The Warehouse

Trip absolutely LOVES to play in the church warehouse. He doesn't get to do it much because it's so dusty and dirty in there. He enjoyed having the team of kids here last week because he got to play in the warehouse several times. There was even a guy tall enough to lift him up so he could dunk the basketball. The only problem is that he thinks we are all tall enough to do so.

During the movie night, he played in there for a while and liked hearing his voice echo. He was so excited to be there! In fact, he gets so excited in the video, that he falls down.

The Great Pizza Bake

Last week, we had a team of students from Colorado here doing service projects and a soccer camp for kids. They helped several people with yard work and maintenance projects, did the demolition at our church for the future youth coffee shop, and got to know a lot of kids around town by providing activities and games for them.

On Thursday, they wanted to have a movie night and get pizza. Since our pizza places here are mediocre at best and way too expensive, we decided to make it ourselves. I made six batches of dough late that morning and set them out to rise.

We gathered eleven cookie sheets and pans to cover in dough and toppings.

Trip and I met up with the team at Safeway and gathered the ingredients we would need. The six girls came home with us and we all got to work. I was extremely thankful that Trip took a nap, even with all the commotion. That sure made the afternoon easier for me!

After cooking the ground beef and chicken and cutting up the olives, mushrooms, pineapple, and Canadian bacon, the girls crowded around the table and got to work spreading out the dough. They added sauce and toppings, and a short time later, we had eleven pizzas ready to bake. I wish I had gotten a picture of all of them at work! I was too busy to even think about it.

We made pepperoni, Hawaiian, meat lover's, chicken alfredo, cheese, and a pizza with soy cheese for a team member who couldn't have dairy.

This was a time when we were very thankful for our second oven that's in the shop. We don't need it often, but there are times when it comes in very handy! We were able to have pizzas baking in our two ovens and send some over to bake in the church's oven. I was going back and forth between the house and the shop trying to make sure each pizza was cooked properly while Kirk shuttled people and pizzas to the church. It was a furry of excitement for a little while, but everything came out perfectly. The 35 or so people who were at the movie night loved the pizza and there were only two pans leftover for the next day's lunch.

It was a great experience and made me thankful for all the cooking skills I learned from my mom. She became an expert at cooking for large groups of people when we lived in Belgium and always wowed everyone with the great meals she made. I'm glad to get to carry on the tradition every once in a while!

Junior Rodeo

Our county junior rodeo was held a couple of weeks ago. Kirk, Trip, and I walked the couple of blocks over to the fairgrounds to check it out. I enjoyed watching many kids that I know from subbing at the middle and high schools compete in various events.

Trip enjoyed seeing the horses and cattle, but what he enjoyed most was playing in the grandstand and eating snacks, including some M&Ms that Daddy shared with him. He made a mess of himself, but sure liked it (and as usual, wasn't thrilled to have his picture taken)!

He had fought his morning nap, so by the time we left the rodeo, he was wiped out. So much so, in fact, that he fell asleep almost immediately once he got in the stroller! This never happens, so I was talking to him and when there was no response, I moved the shade to see him, and found him sound asleep. He woke up when I took him out of the stroller at home, but fortunately as soon as he was in his crib, he was out again.

Funny Picture Roundup

In looking through some pictures of the last month, I found several that didn't make it into any posts, but were worth sharing.

Relaxing with some popcorn :)


Digging in! His small bowl was not good enough. He wanted the big one!


Watching his absolute favorite show, Super Why (which I love because it's all about letters, spelling, and reading), with a bat in hand.


Kaiden, the one-boot cowboy taking a nap on our couch.

Trying on Mommy's fleece. (And not wanting to pose for a picture.)

Pretending to take a nap in the laundry basket.

Baseball Games

The baseball season has recently ended for the kids around here. We were able to attend several games and watch many of Trip's friends play. He enjoyed bringing his bat and ball to the games and playing on the sidelines.

Here he is playing with Connor and Madison...

Later that evening, the kids were throwing rocks in a huge puddle in the parking lot, and Trip fell in. He was wet up to his knees with muddy water, but was having such a great time that he didn't care at all. Needless to say, we had to take off his pants, socks, and shoes before he got in the car and he got a nice bath as soon as we got home.

Swimming Lessons

Last week, our local pool was offering free swimming lessons. Our friend Gabi is one of the lifeguards, so we requested her to teach Trip.

On Monday, we tried sending him in the water alone with Gabi. He did not like that idea, so I got in with him. He didn't really enjoy it much and spent most of the 20 minutes that he lasted in the water calling for Daddy and asking to get out. An outdoor pool at 10am when the weather has only been slightly warm for a couple of days is not really ideal for getting a little one to want to swim.

Tuesday and Wednesday were much better because Gabi's four-year-old brother, Kaiden was there and he had his lessons with us. That helped Trip a lot and made him much happier in the water. He loved throwing the balls they had and "swimming" over to get them. On Tuesday, Kirk tried being the one in the water with Trip, but he wasn't having it, so I swam with him all week. The weather was much colder on Thursday, so we skipped the pool altogether.

Friday was the big success. Trip got in the pool with Gabi right away and was actually excited to be there. He swam with Gabi for at least 20 minutes before asking for me and let me swim with Kaiden.

Kaiden gave Trip a wetsuit that he had outgrown. Trip loves wearing it and it looks super cute on him!


We're looking forward to more time at the pool this summer, especially once the weather warms up some more. We will probably do another session of lessons too to keep working on getting Trip used to being in the water.

Happy Birthday, Kirk!

Thursday was Kirk's birthday. Although he did have some work to do, he was able to have a fairly relaxed day. His day started early with a 6am men's breakfast at church, which was perfect because it allowed me to put up the banner I made for him.

I didn't have any camo paper, but I did have some fabric, so I decided to make him a fabric banner to last a few years. I had fun sneaking around making it when Kirk wasn't home.

Trip and I ran to the store to purchase things we needed for Kirk's party and found some good strawberries. It has become a tradition that I make Kirk chocolate-covered strawberries or cherries for his birthday. We enjoyed them for an afternoon snack.

Kirk was super excited that his Double Bull hunting blind arrived on his special day. He has been saving Christmas, Father's Day, and birthday money for the last year to get one. (Thank you to everyone who contributed!) He promptly set it up in the side yard to check it out.

We had a nice dinner on Thursday with the fam and some friends who were here for the night on their way to Colorado. On Friday, we had a bigger party with several of the families who have become wonderful friends over the last year. We were thankful for great weather that allowed us to spend the evening outside. That was particularly nice since there were sixteen kids present (and the same number of adults)! Trip had a fantastic time running around with his friends all evening. By the end of the night, he was exhausted!

Foam Letter Fun

I have two Ziplock bags of small foam letters in my craft closet. Trip found one of them the other day and wanted to play with the letters. I foresaw a huge mess, but figured it was nothing that couldn't be cleaned up, so I let him open the bag. Of course, the letters were immediately scattered all over the floor. After a quick lesson in not eating the letters, he started pushing them around and looking at them.

He also enjoyed putting them in a bowl,

and dumping them back out.

Mommy had some fun making words,

until some little feet decided to step on them.

Cheese Dip

A few weeks ago, I decided to put Trip's love of dipping his food to good use by making him a quick and easy cheese sauce to go with some steamed broccoli and cauliflower. My mom used to make cheese sauce for us sometimes, and it always made me love broccoli and cauliflower even more.

Trip thought it was fun to dip his veggies and his fingers into the cheese and he ate very well.

Toolbox Hat

Trip has recently decided that his small fabric toolbox is a hat/helmet and he wears it as such quite often. While Noni was here, we got a few cute pictures as he admired himself in the mirror.

A couple of days later, I tried to get a picture when he had the strap fastened under his chin. He was obviously not thrilled with the idea! (He wanted to look at pictures on the camera instead of having pictures taken.)

Coffee Shop Fish Tank

On Friday, Trip and I walked to the main part of town to run some errands. While we were walking, we stopped at our local coffee shop where Kirk was studying. Trip spotted the fish tank right away and spent quite a bit of time watching the fish swim around. He particularly liked the orange fish that kept popping in and out of hiding places.

Feeding Panda

After breakfast on Thursday, Trip saw leftover rice in the fridge and decided that he needed some. He also thought that Panda should eat some rice too, so we got him all set up at the table and he started offering Panda bites.

Dandelion Fun

Trip and I have been enjoying time outside and in the shop these last few days. We were worried when we had snow the first days of June, but our weather has finally decided to warm up a little (60-70*F), so we're taking advantage of it.

Trip likes exploring things in the shop, playing on the new deck, playing in the dirt (and eating it), throwing a ball, and running around in the grass. On Wednesday, he discovered some dandelions and had great fun with them!

New Baseball Mitt

We have been hearing "Con-con bay-bay" approximately fifty times a day around here for the last week. Last Sunday, our friend Connor gave Trip a baseball mitt that he has outgrown. I had it in a bag of things I brought home from church, and Trip discovered it after his nap. He was beyond excited! Ever since, he has been saying "Con-con bay-bay" (Connor baseball) non-stop. He gets some "Uh-E-ah bay-bay"s (Uncle Erik baseball) in there too, which is only fitting since Uncle Erik got him interested in baseball in the first place.

He is quite taken with anything sports-related and baseball is definitely a big part of that right now. As you could see in the video, he hasn't figured out how to wear the mitt on his hand (and doesn't want us to help him), but he loves putting balls in it and knows what it's supposed to do.

Shooting Hoops with Grandpa

These last few weeks have been good to me in the work department as I have had the chance to sub nine days in the last three weeks, but in the midst of it, I have not done such a great job of blogging.

A couple of weekends ago, Grandpa and Noni came to visit us. As always, Trip enjoyed the extra attention and had lots of fun playing with his grandparents. Here he is shooting hoops upside down with Grandpa.

Trip also enjoyed playing with the play dishes, food and tools that Noni found for him. He and Noni had fun pretending to drink tea and pretending to fix walls. Dad and Kirk built a small deck outside our dining room window in preparation for changing the window to a sliding glass door in a few weeks. Trip loved standing at the window and watching them work. He had his little tools ready to help.