Sing a Song about the Heartland

Does anyone else remember that George Straight song? Well, anyway our last play group outing was to Heartland. It is a unique ministry that also includes a dairy that makes milk & cheese. We took a guided bus tour of the Heartland campus. I especially enjoyed this part, it was super interesting. The girls loved riding on a bus.

Grace & Sophia (one of her buddies)
We stopped at the goat barns to see their milking & baby goats. The girls jumped right in and loved this. Here Faith is working up the courage to pet the big goats.
My happy baby (have sling-will travel).
Feeding the goats wasn 't necessarily part of the tour. But, my experienced little farmer bent over and scooped up some of their feed out of the trough so she could feed them.
Checking out the cows being milked. Did I mention my mom went along again? YEAH!!!
In this picture you can see their unique "merry-go-round" system of milking. We had checked out several books on dairy farming at the library so the girls were very interested in seeing the cows being milked. The creamery (where they make the cheese) is being remodeled so I was disappointed we didn't get to see it.
After the tour we ate at the Solid Rock Cafe. It was yummy and the girls loved their big glasses of fresh chocolate milk.

Kitty Toast

The girls spent the night with Papa & Gramy while we were at the funeral last week. They had some fun making a very special breakfast. Kitty toast! These are the types of special things I remember my mom doing with us growing up, and I love that the girls are now enjoying them too. (I'm sure you can guess where I inherited my creativity from...)

Oh, and I finally blogged about 4th of July.

Summer Birthdays

This summer the kids and I were able to make it over to Illinois for both my brother Cody and my dad's birthdays. I always cherish the opportunity to be there for special birthday dinners. Grace and Faith got in on the candle blowing out action of course.

Grace decorated the sidewalk as a surprise for uncle Cody.

Happy Birthday Cody We Love You (She is really getting good with her letters.)
We have a special craft for Cody's birthday started, but have yet to complete that project. Hopefully we will get that done soon...(he won't use it until the weather cools off anyway)

Remembering GG

Recently the girls' GG, short for great grandma, passed away. Above the girls are smelling a rose I brought home for them from GG's special service (that was the best description for a funeral I could come up with) We had been praying for her as she had been in the hospital. When we explained that GG was now better and had gone to heaven to be with Jesus Grace's response was one of joy. She was glad GG was better. Then she said with sadness, "Mom, but I will miss GG. Does God have SKYPE in heaven? We should skype GG!"

Grace has an amazing memory and I think she will remember GG. Here are some things I want Grace, Faith, & Titus to remember:

-GG loved to look fancy she always wore necklaces & earrings.

-GG always gave out peanuts in the shell for Christmas. (i always loved that)

-GG never had a bigger smile than when her great grandkids came to visit. She loved their visits & artwork.

-She always commented on how beautiful each of them were, especially as babies.

-GG loved the Mississippi river.

One of the things I loved about GG's funeral was the focus on celebration. I'm so thankful we have the hope of heaven. Some glad morning when this life is over....its only with this hope that it truly is a glad morning.

Make Your Own Pizza

One of our many summer adventures was to head to a local pizzeria so the kids could make their very own pizzas. This was a busy play group but I think the kids enjoyed it. They started out taking the kids to see the walk-in fridge & freezer. The girls found this very interesting.

Then the kids helped to put the toppings on their pizzas. (My girls were a little disappointed they didn't get to "pat" their own dough.)
Both girls choose ham pizza. They also helped weigh the cheese. (something different from at home)
Here the girls are watching the big pizza oven. The pizzas "roll" along and when they come out they are perfectly cooked.
(Thank you Nana for the adorable coordinating aprons.)
The finished product. Yummy!
I didn't pay to make me one (i'm thrifty I know) thinking I could share with the girls. But, they surprised me by both eating their entire pizza by themselves! Pizza is one of Faith's favorite foods. Whenever I ask her what she wants for dinner she always says, "PIZZA!"

Goodbye Cupcakes

We recently had a going away party for some dear friends of ours. We have had the joy over the last year of getting to know Felicia and her daughter Sidney. Felicia's mother & grandparents live right across the street from us. She has been in Hannibal this past year while her husband was in Iraq. He just returned home and so they moved again. The girls helped to make these cupcakes for a going away party at the pool.

I feel so blessed that God brought these special "girls" into our life. I learned a lot about being a military family and was surprised the similar ground we found having both experienced a spouse's job that affects your whole lifestyle. (Who knew a ministry wife and military wife would have so much in common?) One of the things that has been most difficult for me in ministry has been our family's moving around. Felicia has such a positive attitude about their many moves due to military life. She really inspired me to see this challenge in a more positive light. I really admire her strength and dependance on prayer while her husband was away. We will miss these special friends but as Felicia is quick to remind me, "You never know when you might end up in the same place again."

Grant's Farm

Our play group's trip to Grant's farm was a fun day. If I had to choose one word to describe our visit it would be HOT. It was a very hot day, and I wasn't feeling the greatest but the girls still had lots of fun. Titus was quite the trooper too. We were so glad Gramy got to go with us. I definitely enjoyed having an extra special helper. (& photographer) Since we come from farming families there were lots of things at Grant's farm that my kids had experienced before. But, they enjoyed the tram ride, feeding the baby goats, the water misters, the carousel, HUGE snow cones, and fun with friends. This play group has been such an answer to my prayers!


Faith is telling the other goat, "No!" My mom was the only brave person who actually took Grace in the pen to feed the goats. As you can see from the pictures they were a little aggressive.

I tried out a tip I had read in a magazine. I asked for only half the syrup on the girls' snow cones. It worked great. They had no idea and it was less sugar! (and less staining potential 2)



Enjoying the bridge with the water misters.

Camouflage

The other day the girls were watching Sesame Street. The show was teaching the meaning of the word camouflage, showing how animals blend in with their environment. Later in the day Grace went and changed her shirt and did this:

"Look, Mom I'm camouflage!"

Speaking of Sesame Street we let the girls watch the 80's movie Follow that Bird. Jeremy and I both remembered it from our childhood. Its the movie where Big Bird gets adopted into a family of Do-do birds and decides he is homesick and tries to get back to Sesame Street. Well, half way through the movie the girls were both crying! Oops, guess that wasn't such a good idea...

4th of July Fun

We had a very busy 4th of July weekend. We actually watched fireworks three times! Grace really loved them this year. On Friday evening we went to the music/fireworks show our church helps put on for the community. The girls enjoyed catching fireflies with friends from church when the program got a little long.

After a late night we were up early to head for a spot to watch the parade. Here in Hannibal National Tom Sawyer Days is a big deal & their are lots of visitors. (read-super crowded!) Nana arrived all prepared with flags & snacks for the girls. The parade was really long (over an hour) so we didn't quite make it to the end. Then we headed home for lunch. There are lots of other fun things to do, but with the heat and three small kiddos we weren't up for any more fun. Jake & Josie had also came for the festivities and they at least brought Jeremy a funnel cake.

In the afternoon we gave the girls the choice of going to the pool or the playing in the sprinkler and they surprised us by choosing the sprinkler. They had gotten their sprinkler last fall so we hadn't used it yet this year.

That evening we went to Grandma Holst's house for a treasure hunt, dinner, homemade ice cream, & our very own fireworks show. I always think about my grandpa this time of year because he loved buying fireworks for us grandkids. So I thought it was fitting the girls got to try sparklers for the first time at grandma's house.

Treasure hunting fun- Grace & Jo Jo were a team and Faith & I were a team. Everyone gave me a hard time because Faith and I were the only team that didn't find any of our clues! (But we gave it a good effort)

By the time Sunday rolled around we were feeling pretty tired. So we gave the girls the choice of visiting the carnival downtown or going to the fireworks show that night. They once again surprised us by choosing to see fireworks (again). But, since this was a free option we decided to go with it. Some of our friends recently moved to a new home on a bluff overlooking the river, so we went to watch the fireworks with them. We just barely made it through as the kids were overtired and cranky.

I am glad it took me awhile to get this post finished up because at the end of the weekend I was so exhausted I didn't really feel like we really had that great of a weekend. But, looking back I know we made lots of memories and had lots of fun moments. And we were reminded of a crucial lesson for parents of small children. Sometimes less is better. (especially when it comes to staying out past bed time!)