Star Spangled Fried Chicken Dinner 2016

One thing we do really well at Mayfair is the Star Spangled Fried Chicken Dinner. A Sunday close to July 4th we meet for a fried chicken dinner, complete with members bringing homemade ice cream of all flavors. The highlight for the kids is a parade that they do through the family center with bikes, wagons, cars, or decorating themselves! I loved our little friend Ava's skates this year. One reason I love this event is the same as Trunk or Treat. It gives families a project to work on. They can come up with a unique flavor of ice cream or work on decorating their wheels. I think those projects are ways families can work together on a common goal, while building special memories. I look forward to the seasons when the kids are older and can have more input. The Star Spangled dinner is also a time our church family can fellowship together, and invite extended family and friends.

It's something Elle and Todd look forward to each year, and I'm sure Reese will too. This was her first year to ride her own bike. She had a little trouble with the line up, but once we got started she was into it! Todd had a tinsel issue with one wheel so I had to push. Still learning what decorations will work and what won't.
 
    

 

 

nashville part 1

Chris was presenting again at the Christian Scholars Conference and I was presenting at the Children's Spirituality Conference this summer, and both were at Lipscomb University back to back. So we loaded up the bear cubs and headed to Tennessee.



We really need a selfie stick! We stuck them three across, and packed up lots of play things because we were going to do the drive there in one day. They actually all did really well! They rotated between movies, toys, books, art, and legos. The legos were one of the best investments. They were so quiet for a really long time!





In order to not eat out so much we packed a cooler, and we stopped in Arkansas to have lunch. We got delayed a bit because we were able to stop in Little Rock and see our friends Matt and Angela and meet their new baby girl Joy. It was a very special time and I'm so glad we stopped. Hoping to get to see their other little girl Amelia next time.





We stayed at Montgomery Bell State Park for the first part of our trip. We got in so late the first night so we don't have any pictures until the next morning. Chris didn't have to be at his conference until that afternoon so we were able to explore a little bit. It was gorgeous around the inn. The kids wanted to paddle boat right away.





See we really need a self stick!



That afternoon we took Chris to Lipscomb and I took the kids to the science museum. It was free since we could reciprocate with our science museum membership! They had a really cool exhibit about dogs. Todd is educating the museum volunteer about coyotes that he picked up from Hank the Cowdog.






Elle really liked this play area where you could slide through the "small intestine" and it was make a sound like passing gas when you came out. (sigh!)



After playing at the museum we swung by the store to pick up more groceries, and then played and picnicked at Lipscomb while we waited for Chris to finish his evening.

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The next two days the kids and I stayed at the park while Chris went to the conference. We played around the inn, and they're favorite thing was swimming in the lake. They even didn't mind the fish that would come swimming up.
















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kicking off summer 2016

We started off summer with the girls having checks ups. Everyone was healthy, and no shots this time so we celebrated with an icee thing from on cue. Then I really needed to get some books from OC's library. Turned out to be a great first outing for summer. OC has a children's literature collection, which they keep on the third floor. We've been a few times and the kids really enjoy it. There's a couple of bean bags, and quotes from different books on the walls. They have a lot of older books, which makes for a change from the Metro library. We ended up checking out a few, and will probably be a regular place to visit this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

jungle book @ myriad gardens

Last Friday we met our friends the Kochers at the Myriad Gardens. We love having them here and have missed them terribly! The Gardens' spring fundraiser usually transforms the children's garden into a theme, and this years' is Jungle Book. They always do a fabulous job with the activities and decorations. The kids had a blast! So worth getting a membership every year. Sweet memories with sweet friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God's shine

The other day in the car we were driving, and Todd saw the sun.

He asked if that was God's shine.

At the time we were also listening to TJ McCloud's Let the Little Children Come. A very fitting song for the moment. We were driving to go see Grandad in the hospital, and we had just read about our friends Matt and Angela's update on their blog about baby Joy. So many of our family and friends have taken hits recently. It was a very emotional moment to be present in Todd's wonderment of God. I just really wanted to document this moment with him.

Mother's Day 2016

This year was a little different with Chris' dad still in the hospital so soon after his surgery. We had a nice lunch with Chris' mom, sister, and our nephew. Chris contributed to my fiesta collection. The kids had sweet cards and homemade gifts. Elle lost a tooth when she and Todd and Weston were playing too rambunctiously upstairs. Makes her look so much older. 

 

Today I attended Elle's Mother's Day tea at school. Her love language is quality time so it's something I can't miss. It's great having a little special time with her, especially since she's so big!

 

Some thoughts and feelings were rolling around all weekend. A Facebook friend summed them up perfectly. She posted, "For those with hurting hearts today, I am thinking about you....friends who yearn for babies, friends who've lost babies, friends who've lost mamas.... And for the birth mothers today, you are my heroes!"

looping through songs

I was listening to someone talk about how kids who don't come every week have a hard time really understanding when you say "last week we talked about..." In the curriculum we use for our nursery-preschool every lesson generally has a short song. Songs are great memorization tools, so I decided one great way to help those kids pick up on what we talked about previously, and reinforce the lessons for the kids who were there, was to loop back to all the songs from each lesson. I bought small chart paper tablets and my intern and another volunteer began writing up the songs. Now teachers can quickly flip through each song.