Shoes and Crowns

We were on vacation last week with my family.  It is our annual trip to Rehoboth Beach, Deleware where we meet up with my parents, my 2 brothers and their families.  It's always a great time and when I get time, I'll upload the pictures to share.

In the meantime here's a funny tidbit from Sadie.
Sadie loves shoes and girlie things.  Today we were in one of my favorite stores - Goodwill - and Sadie found some gaudy lovely purple shoes with giant purple gems all over them.  She instantly slipped off her crocs to try them on.  Once she had them on, she eagerly looked at me and said "Do you think these will match my crown that I get in heaven?!"

2 immediate thoughts jumped in my head:
"Wow, were did that comment come from?"
"Ummm...let's hope not."

Day Trip to Dayton

Today the girls and I enjoyed a great trip to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, KY.  I'd never heard of it before last month when my good friend, Kristen Hocz, invited us to join her and her 3 kids.  It's just perfect for little kids.
They have a ton of stuff, including tunnels to crawl through, a water table, indoor slides, a tidal pool with starfish, a mini zoo, a bird-watching area, lots of pretend play areas (grocery store, pet hospital, body shop, pizza shop, even a land fill!).  You can take in your own food, so we packed a lunch and had a full day of fun.

Kristen's 3rd child is an infant, so she wasn't playing with the other 4

Water Table (1/4th of it)

A rocket

Animal hospital

Poop At Its Best

Last week our good friends, the Nordine's, invited us over to share some very rare, gourmet coffee that  Lee's parents had brought with them from the Philippines.  We felt very honored to be chosen for this esteemed treat....well, sort of.

One must wonder..."what makes this coffee so rare and gourmet?"
Well it probably has something to do with where the coffee beans come from.   It's not because they're from some remote jungle filled with man-eating creatures.  It's not because they're from a mountain peak so high that only a small percentage of people can make it there an back alive.  No, it's because they come from cat poop.  Wild Civet poop to be exact.

If you want more details about the coffee beans, here's a brief summary.

All in all, the coffee was pretty average but, more importantly, it didn't smell like poop.  We feel still pretty honored to have shared in the poop-coffee, it's just not something I had high on my 'to-do' list.

Last Day of 1st Grade

 Today was Noelle's last day of 1st Grade.  She loved it and is sad that it is over.  We're glad she loves her school experience so much.

Noelle with her teacher, Ms. Withrow

Traditional first day/last day of school picture

And did you notice that 2 teeth are missing now?

Small Group Growth

Yesterday we got together with some families that were in our small group during our early years at Grace Fellowship.  Back in the years of 2000-2004 the greatest number of kids we ever had in a group were 3.  Yesterday with 7 families together, we had 20 kids (and one on the way).  Boy times have changed!
Still an amazing group of people to hang out with...just a little crazier now.