A Sick Boy

Last night after church Ethan was not feeling well at all. He had a fever and we thought he had pink eye. We think now it may just have been a cold in his eye, but we are watching it close. It was really weird not going to church today. I have to give a shout out to the best children's workers around. I was supposed to host two of the three services today and last night I had to call my other workers and let them know there was a good chance I would not be there. They all were so supportive and willing to to whatever to step up and help. What a blessing to work in ministry with such awesome people! It was really hard to stay home today, but Derek had to be there so that left me to stay home with a sick boy. I used the time to clean out my pantry and three closets. I also made a cake for Ms. Linda. Today is her birthday and she loves to work with yarn. I had seen a picture of a cake that looked like a skein of yarn and I could not wait to make it for her birthday. It was not as round as it should have been, but she liked it anyway.
Yesterday we had a yard sale and we made $200. I was glad to get it out of the way. We did it while Nana and Papa were in town to help. Ethan made a sign for me to use while I was at camp.

Trip to the Zoo

Since I was still at camp and not returning until late afternoon on Friday, Derek decided to take Ethan to the zoo. They had a good time. Here are a few pictures from their time together.

Ethan's Jewelry Store

Tonight while we were watching TV Ethan set up a jewelry store. He had been in his room a long time and he was making necklaces and bracelets out of his wiki sticks. Here is Derek shopping for a necklace for me.
He had good taste and bought the most expensive one for $12.
Proudly showing us his merchandise.
Showing off our new purchases! Picture compliments of Ethan. As I type he is trying more necklaces on me asking "Do you like this one?" He is so fun! We told him we were out of money so he gave us a store credit card. His mind never stops!

School for Ethan

Yesterday at the pool I struck up a conversation with a lady and I am so thankful that I did. It ended up that we have very similar backgrounds and she told me of a new charter school that is opening in August. She gave me all the details and it sounded wonderful. In fact, I went straight from the pool to pick up the registration packet. It is a first come first serve basis and since it is just opening it has room. We really feel that this seems like a wonderful opportunity for Ethan. We are going to register him and then continue to pray if that is the school for him. It is on our side of town and only about 10 minutes from our house. He will have to wear a uniform and I am fine with that. The part that I am excited about is that both parents have to log in 20 hours of volunteer time for the year. I am so excited to get to know some other families that care about their child's education and want to be involved.
Last night on the way home from church Aubrey got interested in my Oriental Trading magazine that I was looking through for things for VBS. It was very cute. She was naming all the things that she knew - sun, stars, hand, eyes, sunglasses, etc. Of course, each one started with "Look Mommy" and I had to look at what she was pointing at. The first few minutes were adorable, but the whole 10 minutes home was a bit much. This is what she did when we got home. She just laid right down on the kitchen floor and started flipping through the magazine. If I had known she would like the magazine so much I would have given it to her a long time ago. I think I get about 3 a week in the mail.

This has been a busy week for me as I am getting ready to go to camp next week with the church. VBS is also right around the corner so I am trying to get a lot of stuff done for that.

Happy Father's Day

I am so thankful for Derek today. He is a wonderful father and interacts with our children in a wonderful way. He truly enjoys to be around them. I love when he walks in the door from work and both children take off yelling "Daddy's Home" and jump into his arms. I do not think there is anything more precious. Derek has made a lot of sacrifices for our family and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves us in every possible way. He is amazing and we are blessed and honored to have him in our life. I am making one of his favorites for lunch today and then we are going to have some family time at the pool. Here is a picture of Derek and Ethan playing on Friday. They were handymen and were pretending to fix a chair for me. I also went through some old pictures and found some favorites the kids and their adoring Dad. We love you!!

I also want to wish our fathers a Happy Father's Day. Derek and I are both blessed to have had wonderful fathers growing up and they continue to show love on us and our family all the time. We could not have been blessed with better fathers and we love you both. Have a great day Grandpa and Papa and we are sad we are too far away to share the day with either of you.

Ethan's Jungle Trip

Here are some pictures of our weekend.Here is a picture of Ethan playing office. He is very particular and likes to have all his things in place to play. While he was playing with Ms. Linda's granddaughter this morning this is how we found Aubrey.
She was setting up all her little things and playing "office like Ethan." It was adorable. I was exercising and Derek called me to come look. This was worthy of pausing my workout to take a picture. It is cute how Aubrey wants to be like her brother. I know it will frustrate him, but it was really cute this morning.
One day this week while Aubrey was napping Ethan and I worked on some school stuff to get him ready for Kindergarten. He used these cool letters I found to find his first and last name. He knows his first name great so we are working on his last name.
What happens when you go to Walmart with Daddy? You get a prize. Aubrey got this princess book that has the clings to dress the characters. It has all the princesses and really is very neat. I love that she played with it the entire time I was in the shower. Ethan got a snow cone maker.
Ethan loves to be creative and role play and today he was a jungle tour guide. Derek and I both had the joy of being along for the trip. We started out in his room that he had turned into a jungle. Not to worry about the animals though, they were on freeze. They had trapped a little boy earlier. You can see his decked out in his jungle gear.

A wild sea turtle that is nice enough to pet.
He even taped some vine to his wall to create the ambiance.
Then we ventured across the street to our little woods by the canal.
These are the dead palm tree branches that we dump out here and Ethan informed us that they were very good to protect us from tornadoes and hurricanes because they will stop them. It is so neat to be in the mind of a child.
This is the canal covered in plants. We are not sure why because it is not usually.
Lucky for me my fearless leader shot an alligator that was getting too close! We threw some stones into the canal and that was the end of our tour.
This is my new favorite -Cool Whip in a can. Derek brought it home and I love it over strawberries.