Festival and Party

We had a great, but short weekend in Fort Mill and this time I got lots of pictures! Saturday afternoon we went with the Leightons, Grandmama, and Cheryl to a local fall festival, which was a lot of fun for the boys, despite the cold, windy weather. There were lots of things to do, like...

taking pictures with the signs my mom painted,

Joshua's favorite- the corn maze, he and Matt got on their game faces...or at least Matt did

Gray had a blast jumping hay bales. This is his new pose, by the way, which I'm a big fan of.

Corn hole

And more corn hole. The kids played and Matt and I had a pretty intense competition later. Think it's safe to say I was the better athlete.

The boys loved this water pump that made the ducks go down a chute.

I was trying to get a picture of Grandmama talking to the cow. She was saying, "Hello there! Did you know my daughter painted you?" You're so funny, Grandmama!
The pedal carts were a hit, though a little hard to get going without a push.

Carly took on the guys in the "race".

Matt helped Gray go a little faster. Or did he just want an excuse to try it out?

Then we headed back for a birthday party for Matt L, Abby, and Joshua. Matt and Gray give their best cheese for the camera.

Happy birthday Abby, Joshua, and Matt!

Plenty of dessert for all...and apparently some off-key singing, judging by Joshua's ear covering

Julia seems not be a big fan of crowds and she spent the cake time sitting over on the step in her fancy shoes....
hanging out with GrandGene and taking care of her baby. She is such a girl! She even woke up at 6:30 this morning crying because she needed her hairbow.

Outside fun

I have a bunch of pictures from our trip, but for now this is from our last hours there:

Our punkin...The boys drew most of the face themselves...can you tell?
It was fun playing outside, aside from Gray getting hit in his private parts by Joshua's golfball. Poor guy!

Buddies:)

These grandkids love their grandparents!

Julia warmed up to GrandGene pretty quickly this trip!

House pictures

kitchen

master bath

upstairs hall with built in shelf by Matt and Barnette

Upstairs bath

Boys' room

Julia's room

Just got back from our weekend in FM. Didn't get a chance to post these pictures before we left so here you go...

Parent Conference

So I finally had our first parent-teacher conference a few days ago with Joshua's teacher. Going into it I thought it would be kind of blah since she already told me he was doing well. It actually turned out pretty interesting.

First, the good stuff. Academically Joshua's ahead of the game, which we knew. The funny part was that she showed me his initial kindergarten testing and there were a couple of random things he apparently didn't know, such as his last name:) He says he really thinks he didn't know it and considering he didn't know his birthdate until recently, I'm thinking that might be true!

The really great thing is that she says he is really kind, polite, and well-liked by his classmates. She talked about how much he loves and tries to look out for Thinh, which is so awesome to see that God is really working in him to help him love others even when I'm not there to guide him! Mrs Jozwiak said no one is kinder to him than Joshua.

Other positive things were that he participates well in class and she verified that he does indeed sing, which has always been like pulling teeth for me to get him to do! She said he is confident and seems to enjoy being there. She said you'd never know that he was so afraid of coming to kindergarten.

She did tell me about a few things that he could work on. One was being patient when he wanted to show them his work or tell them something. He struggles with that when there are only our three kids around so I can only imagine how he does when there are 26! She also confirmed my fear that he was in fact tormenting them with his talking:) She said she laughed so hard one day when she gave him something, he said "Thank you!" and he didn't hear her respond to him with "you're welcome." She said he followed her in circles around the class saying, "I said 'Thank you!' I said 'Thank you!' " until she told him "you're welcome." Welcome to my world, Mrs Jozwiak!

Something from the beginning of school that was really interesting is that in the first few weeks, she said that if Joshua wanted to do an activity and it wasn't his turn, he would often make really angry scribbles on a paper to get out his frustration. I had no idea. But with me he wants to shout to get out his frustration, so it's good he found a slightly less disrespectful way to deal with it. And I know a lot of that frustration was him trying to handle this big change of starting kindergarten. His teachers said he doesn't do that anymore.

There were a few academic things that Mrs Jozwiak felt Joshua could work toward, yet when I tried those things at home this week, he really could do it (like writing a story). I figure out that he's just distracted at school and just wanting to do what he can to be done and move on, so I'm trying to get him to understand he needs to do his best. It's just kindergarten, but it's a good life lesson to not make a pattern of being a slacker!

So overall, I was so pleased to hear that the social and character aspects of Joshua's development are going so well and I'm looking forward to seeing how he grows and how the Lord teaches him when we are apart. It is hard, but I am trying to trust God with this and not feel like making Joshua into the person he is meant to be is all in my hands. And I used to think that him going to school would not leave any time for me to teach him, but again God has blessed us for following him in this decision. On our way to school every day, we are praying together and talking about life lessons and it's better than being at home because I can't put it off and my "pupils" can't run away!

We're headed to Joshua's class for a Halloween party on Monday so I'm sure I'll have more stories from kindergarten next week! Also, just took some pictures of our half-painted walls and cabinets so I'll upload soon.

This week...and my favorite part

I have been a little silent on the blog this week! I'm actually struggling to remember what happened this week so I have something to share with you. For Matt, it's been a blur of work after work after work. He's been putting in lots of hours at the gym, followed by lots of hours working at the house, sometimes followed by a few more hours at the gym. So busy.

Our house is being painted this weekend and next week we'll begin getting some of the stuff like floor, lights, and plumbing fixtures installed. We ordered our appliances last night. Meanwhile on the home front, the kids and I have mostly been doing the usual...school, gym, etc.

We did have Joshua's book fair at school this week and I went over one afternoon to help. I only got time with two classes, but I so enjoyed it! I hope to have more opportunities to do this type of thing, especially when Gray is in school and Julia is old enough to bring along. I just loved talking with the kids and trying to show them a little bit of love and encouragement. One little Hispanic boy was the only one in his class concerned with prices of books as they wrote down their wish lists. He told me that he had only $10 to spend, but he may have more if his mom found money at her job. He proudly said that one time she found a two dollar bill. Anyway, I talked to someone about getting involved with a one-on-one reading program, which should be starting up soon.

One of the best parts of my week is going to my Bible Study. I may have mentioned this before, but I always forget how good it is to be involved with a women's study until I'm in it. I counted and ever since I started my first Bible Study in college about 11 years ago, I've been in 9 different Bible Study groups in all sorts of locations and each one has been such a blessing. There's something about having an actual guide to study and people to talk about it with each week that helps me be so much more in tune with the Bible and what the Lord wants to teach me than when I'm left to my own devices. We are learning this year about the names of God and this study does a great job of connecting Old Testament stories with Jesus and with our everyday lives.

I love how it takes a story that seems so random and strange and brings out deep meaning in it. Like when the Israelites were thirsty and they came to water but couldn't drink it because it was bitter, so God told Moses to throw a log in it and then the water became sweet. So obscure at first glance, right? But really the bitterness is like the tragedies and trials of our lives and the log is like the tree Jesus's cross was made from. This strange part of the story of the Israelites actually points to Jesus coming and dying for us so that in the hurts of our lives, we can know God and be healed by him, who binds up our wounds and makes life sweet again-just like the water. I just love learning these truths and especially seeing and experiencing how much the Lord loves us and wants us to know him and trust him with every part of our lives. Doing this study makes me actually excited to sit down each day and see what God is going to show me, rather than knowing I need to spend time reading the Bible and praying, but not really being that into it. I am so thankful I can participate in this group.

The Party!

Happy Birthday to Joshua! We had a good day yesterday celebrating with him. He excitedly came in my room at 7 on the dot ready to open presents! I had told him he could open a few from us and he was happy to oblige. He got a Bumble Bee transformer, which you will see below was what he decided he wanted on his cake. He also got a bean bag toss game and later a Cars racetrack. He spent much of the day playing with his toys, though he reluctantly took a break to let me read him his annual birthday letter and do his birthday interview and look at pictures from the last year, which didn't yet make it into his scrapbook since it's in storage. I love being able to celebrate the whole year by marking it with these mementos. You forget things so quickly and I hope one day we'll enjoy looking back and remembering our fun times.

Later in the afternoon we narrowed down what games we would do at the party. First the boys wanted to play "Diaper the Baby" but eventually we settled on an obstacle course and Joshua and I went out to practice it. Then it was about 40 minutes till the party and Joshua started getting antsy. He decided to count to 60 40 times and began writing down each count. He got to 12 times, gave up, and then the cousins arrived!
The kids hit the back yard (and the boys enjoyed hitting each other). They played awhile and then it was time for the obstacle course.

The 6 little ones divided into two teams of 3 and took off! They had to jump over a "creek" (jump ropes) and then fly down the hill on their motorcycles.
Then they had to slide down the slide. You can see this slide is a little too big for Jackson;) Think he could have cleared it in a single bound of those long legs.
Then they had to get all three of their team's beanbags in the hole.
Here's the next participant heading down the hill.
And the final step was to make a basketball goal, which was easy for some and required a little help for others:)
After they finished, one team just barely beating the other, they took off again and again till they got tired of racing. It was fun to watch and I think they enjoyed it.
Then we headed in for pizza, wings, salad, fruit, and cake and ice cream! Joshua covered his ears for the singing. Were we that bad, buddy?
He successfully blew out his candles without spitting his salad on the cake!
And we also celebrated Matt's young aunt Amy's birthday, which is today. She is so photogenic, isn't she? It was fun to see her sweet baby girl, who was in and out of sleep by the end of the night.
Joshua had many helpers when it was present time! He got some cool lego sets, some cars, a shirt, some money, and some decorations for his and Gray's new room.
We finished up the night putting together some legos, trying on his new shirt, and taking some pictures with Daddy.
But did the fun end there? Oh no, folks, the party reconvened at midnight, with a fun game of "sanitize the bathroom floor, door, baseboards, cabinets, behind the door, under the cabinets, and door frame" and let me tell you, major enjoyment was had by all. Yep, apparently Joshua's body was not a fan of all the junk he put in it and it all came back up. Fun times. He was happy and chipper this morning, so think it was just the food and not a virus, but I guess time will tell.

Matt has had a seminar at his gym all day yesterday and today, so no one was able to go to church this morning and I hate to miss so much. Also, I'm a little irritated that even though we like eating healthy now and feel better for the most part, we aren't staying away from viruses like I hoped. Maybe it takes longer for your immune system to get significantly stronger or maybe we're just feeling the effects of a family member being in close quarters with 25 germ spreaders all day, or maybe eating healthy isn't all it's cracked up to be! Anyway, we're enjoying some family time this morning and taking it easy. Hope you've had a good weekend!

Fun Friday

We had another fun Friday this week! And I got some pictures of most of it. First we took Joshua to school and then headed over to the gym where we worked out. The kids enjoyed hanging on the rings and I just had to get extra pictures of Julia in her sweet pumpkin dress!

Then in the afternoon we headed over to Joshua's school. We played on the playground during recess, then went in to share cupcakes with the class. It's so fun to get to know the kids and teachers! A couple of them were following Julia around on the playground and trying to lead her from place to place. She of course screamed at them. In class, the kids were so sweet, thanking Joshua and giving him hugs. I was again so pleasantly surprised that Joshua would talk in front of the whole class, picking tables to come up for cupcakes, telling them all thank you, and then later, participating in a group activity where several students had brought in mystery objects. Soon school was over and we again went and played on the playground, which has become our afterschool habit, as several of Joshua's kindergarten friends are usually out there.

When we got home, I needed to take something to our friends up the street and we ended up staying awhile, playing in the yard with their five kids. What a gorgeous afternoon it was to be outside. What a fun day and prelude to Joshua's birthday today! He's currently enjoying some of the gifts we gave him and looking forward to a big family party tonight!