Wall E

Lately it seems that there just aren't that many good children's movies. Most of the ones that are marketed toward children contain animated characters that are vulgar in their humor and plot lines that contain "adult" content. I have found that for our family a once child appropriate PG rating is no longer appropriate. We look for a G rating and even that isn't a guarantee of finding a movie that doesn't have some type of content flaw. After reading Plugged In's review of the much anticipated new release from Pixar, Wall E, I was anxious to see if it would live up to all the accolades. It did. It was funny. It was moving (yes, I was sappy). It had a great message about loving others and taking care of the world that God created (without being preachy). It even entertained both parents and children (if the laughing in the theater is any indication). This movie will definitely find its way into our movie rack and I encourage you to see it (even if you don't have children).

Jacob and Ethan with Grandpa and Grandma

Pink is in

I officially have pink eye. I haven't had this lovely ailment since I was about 6. Since we are set to leave on our grand vacation in just NINE days I am hoping and praying that if we are all going to have it, that it spreads quickly and heals even quicker. So far no one else is having symptoms, but the doctor said that it was a pretty good bet that the boys would get it too.

p.s. I didn't know that my nose was quite that crooked.

Making Progress

Yesterday during the last fifteen minutes of swim class the guards all moved down to the deep end of the pool to let the kids jump off the diving board. Ethan was brave and bold and went off with just a little help and he did it again today. His jumping looks much like yesterday except that his walking of the plank went a little faster and he went first today. I made sure to bring the camera just in case they did it again. I wanted to make sure that I was able to share all that bravery with you. Here he is....

Now, yesterday, Jacob was having none of it. I even tried to bribe him by telling him that he could stay up during naptime if he would be brave and give it a try but he said, "No way, maybe when I'm seven". He just turned six in April. Imagine my surprise today when I saw him following the line of kids to the diving board. This is what we saw.....

OK, so maybe their jumping wasn't really jumping and their bravery could be called into question, But, they did it. And all they needed was a little push (or drop as the case may be).

Vacation Bible School

This past week the boys spent their mornings at First Baptist Church in Albion participating in the summer VBS program. My good friend Rachel helped organize the whole thing and Rachel's dad (who is a missionary for RBM) lead the group. It is a great program that not only "church" kids attend, but also kids that aren't in church for the rest of the year.


This is Al (Rachel's dad) during the parents program on Friday morning. He has so much energy and the kids love him, they all call him "Uncle Al". His heart for these kids is just so big. (Thank you for all you do for these kids. You are very much appreciated.)

This is Grace and Jacob reciting the main memory verse for the kindergarten group. They had a primary verse for the week and then they had daily verses to work on too. Just a quick point out... Jacob is standing up in front of a large group of people with a microphone in front of him reciting his verse. What a big step for him!




After the parents program all the kids were able to participate in a water balloon drenching of the team leaders (Pastor Tom and Pastor Rodney) and also Uncle Al, you guys were such great sports. Here are the kids getting ready to launch their one sided attack.







Here are the poor guys getting soaked (left to right--Pastor Rodney, Uncle Al, Pastor Tom). I need to inform you that they only stood in front of the big wall for the kindergarten and first graders. After these little ones were done drenching them the guys went to another area so that the big kids could have their share of the fun. At one point Pastor Tom was hiding behind a folding chair. It was so much fun just watching the kids have all the fun.






Finally, after all 1000 or so water balloons were burst we had a fabulous hotdog picnic. I don't know who was in charge of it all, but thank you, it was fabulous. We very much appreciate all the work that went into making VBS such a success. Not only is it a fun time for the kids, but more importantly they learn about God, they hear the Gospel, many of them for the first time.

Their First Swim Lesson...

I have mentioned before how timid and shy Jacob is and how hard it is for him to do something new. For those of you that know him well, you have witnessed the struggle that we have had and seen him slowly improve. Well, today was something new. At their first swim lesson both boys showed me that they are growing and maturing. Here is a peek at what Curt and I saw.

In this picture Ethan was using a kick board to move across the water. His instructor is an exchange student from Germany who has elected to stay here for a while. He is also a certified life guard.

Here he is in action.

I must be truthful and tell you that I got a little sappy (I know a big shock to you all) when I saw the boys doing so good. It's not that I don't want them to grow, its just that they are growing beyond my expectations and I am so proud of them overcoming their inhibitions.

This is Jacob with his instructor (I don't know their names yet). Jacob's instructor is 15. In fact today was his birthday so all of his swim team buddies gave him the ol' heave-ho into the water after the class was over.

Jacob was doing this without help before class ended.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Wow, today you are officially 53!! That is pretty impressive. I hope that you have a wonderful day. I love you and I am so thankful that you are my Mom.

My Mom and Dad, June 14, 2008

Off to the Races

We always try to do something the day after school lets out to signify that it is the beginning of our summer break. In years past we have taken trips to Binder Park Zoo, this year we decided to take the boys to the track. MIS (Michigan International Speedway) is hosting the Nascar Sprint Cup race this Sunday and today was practice and qualifying. We thought it would be great fun to take the boys out there and give them their first little taste of what its like at the track.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of kids we saw. I hadn't expected today to be such a family day, but it was great. There weren't too many people, although the crowd was decent, and that made it easy to maneuver around with the boys. They did such a good job of holding hands and following directions (It was the car ride home that got tricky).



We walked around outside the track for a while looking at all the trucks. I love seeing things through the eyes of children. The boys were in awe of all the stuff we saw. Ethan was able to get his picture taken in a Tony Stewart car and we got another bag of free stuff (different stuff) from the Sprint/Nextel truck. Ethan kept asking when we were going to see the cars so eventually we just had to give up the search for the DLP truck (at Lowe's Motor Speedway we saw a 3-D movie trailer and were hoping the boys could see it) and take them into the stands.


It ended up being perfect because we only had to wait about 10 minutes for the qualifying laps to start. We were able to watch the crews push the cars out of the garage area and line them up on pit road. We were also able to watch some of the drivers come out to do their qualifying laps.








This is Kyle Busch heading out to his car.









This is Mark Martin climbing out of the #8 after his qualifying run.

Chad, Brad, these pics are for you!!

This is Kurt Busch talking to some of his crew after he finished his laps.

This is Ryan Newman heading out to his car.

Unfortunately, the rain that had been predicted showed up after only 11 drivers qualified. We decided to head out and come home. We were disappointed that we didn't see Jimmie do his thing and we missed seeing the ARCA race, but we were grateful that we left when we did. The closer we got to home the worse the skies looked and by the time we made it to Albion the downpour was in full swing.

(Just a quick note - if you click on the above pictures your browser should open them up so you can see them better.)