Anna's 7th Birthday and more TN fun

 We went to Tennessee in late June to help celebrate Anna's surprise 7th birthday party. What made me laugh so much about this party is that Anna told Kelly that she wanted a Surprise Frozen Pool party. What a kid! lol :) Not quite convinced that's how surprises work, but at least she knows what she wants! lol :)

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Here are the guests lined up and waiting for the birthday girl to arrive

 Here she comes...

 Such a sweet smile from such a sweet girl! :)

McKinley hanging out with Kelly

 Everyone always loves to play with Pappy

 Looks like the boys might have been ganging up on poor Charlie... :)

 While we were in Tennessee we visited the Sligers and were able to meet their new grandson, Martin, for the first time. He is such a sweet baby! Not sure why I didn't start snapping pictures earlier on or how I only managed to get a couple, but at least I got one of McKinley checking out Martin.

 The Kellys had us over to enjoy all their wonderful fruit! The kids love to raid their raspberry and blueberry patches. Their farm is always so much fun and such a great place for my wild and crazy kids to run and play! :)

 I couldn't believe McKinley snuggled with Aunt Nancy so quickly but it wasn't at all a surprise that she loved the fresh raspberries! :)

 I have a lot of these berry pictures, but I just can't help it since they're all so cute! :) 

 Time to sit and eat them all!!! :)

I thought this was a sweet picture of Reagan and Aunt Nancy having a chat while looking for a rabbit they had spotted.

 Hanging out by the barn, 

 in the hammock, 

 and don't forget the amazing tire swings!!! 

 Somehow, neither Grand-Dad or I managed to take a single picture at Grammy and Grand-Dad's house, but they were of course a large part of the fun too! Thank you to everyone for always making us feel so special and welcome in Tennessee! :)

St. John's 2014 VBS - International Spy Academy

In June the kids participated in, and I directed, our church's VBS program. It was a wonderful program put out by Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum called "International Spy Academy, Agents for the One True God." We are so blessed to have a church family who is so ready and willing to pitch in and help out. I can not say enough about the wonderful team I had to work with! I think the kids had a lot of fun through out the week and I can't believe it's nearly time to begin thinking about and organizing VBS for next summer!

 One True God

At our church the children in 2nd through 5th grade are in a junior youth group called KFC (Kids for Christ). Traditionally each night of VBS they have a "LemonAid" stand to raise money in support of a Salvation Army program that benefits homeless children in our region. This year we decided to put even more emphasis on this effort during our mission moments and I am proud to say our kids raised over $1,000! I thought that was a wonderful sign that we were teaching our "special agents" how to help others through works as well as words. So proud of these kids!!!

Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge

In May we had the opportunity to visit Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge with our homeschool co-op, BHLC. It was so interesting and the kids loved it! Instead of gifts for her 7th birthday, Reagan had requested donations for Wolf Run so we took those with us when we visited.

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The first animals we had the opportunity to see and interact with were some wolf pups that had recently been rescued. The kids loved having the opportunity to pet the pups and they were pretty adorable! Having said that, I can't think who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to adopt or try to raise wolves...

 

 

 McKinley loves "puppies"

 Many of the adult wolves or wolf dogs (I can't remember which these were anymore) were quite friendly and interested in having attention from the kids.

 They also had a number of other animals that had been rescued including deer. They also had a mountain lion, pigs, coyotes and a number of other animals.

 This was one of their tamer wolves and one of the ones they use for education purposes when the visit events throughout the year. What a gorgeous animal!

 If you have any interest in learning more about or supporting Wolf Run Wild Life Refuge, please visit their website at http://www.wolfrun.org/ .

Early Birthday for Jackson from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa sent Jackson his birthday gifts early this year so he could enjoy them through out the summer. This boy loves his camo! They sent him clothes as well as special underwear. Pretty cool stuff!

 McKinley also enjoyed Jackson's new camo underwear and found it worked equally well as a hat... 

 Jackson was pretty excited about the "Little Digger" Grandma and Grandpa set him! 

 

 Sweet sisters enjoying the beautiful day outside while Jackson was busy digging. :)

McKinley loves Mendelssohn

 

 I was obviously enjoying taking pictures of this sweet baby in May! :)

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the amazing gifts! Jackson certainly enjoyed them throughout the summer and continues to enjoy them now! :)

McKinley - May 2014

As our activities slow down a bit for winter break I'm hoping I might get a little caught up on my 2014 posts. I don't know how nearly 3 months has slipped by without a post. It is truly amazing how time flies! This isn't exactly the most practical posts in terms of trying to get caught up, but I just couldn't help but share these sweet smiles and beautiful blue eyes of Miss McKinley last May. :)

 

 Miss McKinley certainly knows how to be silly too! :) 

 Serious, but sweet

 One sweet and happy baby! :)