July 2023

 

A few highlights of July:

Abby did a week of a VBS/robotics camp with Genny Ruth at Westminster school.

We went to the farm run/opening meeting for Trailblazers Cross-Country. There were a LOT of new families - over 100 runners this year!

The Kaufmans took a trip to Prince Edward Island the same week we went to the Vineyard national conference in Black Mountain, NC. (They left July 26; we left July 30 and spent the first week of August at the conference.)

The Ziebers bought a new house and moved!

The twins are really into making forts, or rather, having someone else making a fort and then whining when they destroy the fort.  They call forts (or bridges or tunnels or oil change places) "hidings."

We're in the midst of potty training!

Note the shoes... they found this pair in the closet, and instead of arguing over who gets to wear it, they automatically split it so they each wear one.  They DO fight and cry over who gets to wear which pair of underwear or jammies, but shoes have never been a problem.

We have a pair of hawks living somewhere in the woods behind us. The one day, I was looking out the kitchen window when a hawk flew right overhead with a squirrel in its beak.  I'm glad they are back there... we haven't seen any snakes this summer, and they might be why!

Rock Hill did fireworks on July 3rd.  We ended up sitting WAY too far away, but someone was setting off fireworks close to us when we first sat down, and Marvel did not like it ONE bit.  He cried and cried, so maybe it's good we ended up far away from the main event. I was glad we brought their headphones to get them through feeling scared.  They eventually had a great time, especially after the person near us stopped setting them off.  

On the the 4th of July, we went swimming at the Clover YMCA and then went to the Ziebers to hang out with them and the Kaufmans in the evening.

Caleb on his electronics, per usual. 😑  Micah was wokting (at Publix.)

Abby dancing, per usual. :)

They loved their little chairs.

First fourth of July as American citizens!

They really like playing in Abby's shoes. The garage has become play zone for them where they can be louder and throw things (down) a little more.

Marvens putting the silverware away before Marvel woke up

The LOVE storytime at the library!

Lots of pool time!  (Note Caleb in the back. He spent most of his time inflating his pool shirt over and over.)

A whole bunch of shirtless men in our cul de sac. :)  One because of running in the heat; two because of swimming.

We all went to the Y to exercise one night, and then we stopped in to watch the end of a basketball game. Marvel thought it was "too loud!" (Ironic, coming from him!)

Sometimes they randomly "freeze!"  Both of them are really good at it!

One glorious Saturday, the twins took a really long nap, I already had the house cleaned, and a rain storm made the back porch "just right" temperature-wise.  I sat on the porch and read a book and drank coffee and listened to the rain and it was AMAZING.

Helping me wake up Abby... except I think they could have fallen back asleep in her bed. :)

They really like doing this puzzle over and over, but they need a lot of help!

Micah was helping dig at the Zieber's house in preparation for them to sell, and he found this really unique coin.  One spot online said it was 1600s Indian coin of some sort, but you can't trust the internet! He'll take it to a coin shop at some point... it's probably like from Chucky Cheese . :)

Hanging out at the Children's Museum:

The one toy they fought over was the iron... they wanted to iron clothes like Daddy :)

The Queen and her little jesters.. :)

Warming up at the Farm Run:

Micah and Caleb's 5k times at the farm run.  Micah did a 21:43, and Caleb did 37:11

My friend Lauren Paden holds a worship night once a month at her house.  They call in "The Table" and I love going... it's people from all different churches and backgrounds.  This month had several prayer stations... it was really beautiful!

House church. This Sunday when we hosted, Lavern and Ronda Nissley from Ohio stopped in and joined us for church!  They were on their way to Charleston for a conference.

Abby was with Genny Ruth for dinner and a movie, but the evening was unusually nice and not too hot for July, so the rest of us went out to eat and then over to Miracle Park.

Just three guys at Hobo's trying to decide what to eat. :)

Selfie!

Throwing lids and ping pong balls outside of Hobo's

Whose child is this??

M&M coming to the rescue!

Storytime at the library.  While all the other kids were using their "telescopes" to look at the book like they were supposed to, mine just played with each other.

They play so much in the garage that we put a camera in there to keep an eye on them.  They realized that when we use "Ziggy" to check on the garage, there is a big lag.... so then they thought it was super fun to run to the garage and then back in so they could see themselves on the camera.  I did it once and shook my butt at the camera and they thought that was hilarious, so then they tried to shake their butts too everytime.

At Top Golf for WEG's family night.  We thought the twins might be nervous about being up high and close to the net, but they loved it!

At the end of the night, Marvens got in big trouble for stealing a sip of my Bloody Mary.  His face said it all... no hiding what he had done!  We've really had to work on them not taking drinks from other people's cups... they are SO quick at it!

Ziebers moving day!

Vineyard Conference! The national conference was only two hours away in Black Mountain, NC, at the Ridgecrest Conference Center.  None of the onsite cabins/rooms were big enough for our family so we upgraded a bit and got a nice cabin about 10 minutes away.  We drove up after church on Sunday, hung out at the cabin, ate Mexican food in town, got some groceries for the week, and relaxed! (Well, as much as we could relax... the twns had skipped a nap so it was a little rough at times.)

On Monday, we hiked a short but not-easy trail up a mountain.  Everyone kept telling us there were rattlesnakes at the top... the older three made it to the very top (and didn't see the rattlesnakes); the twins and Ben and I did not. (Partly because it got too steep for the twins and they would have had to scale some rocks and partly because Ben couldn't stop sweating.  😆 The humidity was rough!)  The conference started Monday night.

Monday morning coffee and muffins on the porch

Rolling lids (aka "roll its" on the porch)

The mancave in the basement had a pool table and a PacMan video game

The hike started easy enough...

I spy local wildlife at the top of the mountain

Snack break!

Monday afternoon

The rec room at the conference center...

These guys did great going to their class!

The worst part was getting through the loooong lunch and dinner lines with the twins.  We never got to sit with anyone else because our family took up a whole table. :)
More about the Vineyard conference in August's blog.  Here is more random stuff:

One Sunday afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa had the older grandkids over to play games.

I was not surprised when Joyce sent me pictures and everyone else was playing games while Caleb was on his phone.

At occupational therapy

Wes and Joyce took the boys to the York County Museum one Wednesday

Joyce lets them wash their dishes after lunch :)

Someone posted this picture on Facebook, and I just love it

One day, the twins got ahold of Abby's phone and took videos.  They are HILARIOUS!

Ben had to go get a new tire on his car.  Evidently, it took three hours so he and the older kids had to improvise :)

Helping me wake up Caleb....

House church at the Kaufman's. For the summer we had "assigned groups" so we could get to know each other better.  It worked pretty well!

Caught on camera