Family Barbeque

When we finally made it to the coast we headed straight for Uncle K and Aunt J’s where there was a barbeque for the bride and groom’s families. I think it was the first time everyone had met.

We spent the evening visiting and getting all the families sorted out. :)

Auntie Katherine had made gift bags for the girls and let them open them right away. They were thrilled of course! They got stickers, Jamberry nails, candy, and Princess towels!

Aurora Boo!

“Tank ooo Auntie Kaff-rine!”

Here they are with the bride and groom! So happy!

Uncle K barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs and there were several different salads as well as baked beans, and key lime pie for dessert. Yum!

Their Great Dane, Lizzie, was so funny to watch since she was a head taller than Peanut!

The girls were extra energetic after being in the car all day, but they still did good. :)

It was a great night and a fun start to the wedding weekend!

Beach pictures tomorrow!

Florida!

Yes we went to Florida AGAIN! This time for Auntie Katherine’s wedding! This plane trip was by far our best ever! We got great flights with nice timing, minimal delays, and with Noni along and Peanut being two (requiring her own seat) we had two full rows and didn’t have to worry about our kids spilling drinks on strangers. :)

After each our flights the people around us complimented us on how well behaved our girls were and some said, quite surprised when they stood up, “I didn’t even know there were kids in front of us!”  Music to a mother’s ears. Haha :)

Eating lunch was a nice diversion, but Peanut did awesome just playing with my phone or the tablet or coloring her Frozen book that I bought for the trip. K&S were with Noni and I didn’t hear a peep so I guess they did great as well.

We had an hour and half layover in Denver which was the perfect amount to stretch our legs, and get some dinner but not get too bored.

The kids did great with the short wait for boarding.

Peanut took an hour nap on the second flight. She looked so sweet.

After she woke up she watched on a movie on the tablet, and then we were there!

The girls also had their tablets to keep them busy.

We landed in Georgia, walked to baggage claim and met up with Aunt Karen who had landed a little before us, and within the hour were tucked into our hotel for the night.

The next day we woke up, got our rental car, and hit the road.  Our first stop was Chik-Fil-A…still waiting for those to make their way North!

We stopped at a Sonic to stretch our legs.

And Peanut got her first-ever slushie! I always get her water, so she was thrilled to have something fruity and sweet!

Sweet Boo.

And silly Bug. :)

I was happy when Peanut fell asleep for an hour because I was afraid she would be grumpy when we arrived.

Boo fell asleep too and Noni kindly kept her head from falling over. :)

We made our way through the tree tunnel for 6 hours and finally started seeing signs for the beach!

Our first stop was a family barbecue at Aunt J and Uncle K’s.  Pictures from that tomorrow!

That night we went back to our hotel and crashed.

And the next morning we woke up to this view! Gorgeous!

More pics tomorrow!

Jog-A-Thon

Every year our Awana program has a jog-a-thon. It is our only fundraiser. We had actually never participated before because it is always on a Saturday afternoon and we are either busy doing stuff or one or more of the kids were napping.

This year I convinced the Director to hold it on an Awana night in the hopes of getting more participation (including us!).

Awana is one of the biggest ministries in our church and even though we live in a very small town (about 1800 people) we have about 100 kids that come, mostly from the community.  We get some lower income kids who can't afford to buy books/uniforms and this fundraiser allows us to give those kids scholarships so they will continue to come. 

One of the ladies in our church gave her testimony last year and it started with her daughter.  If I remember right her daughter came to Awana with some friends, got saved a few weeks later, and started bugging her mom to take her to church. This woman and her husband had led quite a rough life and wanted nothing to do with "religion".  Eventually though, she took her daughter a couple of times to "see what this church business was teaching" and although she was skeptical she reluctantly started coming.  Within a few months she turned her life over to God. A few years later (just this Spring) her husband got saved as well.  He and one of their sons were baptized in August.  Now they are one of our faithful families. 

I thought that story was so cool and makes me proud to work with Awana! I am the Sparks (K-2nd) Secretary, T is the games leader (all ages), my Mom is the Cubbies Director (preschool) and Dad is the Trek Director (junior high).  It's a great program and the girls love it! 

The night of the jog-a-thon was crisp but it had stopped raining, thankfully, by the time we were ready to run. The kids had a route marked out around both the baseball and soccer field next to the church. Everyone ran even if they didn’t get sponsored.

Ready…set…

Go!

The sun was setting, but we managed to get done with the 30 minutes before it got too dark.

This is the only picture I could get of K.  She was a blur running around the track.  I think this was around lap 5 or 6 and she was getting tired!

Unfortunately Boo had gotten sick that morning/afternoon so T stayed home with her.  But I think all of the family members who pledged her still sent money…so sweet!

The jog-a-thon was a HUGE success! And we raised over $1000 more than we usually do when having it on Saturday!  And the most exciting part for us…Bug WON!  Out of the 49 kids that raised money she won the whole thing!  She brought in the most money, beating the Youth Pastor’s son by $6!  Haha :)  She was SO happy and she even got a little gift card to Walmart as a prize! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who sent money! I know God will use it in big ways to make a difference in these children’s lives!!!

The Pumpkin Patch

The girls were SO excited when we told them the Pumpkin Patch was on the agenda for the weekend. If you don’t believe me check out this picture…

:)  We met some good friends at a different place then we’ve been the last two years, and the girls loved it!

Here they are with their friends…excited to check out all the festivities!

The day actually started out rainy but the sun was just coming out by the time we made it up there and it warmed up enough that we didn’t even need coats!  What a gorgeous day!

This pumpkin patch had some new and interesting things to do.  Of course everything costs money so we told the girls they could each pick one thing to do.

Bug chose this…

She LOVED it! So much so that she didn’t even bat an eye when her sisters got their faces painted and she didn’t. 

That’s what they chose. Boo got a pink unicorn.

Pretty fancy!

And Peanut got a pink butterfly.  I didn’t think she’d sit still after her last face painting wiggle-extravaganza, but she was actually VERY still, albeit a little worried. :)

And it turned out so cute!

We went into the play area next where they have a peabox. It’s just a sandbox, but full of dried peas instead of sand!  Peanut LOVED it! It was slippery and she slid and rolled and played all over for a good hour!

Her boots filled up with peas so we had to take them off.

She’s loves dump trucks!  Her favorite book is The Happy Man and His Dumptruck which was one of Daddy’s favorites as a child.

“Dump! Dump Dump!”

The other kids played on this huge tube slide…over and over!  They got quite a good workout!

Whee!

I was amazed at how fast they came shooting out of there!

Bug also loved the pallet maze. It was just high enough for her.

Boo came over and played with Peanut in the peas for a while.  Peanut “swam” in them for at least ten minutes. I did have to pull her out for a bit when she started shoving them in her ears. :P

Bug and H went through the maze multiple times.

We stayed for about two hours before picking our pumpkins and then heading down the hill for lunch.

Bug was on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin for Noni since she needed one for a game at her school.

They each got the one they wanted, plus Noni’s and we were on our way.

Daddy the packhorse. :)

We went to lunch with our friends and then did some shopping all afternoon.

The littles crashed on the way home.

Thanks for a wonderful day at the pumpkin patch H family!