Finished!

This is Chris's latest project.  He made us a new bed frame.  We were married nearly 10 years ago and since then we just had mattresses on a metal frame.  So, not too long ago, I had a brainstorm idea to make a quilt for our bed.  The deal was that I would make a quilt and Chris would make us a bed.  Well, he beat me done and this is his end of the deal.  The red paint was a bit of a bold move for me.  However, I love it!  So, thankful that Chris went along with the deal and now, I have to live up to my end of the bargain!

This was our inspiration and Chris's pattern.

A Day on the Farm

We had a great start to our summer.  The day after school was out, we headed to our friends' house well north of where we live to spend some time on their farm during the harvest. The harvesting crew that was taking in their wheat was very gracious and let our gang ride along for awhile.  Luke got to ride by himself, Chris took Andrew and our friend took Hannah along.  It was fascinating to have a front row seat to the harvest process.  It wasn't all harvest, though.  Each of the kids got a ride on the 4-wheeler, pictures in the wheat and time one the swing set.  Most importantly, we just had another lovely visit with our dear friends that have loved us like family from the moment we entered in the Air Force.  We are so very grateful for their friendship and the impact that they have on our lives and the lives of our trio!

Harvesting Crew

 Hannah posing with her ride

Kindergarten Complete

Wow!  There is now a first grader in the house!  Luke finished up his year of kindergarten this past week.  I am so glad to now have him home and not have our lives dictated by the school calendar for a few weeks.  Luke enjoys school, but he also enjoys being at home.  So, for the summer we will do a few things at home...read, clean and of course have fun!  Hannah is now even more excited because she now considers herself a kindergartener!

A special thanks to my friend Lisa for the sign idea!  And another special thanks to Hannah and Andrew for painting such a beautiful sun for it!

This is What Happens When....

Chris was home with the kids the other evening while I spent an enjoyable evening with girlfriends.  This is what happened after dinner....

For some reason, dinner time is always the most difficult time of my day.  Chris must have the magic touch, though.  However, he didn't let them sleep long since it was nearly 6 pm - so thankful for that!

Field Day!

 Luke had his first field day of his school career yesterday.  They invited families to join in if they wanted and their were several there. I was also thrilled to find out that they did the younger kids first thing in the morning - much cooler that time of day!

Luke got to compete in 4 of the 5 events.  He got to do the egg drop (they used a potato instead :)  ), sack race, rollerball and tug-of-war.  His class did well, but I think another class did better.  I thought it was fun to hear that the gym teacher had been teaching them how to play each of these games over the course of the last week or so.  It was fun to watch them play as well...kids losing shoes, child over the top of the large ball - more than once, not going in a straight line to the other end, etc.  It was a fun morning and I'm so glad they let us come and watch!

Egg/Potato Race

 Rollerball

 Tug-of-War

Luke with his best friend from his class, Gavin

Groovin' Through Kindergarten

Today, Luke performed with the all of the kindergarten classes (4 classes) their end of the year program.  It was such a cute performance.  I have to admit that I was a bit choked up a bit a couple of times.  Tears flowed the first day of school, they flowed when I took him to school after Christmas break and today, I really had to work at holding them back.  Luke has learned tons academically this year.  However, I can't tell you how much he has grown in maturity, character and in his walk with God this year.  For those things I am beyond deeply grateful.  I cry because my little boy is growing up and I cry because he will be on to the next grade next year and Hannah will be in this place next year.  All good things, but all showing how quickly time flies!  I guess it didn't help that when the program was over, Luke presented us with a book made up of pictures he'd done throughout the year - each one was made of his handprint - so precious!

 Here Luke is in the front row helping to lead the Pledge of Allegiance

Luke with his teacher, Ms Cota

 

Luke is in the next to the top row about the fourth kid from the left...enjoy!

Bugs, Moths and Snakes

These bugs are EVERYWHERE here this year!  They are big, they are stinky and they crunch when you kill them.  I don't think they hurt you, but I'd rather that they stay out of my house.  They do kind of make me laugh, though.  If there are a bunch of them, half of them are on their backs kicking their legs in the air...funny, big, stinky bug!

Moths are EVERYWHERE as well.  I have never seen so many moths in my life at one time.  We probably have some very fat birds in these parts as they get to dine on them to their heart's content.  They have had so many in some places they they even had to cancel a few of the flights at the base because so many had set up home in the cockpits!

Snakes...thankfully, I have not seen any of these and I certainly hope that I do not see any of these.  However, I do have friends that report sitings.  I hope I stay in the group that doesn't and never will see any in these parts.  I wish I wouldn't be so paranoid, but I have a deep seeded fear of these creatures!

Until Next Year

 So long beautiful wheat...until next year...

Base Open House

Last Saturday afternoon, we attended an open house of the base that we're now stationed.  Chris went in for a couple of hours doing some food prep work for the volunteers so it was really nice that he could join us for the afternoon.

 We started with a demo by those that work with the security dogs.  Here Chris was checking some of the arm padding they use in training and Luke is hanging on.  All I have to say...those are some very well trained dogs and you better obey his master if you ever encounter one!

 They also had a few cars on display.  Andrew enjoyed seeing his reflection on this door!

 Checking out one of the side doors on a C-130.  While we chatted with one of Chris's former UPT (undergraduate pilot training) classmates, the kids had pretended jumping out of the back on the plane.

 Picture taken looking out a hatch on a C-17

 Luke with some gun and ammo on display

 Andrew

 Hannah

 Chris and Luke getting instruction on manipulating a robot used with explosive devices.  

After a tour of the inside of a tank, the kids posed for me

Luke, Hannah and Andrew in the pilots' seat of Chris's plane, KC-135

Finally, just a word on the safety vests that the kids wore.  Thanks to their Grandma Snow they can always be safe.  Luke was sure that they all wore them (yes, Hannah and Andrew easily agreed) to be safe when they were on the runway!

A Saturday Morning Activity

Wow!  It looks like I got just a bit behind in my blogging this past week!  We've had a good week, but a busy one.

Anyway, last Saturday morning, we had a few hours to kill before joining Daddy at the base so we headed to a local farm supply store.  They had advertised free flowers for kids to plant for their mothers.  They had a really nice set up with a flower of the child's choice, help planting and watering it as well as cards for them to color and sign.  They loved the plants they picked and I noticed how each color goes along well with each child's favorite color!  Afterwards, we headed inside to check out the baby chicks, baby ducks and baby geese that they sell.  And it just wouldn't be an outing to Atwoods without getting a small bag of popcorn on the way out.  The kids loved it!

Amber Waves of Grain

 The wheat is just beautiful right now!

Weekend Entertainment

This past weekend, our small town hosted it's annual Rock-N-Rumble.  For most of the day, they had the cars displayed around the town square and handed out awards later in the day.  The climax of the event was an evening cruise.  They closed a couple of miles of one of the main roads in town and all of the cars in the car show cruised the strip for an hour or so.  Now, all of that sounds fine and fun, but what I didn't tell you was that it was 106 that day - the hottest day we've had so far.  That did not stop them from enjoying their day, though.  We needed to be near downtown around 10 that morning and were amazed at how many people were tailgating along that main road already...did I mention that it was already hot at 10 am?!  They set up their canopies, their ladder golf and their smokers and made a day of waiting for that final cruise later in the day.  Obviously, you didn't find the Robey family sitting on the curb waiting for the show to start.  Instead, we headed to McDonald's for dinner (because we couldn't easily drive to any of the other fine dining in town) and then found a nice place in the shade (even though it was still 100 or so, it wasn't too bad in the shade that time of day) to watch the drivers.  The kids only lasted 15-20 minutes, but we had a fun evening nonetheless.  Here's a few snapshots of the night.

  

 Typical cruise

 Luke's Favorite

It wouldn't be a cruise if there were not some burn-outs used to show off!

Memories

 Last week, we took a visit to my past in a couple of different ways.  First, I needed to wash a lot of our bedding.  This takes forever to dry in the dryer and isn't even completely done by the end.  So, Chris put up a clothesline for me.  It worked like a charm!  Last week's temperatures were over 100 for a few days and the humidity was around 15% accompanied by a nice hot breeze.  Needless to say, they were dry in no time!  It just brings back memories of helping my Mom bring in and hang clothes on our clothesline.  There is just something about items that are dried outside in fresh air!

We also received a helping of fresh green beans in last week's Bountiful Basket.  I really looked forward to having the kids help me snap these (although, I think Luke still thinks that he is podding peas....).  It brought back memories of sitting on the front porch of my grandparent's house on warm summer afternoons with large pans rounded with green beans and we would sit for long stretches snapping for my grandmother to cook, can or freeze.   Unfortunately, I didn't always enjoy it growing up, but now, I only think of those times with fondness.

The Messenger - A Book Review

The Messenger by Siri Mitchell takes place during the Revolutionary War in Philadelphia under the British occupation.  This book proved to be attention getting and thought provoking.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, but I'm also glad I'm finished.  It was very difficult for me to put it down and I got very few things done.  It first captured my attention by the style the author used.  I have read very few books that are written in first person so I had to pay attention as to which character was speaking.  It didn't take me long to be able to actually put myself into the story by the use of the style.  Second, it was very thought provoking.  There are quite a few issues brought up in the book that I knew about, but the book made me much more aware of them.  Issues such as Patriot vs. British views during the war, slavery, and faith (relationship) vs. religion were explored and developed in this story.  The part that most fascinated me was how Quakers viewed this time.  I'm not familiar with that faith so it was really interesting to see how that character went from practicing a religion to actually having faith and doing what was right in God's eyes and not just in the eyes of her church.  I would suggest reading the authors synopsis about the Quaker faith at the end of the book before reading the entire story.  It will help make the story make more sense.

If you're looking for a book that explains the Gospel message, you won't find it in this book.  Instead, you'll find characters who grow in their day to day faith with God.  I would highly recommend this book especially if you enjoy a good read!

This review was completed after receiving a free copy from Bethany House Publishers.

Fun-Filled Weekend

This past weekend, we went on a bit of an adventure.  Chris did an air show at a nearby base.  He got to fly down, but I packed up the kids along with our tent and we went to join him for the weekend. Upon our arrival, we picked up Chris and promptly went and set up our tent.  From there, we headed out to have dinner with some friends we went through pilot training with.  It was so very good to see them.  The last time we saw them, Luke was the only child we had between the two of us.  Now, six years later, we have 7 kiddos between us!  The next morning Chris headed to the air show early and I took the chance to do some shopping (we have limited options at our current location).  My favorites were wandering through three different Christian bookstores and finishing it off with lunch at Chick-fil-A (of course!)  Finally, we made our way to the air show.  I took the kids and wandered through some of the displays for a bit and then sat at the KC-135 static display for the rest of the afternoon.  I thoroughly enjoyed just hanging out with my husband and seeing just another aspect of his job.  To finish out our time there, we took the kids to their small, but very nice zoo with lunch out before hitting the road back home and back to normal life.

By the way, Chris used to have more time to take pictures.  So I really loved it that he got our his camera and lens this past weekend and took some pretty neat pictures.  Here is just a few of the many that we ended up with.  Enjoy!

B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber

 F-22 Raptor

 B-1 Lancer

 A-10 Thunderbolt

 Robey Trio at the Zoo

 Rhino

 Lion

Peacock (wasn't it nice that he posed for us!)