Kid pics

Laine got ahold of the camera on pig-roasting day, and managed to get several cute shots of Mead and Cole.  Enjoy!

Grumpy faces..

Goofy faces!

Good times :-)

Oh, and here's Penny basting the finished product - we fed around 300 people with this pig.  It was delicious!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Laine and her school mates had the opportunity again to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch of a Cardinals game this week.

Penny, Laine, Mead, and I all went to the game - it was too late of a game for Cole to join us.

The kids sang beautifully, and it was fun for me to walk down into the lower levels of the stadium and see them step out on the field.

You can see Laine here on the left-hand side of the screen.

What a fun night!

Pig Pickin'

Covenant Church held its first Pig Pickin' this past weekend.  And Penny got tapped to roast the pig.

He researched, purchased, and prepared the pig - starting at 4:00 in the morning the day of the Pig Pickin'.

The kids barely had breakfast before they ran outside and asked to join Daddy in the excitement.  Who wouldn't be excited about roasting a 180 pound pig for 12 hours?!

So the whole family basically spent the day outside, playing games, throwing mulch into a wheelbarrow (that was Cole's preferred activity), roasting hot dogs at the fire pit, and other such fun.

Of course we made some s'mores too.  What started as a long day of pig roasting for Penny turned into a really fun family day - all with the comforts of our own home right next door!

Oh, and the Pig Pickin' was a lot of fun too - almost as much fun as the prep :-)  The pig was delicious!!

Saturday activities

The kids are not signed up for any extra curricular activities at the moment - mostly because we needed to get adjusted to school first.  So that means that we have our Saturdays to ourselves, without having to get to anyone's game or lesson!

Instead we've been hanging around the house having fun in various ways.

An hour or so of play-dough makes a huge mess but brings lots of smiles.

And Laine and Penny have been working on refinishing a desk for Laine's room - something Penny found in the bowels of the church that he decided to refurb.

I'll get a picture of the finished project soon - it turned out great!  We moved it into Laine's room today, and she's been busy at her desk "working" on all kinds of things.

Play time

So I haven't pulled out the camera much lately - too busy playing!  Here's a few snapshots from my phone, hopefully I'll get out the good camera soon.

Laine is super excited about being able to climb the trees at school lately - finally tall enough and strong enough to get herself up there.

Mead, Cole and I took one final trip to the Magic House before their summer hours ended.  Since Mead goes to school mid-day it'll be hard to squeeze in a quick trip unless they have a special day off.  Always a good time though.

Sunflowers

We planted sunflowers in our garden for the first time this year... almost by accident.  I meant to buy smaller flowers for a different area in our yard, but accidently grabbed these six-foot tall beauties.  

No matter, we planted them anyway, and they've done well.  The dark red/burnt orange color is so pretty,

and Penny is thankful for all the bees they attract, which help the vegetables grow too!  Guess we've found a new regular item for our garden.

The real deal

Our kids love checking out large machinery - what kid doesn't??

Well, the other weekend, they got to help use a real tractor for the first time!

Mr. Ben was doing some work at the youth house, so Penny went over to help, and the kids went over to watch.

Before long watching turned into "helping," and the kids were so excited.

Look at that pose Cole is giving - like he's just conquered the world with the tractor!

Thanks, Ben, for providing my kids with a special opportunity.