Alpine Village

We attended the Alpine Village at Trinity Baptist Church in Cordova, TN. This is our second year to attend. They transform their recreation center into a Swiss Alpine village. The village consists of several shops where kids can make ornaments, cards and crafts. There is a candy shop, a book shop and a little church with stained glass windows. They also have an area where kids can play in the "snow"! It is really an awesome experience and the kids love it. After visiting the shops, you can also see Santa!

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Liberty. Luke and Andrew loved being there with Mimi and Poppa. Luke especially loved going to the "forest" (as he likes to call the woods) and helping his Daddy and Poppa move a deer stand.

Fall Leaves

Michael decided to go out and rake leaves in the front yard. Luke and Andrew wanted to go and "help"! I'm not sure how much help they were, but they sure had a great time! (And yes, they were dressed in their pajamas!!!)

Weekend Getaway!

Michael and I were able to go away for the weekend. We arranged for Luke and Andrew to spend the weekend with Mimi and Poppa, and we went to New Orleans. We really enjoyed our restful time away & the boys had a great time with Mimi and Poppa!!

Fall Festival

We had our annual Fall Festival at our church. Michael has entered the chili cook-off the past several years. This year he was trying to defend his 1st place winning from last year. He didn't place 1st but he did get a 3rd place award! The kids had a great time dressing up, jumping, riding on the hay ride and trunk or treating. Our car won 1st place in the best decorated trunk. We used all of the kids art that they had made from Parents Day Out! We had a long day of fun. Later, we all went trick or treating!

JAM 2009

Michael and I are co teachers for the RAs and GAs. We took the kids to JAM (Journey into Adventures in Missions) 2009 in Jackson, TN. The kids had a great time getting away and learning about different missionaries.

Andrew's 2nd Birthday!

Andrew turned 2 yesterday. We celebrated with cake, ice cream and presents. Andrew was a very excited birthday boy!


This was the little Thomas cake that I did. OK, so it didn't really look like Thomas, but the birthday boy loved it!!

Luke helped Andrew open his present. This is the reason for the Thomas themed party! Andrew was very excited to see his train!Here's the tracks all set up!

Luke's swimming lessons!

This was Luke's first year to take swimming lessons. He did great and even swam by himself some! We loved his teacher Ms. Christy.

Luke's class.

Luke swimming with Ms. Christy.

Swimming through the rings!

Weekend at Pickwick!

We spent a great weekend at Pickwick! We were there with Michael's brothers Paul and Mark and their families. The boys really loved seeing their cousins and being on the water. Andrew had his first boat ride.

All aboard!!

This was my first year to be co-VBS director at my church. Our theme was Lifeway's Boomerang Express. It was a lot of hard work, but I had a great time organizing and decorating! The boys really loved the train decorations.

Andrew riding the train!

Luke on board the Boomerang Express!

Ice Cream Day!

We made ice cream at Parents Day Out today. The kids all loved being able to make their own ice cream. They especially loved putting on the toppings and eating it!

Here's the recipe we used for making ice cream in a bag, it was taken from the website www.kaboose.com

What you'll need:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt
• 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
• 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
• Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

Luke and his class making ice cream

Luke eating his ice cream!

Andrew and his class eating their ice cream!