August 15, 2015

A couple days ago I looked back in the rear-view mirror to see Abby and Caleb holding hands.

Me: "Awww, are you guys buddies?"

Caleb: "Yeah, it turns out I'm pretty nice."

Who new? :)

August 3, 2015

Here's an update on what we've been doing...

This is typical of Caleb at the playground.  He sits under the "funnel" in the sand pit and lets people pour sand on him.   My van then becomes a sand pit on the way home.

 The kids and I took a trip to Maryland the second week of June.  This was the first time I drove alone with the kids, and it actually went pretty well.  I kept lots of baggies of snacks on the front seat beside me so I could throw them back as needed. :)  It's nice to be past the stage of having a little toddler who is destined to scream or throw her sippy cup on the ground... and no one gets easily carsick anymore!  They can watch movies the whole way and stay (mostly) content. :)

New kitties!!

Abby and Minnie sleeping in the same position...

New Germany:

Kenton's kids caught a baby fawn that all the cousins got to come see before they released it again.  (My kids were already in jammies, but oh well!) :)

Emily's "Giant Minnie" she got for her birthday.

A bunch of monkeys:

Micah was just a *little* excited to be allowed to drive a gator.  He helped Kaitlyn feed the calves.  

Feeding the calves:

Experiencing the the miracle of birth. :)  They saw the legs come out, but then we went for a gator ride, and by the time we made it back, Kenton had pulled the calf. That is something my kids had definitely NOT seen before. :)

We went for a gator ride down into the woods then hiked around the creek (with Grandma).  We had to push the gator back out part of the way (by we, I mean all the kids and I... Grandma, Caleb, and Abby got to stay in the gator) :)  Caleb found a bright orange lizard that he was excited about.  

Playing games with cousins and Grandpa.

We all went to the little zoo in West Virginia.  It rained all morning, but by afternoon it was pretty pleasant.  

Baby Siberian tiger cubs...

Those were some big horns:

The crazy monkey:

I promise I did not TRY to post this video directly after the video of the monkey.  It just naturally happened this way. :)  Here's Grandpa singing "I'm a Little Teapot" for Abby:

During the summer, we had playdates most Thursday mornings.  Here's Abby and her friend Alice.

And the BIG hit is Baby Owen.  (Oliver is beside Micah.)  

Caleb took swim lessons.  By the end, he could at least make the right motions under the water:

I think he was more like treading water... or moving backward... but every once in a while he would get some forward movement. :)

Our church service is feeling more and more "full", even during the summer when people are traveling.

Slip-and-slide party (for Rachel's birthday) at the Ziebers after church:

Alice :)

Abby requested "five ponytails" one day.  Since we weren't going anywhere, I obliged.

Trip to Ohio in July!  We spent a few days at Wes and Joyce's, then went to Springfield for Ben to preach at Northridge, then left the next day for Columbus to go to the Vineyard National Conference.  While we were at the Kaufman's, Caleb learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels!

Stopping and turning proved detrimental at first. :)

Joyce has a little "fairy garden" Abby liked to play in.

Micah and Chuckie playing basketball:

Caleb found this hat and started wearing it around.  Everything was preceded with "I'm a cowboy!"  (i.e. "I'm a cowboy and I'm riding bike!"  "I'm a cowboy and I'm going potty!")

Micah's taken a liking to chess:

Look!  A recent family picture in which no one is crying or squinting badly. :)

We went to the Buckeye Museum.  Caleb is fixing the car.  (Evidently, the first thing you need to do is measure the diameter of the engine.) 

They filled out the whole states and capitals map:

Parade in Bellville on July 4:

Playing catch:

Flat tire on the way home from Ohio.  I'm soooooo glad this happened then and not on my trip home from Maryland;

We went to the Charlotte Nature Museum with a friend one day:

No idea who this girl was, but she sure liked Caleb.  One of the grandmas there told me that Caleb was the nicest kid who helped the younger kids out and shared well.  (If only I could get him to do that at home!) 

Chic-Fil-A was doing a day where you could get a free meal for dressing like a cow.  The kids and I all dressed up.  I told Ben to meet us there, but he said he wouldn't dress like a cow to earn a free HOUSE. :) The kids thought it was really fun (because everyone else there was dressed like cows too), and we got a $22 lunch for FREE!

Rock Hill had another Food Truck Friday with music and face painting and bubbles.  Lots of free stuff, and once the sun went behind the buildings, it was at least bearable.  (Side note: this summer has been SO HOT.  There's probably only been a couple days since the beginning of June when the high hasn't been in the 90s.  Often upper-90's.  And humid.  Even the locals are saying this is a little unusual for it to be THIS relentless.  I have totally given up on clearing out the brush around our house and in the little wooded area until it cools down again in the fall.)

Playing drums at a friend's house:

We watched the Zieber kids one night while Mike and Carrie went on a date.  They spent about 2 hours making a movie on the ipad.  Caleb wore his flash costume, and although he was SWEATY when he came inside, he was also the only kid not covered in mosquito bites. :)

Abby put on these goggles and then went and found the mask for her puppy so they could match:

Working on school.  Caleb loves anything in a workbook:

Caleb has latched on to the concept that he is "creative" and every day he comes up with something "creative" to make.  Today he made a Mickey Mouse shirt made out of paper.  In this picture he is making a Carom board like Grandma and Grandpa's.  (It took me forever to figure out what he wanted to make when he tried to describe it to me:) 

We had a party just for fun the other night.  The high was only supposed to be 89 that day, so it was practically a cold front.  

This is our friend Sarah.  Lindsey befriended her, and she's come to church every Sunday.  Two weeks ago, she responded to the gospel and is going to be our first baptism at Vineyard Rock Hill!  This picture was taken right after she got her driver's license.  (She's 29 but has always been too scared to try.  Lindsey spent a lot of time driving with her, and I did once too.  We spent one Saturday morning practicing with her then went to get her license.  It was a great day!)

Micah took swim lessons at the pool near us.  (I LOVE Rock Hill's free swim lessons.)  Ben dropped him off at 8:30, and I picked him up at 9:15.  Every morning I had to drag Abby out of bed to go get him.  This day, she actually stayed asleep in the van. (Micah's actually a better swimmer than me at this point) :)

Their favorite hiding spot:

I went to get my second Hep A shot (I had to get Hep A shots for my Haiti trip back in February).  The kids came with me this time, and one wall is entirely covered in a world map.  Caleb was in heaven. :)

Abby and Josh playing dress up:

Just a little fun :

Other news:

We asked Caleb the other week who he thought he would marry, and he said, "Is Grandma Bender taken?"  After we told him he can't marry his Grandma, he decided on his cousin Beth.  :)

Abby is POTTY TRAINED and the diaper pail is in the attic!!!!  It somehow clicked in her brain (at age 3 1/2) and pooping in the potty wasn't so scary anymore.  I thought for sure that with her strong will and love of diapers, she would be five before she would potty train completely.  Now to figure out how to wean her from getting candy every time she poops.... :)

Kevin and Kristin Bucher came to visit Rock Hill one weekend on their summer home from China.  It was so great to see them and have Kevin play with the worship team Sunday morning.  I somehow DIDN'T get any pictures though.  

Our home study is done and the report all written up.  It's waiting on the final stamp of approval from the State Dept of Social Services.  As soon as we get that, we'll send off some grant applications and work on our immigration paperwork and dossier.  

Ben has his "big test" scheduled.  (The Series 7).  August 26th is the big day.  He's on-track with his studying, and if the practice tests are any indication, he should do great.  Then he'll be a "Registered Representative" who could take on clients of his own.

Our co-op orientation is next week and then we start our weekly meetings the week after that.  The summer FLEW!!!  I'm so glad we did some school during the summer though (on weeks we were home, I tried to do 2-3 days, including field trips) so we can take off some significant time when it's actually nice outside.  I think we could take a full week off every month (if we wanted to), and still be done by the second week of May.