Soul Patrol 2009

Josh was the director of the 1st annual 4th-6th grade retreat this past weekend!! He did such a good job! The name of the retreat is Soul Patrol, and this year the theme was Bullies of the Bible. It was GREAT! Dustin absolutely loved the whole weekend. They had campfire, chapel, they did a skit, crafts, yummy food, etc. Everything that goes with church camp....it was there!
Here is Dustin with some of his good buddies:

My friend Lynda and I did the craft this year--shrinky dink key chains and picture frames for their picture that we took of them with their cabin-mates. We had so much fun getting this ready for the kids. Now if only the oven there worked the way it should have, then all of the shrinky dinks would have been perfect!! Oh well. We know now for next year!

Dustin working hard:

Here are all of the campers with Josh:

This is the bridge you walk across to get from the dining hall to the cabins and bathhouse. Very cool bridge--if you don't make it bounce and swing!

Dustin and Josh with their cabin:

Messing around in the mess hall:

What fun! I am so glad Dustin got to experience this! This summer was going to be his first year of church camp--but it was canceled due to a flu outbreak. I'm so glad Josh and about 30 other parents stepped up and made this happen. SO much fun, and the kids learned a lot. 2010, here we come! Already planning for next year!

3's company

Last Friday night, I had Jodee and Dylan all to myself! Josh and Dustin were on the 4th-6th grade retreat (which Josh was the director of--I'm so proud!!) with our church. So, the 2 little ones, yes, I still call them little, and I had the house to ourselves. So, what do you do when 2 family members are gone? Have a sleepover in the living room, of course! And make cupcakes. And popcorn. And rent a movie, such as 'Monsters vs. Aliens'.
Here they are--they did all the work on the cupcakes---until the decorating part. While I decorated, they chilled on the air mattress with popcorn and a movie. I spy a sleeping puppy in the picture below. Can you find him?

I surprised the kiddos with these cupcakes:

They loved them!

I kept them up so late and we had so much fun, that this picture shows how they were sleeping sometime after 11 pm that night. Yes, Dylan is completely falling off of the couch!!! They are sacked out!
We made the trip to Lariat Creek Christian Camp the next morning. Stay tuned...my next post will be the retreat. It was a hit with everyone that went. Good job, Josh!

Go Indians!

Dylan has been playing t-ball again this season, with a new team, the Indians! They are doing great--learning a lot, playing well together, and loving baseball. It's so fun to watch them all--they are so little!!

Josh has really enjoyed being able to help coach Dylan's team. Dustin's baseball team is only doing tournaments this season, so it frees up Josh's time to be able to coach Dylan. We couldn't have planned it working like this--it's perfect!

I *think* we are having a winning season--I don't really know the scores of the games. I just enjoy watching Dyl have so much fun!

Ping pong, baseball, what more could you want?

We started off our weekend with a little table tennis at the OC Student Center! Brought back some great memories for Josh and me, although, the new student center is MUCH nicer now than it was back in 95! The kids absolutely loved playing ping pong--they were so funny! Dustin also got some pool in--I know he's making his great grandpa proud!
Jodee--wondering what to do:

Concentration:
And more concentration:

We also had a baseball tournament this weekend for Dustin's team, the Rangers. On Saturday, we were playing really well, then it started raining! They had to cancel the rest of the games that day, unfortunately, and then we had to play again on Sunday.

Dylan catching raindrops:

My baby boy and me during the rain delay:On Sunday, Dustin was the pitcher for a while:
We had a great weekend. Busy, but fun! Looking forward to another crazy week!

Back to school (again!)

For those of you out there in blogland that don't already know, Josh is going back to school at OC! He is going to get his degree in Bible, and hopefully eventually become a pulpit minister, or young families minister. He is loving school, well, I say that, but I know he's enjoying learning. We are still trying to figure out part time jobs and how to make more money while he's in school, but as of right now, we feel like we're doing well. God is amazing! We have seen so many times how He is working in our lives right now, there's no denying that it's all God!


Here is Josh in his home away from home, the Bible building at OC:

Rollin' down the river

We planned a fun float trip for this Saturday, floating down the Illinois River in Tahlequah, OK! Josh and I have been a couple of times, but the kids have never had the pleasure of riding in a raft, until today!
Here they are on the bus on the way to our drop-off point:Enjoying the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l weather--couldn't have asked for better weather! At one point, we stopped to let the kids play in the shallow water, and they loved finding minnows and tadpoles---they even caught one!The captain: A few funnies of the day....Dustin and Jodee decided to get in and float in their life jackets--totally fine with us--they are good swimmers, we were right there, it was fine! Well, we came up to a quick moving current (still no problem!), and they were loving it, UNTIL Jodee started screaming crying because she thought our raft was going to leave her! Dustin pulled her along, and Josh finally got her in the raft, and we had to reassure her that she would have been fine, we were right there, NOT going without her! Poor girl! Later on, we found a perfect place to jump in deeper water and swim around, and we all enjoyed that. I was glad she wasn't scarred for life!
Then, at the very end, we let the kids play in the water where we turn the raft and oars in, where it was shallow, a little bit of current moving it along, but once again, no big deal. Well, Dylan got in the current and freaked! It was so sad--but he never went under, he just floated down, and Dustin came to the rescue! It made Dustin feel so big--what a good brother! All in all, it was a blast! I told Josh we need to make this a yearly tradition--I love it!!!
Here is a fun little pic I enhanced on Picnik:


Then, on our way home, we stopped at Lake Ft. Gibson at the Pizza Port to eat. This was hilarious! We loved the small town atmosphere until these two 'hillbillies' (or as my kids would say, "hillybills") walked in. The guy had NO shirt on, the girl was drunk, and they went and sat outside and made out!! Seriously! It was funny-but a really good restaurant! We made it! What a fun little vacation!

I needed this:

A long bike ride, picnic and playing at the park, and another long (and little bit scary!) bike ride home.
I was at a gymnastics judging meeting ALL day....and I'm really not used to being away from the house/kids/Josh all day, much less sitting and listening in meetings....needless to say, I needed a break when I arrived home tonight! This was the perfect getaway--we had great weather, just enough time before bedtime, and I didn't have to cook!
Here we are on our way: This is after eating dinner....and you can't tell, but they are spinning SO fast!

Even better when Daddy pushes them! (Look at his face--he might be having more fun than the kids!)On our way home:And, to clarify what I said earlier, Josh decided to take us a different way home, which was great, until we are riding on a sidewalk right next to 33rd streeet in Edmond, and Dylan likes to look around while he's riding, so he doesn't always stay ON the sidewalk, and there is a dog park on one side of us, and cars FLYING by on the other side of us. What is Dylan doing? No, not watching the sidewalk, looking at the dogs!!! I was trying not to freak out, but I made it certain we would never go that way again!! Way to scary for me to watch my baby right on the edge of the sidewalk/street with cars coming at us!

Ahhhh, we made it home in one piece. It was so nice to get some exercise, fresh air, have fun with the kids, then this: Yep, Dylan is passed out in bed. This is after emptying 2 cans of shaving cream in the bathtub. Yes, they were bought for the kids to have fun with--I never imagined they would use up both cans in one tub of water! Boy, do they smell good tonight!