Sisters

As a parent, there are some days that you wonder whether your children understand the blessings of siblings. We so often see them taking things, pulling on each other and various other actions that makes a parent wonder if they will ever realize the joy they could find in being friends and loving one another.

Then, on some days, the Lord provides a glimpse into the love that they really do share. We were blessed to see that tonite in a small way.

You see, today was the first day that Elizabeth was home ALL day without Katherine. On several occaisions, Julie said it was obvious that she missed her sister. After supper tonite, things around the house got suddenly quiet, and we wondered where the girls were. We found them, together, enjoying the company and friendship they have on the couch reading.

We are truly blessed to have two little girls (and a wonderful boy) who are learning to love each other and love the Lord.

First Day of School

Katherine and Elizabeth started school today - Katherine as a first-grader and Elizabeth as a preschooler - they call the 3-year old preschool "Little Pelicans", as the school mascot is the pelican (long story on that one). Anyway, here's some pictures from the drop off. Katherine had her picture taken and then wanted to go to the playground with the rest of the kids (so grown up). We then took Elizabeth down to her classroom and got a couple more pictures and then walked by Katherine's class and got one of her at her desk. FUN!!!

The End of Summer

Well, school starts on Tuesday, so we decided to get a few last things in this weekend with the kids (i.e., cram some things into the last few free days that we have). On Wednesday, the kids and I (Julie) went to the Science Center. I forgot to take the camera, so I don't have pictures, but they all enjoyed the Discovery Room and then I realized that Katherine is really growing up. In the past, the Discovery Room has been enough to see there, but his time she wanted to see the exhibits. The was really fascinated, and Elizabeth was a bit, too. So we looked through a couple of the exhibits and decided that next time we need to go earlier so that we have time for some of that before lunch and nap time hit.

On Friday night, we all went to the Magic House and had ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. YUM!

Elizabeth enjoyed dressing up and having a tea party. And, below, fishing.

Isn't Chrisotpher cute in that little hat and driving the big construction truck??

And Katherine's continued fascination with water....

Saturday morning we went to Grants Farm (and ran into our friends, the VanEssendelfts in the parking lot!) for a short time before we got our haircuts.

After we got our haircuts, we went swimming. These pictures aren't from yesterday, but are from throughout the summer. I just thought this a good post to put them up, since I hadn't yet.

I know this is crazy, but tomorrow we will go to the zoo for a couple of hours and go to meet Elizabeth's teacher. Then, school starts on Tuesday for both Elizabeth and Katherine. More pictures of that to follow later this week.

VBS

VBS (Power Lab) this year was a wonderful experience for everyone in the family! John took the week off work and was Katherine's group leader and it was Elizabeth's first time enjoying it. I helped with registration the first day and in the craft room 2 additional days and Christopher had fun playing in the nursery (which they had for young children of workers - YEAH!). We all had a great week and, while I was worried about how Christopher would do in the nursery for 2-1/2 hours, he did great! What a blessing the week was to everyone. Here are the girls "modeling" some of their crafts. A "scratch art" test tube necklace A Power Lab sticker scene (a laboratory) A shrinky-dink key chain (remember those??? - they still exist!) A cute headband (Elizabeth made one, too, but I didn't get a picture) a Peter person A basket of loaves and fishes "Finding Jesus in God's House" bible

Where to Start?

I'm so far behind, that I don't even know where to start! We've been spending most of our summer days just playing at home (before Katherine is in school all day) and going swimming after suppers, but we have done a few exciting things in between all that.

Katherine took swimming lessons and thoroughly enjoyed it. She now jumps on her own into the pool and puts her head under water - major steps for her!

We went up to "the farm" - John's family farm in Northern IL at the beginning of August. The girls (and Christopher to some extent) enjoyed exploring the corn (probably close to 7 ft tall) and watching the plane spraying the crops (to noisy for the kids - they stayed inside and watched through the window). It was a fun trip to just get away for a bit and relax. Both Katherine and Elizabeth said that their favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel swimming pool (while Christopher was having some quiet time). I guess the swimming this summer has been a big hit!