Weekend in Concord

We went to Concord to spend some time with Derek's parents since he had some time off. We were able to see some friends and visit all our favorite spots that we miss. I hit Concord Mills at least twice! We went to Burlington on Friday to visit Derek's Aunt and Uncle. My friend Chrystal had blogged about a park there that her daughter likes and Derek remembered the train and the merry go round as a kid, so we tried it out. On our first attemp it was closed, but opened up again at 5:00 so we went back on our way home. It is a very nice park and the best part is the rides are only $.75!
This was on our first visit when the rides were not running - Aubrey still loves to swing. Not sure why she wanted to use the baby swing, but she did and when she gets something in her mind, well...the baby swing it was. You have to pick your battles, especially with her, she gives me so many to choose from!
Riding the little boats
Aubrey anxiously waiting for her turn on the merry go round


Driving a Jeep- for some reason they wanted to be in the back instead of the front.
We all took a ride on the train!
A flying ride


Aubrey sharing her daily peanut butter crackers with Papa
This is a very rare site in our family. Not Derek playing a game with the kids, but doing so on a Sunday morning! What a rare and sweet opportunity. We also were able to attend church together, which only happens about 3 times a year. Derek always leaves before us on Sundays. We attending an up and coming church in Charlotte named Elevation. We enjoy checking out other churches and hopefully taking back some good ideas to implement at Parkview. You know the music is going to be loud when ear plugs are offered at the door. The music was good, but a bit too loud for my preference. However, I am very fortunate to have the best worship leader in the world lead me in worship almost every other week out of the year - I think I have gotten a little spoiled. One thing I really admire about Derek is his ability to see the positive in things. As I was sharing my dislike of the music he said, "Well, it seems to work for them and that is all that really matters." How right he is. The message was awesome though and we enjoyed just sitting back and participating and not being responsible for anything for a weekend. Thanks to Darren for coming back and leading the worship at Parkview so we could get away.

Ethan is particiapting in Upward Basketball Camp all week and I am trying to catch up on things around the house and work, as we head out again next week to go back to MI. We are some busy people this summer - at least the kids can not complain about being bored!

Mr. Mom

Last week I was away at camp and Derek took are of the kids all by himself. He has some help from Ms. Anne on Tuesday and Ms. Linda on Thursday, but other than that he was solo and did a great job! Here are some pictures of what they did.
Aubrey eating her current favorite - pudding with whipped cream (the more the better)
Ethan being a big helper and stocking the fridge with some Dr. Pepper they bought for our friends The Russells who were going to be visiting.
Derek let Ethan get Root Beer in the bottle and he thought he was really cool
Check out the new fire pit they got on clearance for $25. They sat out each night and watched the sun set. Ethan also got the shirt he is wearing. He wore it for three days and then Derek washed it and he wore it again. He has been wanting a shirt like this for some time with pockets in front and a hood in the back. Derek let him get one since he was such a big helper while I was gone. We actually went back to the store today and got another one in blue since he loves it so much and it was on sale.
Her face says it all. He was not as good for her daddy. She is just high maintenance!
Bruster took up stealing things from our pantry. Here Derek caught him with a Fiber One bar before he got into it. By the way - these things are really good!
Aubrey created a new dance that Ethan named "The Magic Shish Kabob"
Aubrey did finally get her watering can, which was supposed to be her reward for being good, on Thursday.
She loves to help Derek water
Playing in the pool

I had a great time at camp. We had a really good group of kids that we took. The girls, who I spent the most time with since we roomed together, were really sweet and I felt like I got to know them a lot better. Some of the highlights were, tubing and playing in the lake, one of our boys accepting Christ on his birthday, being used to confirm to a teenage boy his call into Children's Ministry, and seeing prayer answered through the finding of Mr. Andy's wallet. We will be going back again next year and Ethan will be able to go.

On Saturday our dear friends The Russells came to stay with us for a few days. They are ministering in Houston and were at a conference in Orlando, so of course they stopped by our place. We had such a great time with them. On Saturday we realized that we missed Bruster's birthday on Friday, so we sang to him with the cake I had made for our friends. We also took a quick trip to the pet store to let the kids each buy him a present.

Aubrey LOVED playing with Taylor (or Tyler as Aubrey called her) She was a huge help to me entertaining her. She has some mad Mom skills and will be a great Mom one day. Brittany helped me at church on Saturday night with the kids. We were sad to see them leave today!
It is our dream to one day minister together with them.
While waiting to get my hair cut today, I braided Aubrey's hair. She actually sat stil for it and it stayed in! I am now packing for our trip to Concord tomorrow morning. We are not letting the grass grow under our feeet this summer!

What Goes On Behind Closed Doors

Here are some random things that have gone on at our house this week. The kids are playing more together, but they ALWAYS make a mess and it is usually pretty loud. They are pretty creative though.
While playing in the pool this week, Aubrey hit Ethan in the back of the head with the end part of the hose. For her punishment she lost her doll house and all her toys for the day. While I was showering her Ethan decided to help with her punishment, because he had all her dolls lying out in the hall. She got her dolls back the next day and I found her playing Hide and Seek with them. It was really cute, as she was talking to them like they were real.
Aubrey "hiding" the dolls. This doll was the "finder"
These were all the dolls that were "hiding" under the pillow.

Ethan and Aubrey dressed up and did a concert for me. Here Ethan is conducting Aubrey in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

It was very cute and then Ethan dismissed her and did his preaching.
One night Ethan did this all on his own! This is his new thing to be the king. The best part is ordering Aubrey to bring him stuff since he is the king, which she willingly does.

These are some of the crazy things that go on behind the doors of our house. I am leaving Monday morning to go to children's camp for the week with the elementary kids at church. Derek is solo this week with the kids. We bought lots of Lunchables and I am sure ice cream will be served for a meal, but they will have lots of fun. My advice was to keep them busy and put them to bed early!

July 4th Weekend

Last Thursday we flew up to Michigan to spend the weekend with my family. My brother Keith was driving in on Friday and he called to tell us he was in an accident. Above is a picture of his poor car. It is a 1996 Honda Civic that had been my older sisiter's car first. He loved this car. A moving van moved over on him on the Ohio Turnpike and then he hit into the concrete wall. We were praising God that he was not injured seriously. He had a small cut on his knee and he was going to go to the doctor to get it checked out just to be sure, but he seemed fine. After that rocky start to the weekend, we had a great time. The weather was a little chilly, but warmed up by Sunday.

Aubrey's First Movie

Before went to the movies this morning Aubrey got her dog purse out and named him Biscuit and was taking him out to potty with Bruster. It was too cute!

We ventured out this morning to Aubrey's first movie. It was a free one for the summer program. We saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. She did really well. As soon as it got dark she wanted to sit on my lap and stayed there the whole movie. Besides having to go to the bathroom and walking over some people on our row, it was a good time.
We stopped and got a snack for the movie and brought our own drinks in my purse.
Ethan has stated for the record that this is actually Aubrey's 2nd movie. She attended a movie with the Lambert family when she was under one, so she does not really remember it. I think she slept through most of it. So, this was her first movie that she remembers going to. I think we will do it again.