creative avoidance

We are enjoying our last few days of summer. While most of our friends have already started school, we are not starting until next week. There is alot to do before next week... you see we've been a little preoccuppied with Esther this summer and have been playing most of the summer.
I had one more sewing project I wanted to do, a small basket to keep Esther's toys in so that they are not all over the living room.

These guys spent most of that day building these amazing creations with Connects. I think their goal was to use every Connect, and that's alot of Connects. They also built "cars" that can hang from a zip line and had car/zip line races down the hall. Carl and I were banned from our room for hours as our door held the top of the zip line. Christian spent most of the day (and most days) finishing up a novel he's writing. More on that later.

This is what happens when they finally leave me alone!

The pink bag was originally Esther's basket but it was too tall and too narrow to stand up properly, so we turned it into a bag for Phoebe to take to co-op. Then while the scrap bucket was open she came up with the blue combo for a bag to take to art class. That night I decided she needed a cute colored pencil roll to carry her colored pencils for co-op.

Then Benjamin said, "can you make me a bag for co-op, I don't like my backpack for co-op"

Well, of course sweetie, I'd love to make just one more bag! ... or two, or three, or...

And of course he needed a crayon roll for his crayons for co-op. Its amazing how much more fun old crayons and colored pencils are when carried in just the right carrier.

Finally, Esther's bag is complete! It's still not as big as I wanted, but it will do...for now.

And so, with my "one last project" completed, we can get busy getting ready for our new school year.

little dresses for Africa

Phoebe and I have been making pillowcase dresses for Little Dresses for Africa. We've had so much fun that we decided to host a sewing party! A sweet couple at church own an RV park and they allowed us to use their clubhouse for the afternoon. What a fun afternoon we had making dresses, socializing and using our gifts to bless others.

The girls and their dresses.

We pray that these dresses will not only physically bless girls in Africa but that they will help them know that God loves them so much that he sent His Only Son to die for them!

Our Weekend

This past weekend we took a mini vacation. Sorry, no pictures. Although I brought the camera I kept forgetting to use it!

Friday night we went to a CC Hooks game. It was so much fun. We are not huge baseball fans, as was evident when we were trying to explain the game to Benjamin and we all kept saying "You know in kickball when...." We sat on the grassy area on blankets and I realized I don't have a blanket big enough for all of us.

We spent Saturday with visiting grandparents, going to half priced book, Dairy Queen and Asian Buffett. The Asian Buffett was a highlight with the kids, you see, they have a little tradition. When the fortune cookies come, they eagerly crack them open, read them, add "on the toliet" to the end of every forturne and laugh histerically!

On Sunday we visited Bay Area Fellowship. I love visiting other churches, it doesn't really matter the style of the church as long as they are theologically solid. I love exposing my children to different styles of worship and preaching and later talking with them about what they liked or didn't like, why they think the church does what it does, etc. Bil at Bay Area is doing a series on finances and he had a guest preacher, David Hughes, give the message this Sunday. It was a great, thought provoking engaging message.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Fiesta Texas Fun...

Friday we went to Fiesta Texas for some more summer fun! As an added bonus, Toby Mac was playing that night.


...waiting for the concert to begin....


...playing dress-up in the gift shops...

...getting down with Toby Mac...

...so nice to have a big brother....

...the ending of a fun filled whirl wind day

Hope you're enjoying these last few weeks of summer!