A Night in The Woods

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to take our Chinese host student and some friends out to the lake for a campfire. It was so delightful. I enjoyed listing to them talk how cool it was to actually light your own fire. It was great to see them consume large quantities of hot dogs. I don't think anyone dared to take their hot dog off the roasting stick. :)

 We informed them that sometimes we use sticks from the trees to roast and that was shocking to them! The Smores were also very entertaining. The students found them to be super sweet and no one ate more than one but they enjoyed the experience. The sunset was gorgeous and with no clouds the star viewing was fantastic. One student stated that it was the best night of his entire life!

 Yixing used this plate to keep the hot flames from making her face get too warm. She poked eye wholes in it so she could still see the beauty of the fire.

 This Saturday was super cold. Sabrina and I had to snuggle in the early morning hours to stay warm at the soccer game.

Friends From Afar!

This year our family is participating in a friends from afar program. The opening picnic was so much fun. We felt a lot of love and excitement from the students.

 This is the girl we officially are host to. Her english name is Sam and her friend Frank.

 Kate was quite the star of the show. Here she is playing with a little puppy. What is cuter than a puppy and a little smiling girl? I love how the circle of people progressively get closer until in the end they are all taking turns with Kate on their lap taking photos.

Kate loved it. When we left she kept asking me why I was taking her away from all her friends.

Fishing with Sabrina!

I would say fishing with the kids...but seriously this girl rocked the fishing. The rest of us caught fish but none big enough to keep.  The first picture is of our friendly side kick. :)

 Here is the rock star in action! She was all smiles!

 Katherine was a hoot. She wanted to catch a fish so bad and as soon as she did she was freaking out about it. I feel exactly the same way! This is probably my favorite picture of the year.

 Clara was so funny. Everytime I tried to take her picture it was weird!

 The HAUL!

 This is the only picture I have of Jacob from our trip. It is hard to photo bomb on a dock.

The Hunny's Visit!

After a week of tough times and trying to figure out if they could come and visit or not the Hunny's came to visit. They blessed us with there presence for a short visit. They made it feel like Christmas and even though we had plenty of sickness while they were here they didn't complain. We LOVE you!

The odds and ends of Summer!

I find lately I  am fed up with facebook. I am having an annoying feed full of people trying to sell products to me.  I am on facebook to share pictures of my kids and not to buy things or join marketing groups. So...I am looking at other alternatives. Problem is that is where most of my family and friends post pictures. I will never be able to get rid of it completely because I have so many friends from afar. That said...here are some of my favorite pictures from Summer. 

Kate loving my high heels. So very adorable. 

I

Clara was elected as a class representative and is now running for secretary. After giving her tons of ideas and having her frown at all of them she came up with this on her own. I think it is so cute an so her. She is very excited to try! Love that girl, excuse the sideways picture. Apparently I can't take them the right direction on my notebook.

Here is the roof in the process of being completed. 

I love my sweet hubby. I love that he still reads with the kids. Even when they are being a little annoying! 

Of course this summer we went to the fair and had our typically tractor pictures! 

 I love summer selfies :)

 This month we also had to say goodbye to some of our dearest friends. I admit. I cried. A lot more than I should have.

 One boring day Jacob and Clara got busy by turning him into an alien and giving him a space ship to ride!

That is all for now! 

Happy First Day of School!

This year was an exciting day for the first day of school! Not only did all the kids start school but we also started working on our roof! Yay for new roofs. It took awhile to save up the money so we were so excited to finally get it done. Anywho here are the first day of school pics!

 Clara on her first day of third grade.

 Sabrina on her first day of 6th grade and her first day of middle school.

 Jacob on his first day of first grade!

 and Kate just wanting to be cute like everyone else!

Happy Birthday Sabrina!

My Sweet Sabrina celebrated her birthday almost a month ago!

She has grown into such a beautiful young lady. This year was a special birthday for her. She shared the day with middle school orientation. That made it super exciting and busy.

 On her way to orientation.

 Isn't she just beautiful! I could hug her all day.
 The gifts!

 She got an iPod hence the big eyes!

 Sabrina got money from a few different places and used it all to buy this really cool Lego stage!

This week Sabrina had an awesome week. For the last 2 years she has tried out for the audition choirs and not made it. She is so shy that even though she sings beautifully she gets too embarrassed and squeaks at the try outs. The past few weeks Sabrina has been trying super hard to practice and get ready for tryouts for middle school show choir. She has sung to everyone who has visited us and on Friday she auditioned. She did great and found out she was one of the 40 chosen to be in the choir! GO SABRINA! YOU DID IT! So proud of my girl.