Weekend Fun

Friday started off early, as Robert headed off to his new job! We are praising God for this opportunity for him! Congratulations Robert! Bill headed over to the church property to finish up the trimming there, and the kids & I finished testing and school, then started on laundry. Testing went well, and we do have some things to work on for the summer, but overall, they did well, and we've covered most of what we needed to this year. Being that we take time off through the year, we will continue with math & reading through the summer, just so we don't get rusty, and can keep working on those extra things we need to.

The temps were in the 90's today...so we spent a lot of time outside this morning, but not much in the afternoon! Even though hot, we are enjoying the sunshine, and the time outside!

Nate called in the afternoon, and said that we should get together, so Nate, Katie & Audrie brought dinner...it was great! We had a great visit, and did some playing outside.

Audrie and Kristin spent some time on the swings, and then we had some chalk drawing. It makes me laugh that a Police Office is the 'Chalk Drawing"...just sick humor I guess! They had a lot of fun drawing, and 'embellishing'. Poor Audrie had her first bandage at home today, and had her second one here tonight....she had to settle for scooby doo here, as we didn't have the pretty princess bandages she has at home :( !

Robert & Bill are sporting their "SOCK" (or sunburn) Tans! This is funny to me, since Robert had just been teasing Bill a few days earlier about his sock lines, and Robert spent his first day at work, in the sun, wearing socks & boots!

Saturday started off with a pretty morning, and laying in bed planning out our day. The guys loaded up the big truck (The little truck has some "unresolved broken down undiagnosed" issues) with trash, and Bill & headed to the dump. Robert had Softball practice for our church team...so he took Ryan along to watch. Ryan was putting on sunscreen before they left, and we got a great laugh, as he made sure he got enough on!! The boys took off one direction, Bill, Kristin & I worked on cleaning the garage, burning the burn pile, and getting lots of odds & ends done. Bill got the wiper on the suburban fixed, as only one was working (when it rains, it pours!), Kristin & I got the tomato plants planted, and we separated out the strawberries. Ryan got some weed wacking done tonight. After all the jobs were done, Ryan & Kristin had a water fight, that started as a "play in the sprinkler" venture, and then a contest of who could hold their breath the longest, "Sweet Home Style"....what a bunch of bucket heads!! They had a great time though, and killed time until Robert got home from Worship music rehersal, so they could all watch Borne Identity...

It was a great day, full of fun, work, and a nice warm summer day!

Day Three~~The Big Top

Hmm...is the color "circus-y" enough??!! (And yes, no wise cracks about the clowns....)

Today we headed out to the church property, after Bill spent some time working on the weed wacker. It was working fine, and then just died out on me a week ago. It is up & running, and doing great, so we headed to Lebanon.

Upon arriving....Tom, Tommy & Shawn were working hard at pounding in 1" rebar stakes for the tent that was just purchased for the church. A church brother Jeremy spent some time making some great stakes & tent poles for us...way to go Jeremy!

Tom is truckin.....

Up goes the center pole....

Tightening and taking safety measures....

It took some heavy duty man power, and lots of time, but after about 3 hours, the guys were ready to put up the center pole (Which, according to Pastor Tom is 19'6"). It took some umph, a hand truck and some prayer to get that pole up there! Some tweeking of the poles, some safety caps, and safety measures, and it was lunch time!

Bringing in the stage area, and the trough.....

Bill spent a few hours weed wacking around the church property, and will head over tomorrow to finish up. It was a productive day, and after some fellowship, some moving of the baptismal trough, it was time to take a break and head home. It's looking great!

The hillbilly way to reach the top....




If you don't have a church home...this is the place...join us on Sunday, June 7th at 10:30 for the Word, some BBQ and some great fellowship. We won't be there, but hey...any other Sunday you can catch us there!

Church Work Day (Day 1)

Our church purchased some property just about a year ago. The first part of the year was getting the house liveable for Pastor Tom & his family. We weren't part of the inside stuff, but did get over yesterday to do some outside stuff.

Paint finished...shutters going up.....

Big field to cut....

The field cutter...




Tent washer.....

There was a crew of about 9-10 working, some painting, some cutting grass, some cleaning and scrubbing, and some putting up shutters.....I'm sure you get the idea...

The Painters....

Our Fearless Fangtooth leader and "shutter putter upper...."

It was a great day full of fun, laughs, and getting some work done...see...it's looking great!

Fresh Paint, and New Shutters...lookin' good!

Here is the first load of dirt that was brought in...it will be the first of many dumploads that it will take to make our outdoor ampitheather, and the first part of the church that will be built. Pastor Tom calls this "The Seed"..... With lots of prayer, and some sweat...the hope is that this will be ready to be seeded by winter, and ready for next summer's outdoor services.

Sorry I neglected to get Debbie, Amanda (who were inside busily painting baseboards) & Sherry (who was out getting more paint).

We missed Day two...as I worked for Joe, and Bill intended to go, but woke with another migraine...so was in bed all day. The plan is to head over tomorrow....watch for more pictures!

The Rest of the Story (AKA the rest of the holiday weekend)

On Friday, Kristin had her sleepover, and the girls finally went to sleep around 1AM! I waited awhile to make sure that they were all asleep before I went to bed..making sure all the doors were locked, all girls in the right spots, and that all was quiet. Chelsea took up her spot at the bottome of the steps, rather than the top, since one of her kids was downstairs, and no matter what kids are here, they are hers while in our home. I woke around 3am, and went to check, and found two girls missing. My heart sunk. It turned out that they crawled up on the couch, grabbing the quilts off the couch, rather than taking their sleeping bags. Phew!! It was 7:30 when Bill & I woke to GIGGLING! The girls were having so much fun....

After breakfast, they headed outside to resume their playing from the night before. It was neat that they spent so much time outside playing. Mary May & Betty Lou (Kristin's rats) were relieved when the girls went home, as they finally got a rest and were able to sleep. I'm sure they loved all the attention.

Just as the last girl was getting picked up, the O'Hara's arrived to drop off three of their five to stay with us. It was their anniversary, and they needed the night off. Declan, Alyona, and Tanya piled in, Declan looking like he was moving in for the month!

Alyona begged Robert to play cribbage with her. She finally met her match....she was pouting before it was all over.....as he skunked her several games!

Tanya & Kristin spent many hours outside on the driveway playing Barbie...it was the big hit for the weekend!
Ryan & Delcan rigged up some rope from the porch to the grapevine....and swiped one of my laundry baskets. Not sure what their main goal was, but they had fun rigging things up!Sunday we went to church, and then to the O'Hara's for a BBQ with the VonRuden clan as well. There were lots of laughs, stories, and fun time shared. It's always great to get together with our friends who are more family to us than friends.

Monday we all slept in, and the kids cleaned their rooms, and then took off for the day with Grandma Alice. They had a full day planned...lunch, the swimming pool in Corvallis, dinner, and then a movie here in town.

Being we had no kids around, Bill, Robert & I decided we should go have some fun, so we cleaned up lunch, and headed out to Scott Mills to check out the youth camp we will be at in a few weeks. We were warned about making sure to check it out before we pulled in there blindly with our trailer. It was a beautiful day, and we saw many fields of white & purple. The white field is a very fragrant flower, and we're not sure about the purple, it appeared to be a thistle of some type, but had cloverlike leaves?

After we left the camp, we decided to take the "back way" to Silver Falls--and follow the GPS. Needless to say, the GPS can't decifer between a logging road and a goat trail....and has no regard for Forest Service gates! We went about 4 miles on a two track trail before hitting a forest service gate....so we turned around, and followed the road back out, as the the GPS recalculated and wanted us to drive over a BIG stump (old growth stump...too big to drive over or around!). We laughed and took another gravel road, that did nothing but loop us around, and try to send us back down the same forest road! We decided to follow the map book instead, adn then did head to Silver Falls to find is SO full, that there was nothing but road parking...we opted not to stop, and headed into Lebanon to have a meal. We hit the new Mexican place in town, and had a great meal!! It was a blast to get out as adults, and have a fun day.

Home School Sleep Over

Several weeks ago, Kristin thought it would be fun to have an End of School year party with some of her good friends from Home School Group. Being Monday was out last Home School Group Class day, this weekend seemed like a good time. Three of four were able to come, and the girls started off playing outside, having a great time. They hardly wanted to stop for supper!




After supper they ended up in the field playing Barbies, and as I looked out at them (there was no trouble hearing all the giggling going on out there), I saw Chelsea, laying at the top of the hill keeping watch over them. (She heard me coming--even though I was trying to be quiet). She would not come in until they did. The girls were having a great time, and it was starting to get dark, so I bribed them inside with ice cream!




After treats and a movie (we girls watched one upstairs, while the guys all hid downstairs!), the girls laid out their sleeping bags, and have been laying in the livingroom, giggling, telling stories and just having some fun girl time. It's been a fun night, and they didn't seem to mind that I hung out to watch the movie with them. Chelsea is downstairs, having a slumber party with the girls....she's wondering why she can't be on a sleeping bag though!