a Chicago Cubs game. LOVED IT! The stadium was AWESOME! I believe it is the oldest stadium (98 years old)in MLB. Chicago is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. It's just a whole different world to me.
Jason had a man's weekend with the boys. They hung out with the McCausey men. Drew got a chance to shoot Josh's bow and just do some boy things. It was a great weekend for everyone.
The trees are changing color and things are cooling down (finally). Looking forward to a great fall.

Sonny's Rest-Up

Vacation is over with, how sad. But we had a great time! The weather was pretty good (only 1 wash out day), mild at the beginning of the week, but warmed up at the end of the week. Kids had a great time fishing, swimming, watching a movie every night, playing games and pretending they were pirates and going on a treasure hunt (the 3 younger ones anyways). The 5 older kids were bad pirates and tried to steer them away from their treasure hunt by making them do things for them. In the end, the boys found their treasure (bag of rocks) on the ends of their fishing rods in the river.
Drew was the true fisherman of the week with two 17 inch long, big mouth bass. He caught them right off the edge of the dock. Robby wanted to fish too, so he asked Nolan to use his fishing rod to cast out. Well Rob, being 5, got bored so he spent most of his fishing time running up and down the dock talking. So while Nolan was fishing for Robby, he caught a 17 inch, big mouth bass also. Robby went screaming down the dock, "That's my fish. I caught a fish." Poor Nolan! But Nolan did end up catching a pretty big pike (or something like that) a few days later.
Hannah spent her vacation reading, taking pictures and shopping. Fortunately Bekah and Kayla enjoy all of those too, so the girls spent lots of time by the campfire pit reading and taking pictures of the freighters going by. Everyone loves Sonny's. There is something for everyone.
While we were in the U.P. we went to Mackinaw City, Whitefish Point and the Soo Locks. We had a great trip. Can't wait till next year!
Now it's time to great ready for school. This year will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to it. I get so excited when their school books come in the mail, it's like Christmas all over again. Kids aren't excited, but mom is.
With school starting comes the changing seasons here in mid-Michigan. Thank you Lord for the great summer, but I am really looking forward to the cooler weather and the beautiful fall colors.

Rock Lake Christian Assembly - 2010

Another successful year. We had so much fun. Even though I wasn't with the campers the whole time, it looked like they (all 35 of them) had a great time too. Drew got to experience sleeping in the lodges with the campers (even though he wasn't technically a camper last week) and he did so well. He seemed to love being a part of the group. Robby stayed with me at a cottage with Hannah and a couple of the junior, junior faculty girls (teenagers). He had a great time. It was good for him to have some apart time from Drew.
I was very proud of all three of my kids. Hannah stepped up to more responsibility in being assigned to help with a team of campers for the week. Drew did what was asked of him by being a runner for Jason and a helper to Grandma(the nurse for the week)in getting the kids to get their medicines at mealtimes. I didn't hear him complain or argue even once! And Robby did pretty good about being obedient and following instructions from the girls who watched him while I taught my Christmas Traditions class. As I told my friend Renee, it gives me a great feeling to see my family come together in a mission and make 3rd and 4th grade week a success. I am so thankful to have children who are picking up our mission to give a week every year to God and to tell others about His love.
We had 3 baptisms Friday night, and many seeds were planted. My Christmas Traditions class went well. I was able to talk to the campers about many traditions and relate them to the Bible. We looked up scripture and talk about Jesus' birth. Hopefully the campers will remember all that was taught to them (from all 8 classes) in a few months when they see Christmas decorations and prepare for the Christmas season. This group of campers seem to be really interested in this year's theme of Christmas. I think they got it!
Robby's 5th birthday was on Thursday during camp. Lucky Kid! He was Mr. Social. He sure has a way with the ladies. He wore the birthday hat his "Birthday Boy" t-shirt that we made together and all the campers sang "Happy Birthday" to him at lunch that day. We'll do some more celebrating with a pinata up at Sonny's (vacation) next week. Makayla (who's family will be with us next week in the U.P.) has a birthday this week. We'll celebrate both birthday's on vacation.
So now that camp is over with for this year, now we can look forward to vacation next week. Sonny's Rest Up, here we come!

Camping

Well, we did it. We went camping for the weekend at my brother's cabin at Higgings Lake. We borrowed Smith's pop-up camper and headed up-north. Unfortunately it rained 1/2 the day on Saturday, so we stayed at the cabin and played games (even outside in the rain). But we did have a wonderful time. Jason took all of the kids out on the golf cart. They took EXTREME rides with Uncle Jason/Dad and came back muddy but excited and ready to go out through the trails again. On Sunday, we finally got to go to the Lake. The weather was still overcast and cool so we didn't take Tom and Mary's (brother and sister-in-law's) boat. As our luck would have it, it ended up to be a beautiful day Sunday. The boys even got a little sun burned. Well, we still had fun at the North Higgins State Park. Grandpa (my dad) took all of his grand kids (all 6 of them) down the beach a ways to the natural spring. They had a contest to see who could stay in the longest, Hannah won. She was still complaining her feet were numb 5 minutes afterwards. It must have been cold.

My father remembers camping at that exact state park as an eight year old (or so) boy. He and his 4 older brothers would go camping with his parents on Memorial Weekend. His parents would then leave all the boys for the summer up at the campground. They did have an uncle who owned a gas station a few miles to the west of the state park, so they would walk to the gas station to help out, eat, or just visit. My grandma and grandpa would then go up to camp with them every weekend throughout the summer. Then on Labor Day weekend, they would all come home. Wow, life was a lot different 55 years ago. I can't imagine letting my kids do that. Geesh, I can bearly stay away from them 3 days to a week while they are at church camp.

I think we all had a wonderful time, but my parents enjoyed it the most. We (my brothers and I)are rarely able to get together. My older brother (Tom) and his wife are busy with their 3 girls. They are all active in sports. The twins are seniors and Mareena is in 9th grade. Wow, life goes fast. I can remember when they were born. I swear it was just yesterday. Well, they have grown up beautifully. My younger brother (Trevor) is a runner. He is always doing marathons and triathlons in and out of the state. Fortunately his wife also enjoys running, biking and swimming along with him (not quite to the extent as Trevor, but they make a perfect match). So this weekend was a weekend to get caught up on the latest with everyone.

With that weekend over with, it is now time to think about camp. We leave for Rock Lake on Saturday. I am ready - well with my class anyways. I will be teaching on Christmas Traditions and how all of them tie in with Jesus' birth. It is going to be a great week. As the boys are getting older and older, it gets easier and easier. This is our family mission every year. We want our kids to grow up learning how important it is to volunteer and do God's work. We have done this for 11 years now and hopefully our kids will someday take our place at Rock Lake (or at least volunteering at another place spreading the news of the Gospel).

Well, I guess that's enough blabbering. I will be letting you know how camp went.
God Bless!

Summer colds

Summer colds are the worst. Jason and the kids were sick for about 3 weeks. It started just before Hannah's birthday and went through Drew's birthday and ended just after the 4th of July. Ahh! I thought we were all done, but Robby woke up with a soar throat this morning. There are all kinds of sicknesses going around town. I hear the Dr.'s offices are pretty busy. Well, as long as we get it out of our systems now and not have it linger on during camp or vacation in August.
Camp is going to be so much fun this year. The theme is Christmas (Jesus' birth). The kids are going to have a great time. We are going to have everything decorated as if it were Christmas. All these preparations for camp is putting me in the Christmas spirit already. But I just can't seem to think about starting my Christmas shopping yet.
Happy Summer (and Merry Christmas)!

Congratulations DeWitt Landscaping!

Well, they did it! Hannah's (and Coach Jason's) team won the softball championship game last night. I am so proud of them both. The team played really well together. They are all a great group of girls. It's great to see girls come together and play hard to win. They were the underdogs of the league with the most 6th graders and 2 girls who haven't played before. Yet, they pulled it off to win. What a great way to start off the 4th of July weekend.
Now that Jason is done coaching softball and soccer (at least until fall) we can relax a bit. He's not going to know what to do without a game to coach or practice to run. Hopefully our July will be less busy. Although I have to admit that I'll miss watching my kids play sports. I love to see their faces glow when they do something great, are encouraged by all the parents and see how proud they are of themselves. We have been very blessed to have some very supportive and encouraging parents/grandparents on our teams.
But August is coming quick. Time to think about camp. It feels like the summer is half over with already, but we still have camp and vacation in August to look forward to. Time flies when your having fun!

Memorial Weekend

Well, our plans didn't go as we planned for Memorial Weekend, but we did have a good weekend. Jason and the kids washed the van, we had a pool raid at the McCausey house, swam at Grandma & Grandpa's lake and we got ready for our trip.
Jason and I went to San Antonio last week (a FB conference)and the kids were all divided out to different houses. Although San Antonio was really hot, Jason and I had a great time. It sure feels nice to be back home though.
Here are a few pictures of our busy spring.

Making Ice Cream!

Yes, we actually made ice cream by hand. Drew's science book had a recipe for ice cream, so we thought we'd give it a try. The kids tired quickly (a lot of shaking), but it was fun. And the ice cream was actually very good! To make it tastier, we added chocolate chips to our bags of ice cream. Mmm Mmm!
The weather here was beautiful last week - this week, not so much, too cold. We took a walk to enjoy and observe the signs of spring. The kids were determined to find butterflies/moths on the sledding hill at the city park. We didn't find any butterflies/moths but we saw the local hawk fly over the park. We also heard the frogs talking in the pond in the woods. Flowers are popping up, kids are outside playing, no jackets are needed, bikes are in constant use, and we are counting down the days to the Detroit Tigers 1st game (April 6). So far, it has been a great spring!

Spring is in the air!

Well, last week was sure a nice week for us here in central Michigan. The weather was nice and warm, the sun was shining most of the week, and the snow all melted(Yah!). But, by the weekend it was rainy and cool so we went to the circus at MSU. What a great time we had. We saw elephants, tigers, monkeys, clowns, trapeze artist, magicians, a high wire act, and more. Drew liked the high wire acts and the magicians. Robby liked the monkeys and the red clown noses that Jason bought himself (which will come in handy for camp)and the kids. Hannah liked the elephant act and the dog act. I didn't get any pictures to post, but we sure had a nice family weekend.
P.S. WE SAW THE 1ST ROBIN OF SPRING IN OUR YARD TODAY!