Happy Birthday Willem

Today is Willem's 6th Birthday.  He has been counting down the days for a month now.  And he is so happy to finally be 6 just like his best bud Nathan.

Willem got a horn, water bottle, and a liscense plate for his bike.  He also got a set of knee and elbow pads, because he is a little "crazy man" on his bike.

And he got 2 little cute bikes to play inside when it is rainy and muddy outside.

And the big blue ball that he has been asking for since Brenna received a green one for her birthday.

I love my little goofy readhead!

With all the gear and stuff, I think he looks like an official bike rider.

And he loves it all.

Sewing Blankets

The other day, I took Elizabeth (Shannon's best friend from school.  We love having her smiling face and fun personality around.) and Hannah to Walmart to  pick out material to make themselves a Reading/TV blanket.  They both found really cute material.  Today Elizabeth came over for the day to get started on her blanket.  They got pretty far, but both girls somehow ended up jamming up both machines............so, till Wednesday the blankets sit unfinshed.  They are both anxious to have them done.

Last Nights Catch

The boys checked the trap this morning, and had caught this baby skunk.  Cute, yes............but he still smells.  The whole family with 5 babies lives under the crawl space under our breezeway.  I can't wait till they are all caught!!

Saturday

Saturday is a special day.

It's the day we get ready for Sunday:

We cleaned the house, and we washed our clothes.

We mowed our grass, and took away the trash.

We weeded our gardens, and shopped at the store.

We cleaned off our porch,

and picked our peas.

Then rode our bikes,

 

and fixed our cars,

So we won't have to work until Monday.

We checked our facebook, and got out our wiggles.

And we call it our get the work-done day.

Then we fed our animals, and we took our baths,

So we can be ready for Sunday!

Ok....seriously.........how many of you ended up singing the song, besides me!!??

Max

Max came up with the neighbors for the weekend.  He has been hanging around the house, getting all the attention he can from the kids.  At first he was a little whiny....we are guessing he is missing his two best friends.....Joshua and Buddy.   We gave him a big hug for ya Josh!!  He told us to tell you, in dog language of course, that he loves you!!

Chicken Eaters Number 1 and 2

We started out this spring with 4 full grown chickens, and 2 ducks.  We then added  36 baby chicks and 2 baby ducks.  Well, now we are down to 13 little chickens, and 2 little ducks.  We haven't known if it was a bear, coydog, weasel, or racoon.  So I splurged a little and went to the feed store to get a large trap.  The things cost me $75----I sure hope it keeps working.........cause I think that was expensive!!

The first morning we had caught this guy.

And the second morning this big guy was in the trap.  Max is so proud of himself for catching it, he couldn't stop barking.  Guess we will soon know how many "chicken eaters" we have.

Learning to Ride

Willem has had his bike a week now.  We decided to take off the training wheels to see how he would do.  Willem is a natural!!  He had it down his first try.

Elijah teaching Willem how to start riding.

What goes up.............must come down!

Red Sky at Night

We had a beatiful sunset this evening--John took the picture.

Fun in the Creek

The best part of summer and the hot/humid days is the nightly trip to the creek.  We have the perfect little hidden spot at the bottom of our road (well, I suppose it will be no longer hidden now, since I just told everyone......lol).  At the end of the day everyone is hot, sweaty, and sticky, and we all welcome the chance to cool off in the cold creek water.

My Working Boys

Elijah, Zachery, and Caleb have once again this summer been working for Calkins Excavating Company.  They don't really have a set thing that they do, it is whatever "the boss" needs done that day.  They have dug holes, painted tanks, split and stacked wood, cut and cleared brush, and even driven big trucks.  I am not quite sure of what all they do. All I know is that they leave early in the morning with a cooler full of lunch and snacks.  Then they are home just in time for dinner most nights with an empty cooler.  I think it is a little hard on them, because they come home dirty, hungry, tired and a little moody each night.

Instead of pay for the first few weeks of school, Elijah worked of the payments for his truck.  Now they can drive themselves to work and school........yipee!!!

Caleb, Zachery, and Elijah

I am proud of my hard working young men!

(Don't look now, but I think I actually got a picture of Caleb smiling!!!)

Young Men Activity

Josh, we thought you would like to see Brother Rayburn's boat.  They had a Young Men's activity at Chrystal Lake, 20 minutes up past the church.  They had the chance to try water skiing, and also be pulled on a tube behind the boat.

Then again, this week as a combined Young Men and Young Women's activity, they went and did it again.

I even got to see Elijah fall on his face this time!!

Girls Camp 2010

We got home from our camping trip late Monday afternoon.  We had to unpack everything quickly, and repack for Girls Camp.  Our theme this year was "My Journey to Zion".  I love girl's camp, and especially going with Hannah.  I spent the majority of time taking pictures of all the girl's during their activities in order to create a slideshow for them to watch the last night of camp.  It is fun to be with their sweet spirits.

Hannah trying to set up her tent, wishing her brothers were there to help.

Lyndon Ward girls.

Ropes course.

Hannah and Daisy on the water slide.

Hannah and Tahira on Kitchen duty.

For their service project, they made school folders for children in Haiti.

Lyndon Ward flag and Devotional.

Camp director Sister Cochran, with our guest singer Jenny Phillips.

She gave us a copy of her CD and signed it.

Rebekah and Hannah.

Trading treats with another ward.

Hannah singing campfire songs.

Boating Lake Umbagog

We just got back the boating pictures of our short little vacation.  We bought a disposable camera while we were on the lake, so not to take the chance of drowning our good camera.  The pictures seemed to turn out pretty well considering.  At least we have proof that we did it!

We rented 2 canoes, and 2 kayaks for a half day.

We rotated around so everyone had a chance to try both the canoes and kayaks.

We rowed to a small rock island and had lunch, and did a little swimming.

On our outing we saw this nice looking moose, just beside an island....we got as close as we could to get a picture of him.  He was really liking those lily pads.

4th of July Weekend

This weekend we chose to be spontaneous.  Last minute we decided to head to Northern New Hampshire.  Our destination.........Lake Umbagog.  We have lived in New Hampshire going on 8 years now, and this our first time actually statying in state to camp.  We camped here a couple of nights, went fishing,  canoeing, and kayaking during the day.  We had a fun time together.

We managed to fit into only 2 tents this time.

Our favorite camp breakfast--pancakes with apple filling and whipped cream!

We had to do something with the left over whipped cream.

Dad helping Willem get his pole ready for fishing.

Jacob

Elijah

Oh, and we can't forget the swimming!

(Will have to post the boating pics later!)