Volleyball Team

Esther enjoyed being a part of the mixed volleyball team this year at school - a day off from school and a day playing a sport she never thought she'd enjoy as much as she did (yup, volleyball was one of her least favourite sports prior to making the team) :)

Take My Picture...Please!!!

Esther's Birthday

Esther turned 12 this year...wow....12.

Not sure who "feels" older....her or myself!!  She's growing up to be quite a lovely young lady....I can just hear her saying "Mooommmm....do you have to say that???".

Esther, you are growing up so fast - maturing in many ways, helping out around the house in many more - we love you so much!!!  We pray that God continues to grow your love for Him as He has already!  Happy Birthday!!!

 Esther and her friends at her party - it was real easy for me this year as they wanted to go to the mall for the afternoon - seriously?  Sure!!

Esther received a cake pop kit for her birthday, I didn't even have to bake her a birthday cake as she served these to her friends...I think she did pretty good!

Brazil - Part 2

Just a couple more pictures of the week that Alvar spent in Brazil - and a video too.  Over all he had a good time there - the warm weather was nice (and not too hot yet as it wasn't quite summer yet) and it was good to see where the mission Church is situated in Brazil (Maceio) - but I will admit that I was very happy to have Alvar home too (it's amazing how much better I sleep at night!!).

 This is where Alvar slept, in the bunkhouse

 Our Missionary's house 

 Church in Maceio

Monkeys!!

Little video of the monkey

And lastly a video of the school in Maceio as well.  Do you recognize the song?

Brazil

Alvar had the opportunity to go to Brazil for a week.  He has been on the Board of Missions for quite some time now, and was hoping at some point to be one of the privileged ones to go and visit.  His opportunity came as the Church in Brazil had requested institution - Alvar would be there at the Synod to give words of encouragement and thankfulness to God for bringing the Church there to this point!

It would be almost 24 hours of travelling to get there...3 flights and lots of layovers!  He left Friday morning, and didn' arrive till Saturday...what a long trip!  There were not a lot of pictures for his first day (I think Alvar might have been a little sleep deprived!!)...but he did manage to get a quick shot of one of his roommates...

Do you see him in this pic....below is a little closer... 

I have to say that seeing this before sleeping would not help me sleep at all...it would be a week of waking up in a sweat every hour worried that either it would eat me or I might have unintentionally eaten it!!

The Gruffalo

 A few of you (if anyone is reading this blog still that is!!) might have had Sara read this book to them already, "The Gruffalo".  It is definitely one of her favourites and read very frequently in this house!  This video is only a clip as the book as it takes her anywhere from 5-10 minutes to read it all!  If you are looking a for a good book for your kids, I'd highly recommend this book to you - along with the very well done movie version as well!

Crawford Lake

I was able to join Caleb and the Grade 3 class on a trip to Crawford Lake.  It was a full day of being outdoors and we had a beautiful day for it!  The Grade 3's had finished a unit on Indian's and were ready to see first hand what they had learned.

 I had never heard of this place until the kids started going to school, and this was my first time there - a nice little jewel of a conservation area not that far from home!

 To run off some steam, the kids had to count the fire pits in this outline of a longhouse.  Great way to release some energy (smart guide!!)

 One of the two longhouses in the park.

 The GREAT thing about this longhouse were the instructions given by the guide..."Please touch EVERYTHING".  Oh yeah...that's what any kid loves to hear!!

 Sitting around a fire pit talking about the ways of the Indians.  Between sleeping in smoke-filled houses and eating corn everyday with every meal (not much variety at all), it was no wonder the average age was somewhere between 35-40.

 One of the high-lights for the kids was how to start a fire.  I'm going to stock up on milk-weed from now on for future camping trips, that stuff worked really well!!

 After the tour inside the longhouse the kids got a chance to play some Indian games.  This was a three-way tug of war that the kids lined up for again and again and again.  Caleb was up against a couple girls the first time...he thankfully used his super-strength to grab the stick behind him first (while pulling the two girls with him) - have to keep up that "strong boy status" with his friends :)

 Playing lacrosse...actually pretty hard!

 After the tour we went on a walk with the kids around Crawford Lake.  Nice little lake, it only took us about 20 minutes to walk around it!

 Lovely green algae in the water :)

It was certainly a beautiful day for a class trip!!

Family Visitors

My Uncle Hank and Aunt Pat  were down for the weekend (visiting from Michigan) - they came to our house for coffee this afternoon.  It was great to catch up with them (it's been years!) - and the kids thoroughly enjoyed them being over too...

 Crafts with Uncle Hank (I think they made popsicle houses)

Piano lessons with Aunt Pat (we scored a piano off of kijiji last month for free...I love kijiji!!)

Puffy

All I saw out my kitchen window was this little puff ball in my garden.  Not till after taking the picture and zooming in did I realize that it was a mourning dove trying to keep warm in the cooler weather (wish my body could do that!!).