Thank You Galilee VBS

The doorbell rang one morning while Gary was in Croatia.  It was a postal worker delivering a package.  I was surprised because most of the packages that we get are from my mom, and she tells me when to expect a package.  The box was addressed to Ethan and Sienna.  We opened it up, and it was a gift from Galilee Baptist Church in Loveland.  The kids in their vacation Bible school made packages for the missionary kids that the church supports.

It was such a sweet surprise, and the kids loved having some new things.  The timing actually worked out well too, because they had something “new” to play with while Gary was away.  I’m hoping that their teacher will be able to show the kids these pictures from our blog so they can actually see our kids enjoying what they sent.The plastic container itself could have been the gift alone.  The kids enjoyed hitting it like a drum before I opened it.  And, it makes a great little storage container.

  Opening their cards that the kids from Galilee made for them. 

As you see Sienna already “claimed” the stuffed animal while Ethan was intrigued by the stickers. 

They both love to look at books, so they enjoyed looking at the books they received.

THANK YOU Galilee from the Rickards!

Kids Play Time

Thankfully the weather was nice while Gary was in Croatia.

Seth and Kate came over at the beginning of the week.  I was glad to catch up, let the kids play, and eat Caesar salad that Kristen brought.

Later in the week a few other moms came over and we all made salads to share.

It’s usually difficult for us moms to get the kids to eat when they’re all together (and outside!) like this.

No problems getting them to eat popsicles!

After Ethan and William ate their orange juice popsicles they each wanted more.  So, I gave them some blueberry/raspberry smoothie popsicles that I made.

  Love this picture!

“How many of us can we fit up here?”

So this is how it happens with the younger siblings getting sweets.  Thankfully it didn’t have any sugar.

“I hope Mom doesn’t catch me.”

Last Pool Time

Sadly, we only made it to the pool twice this summer.  We hoped to go a number of times as our vacation this year, but it just didn’t work out.  We did manage to squeeze in about 4 hours one day before Gary left for Croatia (the pool closed his last day of teaching there).Ethan, Evan, and Tosha playing above, and Evan and Ethan below.

“Should I try this or let Daddy set me on top of the slide?”

“So happy I made it to the top!”

Ethan didn’t want to go in the “deep” pool.  I was finally able to persuade him to let me carry him around the deep pool.  Once Evan and Tosha got in he didn’t have anymore problems being in the deep water.  For a while I had Ethan on one arm and Evan on the other.

Yulia showed me the float-type thing that they got for Evan in the States.  I took a picture of it and sent it to my mom, and she actually mailed one over here.  So, Ethan was able to test it out.

Holiday Picnic

August 20th is a national Hungarian holiday.  There are fireworks downtown, etc. (kind of like America’s July 4th).  We did not go downtown but we did go to a nearby park (that we’ve actually never taken the kids to) and had a picnic with Michelle, William, and Joshua.      I was so excited that Ethan actually ate his sandwich (which often doesn’t happen when other kids are around).

Playing after lunch

Watching the boys play

Michelle, Joshua (and baby boy #3 on the way)

18 Months

One thing that was interesting at Sienna’s 18-month check-up was that the doctor asked if she could stand, bend over and pick something up, and then straighten back up.  I told her that Sienna was doing that before she started walking.  The doctor was surprised and said that usually the child walks before doing that.I don’t think it looks like it in this picture, but she’s in the 10th percentile for body weight (meaning that 90% of girls her age weigh more than she does).  We’re not concerned since she isn’t at the 5th percentile anymore, and she is steadily growing.  She around the 50th percentile for height.

I’ve written this before, but Sienna absolutely LOVES to read.  Every time she gets out of or into bed for naps or the night, she always points to her books on the shelf and wants to read.

     She’s gotten 2 more teeth… now having 8.

She loves going outside. Our neighbors let us come over and use their slide, etc.  The slide is actually pretty steep, as you can see in the picture, where Sienna’s bottom is completely in the air.

  She likes to play with balls and loves playing with Ethan’s cars.  She’s into stuffed animals more than he ever was.

Since Sienna began walking she and Ethan are playing more together.  It has been really fun to see this change and wonderful during times like this week when Gary is out of the country on a teaching trip.

Sometimes he will “read” to her.

Who Needs Pets When the Neighbors Have Them

Our teammates, who live a block down the road, recently got a new puppy.  I took Ethan and Sienna to their house to “meet” Merlin.  As soon as we got there and he saw the dog, he didn’t pay much attention—he just headed toward the toys.But after a while he petted the dog and played with him a little.

Callie is our neighbor’s cat, and she hangs out at our house a lot.  Sienna likes to see her (as well as dogs), but doesn’t want to get too close.  They frighten her.  However, she has begun to pet Callie when she sees her and will pet a dog (even a big one) if they are calm and laying down or something. 

Gary and I see how difficult it is for the missionaries here to find people to take care of their pets while they are on furlough/stateside assignment in the States.  It’s also a big responsibility and expense to own pets, so for now, we think it’s great that the kids have plenty of animals around that they can see and play with.  Ethan helped feed our other neighbor’s cats and fish a couple of weeks ago while they were at a conference.

The Washcloth Cast

I noticed that Ethan had some blood on his arm and asked to see it.  He had scraped his skin in a few places to where it was bleeding some.  He wanted a band-aid.  As I was walking upstairs to get them, he said that he wanted an adult band-aid.  Later he said that he needed a blanket to wrap around it for it to not hurt.  We’re not sure where he got that idea.  But Gary was creative and came up with the idea of putting a washcloth around it.  Ethan didn’t want him to use safety pins, so Gary just taped it.  I was putting Sienna to bed when Ethan came upstairs so excited to show me his new “cast.” Proud of his “cast.” 

Ready for bed, cast and all!