Bye Bye 2014- Hello 2015!

Good bye 2014...

Can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!

***

To see (and read) a bit about the

Life and Times of the Fantastic Five

in the year 2014,

just click HERE...

***

Linking up

with

Collage Friday

and the

Weekly Wrap-Up

June 6th-July 12th

June 6th-14th

Highlights from this week include:

*Honoring our fathers at church by making some

"Dad- you ROCK!"

paperweights

*Sending Jungle Girl off for a week of church camp at the

Appalachian Christian Camp and Retreat Center

*Helping our VBS mascot Iggy send special messages

to the other staff members at church

*Working and working and working

on the finalization of all the details for

VBS

*Picking up Jungle Girl from camp,

with the help of Toothless, of course...

*Going to see

"How to Train Your Dragon 2"

with the fam on opening day

(If we had not gone that day, I think

Jungle Girl would have died!)

*Ending the week at a Lowe's Build and Grow workshop

in which the kiddos made their own

wooden Toothless dragons

***

June 15th-19th

Highlights from this week included:

*This week was pretty much dedicated to

Group's Weird Animals

Vacation Bible School

I hope to give a much more detailed post

about all of the fun we had later

on my blog-

as soon as I catch a break...

(HA!)

***

June 20th-28th

Highlights from this week included:

*S-L-O-W-I-N-G down at work a bit

after a fantabulous week of 

Vacation Bible School

*Getting the kidds focused on reading this Summer

with the help of THESE charts from

1+1+1=1

*Craftin' up some crazy flip flop art in honor of

National Flip Flop Day

*Hanging out with cousin Cadence and Uncle Tony

who came down to help my parents

paint prep their new home

*Garage sale and thrift store shopping

*Going to a Smokies baseball game

courtesy of my husband's work

While we were there, Little Wild Man and

Jungle Girl's boyfriend were selected to do

a game on the field.

The weather was lovely,

and we had a good time just being together.

*Iggy continued to surprise the WCC staff

(Hee! Hee!)

*Seeing How tot Train Your Dragon 2- again-

in 3D, thanks to Papa Hockman

(I have to admit, the 3D experience was AWESOME!)

*Attending another Lowe's Build and Grow workshop

in which the kiddos built a

sheep toss game based on the movie

How to Train Your Dragon 2

***

June 29th-July 5th

Highlights from this week included:

*4th of July fun!

Before the 4th, I crafted up a communion meditation

for my kiddos at Woodlawn

based on the idea of the freedom we have in Christ.

Then the actual 4th was a busy day!

We started with the 'hood's parade celebration,

which includes ice cream treats

and a dunking booth for the kiddos to play in.

*Later in the afternoon we went over to the

"Gerkin Mansion"

to celebrate family birthdays

with a 4th cookout.

And IS there a better way to end a day than with

sparklers?

I think not!

*Got our laundry and bags ready for a week of church camp

While doing one load of laundry,

I pulled out a wet towel from the washer

and discovered a

DEAD MOUSE

in the washing machine!!!

He was very dead-

and very clean-

and very flat.

I have NO IDEA how this came to pass,

but I am wondering if our kitten Thumper

may have something to do with it...

***

July 6th-12th

Highlights from this week included:

*Church Camp CRAZINESS!!!

Oh, I have MISSED going to church camp!

I finally got to volunteer this Summer,

and Baby Girl and Little Wild Man

both went with me.

I want to, again, write all about this experience

in a separate blog post-

there is just too many good things to share

to list here.

But one thing I do want to mention here

is how camp helped my kiddos

GROW.

They did things at camp that they never

would have tried at home.

I am so proud of them both!

***

There we have it-

another 5 weeks down in the books

for 2014!

To read a photo play by play of the above collages,

just click HERE...

***

Linking up

with

Week in Review

Weekly Wrap-Up

April 25th-June 5th

April 25th-May 8th

Highlights from these weeks included:

*A small celebration for Jungle Girl's 12th birthday

Eek- I almost have a teenager in the house!

:0)

*Enjoying some beautiful weather with bubble blowing

*Going through Letter T activities with the littles,
which included some
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fun

*Welcoming Super Dad home from his business trip
to Seattle, Washington

*Beginning plans for our church's VBS

*Going with Jungle Girl and 17 other middle schoolers
to Believe

*The BIGGEST life changer of these weeks?

Becoming Woodlawn Christian Church's
full-time
Children's Minister!

For-reals.

It is crazy awesome, and surreal to me.

I have attended this church since I was
7 months old,
and worked with either the children or youth groups
since I was in middle school.

I LOVE this group of people-
this FAMILY of mine.

And now to serve as a paid staff member?

CRAZINESS!!!

I am thankful.

I am blessed.

I am amazed by God's plans-
which are somehow always different than mine,
and always so much BETTER.

:0)

This means some changes will-
and have already-
occur for our family.

I will still continue to homeschool,
but it will be more often a "check in" system
with the kiddos.

Also,
my parents will be more involved.

I am happy to have a couple of Summer months
to work out the kinks.

Sadly,
I will not be watching the littles anymore.

I LOVED this time in my life,
but I now have to focus my energies on a larger
group of kiddos now.

THANKFULLY all of my families
were able to find alternative childcare,
and I will still get to see them all occasionally.

God takes care of all the details,
so I am trusting him to help me work out
all of the details in this season of our lives!

(To read a photo play by play of the
above collage, just click HERE...)

***

May 9th-15th

Highlights from this week include:

*My last day of babysitting the littles
*sniff, sniff*

*Celebrating our 7 graduation high school Seniors
at a church reception

*Getting my "niece" ready for her 8th grade dance

*Honoring (and being honored)
Mommies on Mother's Day

*Beginning my new job as
Children's Minister
with an office clean-out!

(To read a photo play by play of the
above collage, just click HERE...)

***

May 16th-22nd

Highlights from this week include:

*Watching my flower girl/"niece"

graduate high school!!!

*Enjoying some pool time when

Nana and Papa came to visit

*The last of our Sunday evening activities

at church before a Summer break

*Getting CPR and First Aid certified

*Filming a "Weird Animals" VBS promo video

with our "Dr. Paws" character

*Went to an

"End of the School Year/Beginning of Summer"

youth group cookout

with the family

(To read a photo play by play of the
above collage, just click HERE...)

***

May 23rd-29th

Highlights from this week include:

*Hosting a Belle-themed personal bridal shower

for a lovely lady

*Watching the Puppy Prince

play his last Wee Ball game of the season-

and receive a trophy

*Spending the weekend with the Long family!!!

We went to the Zoo,
babysat their twins,
visited old stomping grounds,
and enjoyed a
Memorial Day cookout
with our partners-in-crime.

Such a good weekend-
I was EXHAUSTED come Tuesday!

:0)

(To read a photo play by play of the
above collage, just click HERE...)

***

May 30th-June 5th

Highlights from this week:

*Getting a kitten!

I am a cat person-
and yet we have 3 BIG dogs.

I like the dogs.

But I have wanted a kitten for a while.

When my "niece" Mimi told me about a
friend of hers cat having kittens,
I wanted one.

On Friday,
we met and fell in love with this
little grey and white kitten,
soon to be named
Thumper.

He is active and loving-
all I that wanted in a cat!

Two of the dogs have adjusted fine
to this new presence,
but we are still keeping an eye
on our pit bull.

He hasn't done anything,
but he always walks around whining for the cat.

I am hopeful everyone will adjust accordingly...

*We ended May with one last party-
to honor another graduate friend of ours

Her name is Ying,
and she is our regular waitress at a local
Japanese/China buffet
we frequent.

We discovered her parents were not
throwing her a high school graduation party,
so we volunteered to do the job.

It was simple,
but I I think she discovered how much she means
to our family-
and to our church family-
since most of the guests were regulars
at her workplace.

I am so grateful for the people in my church family
and their generosity
to the people in our community!

*Continuing to prepare for 
VBS

*My husband getting the LAST
Build-a-Bear Toothless Dragon for jungle Girl

We made the mistake of not heeding our daughter's warning
about how POPULAR this stuffed animal was going to be,
and missed getting him when
he arrived during the first shipment.

This shipment of Toothless dolls
SOLD OUT NATIONWIDE
in less than 48 hours!!!

So on Wednesday we knew another shipment
was coming in,
and Super Dad played the role
of Super Hero
and booked it over to Build-A-Bear
after lunch and bought
the LAST ONE in the store.

That is CRAZY to me!

Based on this experience, 
we have already bought our tickets
for the movie premire on June 13th-
we would be crazy NOT to!

***

Linking up
with

Week in Review

Weekly Wrap-Up

March 28th-April 24th

March 28th-April 3rd

Highlights from this week included:

*Going to see Mr. Jim

(our family friend and a Physician Assistant)

on a Saturday to be diagnosed with

Strep throat

Mr. Jim has all kinds of critters at his house,

including baby bunnies

and a very vocal turkey-

such a fun place to visit,

even if you are sick.

*Hosting a small Nerf Rebelle party

via House Party

I wanted to do SO MUCH MORE

than we got to due,

because I was sick and the weather was RAINY.

BUT the kiddos made the most

of the Nerf Rebelle gear,

and battled each in the house,

which brightened up our dreary day.

*Leading the kiddos at church in a song

during Family Sunday

I have greatly enjoyed working as our church's

Interim Children's Director

during these past few months.

I have been SO ENCOURAGED by our youth,

and I hope to work with them

in some capacity for years to come...

*Continued decorating the house for Easter,

with a focus on the front porch

*Celebrated April Fools' Day

with a SWEET prank

(Read more about the prank HERE.)

***

 April 4th-10th

Highlights from this week included:

*Spending a fun afternoon

with the Nussbaums

at Dollywood!!!

*Admiring some gorgeous art work

at the downtown Chalk Walk

*Lots of prepping for our church's

Community Easter Egg Hunt

I went shopping, made decor, planned the lesson,

and helped distribute flyers

with our middle schoolers.

*FINALLY got back into our

"Expecting Easter" lessons

with a secret flower mission.

(You can read more about our

"Expecting Easter" activity by clicking HERE...)

*Kept my cool and FINALLY got my youngest

little to take her bottle

She is breastfed at home,

and recently she has decided

(even though I am feeding her Mama's milk)

to fight me 

TOOTH AND NAIL

about taking it from a bottle.

I will do A LOT for the littles I babysit,

but breastfeeding

just ain't a possibility!

;0)

As I worked on getting her to eat from the bottle-

basically tiring her out-

I was reminded about how I

COULD NOT

have handled a baby like this in my 20's.

It would have brought me to tears.

Oh, aging does bring with it glorious benefits-

like mellowing and wisdom!

***

April 11th-17th

Highlights from this week include:

*Our church's community Easter Egg hunt

*Getting my littlest Flower girl

ready for her Senior Prom

(sniff, sniff)

*Continuing to prepare kiddos' hearts for Easter

by

Burying Sin

during Communion time

*Focusing on Expecting Easter lessons

with my kiddos and the littles

during homeschool lessons

You can read about the following lessons

by clicking on the words below:

Touching the Crown

Taste of Sin

Sounds of the Crucifixion

*Babysat for a sweet little nugget

on Tuesday

She ALMOST made me wish I had

another baby-

ALMOST...

***

April 18th-24th

Highlights from this week include:

*Finishing up our Expecting Easter lessons

with

Sounds of the Crucifixion

(and a simple snack, too!)

*Helping our sister Hispanic church

with childcare for their BIG Good Friday service

We watched the movie

Free Birds

(I know- Thanksgiving at Easter time-

What?!?!?)

I picked this movie

since I knew a lot of kiddos

had not seen it yet,

(I needed to avoid Frozen like the plague!)

and it was about birds.

After the movie

(and some pizza),

I read

The Story of the Easter Robin

to the kiddos

(do you see my weak Easter connection now?).

We then did an old VBS Balancing Bird craft

we had lots of leftovers of in

our church resource room.

See-

it all makes sense, right?

;0)

As long as it kept the 30+ kiddos entertained,

I was happy!

*Prepped for all of Sunday's

Easter fun

*Celebrated the Resurrection

with our kiddos at church

with a fun Easter party

(Click HERE to see all the details)

*Had Easter dinner with

family friends

and then attempted our first

night egg hunt

Our glow sticks did NOT work,

so the plan for next year

is to paint the eggs with

some glow in the dark paint.

It did not matter too much,

though,

since all the kiddos had flashlights.

This hunt definitely lasted longer

than a typical Easter Egg hunt!

*Hosted a

Children's Ministry Coordinator meeting

for my favorite

Peeps!

We looked at plans for the Summer

and the beginning of Fall.

I am looking forward to planning and 

putting together our

Weird Animals VBS in June-

it is going to be

SO MUCH FUN!!!

*Had a fun visit with

Ticia Messing from

Adventures in Mommydom

(and her kiddos)

This is my first blogger friend I

have ever gotten to meet

face-to-face,

and it just proves to me the VALUE
in blogger friendships.

We IMMEDIATELY clicked,

like we were old friends,

because of all we have learned about each other

via our blogs.

Ticia drove

OUT OF HER WAY

by hundreds of miles

to meet me,

and I cannot express to her enough

how grateful I am that she did!

She lives in Texas,

and I live in East Tennessee,

so on her way to the

Great Homeschooling Convention

in Ohio,

she just detoured my way!

SOMEDAY my family WILL

head down to Texas,

and hopefully I can spend more

than just a few hours with her then...

***

To read more about the photo collages,

just click on the following links:

March 28th-April 3rd

April 4th-10th

April 11th-17th

April 18th-24th

***

Linking up

with

Collage Friday

Week in Review

Weekly Wrap-Up