T-N-T Party

On Saturday, 10/25, we had our T-N-T party. This is our Sunday Night program for kids in preschool through 6th grade. We had scheduled a hay ride but the weather did not cooperate. So we went with plan B. The Klein family had room in their pole barn for our group. The kids cooked hot dogs, played games, and even made a craft. We all had a great time!

MOPS Convention

Stephanie, Amber and myself took off to Dallas for the annual MOPS convention. It was held Oct. 2nd-4th. We had a great time!!! The convention was packed full of general sessions with just under 5000 in attendance, workshops, resource fair, good food and lots of fun. The toilet monster seen in the photos was left in our bathroom after a "we want to see your room" visit from the 7 gals from the North Branch MOPS group. I screamed! They were waiting outside in the hall waiting for someone to find their friend. When I found him and screamed I heard laughter in the hall and 14 feet running away. Later that night we woke to an alarm clock they had hidden in the room that abruptly woke us up. They were again, outside the door waiting to hear all the commotion inside. We did not disappoint them.

Field Trips

I'm back!

I thought I would post a few pictures of the girls.


I was able to go on a field trip with both of them.

I just love this wonderful fall weather we have been having. The girls and I went on a walk today.

Summer Vacation Coming to a close!

What a great summer! The girls are home after an 11 day stay at Grandma DeLongs. They enjoyed all the lake activities like playing in the sand, paddle boat rides, pontoon ride and swimming.
Mackenzie made a few new friends and the girls have their own fort now just feet away from the beach. It is a great place to read, draw and just have some fun.
Amber sprained her ankle a week ago Sunday while playing on the trampoline. She had x-rays and they said it is not broken but if she is not walking on it in a week to see the doctor. Well, the week is here and she is not walking on it. So, it is going to be interesting with her starting school tomorrow. I'm going to call the doctors office tomorrow and make another appointment for her.
Today we are getting ready for school to start. The back packs are packed and we just have to get them into bed early so they are ready for school. They are going to make the most of their last summer vacation day. They have great plans to play with the neighbor girls.
I'm still without a camera so I'm unable to post any pictures.
Enjoy your Labor Day!

Are we there yet?

After almost 12 hours in the motor home we made it Word of Life Family Campground. There are 19 of my family members here this week. My mom (Kate), the girls and I, along with my sister Kristine and her 4 kids, sister-in-law Dawn and her 4 kids, my brother Ralph (he works for WOL), his wife Wendy and their 2 kids and my niece Micaela.
We are having a great time. We have 4 camp sites connected. The kids are enrolled in classes and we adults have meetings in the morning and evening.
If has rained every day but we are still enjoying ourselves. The temp. has been in the low 70's. Today is family fun day with inflatables, games and face painting this afternoon.
I do not have the ability to post pictures.
We sure do miss Steve. He, along with the other men are home working.

Fair Day!

Tuesday we took off and went to the Imlay City fair to watch three nieces show their sheep.
Larissa (17) won Reserve Champion Pen and Reserve Champion Market Lamb. Micaela (13) was in the show ring 10 time and placed 9 2nd's and 1 3rd. Autumn (7) was in the clover bud class. She went out to Larissa's and Micaela's often and helped them work with their sheep. She showed Micaela's for her showmanship class. It was a very long and hot day. When all the showing was complete we then went and hit some rides and took in a circus and other shows.
My nephew Drake and Amber hit the barn with my camera. That's why we have the raisin picture. There were other pictures he took of the sheep and it's anatomy but I thought I better not show them.

Helen L. Sanborn 4/21/18 - 7/27/08

Grandma with some of her great grandkids on her 89th birthday celebration.


My Grandma passed away last evening. She was an amazing woman. She was diagnosed with bone cancer about a year and a half ago. Thankfully she still remained active and did not experience great pain. One July 5th she had 88 people at her home for the annual Barnes Lake Fireworks. She enjoyed herself that day and visited with many people. She was put in the hospital 7/13 with an infection. My family visited with her there on 7/17. She tickled Amber and we visited. She was transferred to Marlette Hospice on 7/18 for pain management. She was doing okay. The hope was to get the pain she was having under control so she could come home. God had other plans. Her body proceeded to shut down. Fortunately, she was able to rest peacefully and that is how she was went she went to be with Jesus.
Thank you for those who have been praying for my family.

Camping

We have been camping at Albert Sleeper State Park in Caseville. This is our sixth summer to go with my family and some friends. This year Aunt Kelly provided the kids with crafts almost daily. Mackenzie and Amber love to do crafts along with the other kids. Our time went quickly. We had fun going to the beach, building sand castles, roasting marshmellows, watching movies, riding bike and a whole lot more.

Luau Party

Big Party for four very important people. Grandma DeLong, Mom (Tracey), Mackenzie and Amber. The girls, along with grandma went all out for the four of us. The food was fabulous and the decorations top notch. We have a beautiful location at grandma's for a party. What fun we had!

Happy 4th of July

Mackenzie & Amber playing waiting for the airshow to start.







We watched the Blue Angels on Saturday the 5th in Traverse City.

On the morning of the 4th we went to Breakfast at the airport where we were able to see some airplane and watched the Blue Angels take off and land. I know nothing about airplanes. Steve is my airplane man. We all enjoyed both the tour and the airshow.

We watched the airshow from the beach with thousands of other people. We were there for hours (about 5). The girls played in the water and had a great time. They even acted like best friends most of the day. I wish I had a view from the sky of all the people that were there. Miles of people on the beach, boats anchored in the bay and people everywhere.

Cedar Point

Some of the cousins hanging out! There was no line so the kids rode this about 5 times without getting off. Left to right. Alana, Natasha, Mackenzie, Amber and Drake. Drake seems to be totally board with this ride.

Amber was wicked in the bumper cars. Watch out....here I come!

Natasha, Mackenzie and Amber met snoopy.

Would you like to take a ride with me? I have an empty seat!

Taking time for a family pose.

This was the first time our girls have been to Cedar Point. We had a family wedding on Saturday that was 45 minutes from Cedar Point so two of my brothers and one of my sisters along with our family and my mom went to Cedar Point on Thursday before the wedding. It was perfect. Cedar Point was the least busiest that I have seen it. The kids road as much as they wanted without waiting in line. The only line they waited in was for the Ferris Wheel.

On Friday we went to Soak City. Great family getaway.

Woodchucks & Girls, Birthday & Surfing

Amber taking a ride on the surf board. Mackenzie giving her some words of encouragement although she herself would not ever think about trying this.

This picture is of my brother Willie (in Blue)

at his surprise 40th party.

Woodchucks & Girls

Okay, so what do the two have in common?

Both have removed the top of some of my flowers in the bud stage. I've talked to both the culprits. Okay...I yelled at the woodchuck and told him he is not welcome here.

The girls I talked to and they have assured me it will not happen again.

Last week went by fast. VBS was great. Work went well. On Thursday night Amber had the full and continued on thru the day on Friday. So, I did not work and Amber did not go to VBS.

I gave a couples shower for my cousin Jacob and his bride to be Laura. We had a fun time. Played the newlywed game and if you know my brother Willie he always add some life to the party. I believe Steve and I got the most answers correct. Too bad the prize was not a 5 day get away with just the 2 of us.

Speaking of just the 2 of us. Steve and I are home alone. Okay.. he's off to work making money to support this family and I was home sick for 2 days. Feeling better today. The girls are with grandma DeLong and guess what....she has the flu too. Came down with it last night. Said she is doing better and I don't need to come get the girls.

So tomorrow and Friday I"m back to the office. Today I'm doing many loads of laundry. We have way to many clothes. I'm going to try to cut back. Who needs that much stuff? Not us!!

I did not take 1 picture last week. So I pulled some from the past for you to enjoy. I know you all like to look at pictures and not just read.

I'm posting some pictures of when we were at Avalanche Bay the End of April. Amber went on the surf board "thing". I was surprised that she wanted to try. She even went twice.

The picture on the right is of Mackenzie and some of her classmate on the last day of school at her awards assembly.



Adam Michael Stone and Amber are great friends. They have been in preschool, MOPS and church together. They act they have known each other since birth.
It is cute to watch the two of them interact. Earlier in the year they talked about marriage. I think they have other plans now.



Adam, Amber and Tessa during their preschool program.

Mackenzie and Amber posing by Amber's classroom door.

Well, school is out and the DeLong family is off and running. We left immediately after Mackenzie's award assembly and took off for Grandma DeLong's house. Grandma was still down state so we beat her home. We enjoyed three nights there. The girls had a few firsts. They rode in the paddleboat all by themselves. They even took Peach for a boat ride. Mackenzie also learned how to skip rocks.

Friday Night Steve and I helped another MOPS group with a MOPS and POPS night out. It was fun and some of them from their steering team will be coming to Immanuel in the Fall to help us with a MOPS and POPS night out.

Saturday we did a little work at the church during the work day. Steve worked on the computers adding memory and other misc. stuff while Tracey and the girls did some painting. The girls really wanted to help so we tried to give them some things to do. They picked up rocks out of the parking lot and pulled weeds. I believe it is important to let the kids work on projects just like the adults.

Sunday was another great day. Pastor Mark is an excellent preacher. Something that hit me this morning was the fact that I'm guilty at times of telling God how he should answer my prayers. Okay...I'm going to work on this. Let God know my need but let him work it out according to his plan.

Tonight we had a great time at the Klein's. I'm not sure what the girls enjoyed the most. The slip and slide..trampoline...playing ball...our just having fun with friends. Steve and I enjoyed ourselves too.

Thanks Klein family we had a wonderful night.

Like I said we are off and running. Tomorrow we head to North Branch for the week. I'm working while the girls are in Bible School. We are staying with my parents. Hopefully we will have some great pool time. I'll try to take my camera and post pictures next weekend.