It's hot in the valley, but cool on the mountain

Thursday was our first BLAZING hot day this summer. The house was hot. The backyard was hot. But...the mountain was COOL.

Due to high amounts of spring rain shower, wildflowers covered the mountain side.


The kids and I surprised Phil with a picnic dinner, packed and ready when he arrived home from work. Peanut Butter and Jelly for the kids and ham and cheese for Phil and I.


Check out Sarah's eyes in this exciting game of "who can knock the other person off the log first."



Near Beartrap Meadow are 2 playground areas. The kids had to be pried off the swing sets.

A new adventure for Timothy: Peeing in the woods! Phil explained to Tim how lucky he was to be a boy in the woods. He explained the fine art of finding a stump or tree away from other people and then, well... you get the idea.

Timothy apparently forgot the "finding a place away from people" because the next time he had to go, he had his shorts down and taking care of business right in the middle of the playground. He seemed confused by our correction because, after all, he HAD found a stump!!

This just sums up the 2 hour trip - peaceful, relaxing, cool, away from demands, and enjoying the simple things in life. Too bad life was back to normal with tears and whining before the night was over......

Timothy thought each campground marker was a clue. It was hilarious to listen to him shout, "I found another clue, another clue!!"

Dirty face and a happy smile.

More swings at the other playground.

Preciousness from Lil' Precious herself.

I am not sure who is more excited here - Tim or Phil.

Okay...it was Timothy!

"Hike, hike, hike, hike......"

Baseball questions - "What's an umpire say for a ball?" Tim replies quietly, "Ball."

"What about for a strike?" His reply, "STRIIIIIKKKKEEE!"

....and more swinging fun, complete with audio for your listening enjoyment.

The Best Nest

Timothy LOVES to be read to and also to "read" to us. He gets books memorized so quickly. It is such a joy to listen to him retelling the story. The more animated I am in reading it the first time, the funnier it is to hear him tell the story.

One of his favorites is The Best Nest. Sarah was very patient as he read the entire thing to her. Here is a portion toward the end of the book.

Cooling off

It's finally hot enough here in Casper to put bathing suits on first thing in the morning. Savannah is still not sure about this water thing. She REFUSES to get in at the big pools, and is very apprehensive even in this tiny toddler pool.

She was very intriqued with the sprays of water from the slip and slide.

Melissa and Sarah in their matching suits - very cute!

Lindsay and her friend Taylor running and sliding, well kind of.....

12+ inches.. . . . . . GONE!

Allie has been growing out her hair for awhile. She recently decided to get it chopped and donate it to Locks of Love.

The quality of pictures below is blurry at best, but all I had with me was my phone camera.

BEFORE:



DURING:




AFTER:


BEAUTIFUL!

Father's Day Weekend

While Phil and I spent 3 days in Denver attending the Christian Home Educators of Colorado Conference, Wayne and Sandy held down the fort in Casper. They graciously agreed to come to Casper and take care of the "Fab Five" so we could get away for some time of renewal and refreshment.

For those of you that may be wondering why we are attending a homeschool conference, we have been pondering and praying about this for some time. Our plan (as of now) is to begin educating Allie at home in the fall. This is for many various reasons. Primarily, we are very excited about being able to give her a solid Biblical worldview so that she is better equipped to serve Christ, witness to others and to obey His Word.

We haven't decided exactly when, but most likely we will gradually add the other kids as well.

The conference was exceptional, and we came back with VERY full brains and a passion in our hearts. It was so much more than homeschooling. It was centered on discipleship. We feel really good about some curriculum we found, and I am ready to begin purposeful planning in the next few weeks. Allie is also very excited and ready to be at home more hours each day. Watch for a new blog to be launched this fall, featuring reports and updates from Allie, as she begins this new adventure.

While we were in Colorado, we went to a Colorado Rockies game. More interesting than the game was the game 4 gentlemen seated beside us were playing. Especially amusing was the victory dance one of the more elderly men did as he won the pot of money on a home run.



While we were enjoying our time away, Grandma and Grandpa were living the high life! Yeah right.....

We're not sure if they told all the secrets, but the kids had a great time and the house was still standing when we returned.

Thanks, Wayne and Sandy - we really appreciate it!



I came home to sweet Savannah and green toenails. Aren't they precious?!


Many more pictures and tales can be found at Wayne and Sandy's blog: http://laramiehuberts.blogspot.com/

On Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day at church with a pancake breakfast. Pastor Jack finished up his series on Daniel with a wonderful message. Then after a quick picture and lunch, Allie took off to Camp Grace for a week.

Daddy and his "quiver". Psalm 127:5

Lindsay turns 8 - June 12, 2009

The last day of a busy VBS week, Lindsay turned 8! She had a small birthday painting party at Pottery by You.

For her pottery choice, she picked out sundae bowls. All the girls got to design their very own bowl using any color of paint. Then they will be fired and glazed and returned to Lindsay's special guests.


Lindsay and her friends.




The color selection



Jessi is concentrating on her masterpiece...



...and Miss Beth gets just the right amount of paint on her brush.

Lindsay is almost done with the inside.

Peyton and Parker using the same color so their bowls will be twins.

Adding dots!

Opening presents as Taylor looks on.

"I'm SO happy!"

Wildwood Forest VBS ~ Day 5

GOD IS UNPREDICTABLE

Day 5 -- A Wild Love -- The Birth of Jesus -- Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 2:1-12

The kids learned that an unforgettable Savior is born amidst amazing miracles and wondrous occurrences.

I Survived Pre-K VBS '09 shirts were awarded to Jill and Brandi for their outstanding job leading the preschool group.



The drama team prays before presenting their final skit to the kids.


Orange team looking cute as always.



Justin (I do my own stunts) Kauffman -- ready to give the kids (and adults) a few laughs during his performance.



Organizing the money brought in by the VBS kids - $344 for CareNet!


Maddie's opinion of the snack.....




Timothy's opinion of the snack!



The kids also brought in many bags of clothing, toiletries and money for the Central Wyoming Rescue Mission. Here are 3 of the color teams presenting the items collected to the Rescue Mission representative.

Red team enjoys their pudding and fruit snack.

Kindrid's tummy is FULL to the top with her snack.

Jessi and Jaci

Kristy, Sarah and Sierra

Britanny and Allie talking about the deep things in life.

Angellina is very proud of her snail craft.

Timothy is helping Lynda glue his craft together.

The dark Glow Rock Hideaway lab brought lots of smiles and excitement! Great job Brenda - you deserve extra points for staying in that cave all week.

Because of ALL the rain this week, we were inside for P.E., but that didn't damper the excitement at all. Teresa and her fabulous helpers even made the parachute fit into the basement.