For the Birds

While Colby was at the football game, Dalayna got some one-on-one time with Daddy. One of the things they enjoy doing together is feeding the birds. They put up all the bird feeders. (It's only taken us 4 months to do that.) One of the bird feeders they hung up Terry made several years ago. It is very simple with holes for food, and a small peg for the birds feet. It is pictured below. So Dalayna and Terry mixed peanut butter and bird seed and filled the holes with it. It was a messy job, but the birds ate it right up!!! I was kind enough to contribute my Reese's peanut butter. I didn't really want to share it with the birds, but didn't want to ruin my daughter's special time with Daddy either.

Prepare to get messy!!

Dalayna got very messy mixing the seeds and peanut butter, but you can tell she enjoyed it by the smile on her face.

I think Terry got even messier filling the holes. The good news is it was easy to clean up. I took a bowl of warm soapy water outside, they scrubbed off, dumped the water in the yard and it was all taken care of. I hope the birds enjoyed their work!!

Colby Goes to College(for a football game)

Colby had the privelege to go to college for the 2nd time a week ago. He traveled to the University of Michigan to watch the Wolverines play the University of Massachusetts. He had a great time and saw a good game. He is pictured here with his friends J.C.(left) and Larry(right). J.C. is our pastor's son, and he saved his own money so he could pay for his friends tickets to the game. That was kind, wasn't it? Our pastor is the one that took them to the game and took this picture. You know I didn't take this picture because it is just too good!! The final score!! I wanted to post more pictures, but we weren't sure if we could do that. They took over 60 pictures and our pastor was very thoughtful and made sure Colby had his own copies. Terry plans on accompanying them next time.

Pioneer Fun

This week the kids and I were able to experience pioneer life for a few hours. I have to say it was one of the best field trips we have ever taken. It was also a bonus that I didn't have to drive very far. We experienced life in a log cabin, the barn and farm equipment, a blacksmith shop, and Dalayna's favorite, a one-room schoolhouse. As we read books she has had many questions about what it was like to go to school in those days, and she got to experience i firsthand. My favorite part of the day was simply watching my children sitting side by side learning together. Here is the windmill in the pioneer garden. I think windmills are neat, so I just had to take a picture. In the garden were tomatoes, peppers, and lots of herbs. They reminded us a lot during our visit that there were no Wal-Marts back then, so the pioneers had to grow and make everything themselves. I know it was all for the benefit of the kids, but if we all admit it, none of us would know what to do without a Wal-Mart nearby!! That was one of my biggest concerns in the past moves!!

There was even a blacksmith shop, and the man actually did things with metal while we were there.
One of the neatest things for the kids was during our lunch break. They provided the kids with toys that would have been played with by pioneer children. Even the parents took part in this, including me. Here is Dalayna with the metal hoops they used to roll down the street. Dalayna and I tried to get ours to roll down the street, but it just didn't work.

These walking blocks were fun.

This is of course the only picture I could get of Colby, since he pretends to be camera shy most of the time. He is playing a mental tug-of-war game. Your opponent stands on one block and you on the other. You tug and pull at the rope until one of you gets too much slack and falls off the block. It looks simple, but playing it really does require some thinking. I wanted to be Colby's opponent, but lunchtime was over much too soon. He is sure he would have beat me. Maybe he would have??????

Vacation Bible School

In July, we participated in VBS at our church. One of Colby's jobs was to help our youth/assistant pastor, Ryon, lead the music. Ryon gave him the name of "Colby Cheese" for the week, and I am still hearing kids call him that on Sundays and Wednesdays. The kids really liked Colby. He can relate to kids of any age since he has a much younger sister. That is one of the blessings of having kids several years apart. We did miss the last day because Colby was extremely ill with his asthma. Ryon told the kids Colby had eaten some bad cheese!!

Dalayna in front of one of the many murals in the hallway. We had an island theme, and on that island were "dangers. " Through those dangers, the kids were encouraged to trust Christ when they feared something, like David when he faced Goliath, etc.
Here are some pictures of game time. Notice Dalayna is in the front, but when it came time to be pulled into the pool of water, she let go and stepped out of the way quickly. She is not one for getting messy, so the obvious choice was to let someone else get all wet!! Colby and I were able to work with her age group several days, so that was fun.

You see she finally learned that being in the back is better.

One of the cute little snacks they had : cheesy hands and crackers.

Here the challenge was to put a water balloon between you and your partner and walk a certain distance without either of you popping it on your backs or dropping it. I didn't get a picture, but Colby and I actually did this without popping a balloon!

We had a great time. We were sad to miss the last day due to Colby's illness, but we look forward to next year's VBS.