the sabbath was made for man...

not man for the sabbath. referring to our family policy of enjoying technology-free Mondays as a way to focus on the family for Chris' day off. Today is a day of enjoying relationships including doing fun stuff on our computers. Chris is still working on our "1-day project" of burning our 2008 family video to DVD. And I have enjoyed a leisurely morning of coffee, email, and internet time. after of course, we capitalized on the opportunity God gave us to clean up the backyard. a dry (albeit cold) morning let us get the jungle/backyard cleaned up. now, moving on to real-world play time =D Enjoy your day too!

Saturday - Here and Gone!

Today seemed REALLY short! We had a fun day relaxing and getting a few things done around the house. The boys were wound up. Little Violet was as sweet as always. She is quite the explorer.

In the way of productivity, we are really close to compiling all of our 2008 videos on DVD. Also, a new toilet (from Habitat for Humanity) now stands proudly in our basement and functions perfectly!

We also got to meet "Cam" tonight. He is a week old and was just a precious as he could be. What a miracle!

Days off seem way too short!

no there is too much, let me sum up

we've been so busy living the last few months that i'm afraid there is too much for one measley article. besides, i know you're too busy to spend 4 hours reading a detailed update. soo...here's an overview of what's been happening since i last posted at the end of april:

MAY

we said good bye to the old house


we visited our ainley friends in potosi


jayden sang in the children's choir performance

we moved into our new (scary) house and began fixing it up

in the process of taming the backyard, i reacted to the forest of poison ivy we now call home


JUNE

more home improvements: pouring a patio in the backyard and tearing out the scary kitchen




which was then replaced with the newer version


we attended a Sisk family reunion


Violet had her first birthday



JULY


me and the kids went to youth camp for a week.


it was a treat to get a chunk of praise team back together for camp, but i really missed chris not being able to be there

Chris found a pet snake in our flowers not long after i had trimmed the leaves back...creepy!


we enjoyed a visit from our costephens friends and their babies


this was just too cute of a smile to not include!


the boys enjoy time in the sandbox we put under our deck


well, enjoy might be an over statement for zeke. i think he was in a funk.


and poor baby girl had a REALLY good time in the pool after the boys dumped dirt clods in it. she snuck in before i could catch her...her shoes took 2 days to dry out and they will never be the same!


Chris was camp director at VBS at the end of July


by the end of the week every goal set for the mission offering had been achieved. The kids brought shoes/shoelaces/socks/money for the "shoes for orphans" project. as a result every kid got to "slime" him. and yes, that's Jayden getting daddy in the photo.


then we got to meet my brother Andy's girlfriend Leslie when they came to town to visit


Violet figured out how to climb the slide...the big slide...kinda makes a momma nervous. the really scary thing is how skilled she is- she didn't fall at all while i let her repeat it over and over so i could capture it on video.