A Weekend in June - Part 1 (Up North, at the Cottage)

Tim's cousin, Matt, got married just after Caleb finished 1st grade. So we drove up north by Tim's grandparents to visit with them for a little bit amidst the wedding celebrations. We also used their place as our sleeping quarters for two nights.

On Friday, we spent part of the afternoon at a cottage that Tim's Aunt Paula and Uncle Paul were renting for the week with their kids. There were two lakes for fishing, boating, and swimming. It was a nice place to relax before the wedding festivities.

The "Gingerbread" cottage

Sonya takes on a big bike

It was a dreary, drizzly sort of day when I decided to help Sonya learn to ride her bike. We started off in the garage where it was dry. It took a while before she got the hang of pedaling, the repetitive motions of her legs pushing down and around.

Then, it was only a matter of time before she started going all by herself!

So proud of my little girl! She wanted so much to be like her big brother and has been watching the neighbor kids biking around a lot lately. I couldn't believe how quickly she has mastered her bike. Love my Sonya to pieces! <3

A much needed Spring Break

This year for spring break, we decided to venture down by Tim's parents for a good part of a week. It was a great time to spend time family.

On the way to Troy, IL (basically 30 minutes from St. Louis), we decided to stop halfway through the drive at Starved Rock State Park. It was a nice way to break up the drive and we were all able to stretch our legs and enjoy a picnic lunch. Then we took a fun hike up to  Starved Rock and a few other lookout points. There was so much to see and we were disappointed that we didn't have all the time we wanted to just keep on hiking.

When we finally reached Tim's parents, the kids were so excited to be at Grandma and Papa's house -- and they were excited to see their dogs too!

 

While we were down there, we visited the St. Louis Arch and enjoyed the museum while we waited for the time when Tim and the kids could actually take the elevator up the Arch.

The next day, we hit up the St. Louis Zoo. That's one of my favorite places to go when we're down there. The zoo is fantastic and it's FREE! (other than $15 for parking). It's always nice to visit the zoo when it's cooler out because the animals are a lot more active. Although, I think we caught a few of them right when it was naptime. :-)

After the zoo, Tim's parents took us out to dinner at a really nice Italian place. It was SOO good!!

Friday morning, the kids, my sister-in-law, and I made a birthday cake for Tim's brother who was going to arrive later that night. It was definitely a Willy Wonka cake!!



Then after lunch, Theo (Kelly's fiance) came over to hang out with us. We went to the park and the kids were able to feed the ducks (swans and fish too!) and play on the playground. The weather was so beautiful while we were there!

That night, we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. There might've been some singing going on too! hehe

Saturday morning was just relaxing -- some people played Wii. Tim and I packed up our stuff to leave after lunch. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Peter.

Caleb built one last tower out of Lincoln Logs and then it was time to go.

Can you tell that we're related?

Just another morning...

This morning was rough. Caleb was taking his sweet time getting ready this morning. He's awake before me, but yet I can eat, get dressed, get his lunch made, pack his backpack, and be ready way before him. Today was one of those really frustrating days of reminder after reminder to do this or that. Just as we're walking out the door, with 2 minutes until the last bell rings, Caleb says he needs to get his boots. He has been leaving his boots at school and has an extra pair at home so I really didn't understand why he was getting them especially with no time to spare. I found out that his boots at school went missing. I think someone stole them or hopefully they just got misplaced. Instead of being upset with the culprit, I became really upset with Caleb for not telling me sooner and just the fact that we were late didn't help with my mood.

So I walked him over to school.... or rather, I dragged him because he was walking so slow. Thank goodness he only has a half day today.

I came back home and was still really mad. I had to call Tim so I could try and calm down. It was pretty ridiculous that I let myself get so worked up about a small thing especially after I just taught on the topic of prayer last night at our Bible Study. Lord, I have a LOT of work to still do in my life. I took a moment to just cry. I felt horrible that I left Caleb at school where he was almost in tears. I definitely didn't handle that situation the way I should've.

While I was wallowing in my anger, God gave me a glimpse of joy that I needed this morning. Sonya and Ava, the girl I babysit, were having a tea party in the living room. As I watched, Sonya decided that they needed to pray before eating. It was so sweet and innocent and gave me a sense of peace that I was trying to find by browsing through Facebook posts instead of drawing near to my Father. What a wake up call! Then to make my day even brighter, Sonya was explaining what all of her foods were. She was just using empty Easter eggs. One of them was broccoli, one was a potato, and there was a new one that I've never heard her use before called "gock." I asked her what gock tasted like and she said, "It's kind of like peanut butter." I was cracking up inside. It was soooo funny! She proceeded to continue using the word. My heart filled with joy and happiness.

When Caleb gets home, I really owe him an apology for my actions. Hopefully we can find his boots. If not, I just pray that someone that really needed them has them. We are blessed to have an extra pair that Caleb can use for now and if we didn't have that, we have the money to buy new/used ones. Sometimes I forget about the blessings we have.

Thank you, Jesus for providing for our family beyond what we could've imagined.