Joel and I were playing Legos and he said that he was going to build a tabernacle. Just made me smile an life. Here we are playing with Star Wars Legos and he decides the droids need a tabernacle. Smiles.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Catching Up BUT . . .
One of my goals in blogging is that I would be able to write down the funny and sweet things my children say, but I have found that I get so far behind that I can never catch up and then miss writing these sayings because I want to be in "order". So I am bypassing my OCD of order and writing one of Joel's sayings today.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Last Pool Swim
We made it to the pool one last time before the end if the summer. We enjoyed our many days at the Alexander Pool. Though I think it costs way too much ($4 a person), I still enjoy taking the boys. Our summer pool pass does help lower the cost ($2.50 each) so that is a plus. The boys improve so much on their skills throughout the summer. Joel is confident now to stick his head under the water. An Cade has no problem diving for things and snorkeling.
Gearing Up for the Fair!
We unwinterized our camper to get ready for the Iowa State Fair on August 5th. We have had such a busy summer we did not get the opportunity to open up our camper before the end of the summer. We unwrapped the plastic and tarp wrapped around it and then drove it home to get it opened and packed.
We first scrubbed down the top. And then we had quite a surprise when we got it opened, A LARGE colony of of ants had moved into one end. They did not do any permanent damage but what a mess. Curtis sprayed and sprayed and sprayed the trailer all week. We would close it in the night and then reopen it during the day to kill more. And by leaving time on Saturday, we were antless!
Family!
This is our family on Curtis' 35th birthday. Cade is 7, Joel 4, and Jessica is 31 years old and 28 weeks pregnant with Odell baby girl!
Tiskilwa Pow Wow Days
We went down to Tiskilwa to celebrate Pow Wow Days at the end of July. I have never been to Tiskilwa's town festival but we didn't have any other "have tos" on the calendar so we tried it out. Plus our friend's Pam, Kaylyn, and Cory invites us.
Cade won the Pedal Pull for 7-8 year olds on Thursday evening. Then on Saturday we went down for the parade and inflatables in the town park. It wasn't just any inflatables, though, they had water slide inflatables too. Pam and Cory nicely paid for the boys to go and have unlimited rides for the day. We stayed for 3 hours and enjoyed the fun! I definitely think we could go back and enjoy the fun again in years to come. Thanks for the invite Pam!
Sweet Corn!
We have a very generous family in our church who plants an acre of sweet corn for anyone and everyone to come pick and eat. During one of my Pampered Chef shows Curtis took the boys to the Engel's to pick. They came home with a bundle, shucked it the next day, and a few days later I blanched it and froze it. So hopefully we can enjoy a few servings of corn this fall and winter.
I really do love canning and freezing produce, but I have been so exhausted from the move and my pregnancy that I find it hard to be on my feet for the length of time needed to get the jobs done. Hopefully the little efforts I had put in will benefit our family.
We also have lots of applesauce frozen in the freezer that I processed but didn't get canned.
Check out Cade's triple ear of corn he schucked!
Final Clean Out
We headed over to our Putnam Street home to clean out the garage and we found two deer playing around!
Last Moments with the Lamberts
We celebrated our last evening with the Lambert's for the summer of 2013 with a bonfire, s'mores, and a few birthday gifts for the August birthdays.
The smiles don't show the exhaustion of our many moments together because each moment of exhaustion is a bit more fun because a memory is formed. Thanks for many moments and memories together this summer Lambert family!
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Kingdom Chronicles VBS
We participated in The Kingdom Chronicles VBS at church. The boys had a great time. The highlight had to be the play that ended each evening. Cade got really into the story. The theme of knights and maidens also strung accord with Cade's personality. The biggest struggle of the week was the evening hours when VBS was held. Cade was so tired after full days of playing with cousins that the evening hours were hard. Joel's naps were necessary for him to function.
Curtis did the Bible teaching for Cade's age and I just floated around a did whatever. It was nice to not have a "job". I don't think I could have taken the load. What a great week!
Day Trip
We took a morning away and went to Peoria to the Bass Pro Shop. I just love this photo, so I had to share. Silly boys.
Championship Game!
Cade's team went undefeated in the baseball tournament until the final night when they had to defeat The Cubs. We only had to beat the Cubs once to be the champions because they had already lost a game. Unfortunately we didn't win the first game (lost 1-0), so we had to play the second game. After 7 innings (normally 4) we lost. Cade played 9 of the 11 innings at catcher. He was fantastic and terribly tired when the night ended. It was hot and humid and full of much emotion. He had an excellent baseball season and really fell in love with the sport. It was fun to watch his joy for it to grow.
Joel's 4th Birthday!
Through all the chaos if moving and boxes we still managed I celebrate Joel a couple times the week of his birthday!
Our first celebration came when Grandpa Bill and Grandma Glenna were still in town. Joel received flowers from Grandma. He loved them!! And we also had a cupcake candle for him to blow out!
On his birthing day, Grandma Bev threw Joel a Farm birthday. He had been requesting farm animal cupcakes for sometime and Grandma did not fail him. It was so fun. We also celebrated by going to Despicable Me 2 that evening while Daddy was at a meeting. What a special 4 year old I have. 
Moving Day
Moving Day came on July 12th. We had so much help and a wonderful outpouring of love to get all of our belongings into our new home.
Mom and Dad arrived earlier in the week to work on the new house and help us make our new place more functional. Mom cleaned and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed the kitchen at the new house the week prior. Dad arrived the day or two before and started building a desk in my new office (the old coat closet) and putting shelves in Curtis and my skinning closet (yippee more storage). He is so good at what he does. The desk looks fantastic and gives me a place to still run my business. I am so thankful.
And Tom and Bev have been working hard with so many jobs here and there. Bev is sewing all our curtains and the two of them refinished two dressers for the boys. Tom has moved many items here and there, and put up all my curtain rods.
I don't know how I would do all this without such wonderful help. It has been overwhelming ad wonderful.
4th of July in Illinois
After our long trip home we were invited to a friend's home in the country for their neighbor's fireworks display. This was the first time the boys to do sparklers. Though we were exhausted, we pushed through and enjoyed our time.
July 4th Get-a-way!
We adventured to Sterling, Kansas again for their 4th of July celebration. Our family participated in many of the free activities!
The kids participated in the fishing derby on the 3rd. Jacob won the smallest fish for his age group. On the morning of the 4th, Tom and Curtis participated in the horse shoe double elimination contest. Of course they had to face the returning champions the first round and borrow someone's horse shoes in order to play. The kids did the nickel find sandpile , and swimming competition at the pool. Cade moved up to the big pool this year and did mighty well. He swam the whole length of the pool and found lots of coins. He was pleased. Curtis and Caleb participated in the pizza eating contest. Curtis WON! They had to eat one piece without touching it as fast as they could. We were excited about the gift card Curtis won (though we didn't know how much was on it), so we decided to serve pizza for lunch the next day. Unfortunately the card was only $5. Seriously disappointing. The Odell family represented well for the contests!
Of course we watched the fireworks that night after a full day of activity.
On the 5th the men took the big boys fishing at the creek and had quite the time exploring and catching fish. They are always on and adventure.
The drive to and from KS is always grueling but we made it, most definitely exhausted but we made it.
Preparations!
We quickly got onto moving all of our belongings to our new home once we were home from Peru. Everyday was filled with work. Packing, moving boxes over to the new house, and painting.
It was really hard on the boys to always be in work mode. It was really hard on Mommy and Daddy too. Our days and nights were long because we were not only trying to keep up with the "normal" but tackle all these extras too. My hope is the boys saw our hard work ethic, and will desire to be hard workers and not see the stress that was pouring out of us these days.
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