AWANA Award Night, Graduation, Gardening.....

.........Mother's Day, Sunday School Fellowship, and Cornhole......In no particular order. So, we've been pretty busy over the last month. Here's a little (or big) update about what's been going on.

I came across this picture of Bethany from her Birthday I have to share. She got the tutu from my mom and the fish was part of her present from us. She danced around the room in her tutu holding her fish. It was so cute.


AWANA Award night was on May 13th. That was a lot of fun. Jadon got a participation certificate for Puggles and Savannah and Amaris each got awards for Sparks. I can't believe ALL my little ones will be in AWANA next year. Bethany in Puggles, Jadon is moving up to Cubbies, Amaris will be in her 2nd year of Sparks, and Savannah will be in her 3rd and last year of Sparks. They are growing too fast. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think about. Sorry, no pictures. None of them turned out very well. :(

The Saturday before Mother's Day our church had a Mother's Day Celebration called "Fashions to Follow". It was really neat. Savannah and Amaris were part of it. Lots of young girls from the church dressed up as different women from the Bible. As they came out, a biograhpy was read about that woman. After the "Fashion Show", there was a wonderful luncheon for everyone.

Savannah was Rahab - Rahab is the model of courage. A woman of Jericho, she dared to hide on her roof the spies of the people whom her city dreaded. The king of Jericho ordered her to send the spies to him. He sent men to her house to take them, but she sent them on a false chase. When she let the spies go, advising them of the safest way, she made sure that when her town was destroyed her own family would be saved. The Hebrew letter commends Rahab for her faith, believing that the Lord had given Israel the land. It took courage to rely on them – one woman against her own city. Rahab, a truly outstanding model of courage.

Amaris was Mary Magdalene - Mary Magdalene models dedication. The depth of Mary Magdalene’s love for Jesus was unsurpassed. After He restored her from her affliction, she lived for Him. She followed Jesus, ministered to Him and held nothing back in her love and service. She was totally dedicated. Mary Magdalene, our choice for the fashion of dedication.

Savannah as Rahab (middle in orange)

Amaris as Mary Magdeline (right in hot pink)

For Mother's Day Andy surprised me with a Hammock. I've been wanting one for YEARS. I love it! Now, to find an opportunity to use it. Hmmm....maybe I could sedate the kids and sneak out for a little while and relax!

Me and the kids on Mother's Day*

*Yes, those are HOLES in Jadon's pants. For some reason he is obsessed with those pants. I'm counting the days until they completely dissenagrate in the washer! :)

Now to Cornhole. Some of you may be wondering, "What on earth is cornhole?". Well, it's a game we learned last year when we were visiting Andy's family in MN for 4th of July. We had so much fun that we've been wanting to build ourselves a cornhole set ever since. And that also brings us to our Sunday School Fellowship. We invited our Sunday School Class over last weekend for a get together (lots of fun!) and it spurred us to finally build our very own cornhole game. Andy was very excited and proud of the results.

What a proud Pappa!

If you really want to know more about the game, just Google "cornhole" and you'll find all the info. you need!

Speaking of corn, we have always wanted a big vegetable garden and have planted a small one twice since we have lived here. This year, although a little late, we managed to get a garden planted. We didn't get everything planted that we were hoping for, but we did manage to plant tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, green beans, cantalope, and rosemary. It's doing pretty well so far. We have already picked a few tomatoes and our squash, green beans, and bell peppers have tons of blooms. We've been praying it will be "fruitful". So far it's looking good. Yeah! Here is a picture of the sunset from last night as we were coming in from checking out the progress of the garden. Not sure what the little rounds spots are from.

Drumroll......We have Graduates! Our first year of homeschooling went really well and I can't believe it's already over. Our last day was May 7th. We had a little graduation ceremony for the girls and then all went out to eat at Red Robin. It was so cute to see the proud look on their faces when the principal (Dad) presented them with their certificates.

Amaris and Savannah with their graduation certificates.