Field Trip to City Hall

I was so nervous about taking my kids on a field trip to city hall! Possible parallel parking! Crossing streets downtown! The formality of city hall with my 5 crazy kids! 

As usual, worrying didn't make any difference. Everything was just great! 

(sorry about the picture quality, I think I need to clean the lens on my phone)

We had a great guide! In the council chambers she had a mock session where 3 kids (Elijah and Berea were 2) presented why they thought the kids should vote for their positions, then they held an anonymous paper vote, except when Berea hollered out when her vote was counted. :)

 The kids got to sit in the council members chairs!

 Anne made a motion that the city get a cannon and shoot out ice cream for everyone- just about everyone on this council approved. :)

 Mayor Jerry Nabours took quite a bit of time to talk with the kids and made each question seem important. He even asked them to vote on a current issue about backyard livestock in city limits! 

All in all, I'm glad we went!

Claud Cooking Lessons 2

And here's a sequel!

Claud's Cooking Lesson 1

Enjoy this movie that Peter made!

15 years of Growing

Here's a slideshow I put together in honor of our 15th anniversary. The first song might seem a little odd for such a celebration, but to be honest it's been an awfully hard 15 years! I love the reminder at the end of the song.

Riding Lessons!

The kids have been taking riding lessons from some friends of ours! Since I drop off Peter and Anne on their day, I don't have pictures of them-- but here are a couple of Elijah and the twins. They are loving it!

 Berea on Star

 Elijah LOVES Jess

I'm so proud of how well he does with Jess- this was only his 2nd lesson!

Sitting on the pen is good balance training!

Affirmation Party

Last weekend we celebrated Peter's journey into adulthood, by giving him an "Affirmation Party." It was a time of encouraging him in the ways we've already seen God working in his life, as well as giving him words of wisdom as he continues to grow. Practically speaking, it meant that 5 men of his choosing gave him some advice as well as gifts to help him remember their words. And we had a couple bonus people, too.

Christian exhorted him to keep company and learn from good people- people who are mature and well-grounded. He gave Peter a travel coffee cup (spending time with people often requires drinking coffee...)

 Grandpa then encouraged him to keep reading the Bible as a guide for his life (from Ps. 119- "Your word is a lamp to my feet...") He gave Peter a flashlight.

 A special treat- Faith and Gary put together a video for him with some of their words of wisdom. (like live with your parents as long as you can...hmm... :) ) Here we all are watching/listening to it on the computer.

 Boppa talked about integrity, using the Queen Mary as an illustration of bad integrity, also Roman soldiers. 

 He gave Peter a model of the Queen Mary.

 Grace and Andy gave him a lock picking set and instruction book, with the encouragement to use it for good. :) 

 Mr. Porter gave him three words of advice which I unfortunately can't remember at the moment) and gave him a hat/coat rack made out of three antlers.

 Tim talked about clinging to God like a magnet, and gave him two magnetic hard drive components.