The summer is quickly flying by. How could it be August already? The reality of this kicked in when John told me that we only had 4 more weeks left before he went back to teaching and Sydney starts Kindergarten! The weather has stayed around the high 70s and low 80s, so it really hasn't felt like much of a summer. We're not complaining because it really is pleasant weather.
Let's see - what's happened since my last blog? Oh yes! A lot!
1) Vivien's parents and brother's family came over from UK and Malaysia. John's family drove here as well for a few days so we could all meet up. It's so very rare that both our families are able to get together, so that was a memory.
2) We took Vivien's parents sightseeing around Michigan. We drove up to Mackinaw Island and made a stop in Traverse City as well. It was a nice relaxing time and the weather was nice too.
3) Sydney had Vacation Bible School towards the end of June and she really enjoyed the Go Studio Go theme of Go Share, Go Lead, Go Risk and Go Tell.
4) We traveled to Iowa on the 1st of July to visit with family. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on the 10th of July and had the opportunity to leave the kids with grandparents in Ames so that we could take a little vacation to Seattle and Vancouver. (only made possible by the awesome grandparents!)
5) Sydney and Caleb are currently taking some swim lessons at the YMCA pool. This is Caleb's first time taking a lesson and Sydney's second. I'm so proud of Sydney and the way she has progressed! She used to not like getting her face wet in the pool, but with her new goggles, she comfortably puts her head under water and even counts to 5!
6) Oh yes, and of course my belly continues to grow quite a bit. It's fun to compare the stats of this baby's growth with the other two. Even though I feel the biggest and heaviest than I can ever remember with the other two, my journals of the past two pregnancies show that my weight is just about the same at 26 weeks!
Elmo used to be Sydney's favorite and since she turned 3, Elmo was out of the picture for awhile. Caleb has been too interested in Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer, and whatever else Sydney is currently interested in. Caleb has been working on learning his ABC's but just doesn't have much of an interest. Not until we introduced him to Elmo on the computer and now it's all about Elmo. It's amazing how a little fuzzy creature combined with computer technology has made the ABC's more fun and exciting. He likes to spell his name and also try writing letters - thanks to Elmo! http://www.sesamestreet.org/game_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=gamePlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=7d1b0f7b-1646-11dd-995c-3d52ab3e4656&t=1224734808325&
Sydney just finished reading her first series of 3 books called "Three Tales of My Father's Dragon". We borrowed this book from the library and it has over 200 pages. The story involves a boy called Elmer, who rescues a baby dragon and visits different animals in the forest. The book is creatively written and keeps the reader wanting more -- which is exactly Sydney wanted! Every day we read several chapters and it was amazing to me that Sydney remembered specific facts about the story - i.e. how many lollipops Elmer carried in his bag, or why Elmer saved all the Tangerine peels in his knapsack, and what Elmer used from his knapsack to distract each animal on Wild Island. She definitely increased her vocabulary with this entertaining book. With only a few but fantastic black and white illustrations, she was able to use her own imagination and follow the story all the way through. It was fun using the map on the first page of the book to show her how Elmer worked his way through Wild Island.
I've heard of people getting stung by bees, but I've never experienced anything like it till earlier this month. First, Caleb got stung by a wasp. It happened when he was playing at the neighbors playset and we didn't realize that there was a wasp nest under the slide. He got stung 4 times on the neck and armpit. Trying to ice the area with an ice pack and also a wet tea bag (that we learned about from researching on the internet) was not fun at all. A trick that helped calm him down was to let him lie down on the couch with the movie "Nemo" on. After 20 minutes, the swelling seemed to have come down and by the next day, there was no swelling or redness left. Lucky! The next day, I was clearing out our deck chairs at the back of the house when I didn't realize that I had gotten too close to a sweat bees nest. Wouldn't you know it - but I got stung twice on my left leg! Caleb had sympathy for me. Oh well -- August seems to be a time to watch out for bees, especially when the weather is hot.
Since the beginning of the year, I have fallen in love with a new book author - Karen Kingsbury. She writes Christian novels and has such a way of writing that is so inspiring. I'm not into long novels so I started out with her Christmas series called the "Red Gloves" books and those are short and easy to finish. Reading her books usually encourages me to go do something about my own faith and to actually practically live it out. At the very least, it gives me something positive to think about.
