Apple Works

Today we went to the apple orchard that's a few miles from us with our mom's group from church. The girls had fun riding their train, playing in the barn with a giant slide, and petting and feeding the goats, chickens, and alpaca. An alpaca is like a smaller version of a llama, and it's sooooo cute! I think maybe I can convice Michael to let us get one as a pet! :) just kidding.

Dave and Sharon Johnson from Keokuk have been staying here in their RV for the past couple weeks. They are planning on staying for a few more weeks. They are retired and they travel around in their RV--what a fun life! We've been having a good time catching up with them. Last night Mike and David went to the camp's men's meeting at Plainfield Christian Church. They got to see Mark Proctor leading the music. While they were gone, Sharon came over for a girl's night at our house. We had fun playing with the girls and after they were in bed the guys came home so we got in some good chatting time!

Great-grandma Weede and Hannah's birthday

A few days before Hannah's birthday her preschool teacher told us to bring in a birthday snack and and drink to share with her classmates on her birthday, so Hannah chose to make white cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles. Alli, Carrie, and I took the cupcakes, princess plates, and pink lemonade to her class on her birthday. Then Mrs. Caudill told all the kids go into the classroom except Hannah and two friends that she chose to stay with her. While her other classmates were in the room they set up the plates, cups, and cupcakes, lit a candle holder with five candles, turned off the lights, and called for her to come in. When she and her two friends came in everyone yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" to her. She got to sit at a table with her two friends. After cupcakes Hannah got to choose five games to play with her class. She chose "duck, duck goose", the "cookie jar" game, the "lion ate somebody" game (where one child is covered up by a lion shaped blanket), and freeze tag. We didn't have time to play a fifth game. I was so proud that she was kind and include her sisters in the games, and her sisters felt very important sitting there playing an organized game with the bigger kids.

At supper time Mark, Julie, Ben, Grace, Hope, and Joy came for a double birthday party since Mark and Hannah share the same birthday. We roasted hot dogs and ate ice cream cake. We had fun playing together. I'm so glad we have family closer!

In a last-minute decision Gene and Kathy and Great-grandma Weede came to visit on August 27th! We had a great time touring the camp on the golf cart with Grandma Weede. She got to see where we live and play and what keeps Michael so busy all day long. We loved spending time with her and hearing stories about raising three girls. We went to Dairy Queen for supper and ice cream later...yum. When we got home, the girls were in the mood to cuddle up and read, so both grandmas got lots of lap time with the kiddos.

This is the boquet Hannah picked to decorate the table while the grandparents were here.

Cute stuff

A few days ago Alli and Hannah were reading to their dolls while sitting on the couch. They were each reading a different book, but at the same time. I heard Hannah say, "Alli, quit saying that!" a few times, then she became frustrated and said it one more time like she meant it. I stopped working on supper and listened to Alli. She was saying (in a deep, strong voice), "THE POWER OF GOD...THE POWER OF GOD...THE POWER OF GOD..." I laughed, but Hannah said, "But Mom, it's not funny, she keeps saying it over and over and over."

Yesterday we went up to the playgrounds at camp to play. I was playing with Alli and Carrie on the playgrounds while Hannah was in the playhouse/sandbox. She came running over to me saying, "MOM! You've got to see this! There's an ANGEL in the playhouse--a REAL ANGEL!" To buy a little time I asked what this angel said to her. She hugged me, looked up and smiled and said, "He said I was good!" Then I went to the playhouse to see, thinking it was an imaginary friend. We both had a good laugh when she said, "See, Mom, it's a real angel!" while pointing to the snow angel she made out of the sand!

Today while Hannah was at preschool, I took Alli and Carrie to Wal-Mart for groceries. We got two bags of powdered sugar and Alli pretended one of them was her baby. She rocked it, sang to it, patted it, etc. She was having fun, mostly thinking she was being silly. Carrie, who LOVES her baby and blankie saw what Alli was doing and thought her sister had taken her beloved baby. She looked at me funny when I gave her a bag of powdered sugar to hold for a baby. But she did anyway, and wrapped it up in her blankie.

Bunk Beds

We stacked Hannah and Alli's beds today, so they are "real" bunk beds. They were very excited about it, and it makes a lot more space in their room for playing (and messes!).

I'm in the yard near the camp office so I've got the chance to put several pictures on here. I don't have a lot of news, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them speak for me.

Preschool!

Hannah started preschool today!!! She has been excited ever since we registered for it back in February. But in the past few weeks if we asked her if she was excited about preschool she would respond with, "I tired of everyone talking about it, just be quiet!" Monday they had an open house at her preschool (which is in two of the classrooms at the church), and she saw that most of the kids were in her Sunday school class, and they had some great dress-up clothes, so she got more excited about it. This morning she woke up to a boquet of sunflowers, a Cinderella card, and a red balloon that said, "Happy 1st day of School!" all provided by Grandpa and Grandma Humphrey. She was "frilled" (thrilled), and she read the card several times! We loaded up in the van and dropped her off at 8:30 at the church. Her teacher, Mrs. Caudill, comes out and opens the van door and helps each kid into the building. Hannah said they sang a song to welcome each kid into the class, they drew pictures, played outside, read a book, ate a snack, and did a weather chart. When anyone asks her if she liked her first day, she says, "Well, I was a little nervous at first, but then I found out that it's fun, and I like it now." While she was at school, Alli drew three cards for her and helped me bake a cake. We decorated for a "First Day of School" Party. We picked her up at 11:30, and she seemed tired, but happy.

Some more zoo pictures

Where does the time go?

I know it's been a while since I've updated this...sorry. And I don't remember what has happened in the past month, so let's just start with today. Mike took the day off and we went to the zoo today!!! We had a great time. I think the unanimous favorite was the oceans area with sea lions, penguins, polar bears, fish, and sharks you could pet! In the penguin area, they had a glass floor in the hallway between two aquariums, so you could watch the penguin swimming from one side to the other.

Hannah fed two giraffes in the Plains, and she and Alli petted an elephant after she had her bath in front of an audience. Right after the elephant, we decided to eat our lunch. I told the girls to use some hand sanitizer since they had just touched the elephant, and Hannah said, "But it just had a bath!"

After lunch, they played in the Splash Zone. It's a water huge water feature that has lots of cute water sprinklers, sprayers, dumpers, etc. They got drenched, but they had fun and got cooled off. Sometime during the day Carrie got knocked down accidentally by Hannah, she ended up with her fourth bloody lip and her first bloody nose! Then when we got home, the girls were playing on the porch swing, and Carrie got her second black eye from walking in front of the swing! They're pretty tired, so I'm sure we'll get them to sleep at a good time. Right now we're up at the playgrounds for a quiet evening.

Oh, yeah, and the other exciting news (most of you know) Carrie has a broken leg! She doesn't have a cast on it. She had been limping for a couple of weeks so a few days ago I took her to see the doctor. He had us go get x-rays and then come back to have him read it. He said it was a "green break" and it wasn't broken through. If we had come in at the first sign of limping she would have had a cast for two weeks, so she was at the point where she was beginning to heal up anyway and it wasn't crooked, so she's limping around! I'm sure it's a lot less misery than if we had a cast on it, and anyway she's getting better every day.