going places

this week the kids are at a kids camp at our church. the theme is the "High Seas". very fun.

this is the first time helping at an event like this. i've done week long kids camps, so i'm familiar with those. but this is new to me.

my role is the story teller for the preschoolers. each group rotates through varies stations 20 minutes in length...story, craft, snack, games, etc. the theme today was "God's Word is SURPRISING". don't i know it. one of the points was that God loves us so much, that sometimes He enjoys seeing us surprised. i had not thought of that before.

one of the high-lights of the evening was with one group. part of the story involved "surprising" them with a bag of gummy worms. apparently this group was either difficult to surprise or i did not do that great of a job of being secretive. and so i said just that. one of the kids quietly says, "you're nice. we like you. so we are not surprised when you do nice things for us." awwww....cute! bring on the treats every night.

okay a second high-light. as time passed i think i got more clever with the "gummy worm" surprise. or they got more tired. let's go with clever, i like that. ha! i went on and on about hinting towards my brown bag containing worms from my garden. way over did it. then, i picked one of the kids to peek inside the bag. his expression was priceless...his eyes widened and he licked his lips!! i guess you really had to be there. when he pulled one out to eat....the rest of the kids were a little tense....until they realized they had been tricked!! oh the fun!




on the weekend, our kids got a surprise of their own. some good friends we met at our new church invited us to their cabin for the weekend. the kids got to have some more new experiences in their young lives.

here is just one set of pics that tell a story very well. i love the burst option on my camera! now if only i could figure out how to keep the camera steady on a moving boat, pulling an unpredictable tube...




Kristian was nominated to go on a "more wild" ride with the 2 youngest kids. check out the face of Kiara's friend in the yellow life jacket. she knows what is coming next.








cool!



i know i cut someone off...but i love the looks on Kiara's and Kris' faces.






good times. good surprises. good memories.

the sunset in my previous post was from the end of the visit. it was amazing.





and now...speaking of surprises....

i wanted to share a cool blog with you:

Silver Strands

Denalee is a faithful reader and commentator on my blog. i wish i could say i did the same for her! she has great uplifting posts. go check her out, and be sure to leave a comment to let her know you were there!

she surprised her mom recently. her mom was diagnosed with cancer and was going to lose her hair due to the harsh chemo treatments. Denalee happens to have very similar silver hair as her mom. she donated her hair to make a wig. it surprised her mom very much! as i'm sure you could expect. how encouraging it must be for her mom as she fights this battle. be sure to watch the video and read the story.

she continues to share the ongoing story of her life right now. but she also keeps the blog to raise awareness of those who donate their hair for various organizations.


can't end without sharing this great news....
my friend, Jan, just finished her last round of chemotherapy. we are celebrating!! {for the record...she happens to look as amazing with her wig as she does with her head of her own hair!}she is the most talented scrapbooker. even in her exhaustion, she has made some of the most amazing layouts. her attitude is also something we can all envy. yay, Jan!!

love is...

rockin' with the kids!

actually i love watching them rock. these headphones are as big as they are....

just love mornings like this.
still not sure why Kiara is the only one in real clothes

already on this morning in particular.

busy busy day for us. and no pictures to prove it! or perhaps that does prove it....hmmmm

Aidan was thrilled with the valentine party at playschool. until this week we have been having huge difficulties with getting him out the door in the mornings. today he was ready and waiting at the door for us. he was sooo excited about the party Mrs. O had planned. they were sure busy little people today. they made bags to hold all their valentines, iced and decorated their own cookies.

for me the craziest part was when they handed out their valentines. picture 10 three year olds who think they know what they're doing. yes. and this was with 3 adults supervising them!

at swimming i was told that Aidan was ready for the next level. that caught me off guard. (since i couldn't seem to ever get out of level 1 when i was a kid!) and i was thrilled until i tried to register him in the next level. i called 2 pools today and both were completely full. i did sweat over this situation for awhile and then realized that we could always just spend the next 8 weeks splashing around at various pools in the city. now that is a unique idea! lol we can always get in on the next set. January to May is when i have the kids registered in stuff....too cold or wet or muddy to enjoy being outdoors for long and nothing else is going on (like halloween or Christmas). it can get kind of hectic for me though, so maybe this will be a nice break. the part i'm also mourning is that both of the kids have an incredible swim instructor. we will so miss her in the next few weeks.

i think i've mentioned that Aidan is a water boy. never really minded getting wet.

Kiara enjoys the water....but can be a drama queen when she gets dunked. the look on her face after i've plunged her under the water always makes me giggle. today she wanted to stand and jump into the water (usually they get in from a sitting position). so maybe there is hope for her yet!

Aidan is really excited about our airplane trip coming up. he keeps telling me how fun it will be, but we had better hold on really tight. yup! 5 more sleeps