Swim Lessons

The boys have been in swim lessons this summer too. It's been fun watching Jack take off! He's loving it and getting pretty confident with putting his head under. He practices in the bathtub almost every night. He loves to float on his back as well. It's not been as fun for Noah who is semi-miserable when he's not crying in the pool. Mark had to take him to most of the lessons since he behaved much better and would actually get in the water when I wasn't there! I guess it must be an age thing?

Cute little cupcake

This is another fun little knitting project that I've been contemplating for a long time. When a friend had a baby and I needed a quick gift, this came in handy! It was a quick and simple knit and turned out adorable. I made a newborn size that is quite small and I hope it will still fit this fall when the weather turns colder (which at this point seems like it will never do!).

Another project I've been working on for a long time are these linen stitch longies. I ordered yarn way back in the spring and couldn't wait to start the project. I made the newborn size so that I could finish them quickly. They were done before we left for our summer adventures but I didn't take pictures of them till now. I love the way linen stitch turns out with varigated yarn! I have another pair in the works now with a little brighter colors.

Playgroup

We have spent the past two weeks cooped up at home becuase of the heat etc. We've been desparately waiting for school to start (not till 9/8) and finally we were able to go to playgroup on Friday. We went to the farm and the kids had a great time. There were a few other moms there so it was just right! We even got to go on a wagon ride (behind a stinky tractor) which Noah LOVED and talked about non-stop afterward. We stayed until the weather warmed up to an intollerable 95 degrees and then went home and had lunch. Fun fun:)

New Knits for fall

After a particularly monstrous day with the kids I sat down and knit these little pants up. I was in the perfect mood to knit the little monster pants! The project is one that I've been contemplating for a while now and so when I sat down to do it, it moved really quickly. Then, after they were finished, I realized that my color choices were kind of halloweeny....not sure what to do with them now since I'm not due until November 15th...I haven't decided if I'll keep them or not. I almost used dark brown instead of black, I even hesitated 1/2 way through but then kept going with them. I didn't even think about the black/orange combo until I got past the mouth and noticed it was looking like a jack-o-lantern! Oh well.

So, since we've been home (one week) we have basically turned our house upside down! First of all, we came home to a broken fridge. We had purchased it second hand when we remodeled our kitchen. We always said that since we spent so little on it we wouldn't be out anything if it broke down. It still stings though when it happens unexpectedly! After spending a couple of days hunting for a new one (those are expensive!! Yikes!) Mark finally had the bright idea to check the fan out and see if it was working...he ended up buying a new moter for the fan and voila! It works now! I can't tell you what a blessing it is to have a handy husband!! He is willing to dig in and do whatever needs to be done.

So, after that, we decided to move all of our bedrooms downstairs and Mark's office and my craft room upstairs. So before we even unpacked we totally flipped our house around. We are still recovering from it. It's given me a great chance to weed out things that we need to get rid of, and it means that we won't have to put three kids in one room, yay! We'll actually have a nursery this way. Hopefully we won't all freeze this winter with our bedrooms down in our frigid basement...

Then, as if all this adventure wasn't enough for a couple of days, we decided to buy a little tent trailer! We've been thinking about this for a long time and after camping this summer a few times in our tent we decided it was a good time to get one. With another kiddo on the way it will be so nice to have something that will fit our family and allow us to escape to the mountains. Mark is especially excited becuase this means that I might actually come with him this hunting season! It's a perfect little trailer for us, we even bought it from a family of 5 and their kids have just grown out of it. They were excited to sell it to us too! While we were looking at it at their house, the oldest boy from their family caught this HUGE grasshopper for Jack...

We are starting back up again this next week. It's hard to believe another fall is upon us! This will be our 6th year here. We've seen so many changes here and made it a home. I can't wait to see what God is going to do this year!

After our Lifelines project ended in Estes Park, we headed to Ft. Collins for a 10 day conference with about 5,000 other staff members from around the U.S. It was hard for us to spend 10 days in a hotel after being gone for so long already so Mark ended up taking the kids swimming each day to keep them occupied. It's always an amazing feeling though, to see 5,000 other people in the same spot for the same purpose, singing together etc. I love that part of it! And we always get to hear some great teaching and connect with friends that we only get to see every two years because of this conference. One of the funnest parts of the time was watching the new staff walk across the stage after they completed their new staff training time. There was a huge crowd of them (I think over 200!) and to think that they are just following God's call in their lives is so fun to witness!

While we were in Estes this summer I signed the boys up for swim lessons. Jack did a wonderful job and just hopped right into the pool and did what they asked him to do. Noah on the other hand, screamed and cried almost the whole time. He did alright as long as I or their babysitter Katie was in the water with him. As a reward at the end of the lessons they both got a pair of goggles. Jack picked the killer wales and Noah picked out the crabs. Pretty cute.

The end of Summer Project

So, the end of summer project has come and gone. We had such a great summer this time! The students and staff were both so engaged and we saw some incredible growth in everyone who participated. I can't believe that I was dragging my feet to leave home at the beginning of the summer! I always end the summer amazed at what God can do in such a short amount of time and so thankful for the opportunity to do this for a living. This is a picture of our whole summer project this year right outside of our lodge.