Creative Arts Camp

Our church puts on a camp every summer for kids ages 4, up through 6th grade. Ava was able to be a part of the 4 and 5 year old class this year, and I happened to be one of her teachers!

The kids had a great time. Here are some of the different things our class participated in:

~we made puppy chow
~planted perrenials
~made cookies mix jars
~made musical instruments
~went on a parade
~made homemade icecream
~decorated aprons to take home
~leanred new songs and a new dance
~heard Bible stories
~memorized Bible verses
~made macaroni necklaces
And so much more! It was a great, but very tiring, week:)


The first part of the camp was singing and a drama. The theme was "He Delivers" and everything was Italian!




Ava decorating the aprons grandma made for our class.

We taught all the kids "If I Were a Butterfly," which they sang for their parents on Friday.

Making tamborines, maraccas, and Kazoos.

We planted perrenials by the pond at the church.

Allie was able to participate in decorating aprons.

Mike even came one evening to help out.

And of course Hannah came along a few times to enjoy the kids!

It was a wonderful week!

Greenbush

We bid on a cottage on Lake Huron last summer and ended up being the highest bidder. So we took a short little weekend and went up to Greenbush MI! It was a cute little cottage within 50 yards of Lake Huron. The girls had a great time. It was too cold to swim, but they did enjoy playing in the sand.





The view out our back door. We love the water!

The girls collected a lot of small shells on the beach!

Hannah was hilarious. She wasn't too keen on walking in the sand. I think because it shifts so much as she would walk, it felt unstabble to her. By the second day, she was getting more used to it.

Hannah and Allie enjoying their first smores of the summer.

Ava had fun roasting marshmallows too!

It was nice to get away with our family. Two friends from high school stayed in the cottage next door so it was fun catching up with them. We should definitely do this more often!

Hannah Margaret

Hannah will be 17 months at the end of June and we are so in love with this little girl. She is seriously so much fun. She squeals and giggles and laughs all day long. She usually is laughing at something silly her sisters are doing. She loves to tag along with whatever Ava and Allie are doing. Since it's been sunny and nice out lately, she has loved playing outside. Hannah loves getting up on the trampoline or swinging in the baby swing.


So often during the day, I'll walk down the hall to see Hannah sitting sweetly in Ava and Allie's room, playing with their toys.


She definitely has the darkest hair out of the girls.



She's still getting into everything! She pulls all the tupperware out of the cupboard, then moves on to pulling the towels off the oven, then will head to the living room to pull the dvd's off the shelf. It's pretty cute, and slightly annoying. But I've sort of come to terms with the fact that my house will usually be a mess (did I say "sort of!?").

Hannah will try to repeat anything we say. Her vocab at the moment consists of the following words: mama, dada, papa, gama (grandma), chicken, ba bye, hi, ball, and bath. She also has her own cute little way of saying "thank you, Ava, and Allie." Her favorite person is still Papa! And she loves bugs. Seriously, if she sees any kind of bug she squeals with delight and chases it till she can get ahold of it! I'm hoping she always keeps this non-fear of insects.

We're blessed to have this little angel in our house. She brings the whole family so much joy!

Nick's wedding

Mike's brother Nick recently got married. The girls were all invited to the wedding. They had a blast! This is the second wedding they have been able to attend. The girls talk about these weddings months after. They love getting dressed up and have so much fun dancing on the big dance floor! Even Hannah had a lot of fun at Nick's wedding. Congrats Nick and Melissa!

Grad video

Our little graduate

Ava graduated from pre-school last week. The teachers put together a very sweet ceremony. Each child was able to walk down the aisle to the graduation song. They showed a slide show of photos throughout the year. They also called each child up individually to accept their "diploma" and hear a little bit about the student. For Ava, Ms. Debbie said "Ava's favorite part of school was the Halloween party and she will be attending Commerce Elementary in the Fall." It was very cute!


Ava on stage with her friends.


The whole class

Proud graduate

Her sisters cheered her on!

Proud grandparents!

Proud mommy!