Gramy's House & Know Sweat

Gramy & Papa's House

While we were away the girls had lots of fun adventures with Papa & Gramy. Here are some pictures to highlight their fun. I know they enjoyed swimming and getting to see their uncles. (Aunt Josie was working in Hannibal most of the time.)

Swimming in the BIG pool (well, bigger than our tiny one anyway)
Golf lessons with Uncle Cody

Stickers with Papa
Tea Party (with Gramy's real china!)
My princess, Faith, can rarely be seen these days without a necklace on.
The girls LOVE to help cook.
Uncle Kit, His Girlfriend Wesley & the girls playing dress up.

Know Sweat:

The last full week of June Jeremy and I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska with the high school youth group. It was the first time we have both went and left both kids at home with Gramy & Papa. It was a great trip. While in Omaha we removed vines & painted a home for a lady named Ardella. It was supposed to take us all 3 workdays to complete this project. However we were finished by lunchtime the second day.  Ardella's neighborhood was amazed as they watched us paint her house in 102 degrees! They couldn't figure out who paints a house for free in that type of heat. Only Jesus can do that! Getting done early gave us the opportunity to work with Open Door Mission, an awesome ministry to homeless & hurting people in Omaha. I have volunteered in several different missions but never one this large. They had warehouses full of food & clothing to be distributed. It was a great trip.

Hannibal Cavemen

The raccoon ruined our picture- he snuck up in the back and scared Grace!
Running the Bases

This summer Hannibal got a prospect league team. My sister actually got a job working with them in guest services. So one of the fun things this summer has been having her live with us part time. It has been a little more interesting since our basement flooded. Instead of her having the basement to herself she has been sleeping on our couch & we have all been sharing one bathroom. But, she has been a trooper and other than my kids waking her up with excitement at 7 a.m. its really worked out fine. The girls love running out to the couch each morning to find Aunt Jo Jo (since she is usually at work when they go to bed). And I've enjoyed being able to sneak away and do girl stuff with her like going out to eat & to the movies.

We have been wanting to take the girls to a game all season. Well, kind of last minute it worked out for us to go on Sunday. My parents were coming to the game and someone from church offered to share their season tickets. Free tickets + extra helpers = perfect opportunity, even if we were tired from our trip! The girls really enjoyed it. Grace loved the "funny men." Her name for their two mascots, Rascal & Shoeless Joe. They also loved waving to Aunt JoJo (even though she didn't dance). And they ran the bases after the game. Faith was determined to walk the entire thing all by herself, even though we walked all the way around the outfield and then the bases. It wasn't even hot & the Cavemen won! (both of which haven't happened recently)

Summer Fun

This past week has been full of fun things! Last weekend our small group had a Progressive Dinner. I didn't get many good pictures except of the kids. At our first stop we had a fruity red drink that was very yummy. (Did I mention Faith dumped hers on the light carpet?) Then at the second stop we had appetizers. Finally, we had a taco bar. The family who hosted the main part of the meal decorated with Mexican decorations. Above, Faith is sporting her hat.

Well, it has finally gotten hot this week. Our air conditioning has been on the fritz and officially broke this week. So we had a summer fun day when my daycare kids were here. They all played in our tiny pool, ate popsicles, & watched Dora's Summer Adventure movie. They had a lot of fun.

Then on Thursday we had a true ADVENTURE! One of our family's closest friends (The Terrill's) are temporarily living in Galesburg, IL. They are there for Shane's job, working on the railroad. We decided to go visit for the day. To make it more fun we decided to ride the train! So, we got up very early (5:15 a.m.) and got on the train in Quincy. The ride was only supposed to last an hour and a half. Little did we know a huge storm had moved through the area just hours earlier. It took us almost 5 hours to get there!!! Needless to say I was out of movies to watch on the portable DVD player and snacks. But, the girls just thought it was fun to ride the train. When we got there they didn't have any water or electricity due to the storm. So our day didn't exactly go as planned. We ended up taking the kids to the public library to play and read books. (Yeah-air conditioning!) Then to a local ice cream shop. We didn't get to swim, but the kids had fun playing at the little park where they are staying (in their camper, with 3 kids!) Then we had to go out for dinner. We caught the train home at 8:45. I was hoping the girls would sleep. No such luck!! It was a LONG day, but I am so glad we went. It was great to visit friends.

This week I am at CIY in Omaha, NE. I brought my computer so I can SKYPE with the girls. But, I probably won't blog.