Armandina Grace turns 4! *May 18, 2011*

The weekend before her actual birthday we also had a celebration with Grandma and Pops.  Due to the late opening of the New Baltimore Ice Cream stand we had cake, and cupcakes AND ice cream!  Her Aubrey Anne doll got some cute new clothes!

Mother's Day

When I (Heather) was a kid, we often had our pictures taken
at Lakview Park at "the big basket".  I had talked with my grandma Len about it when she came to 

visit and realized we had not done it in a long time, if ever! 

Mother's Day weekend we went to my mom's to celebrate with her.  We went to church at my Grandma Cline's church, and took photos on the way back to my mom's.  Since it was so nice outside we took pictures outside at my mom's when Joshua, Shannon and Victoria joined us.  We forgot to get a family shot though! :(  We had an easy dinner of pizza (NO dishes on Mother's Day I insisted!!) and celebrated Grace's 4th birthday with cupcakes and a present from Grandma Sandra.  Then we drove to Alliance where we had a Mother's Day dinner with Stephanie and Pops, and went back to their house to visit and give Grandma her gift. 

Gary The Amazing

got Stephanie, Sandra, and Heather EACH a Pandora charm!  

It was a wonderful day of family and love and celebrating 

all the blessings God has showered down upon us. 

Joshua Sandra Heather

~Four Generations!~

Victoria, Shannon, Sandra, Grace, Heather, Esther, Dolly

Grandma can read Grace a story whenever she wants with this Hallmark Book!

Grandma Stephanie and the kids

Spring eventually turns into summer!

The weekend after Easter Papa Tim, Laurie, and Great-Grandma Len came to visit! We got to take some photos, eat dinner, and play outside. It was a wonderful visit! It's such a blessing that our family is willing to come see us at our house.

That Sunday night was the kids' AWANA awards program. I didn't get good photos of the awards, but got one of them with the AWANA flag, and at home with their awards.

Finally we had our first T-ball game!  Tyler is #2 for the A's.

Esther enjoying a vanilla wafer at tball lunch

Quality time...

Ok so it may not be real quality time, but heather and I spent some time cutting out objects again while we watched The Voice. It was productive and something we both liked. Above is the part of the sheet I finished before I stooped out of fear I may decapitate a figure.

Spring Photos: Post One

Esther crawling on the driveway

Columbus trip: COSI

Tyler teaching Esther at COSI

Grace playing house

Our Family outside the water exhibit

Grace & Tyler with shared Easter Basket

Shannon, Sandra, Grace & Heather (Easter)

Victoria, Shannon, Joshua, Sandra (Easter)

Bush Family with Pap Kandray

Grace's AWANA Cubbies Group (she is in pink sweatshirt)

Watching the Royal Wedding ~Tyler

~Grace~

~Esther~

   

Moving on to First Grade!

Today we had our official homeschool evaluation and it went really well!  I am so proud of Tyler and all the work he did this year!  He's improved greatly and we have all learned so much about this world God made for us.  We'll be submitting the evaluation paperwork and our paperwork for moving on to next year where he'll be in First Grade!  It's been a wonderful year and I'm excited to see what next year brings.

We also are looking forward to Tuesday when Esther will get her cast off!  Yay!  She will be due for an extra long soak in the tub and a good hair washing.  :)

Another sheet bites the dust....

We have been working on our most recent project, participating in visonbeyondborders.com Flannel Board project. Tonight I started and finished sheet T. It had large objects with lots of straight lines which made it easy to cut. Heather has been working on most of the difficult sheets. It is fun to cut out the shapes and think about the stories they will help tell. I am glad to be part of a larger project that assists in the spreading of the gospel. I am reminded that it takes many people to be part of the Great Commission and each part is important. Please join us in praying for the people that will get to use the flannel board pieces and the people that will see the flannel board pieces and hear the stories they illustrate. Pray that lives will be won for the kingdom.

One Trip to Another

We had a wonderful time on our trip.  The kids were very excited to get to be in three states in two days.  Our hotel room was amazing and best of all FREE!  We had a great ride down after Tyler's t-ball game, and checked in to our hotel.  We went swimming, had pizza in the room, watched some TV and then we were all exhausted so we went to bed!  Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast, went over to see the horse race track behind the hotel, got ready for the graduation party and off we went!  It was so wonderful to get to see the Cline's and their gorgeous house!  They are so welcoming and truly made us feel at home.  THey were gracious and made time to spend with us even as they were hosting such a large party and group of people.  The kids were very good, playing outside, resting inside, and enjoying the trampoline.  We left about 6 pm and made the drive home in good time, and then Grandma Sandra drove all the way (almost 2 hours!) back to her home to be ready to get up and go to work in the morning.  Gary too, had to work in the morning.  He had a good week getting end of year stuff finalized and trying to prepare for summer projects.  It seems no matter how well he plans and communicates there are always last minute ideas and goals and people to serve.

  Monday was our women's bible study at church which was a wonderful break in the week for me.  We are doing the Beth Moore study of Esther.  We do group discussion and watch video, then we have 5 days of study/homework to do on our own.  So far I'm truly enjoying it and getting a lot out of it.  For me its the perfect blend of reading, and study, along with reflection and prayer to keep me interested.  Beth Moore also reminds me of my dear friend and spiritual mentor and example Deb Neal, so it's always fun to pretend she's teaching me instead of Mrs. Moore.  :)  Teusday I took the kids on a much needed grocery shopping trip and we were able to meet Daddy for lunch.  That night Tyler had his Tball game and we (FINALLY) got to visit New Baltimore again! The past two days are a blurr in my mind of school, home upkeep, library and hair cut trip, and father's day dinner.  It was a great week where Gary was very busy, but we also did a lot as a family.

Today Gary took off to head back to Indiana to attend ICCM.  He's very excited and we are excited for him!  It was hard to say goodbye, as the kids get older these types of trips mean more, but affect them more too.  Thankfully Esther is blissfully unaware.  Since his tearful departure the kids have been good.  Gary's kept us up to date with iPhone photos of the trip, and we've sent him a couple messages.  I'm excited to hear about all the amazing things he learns, and the people he meets!

In the mean time I must get the house guest ready since Grandma Sandra is making a return trek, and bringing Great Grandma Cline with her!  Three days and two nights of Grandma fun is right around the corner!!

Esther all ready for the party!

Road Trip

Today we are on our way to Guilford Indiana for Heather's cousin's graduation party tomorrow.  We are staying just south of Cincinnati (Florence Ky) at a Springhill Suites.  This is yet another free room for simply signing up for the Marriott Rewards credit card.  The kids are enjoying a show courtesy of Netflix on my laptop.  It was an uneventful trip down.  Grandma Sandra joined us for the drive down and it went pretty fast. We did not run into any traffic.  We enjoyed the pool earlier and pizza from a local pizza shop tonight for dinner.  Even though it is only 8:45 we are all in bed (all though Esther is fighting going to sleep with all her might).  Grandma Sandra is on her laptop, I am typing this blog on mine and Heather is on her iPod touch playing Angry Birds.  This is our first trip of the summer (as I just finished school on friday) and I am looking forward to a fun summer.  

Last week of school for Gary

Today began the last week of yet another school year for me (gary).  It is hard to believe this is my 5th year at Marlington.  The time sure does fly!  All in all it has been a good year. Many challenging moments but many good ones as well.  Keep praying that this summer goes well. Even though the school year is done, the summer is going to be even crazier.  For IT summer is the time when most all new projects get done. This summer has a full list of things to attempt to accomplish. Please pray that I stay focused and organized. Also pray for no major hiccups.  Stay tuned for updates throughout the summer.

Gary

Another sheet cut

Above is sheet 9 I believe.  Heather and I finished it tonight.  That brings our total to 4 sheets done I believe. It has been fun to do this together.  Well it is time for bed now.  Tomorrow begins the last week of this school year, but I will leave that for another post.

Flannel Graph Update

Heather finished up sheet 8 tonight. This brings our total sheets done to 3.  The estimated to complete this is 40 to 50 hours.  We are moving right along.  It is neat to see how the whole project is coming along.  We do have a ways to go but it is going well.

Funny Face

I want to update again, and post several pictures we finally downloaded onto the computer, but for now you just get these three.  

Happy June!

Aren't they the cutest!?!?!?

Flanel Graph

Heather spent some more time cutting yesterday and finished the first sheet we started  on Wednesday.  She was also able to purchase two new pairs of scissors specifically intended for cutting multiple layers of fabric.  Last night we spent 1.5 hours cutting out more figures and objects from the next sheet.  It was a nice time together as we watched a movie and just hung out with the kids in bed. I will look to post more pictures later today. We are hoping to finish this second sheet tonight or tomorrow.  But, for now it is time to head to work.

gary

First sheet

Here is a picture of some of the first sheet cut out.  Thanks to Heather's hard work, the project is under way. These two figures took 1 hour to cut out.

Another First for Esther

On Memorial Day we had a lot of firsts for Esther. The most notable was Esther's first trip to the ER and her first broken bone. Esther fell off of stacked couch cushions and while bracing her fall with her right arm, broke her radius bone (forearm bone on thumb side). She was a real trooper and must have a high pain tolerance as the only time cried was when we were holding her down for the x-ray. She must have gotten the high pain tolerance from Pops. We go tomorrow for a follow up where she will get a more permanent cast up to her armpit. Please pray for the bone to heal properly and quickly and that she is not to uncomfortable.

Flannel Graph unpacked and uncut!

This is a picture of our first flannel graph set we are cutting out.