Sing to the King

Emily is participating in our Wednesday night church program called "G-Force." She is enjoying it very much and this morning, the 1st and 2nd graders sang in the service. They did a great job. I took a video and it's very hard to understand the words, so I've printed them below. Enjoy!

Sing to the King who is coming to reign
Glory to Jesus the Lamb that was slain
Life and salvation His empire shall bring
And joy to the nations when Jesus is King
Come let us sing a song
A song declaring that we belong to Jesus
He is all we need
Lift up a heart of praise
Sing now with voices raised to Jesus
Sing to the King

We're playing SOCCER again!

Here he is....the little soccer star! Chase had his first game during Labor Day weekend and did great. Well, we had a 3-week break because of rain in this area so we had our next game last Friday, the 19th. The first half of the game was great. Chase scored 4 out of our team's 6 goals and was very aggressive. He ended the game crying and upset, but we didn't know why. He had another game the next day and he continued to be upset and crying most of the game. We had a week break and last night, the game was the same....more crying and scared of something. SO....we weren't sure how this morning would go........

...but Dad offered to help coach and he did AWESOME! He was back to that great little player that we know we have! He had a smile on and had so much fun. He scored 3 goals in the game today.

Here is a video so you can watch him playing.......

...and then finishing with a goal!

Fish vs. Branch

As you already know, from the previous post, there were parent teacher conferences at school; therefore, Emily did not have school Thursday or Friday. Chad took a couple days of vacation and had some fun times with the kids. On Thursday, the three of them rode bikes to the zoo for a morning of animal watching. On Friday, they went out to Cheney and went fishing at a family pond. The kids had so much fun.

Dad's got all the gear and is ready to go!

A spider that the kid's were fascinated with (Emily was my photographer since I wasn't there!).

Chase is wishing for a fish........

.....but only catches a branch, which grandpa had to go and get out of the water.

Emily is the only one who caught a fish.....if you look hard you can see it just below and to the left of the bottom of her pole.

Then she had to stop fishing because she lost her bobber.

They had a great time having a few days off from the normal routine!

Outstanding Report

WOW! Has it really been almost 3 weeks since I made an entry in our blog? Guess we've been sort of busy and there hasn't been much to write about. But now there is......

We had our first-1st Grade parent teacher conference tonight and we got an outstanding report from Emily's teacher. We are so incredibly proud of her. We met with Ms. Plank and she said that Emily is definitely at the top of the class. She is getting all 3s and 4s (which is good!) on her progress report. YEAH! They test the kids at the beginning of the year and then again at the end to see what they have learned during the year. Well....Emily's scores for her "pre-test" were 94% for language arts and 91% for math concepts - the highest scores in the class. The teacher said that they expect these scores at the end of the year, not the beginning. SO.....she is doing exceptional! She is also one of the top readers in the class, and fortunately, seems to be a self-starter so when she finishes an assignment, she goes to the "extra work" items and works on those sheets.

Emily has also gotten an award in the last couple of weeks. The Maize school district has character traits that they emphasize each month and the trait for September was Compassion. They have an award available for certain students whom teachers believe has demonstrated this trait. Emily was "Caught with Character" a couple of weeks ago. Her name was announced to the entire school over the intercom on the announcements, she got to go to the principal's office to receive her award and also got a certificate and a free kid's meal to Mr. Goodcents. WOW. What an award. I asked Emily what she did to receive it and she looked at me with a straight face and said, "I don't know, mom." :) We didn't really know the significance of this until her teacher told us tonight that it is a VERY high honor for kids to get this. We were even more proud. I then talked to her PE teacher, who nominated her for this award, tonight to ask what she had done. She said that there is a little boy who sits behind Emily and has trouble getting in the right position for stretches and doesn't know how to tie his shoes. Every day, Emily helps him during PE so he can do what they are supposed to do during their lesson. She said Emily has continually done this during each class period and thought she was definitely showing compassion. WOW. I would say I'm speechless, but I guess by the size of this post, that's not true. But I am completely awed, proud and excited to have this feedback.

Here is a picture of Emily sitting at the "new" desk in her room, reading a new chapter book from the book fair at school. A note on the desk....this is a desk that we just received a few weeks ago. It's actually a desk that I had in my room when I was a child and it has been used by a dear friend since then. Emily has all of her "school project" stuff stored in there and loves to sit at the desk to do writing, etc. I have a feeling it will get put to good use. We just need to paint it to match her room now!

Emily made a "portfolio" to showcase her work for us at conferences. The teacher said she gave the kids a white piece of paper and colored scraps and told them to be creative and come up with something for their book. Emily loves rainbows and this is what she came up with (sorry the picture isn't the right orientation...but you get the idea.).

Thanks for your support for Emily and all the prayers you have sent her way. They have definitely helped and she's doing great! WAY TO GO Emily...keep up the good work. I love you sweetie!

The Last 1st Day of Preschool

Today was the FIRST of the LAST! My baby Chase started the 1st day of his last year of preschool! I can't believe it. He was pretty excited about going. It helped that there was a meeting last week for the parents and the children got to play in the classroom and meet their new friends.

They were supposed to bring a favorite stuffed animal, so Curious George got to go to school today too! I think they played a get-to-know you game and used the animal when they introduced themselves.

Since Chase's babysitter will drop him off at preschool each day, I took the rest of these pictures last week when we were there together. Here he is outside the door to go into preschool.

And hanging up his backpack.....

...getting out the train track......

...and hanging out with a good friend. Katy goes to daycare with Chase and will attend preschool this year. They have a lot of fun playing together and will enjoy each other's company at school when they don't know anyone else.

After preschool, we will take Katy back to Jana's and then go home. Chase was very excited because they got to have someone's birthday party on the 1st day of school. When I asked what his favorite part of the day was, he responded with, "Snack!" What a surprise. He had a good day and is ready to go back again! Yeah!

A weekend of FAITH

My home church, Faith Mennonite in Newton, KS, celebrated their 50th anniversary this weekend. They have had different celebrations all year long but this weekend was the big party. The kids and I went on Saturday afternoon for a German dinner of verenike at the church. The kids were able to attend a kid's event in the basement while I got to watch a movie from the past and listen to memories from all sorts of people. We spent the night at grandpa and grandma Sommer's but on Sunday morning, it was back to church. The kids got to attend Sunday School which they thoroughly enjoyed; more so than the 2-hour service they had to sit through. It was a very moving service with lots to experience. The children did very well even though mom thinks we sat in the only pew that had the loudest squeak every time we moved! We ate another yummy lunch and visited some more and then headed for home. What a great time catching up with lots of friends from the past and listening to the vision of the future of this amazing church where lots of fond childhood memories were made!

All of the kids got to stand around the cupcakes while we sang Happy Birthday to the church.

Chase loved the cake and ice cream!

And Emily blows out her candle!

"I'm Bored!"

On this cloudy, chilly Saturday morning, we've been doing chores around the house and just getting some stuff done. After pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast, I hear from Emily that she is bored! So I gave her some ideas of things to do. Next thing I know, she is snuggled in her bed reading a book. I'm so glad she has taken a love for reading. She is starting a reading program at school and earns points for different things. What incentives they give the kids! Anyway, a little later, she was on the computer visiting PBS where she found step-by-step instructions to draw a picture of Arthur. I thought she did a great job......what do you think?

Under the Cork

Last night, I got to hang out with some girlfriends and we had a great time! Back in February, our bank was opening a new branch and having a grand opening party. We went and entered all the giveaways that they had, knowing that we rarely win those prizes. To my surprise, I WON! The following week, I received a call that I had won a wine-tasting party for 8 at Smoky Hill Winery's store "Under the Cork" at New Market Square in Wichita. WOW! Since Chad is not a conisuer of wine, he was glad to let me invite some friends to enjoy it with me.




We had so much fun sampling different wines and I discovered that I like the dry reds more than the sweet white which is very unusual! The cheese and chocolate paired with each wine made such a difference. It was a great night. Thanks ladies!!

Psalm 24

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Psalm 24:1

This was the Bible verse for the kids' devotions tonight.....and boy was this hard to understand. The children had a hard time understanding that everything we have is God's and is just on loan to us while we are here and that God wants us to use the things He gives us to help other people. Emily said, "No, it's mine!" And Chase said, "But Santa gave me that car for Christmas!" How hard it is to understand....I sometimes have a hard time remembering these things myself and get off track, so it's a wonderful reminder to me as a mother to "get back to the basics" as I try to teach my children God's word. We'll have to keep working on using our "things" to help others, to enjoy them fully and take care of them very well!

Weekend Fun

We've had a great Labor Day Weekend! It started Friday afternoon when Brian and his girls came to spend time with us. We went to the pool for an hour or so before it was time to get Emily off the bus!

On Saturday, we went to Chase's soccer game and back to our house for a sandwich lunch. We then moved on to Newton for the 1st USC football game of the season. The kids made sure they got to wrestle with papa!! He was ready to be done with that activity.


On Sunday, we went to church at Cheney Lake and stayed for the yummy end-of-season breakfast. It was so good. The kids were ready to swim so we were in grandma and grandpa's pool by 11am. The water was perfect temperature and we had so much fun together.
Chad had fun showing off his diving board moves.....

....Chase had fun being thrown in the air.....

...the kids were able to play with cousins Braden and Keaten.....

...and grandma and kids had fun making funny hairstyles!

Grandma Sharon joined us for a yummy ribs lunch in the middle of the afternoon and also stayed for some pool time. It was a great day. There were several clouds so we finished the afternoon in the hot tub.

When we got back to our house, the kids got in bed and we had our neighbors over to sit on the patio for visiting and burning the chiminea. We had a great time together. On Monday, we "labored" all morning inside and outside the house. Grandpa Sommer came down to go swimming at the YMCA in the afternoon and then back to our house for a cookout....a perfectly yummy dinner of chicken, grilled veggies, fruit and Cherry Cheesecake. We took a walk to get our exercise and it was time to call it a day for the kids and for me to get ready for the week. Now it's time for me to go to bed. Hope you've had a good weekend and you are ready to start September!!! Happy Labor Day!

Kick it, Chase!

Chase is now a soccer player! He was interested in playing so we signed him up for a team at the YMCA. The format is set up for his age group so that they have a one-hour session each Saturday morning where they have a 1/2 hour practice/skills clinic and then 4 5-minute quarters for their game. There are six kids on the team and 3 on the field at a time.

Here are 5 of the teammates!

Chase really got into this very quickly. It only took him one quarter to figure out what he was supposed to do and really get after the ball.

There were two times that Chase was within 10 feet of the goal when someone took the ball away.

The look of determination on Chase's face was evident that he loved the game.

He made it through the game. He loved every minute of it. Maybe this will be his sport - we'll see after baketball starts! We look forward to see how he excels!!