Girls Daily Doings

Okay, so my girls are all on summer break as well and they are finding interesting ways to entertain themselves. Sammy and her friend, Kyle, have decided they should have "eating contests". Yes, it is totally gross, but kind of funny to watch. They had a pie eating contest the other day. Sammy won, but I think Kyle let her win just to see if she would throw up....the things that teenagers think are fun.


On a better note, Tim built our mantle and fireplace hearth. He built it with a wood frame base for the hearth and mantle and styrofoam for the columns on either side. He then finished it with Arcustone, which is like a limestone finish you spread on the surface and then stain. It turned out really well and you would never guess that it is not made of solid stone.


Putting on the arcustone.


All the arcustone on the fireplace...ready to stain


The finished product...stained and ready to find some decor to put on the mantle

My Doings Lately

After the Women's Retreat, I was asked to take a position on the Women's Board as the Coordinator of Special Events. Initially, this was only going to be the Christmas Tea this year to start, but this year instead of doing our summer Bible Study, we decided to do some evening events so this fell under my leadership. Our theme for the summer is "Adventures" and we are using the Indiana Jones theme in conjunction with the release of the newest movie. Our first event has already taken place and was just a time of adventure and allowing the ladies to form relationships and learn.

Our speaker at the first summertime talk. You can see the little Indiana Jones "Mr. Potato Head" on the table. He was so cute, I couldn't resist getting him.

In the Worship Arts ministry in which I am involved, we have taken down the staging we put up a few months ago for the parenting series as well as the beginning of summer and our summer events. I finally got a picture of it before we took it down.

Our "Parenting" Staging

In case you couldn't tell (there were people who couldn't), there are kites and a tree up there. We tried to portray a child's drawing of a tree. Staging is much harder than it might look, but it's so much fun. Other things we do are to add other "arts" elements to the service (i.e. dance, drama, videos, music, etc.) that pertain to the sermon series.

Chicago

At the beginning of the summer I got to go to Chicago with our worship pastor, his wife and our media/tech specialist. It was for the Willow Creek Arts Conference which was absolutely AMAZING! Of course, since we were in Chicago, we thought we should fit in as much of the city as we could.

We started the week by going to the Shedd Aquarium and Natural History Museum. They were both amazing, but a lot to do in one day.

A picture from the Shedd Aquarium. My little camera didn't do too badly at taking pictures inside there.

Then we went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. They were playing the Braves. I am not a huge baseball fan, but it was awfully fun to be there in real life.

Dan, Kim and I in front of Wrigley Field

The next three days were spent in the conference. I was so refreshed and inspired by the whole thing. There were so many things I learned and took home from the conference, it was awesome. We are trying to use some of these ideas in planning our worship services now, but change does come slowly.

Willow Creek

We did get a little time for enjoying ourselves during the conference. One of the things we did get to do was see the musical, "Wicked". It was another amazing experience. I would love to take my girls to see it when it comes to our area.

Dan, Chris, Kim and I at "Wicked"

After the conference was over, we went and had a Portillo's Chicago Hot Dog (a must-have recommendation) and then went and saw the Sears tower and, of course, had to find a Harley-Davidson store so we could get a t-shirt for Tim. We went to dinner that night and came home and crashed. Well, actually, Kim and I watched the Food Network for a while. She doesn't have cable at home and quickly got addicted to the Food Network while we were gone. Since, I love it anyway, I didn't mind at all.

Before we left the next day, we got checked out of the hotel and went and saw the Museum of Industry. As you can tell, we love museums!

It was a great trip and just what we needed to get inspired and renewed for the rest of the year. We are now starting to plan for our Christmas season as well as the rest of the year.

A Little Catching Up

Okay, I know it seems like every time I post, I am just catching up.


My brother's birthday party....all the cousins together. This is before Tim came home.

Tim did make it home safely and, unfortunately, all the pictures are not on my CDs (I do have some real life pictures, but haven't had time to scan them). I am uploading a few pictures to show what we have been doing.


Jenna, the girls' friend, Katie and Alyssa going to Prom


Life has been absolutely crazy since Tim got home. We have been busy doing projects around the house and we have become partners in a construction business with some friends of ours. He works in the fire department with Tim. I am busy doing some of their paperwork.


Easter...okay, I was so busy, I only took one picture, but at least I got one!

I helped plan our Women's Retreat which Alyssa and Jenna also helped with and attended it. It was really fun to be able to serve with them.

My registration committee at the Women's Retreat

Tara also participated in our church's Kid's Choir Musical. She even got a solo and did GREAT! We were so proud of her.

Tara singing her solo in the Kids' Choir Musical

Jenna and Tara had their piano recital. It was at their teacher's house and very informal. It was Tara's first one. Their teacher announced that she wouldn't be teaching again next year so I have been busy trying to find a new teacher for them. I think I have found a lady at church who will teach them.


Jenna in the piano recital


Tara in the piano recital


The girls made it through another year of school and Alyssa got to walk through graduation at the high school where she attended part time. She still has some work to do to actually finish, but it was fun for her to be able to walk through with all her friends. We had to sit far away for graduation so the pictures I took weren't great, but I had another friend there taking pictures of her son as well, so he also took some of Alyssa. I haven't received them from him yet, but hope they turned out.

Tara asked if she could go to public school next year to try it and I have been busy looking into that as well.

And Duncan, the Great Dane, has gotten quite HUGE. He is now about 120 lbs and will gain at least another 40 lbs or so. He loves Tim and they have become best of friends.

Tim and Duncan

We took Duncan to see his mom and dad not long after Tim got home. You can see how much he looks like his dad (only smaller)

Dolly, Duncan and Trooper

He also loves to hang out with his "girls" as you can see from the picture with Tara.

Duncan protecting (and resting with) Tara

Tim got a new motorcycle for commuting to work and it happens to have a sidecar. Duncan thinks it is "his" to ride in (which he does), but I just let him think that as it's really mine.

Duncan in his motorcycle sidecar