Taste of Chicago

We drove up to Chicago this afternoon after church and went biking along the lakeshore. We then headed toward downtown and enjoyed "Taste of Chicago".

This was our first time at the festival. It was very hot, but a lot of fun.

Who'd have ever thought that this type of statement would be a positive thing...

We got the boys some ice cold dill pickles. The girl was so sweet to cut them in half for the boys to share...

Afterwards we were SO hot and desperately needed some AC. We biked over to the Adler Planetarium and were able to get in free with our reciprocal pass.

Old-Fashioned Independence Day Celebration

This afternoon, a couple from our church hosted a HUGE Old-Fashioned 4th of July celebration at their home. There was something for everyone to do regardless of age. It truly was an AMAZING afternoon/evening.

The boys went fishing in the pond with dadddy for the biggest bass contest.

The boys LOVED wading in the pond...

...and playing in the sand along the shore.

Lil J with his friend, Tanner

Homemade Ice Cream in every flavor imaginable.

These pretzels were so awesome!

Mr. Ernsberger made balloon creations for all of the kiddos.

There were at least 1,000 sparklers for the kids to do. Everyone did as many as they wanted and there were still a lot left over.

After dusk, the Elliot's presented an AMAZING fireworks display.

The fellowship with friends was wonderful. The kids had a blast. My hubby even won the shot-put competition. What a hunk! It was definitely a day to remember.

VBS

This year Lil J and Michael were BOTH old enough for VBS. They had a great week and WONDERFUL teachers! Cousin Daniel joined the boys for two of the days...

I had the privilege of working with the 3rd grade girls for the week. The girls were so sweet and so girly! (what a contrast to the little boy world I live in!)

A place to worship...

Tonight as I was tucking the boys in bed and praying with them, Lil J said, "I worshiped God today in the garden." "You did?" I asked. "Yes, when I was out in the garden I saw a green circle. So I stood in the middle of it and prayed and worshiped God", he explained.

When we planted our garden a few weeks ago, I planted a small circle of "climbing" peas so that we can place garden stakes to form a "tepee" for them to climb. I guess he saw the circle of plant sprouts and thought it was an ideal place to worship God.

His comment really challenged me because how often during my days do I pause to worship God and thank Him for Who He is and His goodness to me? Right now when I walk out to my garden, all I see is weeds and work that needs to be done. What a challenge to not get so caught up in the day to day "to-dos" that I neglect to worship my Lord and Savior.

"Except...ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven" - Matt 18:3

Birthday Bowling

Tonight after dinner, we took the boys bowling. We had a great time.

Dinosaur Party

For Jonathan's 5th Birthday today, we just had a small party here at home with his cousins and their mommies. Lil J decided on Dinosaurs for a theme. When his little guests first arrived they all colored dinosaur picture placemats.

Baby Faith enjoyed playing in an excersaucer during the party.

Baby Hudson was all smiles...

The next activity was a dinosaur egg hunt...

After each of the five boys found their dinosaur eggs (play dough with baby dinosaurs hiding inside) they took them to the table and we learned about how fossils were made during the great flood...

Daddy helped make "fossils" in the play dough...

Here is Michael's frog "fossil"...

Jonathan's duck "fossil"...

The sweet, adorable cousin crew in their matching dinosaur shirts...

The ferocious dinosaur cousins...

For lunch the boys had dino chicken nuggets, ants on a log, carrots and dino jigglers...

The boys enjoyed drawing a dinosaur mural on the wall...

Here is Michael trying to guess who stole the egg in the game,

"Dinosaur, Dinosaur where's your egg?"

Opening gifts...

Cake time!