My Loves

This week my kids are off on an adventure. A grand adventure.  My parents took the week off of work, came over with my Grandma to pick the kids up, and left with them this morning. One whole week at Grandma and Grandpa's house withOUT Mom and Dad. I'm not sure who is happier and more excited my kids or my parents. I hope they all have a super week.

Summer Activities: Vacation Bible School

Last week our kids had the opportunity to attend Vacation Bible School (VBS). The WELS churches in Oshkosh combine and have a big VBS each summer. This summer Grace Lutheran hosted with staff from Camp Philip organizing the whole event. The program is run much like a day camp from 9am-3pm for school age kids and 9-12 for pre-schoolers. The kids learned Bible stories, played games, sang songs, did crafts, and had a fabulous time. Lydia was a bit apprehensive the first day at a new place with new people but she warmed right up to her teacher, Miss Jessica (#1). The boys went in full steam ahead and loved every minute. The theme this year was Knights of the Day and each day the kids made a piece of armor. The last day we put the belt, breastplate, helmet, shield, and sword together (#2). I've got some pretty great knights.

Cousin Christi

Last week the kids and I headed up to Fox Valley Lutheran HS for a Lutheran Vanguard's first ever field show and a little of their parade show as well.  Nathan's cousin Christi is a trumpeter in Vanguard and it was awesome to see her perform with the band.  Here is a a taste of what we saw. Christi is the fourth from the left in the picture and somewhere in the midst of the videos.

Summer Activities: Swimming Lessons

For the past two weeks our kids have hit the pool for half an hour each day. Evan and Hans had lessons in the morning and Lydia in the evening. Each of the three has learned new skills and continues to improve as a swimmer. We could take a second summer session but decided to wait again until fall for more official lessons. In the mean time they'll just enjoy practicing at the beach, lake, or pool.

1. Buddies

2. Lydia can now confidently jump in and under! Splash!

Surprise Party

Today we surprised the boys with a joint birthday party. We've never had the invite-your-class-of-friends kind of party before today. Neither of the boys were suspecting anything since Evan's birthday was two weeks ago and Hans' is in three weeks. Nathan took the kids with him for a few hours as I prepped the party. The guests arrived and stayed out of sight as we brought the boys back and all shouted "SURPRISE!"  The guests were pretty excited as many mentioned they'd never been to a surprise party before.  (Pic. #1: The boys reaction. Pic. #2 The guests before the boys arrived.)

It's hard to see, but the banner above the guests' heads reads, "Happy Birthday Evan & Hans." 

Once the party was going, we started with a long obstacle course. There were some typical parts of the course but there was also a t-shirt spraying part (# 3) and a cone dipping part (#4). 

We had several relay races, one was water from bucket to bucket (#5) and one involved taking shoes off and on (#7).  We started with a water balloon toss but the kids all preferred a water balloon throw so after each of the kids was armed with a balloon I gave them instructions to "get Mr. Smith" and everyone including Nathan took off running (#6). 

There was some free time for playing with friends and exploring the partially built fort (#8). 

We added ice cream to those cones we made, lit two candles, and sang Happy Birthday (#9).  The boys each received plenty of presents from generous friends (#10). The party wound down and parents came to collect their happy kids. We thanked the guests and said good bye to each of them.  Evan and Hans still seemed a little awestruck at the whole event.

Then we gave the boys one final surprise, new bikes! (#11)  Happy Birthday Boys!  Hopefully this will be remembered at one of the childhood "greatest days ever" in years to come.

Wonderful

Last weekend we had a wonderful weekend at my in-laws. I know for many people "wonderful" and "in-laws" wouldn't appear in the same sentence but in our family it's true. My in-laws are wonderful. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are hardworking, loving, generous Christians. They raised six strong, individual, hardworking, loving, generous, Christian children. Being home altogether is wonderful.
For the weekend there were 14 of us together (Jordan had to work so he wasn't able to make it this time.). With that many people around it was always busy. Saturday the ladies of the group had a mini baby shower for Tammy. Trees were trimmed and brush cleared. The woods were explored. Kites were flown. Bugs were caught. Three June birthdays (Matthew,  Evan,  Joanna), three June anniversaries (Michael&Tammy,  Matthew&Kristi,  Nathan&I), and four Father's Days (Kevin, Nathan, Matthew, Michael) were celebrated. Meal after meal of delicious food was consumed. Friends visited. Grandma (also known at Great Grandma) came for lunch. Lightning bugs were caught and kept in a jar for a nightlight. The front porch was well used by all to relax. read, and rest. We all attended church together on Sunday. It was wonderful. Family.
1. The dinner table as the noon meal was being finished and dessert was on the way.
2. Lydia reading to Naomi with Aunt Andrea.
3. Hans and Michael checking out the fire pit. The coals were still hot the next day.
4. Evan and Grandpa with Evan's birthday gift. Grandpa, Dad, and Evan built a sparrow trap so that Evan can catch a sparrow.

Summer Activities: Live at Lunch

During the summer we look forward to a lazier schedule and laid back activities. One that the kids and I enjoy is the Live at Lunch concert series. Wednesdays from noon-1pm various small time musicians give a free concert downtown. Cookee, the first performer of the summer, is a folk singer who the kids really enjoy. The favorite song of the day was The Unicorn Song. In addition to the music there is a small farmers market and we usually pack a picnic lunch to enjoy with the music. We look forward to more of these concerts during the rest of the summer.

Tasty Tuesday: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Yesterday a friend unexpectedly gave me a bunch of rhubarb in exchange for borrowing our GPS while she and her family are on vacation. Then, a few short hours later, our neighbor gave me a container of fresh picked strawberries that her husband and daughter had picked Sunday afternoon. It was a sign that I was supposed to make another strawberry rhubarb recipe. Which one? We have enjoyed several crisps, crustata, bread, and jam already this spring. Pie was calling my name. I played around with the recipe in my Better Homes and Garden's cookbook and came up with this crumble topped pie. Here is the recipe in case you unexpectedly come into some fresh goodness as well.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Crust:

1 1/4 c flour

1/3 c shortening

5 T water

dash cream of tartar

Blend flour, shortening, and cream of tartar until crumbly. Add water to form dough. Roll on floured surface. Line 9 inch pie shell.

Filling:

6-7 cups of fresh rhubarb and strawberries, diced

1 c sugar

1/4 c flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir filling ingredients together until moist. Fill pie shell.

Crumble Topping:

1/2 c flour

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c quick cooking oats

3 T butter

Blend together until uniform crumbiness. Sprinkle on pie.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45-55 minutes. Enjoy with a scoop of ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Evan turns Seven

Sunday Evan turned SEVEN! Wow! Where does the time go? I look at my boy and wonder how seven years could have passed so quickly. He's growing into such a wonderful boy. Evan is a curious and creative boy who loves the outdoors. There isn't a bug he won't try to catch or an animal that doesn't interest him. While he's quite often acting silly his mind is always moving, planning, scheming, and inventing. Asking, "What are you thinking?" is sure to get you an interesting answer.

Sunday we celebrated with brats and picnic lunch, gifts, some "spiderman" playground time, a t-ball game, and supper out at Perkins. Evan called it a perfect birthday.

Happy Birthday, Evan. We are so proud of you and happy to be your parents. We love you, buddy.

1. Evan and his magnifying glass with bugs cake.

2. Reading his cards.

3. "Whoa! Is this what I think it is!?!"

4. Silly brothers.

Thunder on the Lakeshore

On Saturday June 6th we headed east to Manitowoc for the annual airshow. Compared to Airventure in Oshkosh it's much smaller but in many ways that was very nice. We were close, as in reach-out-and-touch-the-airplanes-close during the airshow. It was also possible to see everything and it only cost $5/person. We had a great afternoon. Here is a peak at our day. (Watch for Teresa Stokes. Lydia has decided she's going to pursue her career "when she's a grown-up.")

Cousin Surprise

Last Friday evening my sister and nephews come for a visit. Our three kids had no idea they were coming until they walked in the house. Oh, what fun! Surprise! Five kids between the age of 4 and 8 means noise, laughter, movement, and joy. Here's a silly picture of the five at the splash pad at the park near our house. Makes you wish you were between 4 and 8 again doesn't it?

Thanks for coming Cora and boys! See you again soon.

Aunts

The last weekend in May Joanna came for a visit. For a number of reasons including a graduation and a wedding she stayed for nearly a week. These last few years she's been our most frequent house guest and a lot of fun to have around. She's always up for a spontaneous trip to a park, playground, or Sonic and just goes with the flow of our ever busy house.

Overlapping with Joanna's visit was a visit from Andrea. Andrea hasn't been a frequent visitor since she's been living in South America (first Paraguay and then Argentina) for the last three years. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with her. While Nathan and Andrea discussed world economies the kids loved getting to see the aunt who had been living on the bottom of the globe.

We're looking forward to a visit with both Joanna and Andrea and most (or all??) of the Smiths later in the month.

CELEBRATE!

Speaking of last days of school, Nathan finished school for the year on May 19th (Only one more part time year left!). More excitingly the following week after three written test, an oral test, and two and a half days of practical skills tests, Nathan is a certified Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic (A&P). Earlier in May he'd been offered a job working as one for a local company here in Oshkosh and he started June 1st. Two years of hard work as a full time student and full time employee putting in near 80 hour weeks had paid off. On the evening of the day he passed everything he and I went out to dinner to celebrate. Here's a shot of happy us before we left for our date. Thirteen years ago when I fell in love this man I had no idea this was where the road would bring us but I'm so glad we've gotten to take the road together. I'm so proud of my husband! He is amazing.

Last Day

While there was no graduation service for preschool or first grade Evan and Lydia finished school too. As mentioned earlier the last two weeks were full of field trip and also "special" days. Lydia's last day was a fun-in-the-sun day with activities outside. Here is a shot of the happy girl. Sometime the end of April she actually started to really like preschool. She recently asked when she gets to be in Mrs. Fred's class. When I told her she has to go to four year old preschool next year she informed me she knows all about preschool and wants to be in kindergarten instead. Have I mentioned lately that I love this girl? I do.

Desk Bells

One of the things Mrs.Fred enjoys doing with each K class is getting the kids into music. They sing but more than that she introduces instruments. Both this year with Hans' class and last year with Evan's the kids have loved boomwackers which are plastic tubes that make an awesome sound when thunked on the kids heads. Last year the kids also played mini hand bells. This year it was desk bells. Desk bells remind me of the standard librarians bell but with different tones. The kids love that together they can play real songs. Here Hans' class preforms Jesus Loves Me. Pretty cool!

Another One

Just because Hans is cute here is another shot from graduation day. A happy Hans in the backyard. We love you buddy!

Hans' Graduation

On Sunday, May 23, Hans graduated from kindergarten. His teacher, Mrs. Frederickson, pours her heart into her students turning preschoolers into first graders. It has been a joy to watch Hans grow in her class. For graduation she has the kids demonstrate several of the things they learned throughout the year. They sang several songs, read aloud to us, and played desk bells. Then they each received their diploma from Principal Hennig. Hans is eager and ready for first grade!

1. Hans ready to graduate.

2. Receiving the official diploma.

3. Hans and Mrs. Fred.

4. Hans and his fellow graduates.