Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Catching Up Part 3: Late Night Ice Cream and Splash Pad Fun!

Late Night Ice Cream
Paul had the cool opportunity to help out a friend at his booth at the AFHE convention over the weekend. Saturday night he joined Aimee and Tyler and Perry at the Minion movie.... 
And the others had a party of their own. : )
The younger kids were ecstatic when Jerry flicked the lights on in their room at some late hour and asked, "Sorry to disturb you guys, but would you come help me eat some ice cream?" This was greeted with shrieks of delight (of course).  

  Four different flavors to pick from and heaping bowls. :) 

Mmmm. Yum, yum!

Splash Pad Fun
One day the boys had work to do at a park nearby and took us along. 

The playground was unusual but interesting!

 Then we found the splash pad and...wait for it...SPLASHED! A LOT!


Then to dry off some of us played around on the basketball court which was in direct sunlight and warmed up in no time! Then Jerry treated everyone to pretzels or nachos, and ice cream cones from the cute little restaurant, Windy City Dogs, in the middle of the park! Such a fun summer activity and the perfect thing for hot weather!

Monday, July 27, 2015

Moving Day!

Praise the Lord the Ks' finally closed on a little home of their own! As sad as we are to see them go after living together for close to 6 months, we are soooo excited for them and look forward to seeing them in their new place! On Friday numerous friends came and offered their help and 15 passenger vans. The Ks' were soon moved and even partially unpacked! Here are some pictures from the work!

First we pulled everything of theirs out of the the backyard and packed up their  bedroom.


Then we packed the van full for the first load.



Looking so grown up!

Entertaining the littles and keeping them out from under foot.

Little brother wants to see too! Love the tip-toes! 

So cute! He was pretty thrilled to be able to see everything that was going on.

The first load all ready to go!

The crew.


Meanwhile all the peoples at home base were loading up a trailer. The first crew got back and refilled the empty van, joining the rest of the moving crew back at the new house.

With the dog and everything!


Some of the moving helpers.


The play room. :) Keeping the littles occupied.

"Where does this go?" I love how the boy in the brown shirt looks like he is getting a ride. :P


King of the house. :)

Almost done unloading the van!

Everyone loved Perry's cool typewriter and of course they all had to try it out. :)

The awesome assembly crew had the boys' room put together in no time.

While the girls worked on unpacking the kitchen the boys teamed up on junk in the shed and got it cleaned out and ready to be used for storage. 


Everything was done by 4:00, and we left soon after. Thanks to everyone for helping with the blitzkrieg!

Next we will continue the update with:
Catching Up Part 3: Late Night Ice Cream and Splash Pad Fun!
Make sure to look for it on the 29th! 

Friday, July 24, 2015

Catching Up Part 2: IHOP and T Babysits

International House of Pancakes, anyone?
The morning of July 7th found the whole family loading up in the van and shouting out different directions to the nearest IHOP. Why? This is the best explanation I can give:
What frugal, fun loving, and just plain random family could resist?

 One huge selfie or us-fie!

"There it is! Right over there!"
"Yeah, but how do I get to it?" 
"Um, I don't know." :P

We figured it out. :) 
The lines were to the door and there were people waiting on the curb. Everyone found it rather comical when they finally called us, saying, "IHOP welcomes Jerry, party of nine". We were probably the biggest group of the day! 

T's Kind of Babysitting
One night our guys went someplace and the girls went out shopping. Tyler was left to babysit BB and the boys. 
Smart, huh? One boy in a box so he isn't going anywhere, baby in arm's reach if needing to be rocked, and the two older kids enjoying napping on beds they made out of blankets. The only hitch in the plan is that he is the bed. Hm, must have been pretty wiggly.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Catching Up Part 1: Our 4th and Church Changes

Our Fourth
On July fourth all across the country we celebrated the birth of our country, one that endeavored to follow God from the start. Now in the 21st century it isn't perfect; in fact it is a nation hard to be proud of. But through the dark and grim we must remember that God is still in control. 
We didn’t have any plans for our 4th until the Ys invited us and the Cs for hangout, songs, and a Mexican food dinner that everyone brought stuff for. We dressed in what reds, whites, and blues we had (Paul claimed he was a confederate since all he could find was grey :P) and joined the Indians and colonists for a sunny day of fun! 
Upon arriving, all the older kids migrated outside to the Africanized Killer Bee hives (for some reason) and stood around talking about a wide variety of subjects, while the adults chatted in the air conditioned living room (smart, huh?), and the younger kids played a wild game of house complete with a scalping. 
Then everyone gathered, we prayed, and got our food. Three tables were set up. A small table for the four youngest girls, the regular dining table seated all the adults, and all the rest of us kids crammed together at another table (15 kids squished at one table makes for a goofy, loud bunch!).
After that we sang patriotic songs, listened to the recitation of a dramatic poem, and a little guy recited a summarized version of the Patrick Henry speech. 
 Just before we left they broke out the sparklers and firecrackers. The boys figured out that a combination of a sparkler fountain and a firecracker in their rifles sounds and looks just like gunfire. (Thanks to Emily for the pictures)

 Ready! Aim!

Fire!!!

One of the boys had made a gun that shot potatoes. Here they are getting it ready.

 Laughing because it didn't work until the fifth try. : )

 Talking...

 Talking... and talking. :P

 Sparklers!

 Patriotic girls!

 Wow, neat effect!

 Yikes! Who gave the Indian gunpowder?!

 Getting the sparkler lighted.


It was such a fun day! Thank you Ys!

Church Changes
Lately Heritage had to move from renting the usual school building to renting a  Presbyterian church building on Sunday evenings. It has been a different and hard change, but we are grateful that God provided a meeting place for us and it is nice that it is private property and we got out of the school system. It was definitely God's timing!

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying fellowship with the church body:
 Our rows

 The congregation.

 Pastor Y. doing the announcements after the service.


A group of the older boys talking politics. :)

 Picking up the sanctuary before moving over to the atrium for communion and lunch.


The girls in the food line.

 The little Ks' lunch table is soooo cute!

 Serving communion

 Singing Happy Birthday to all those whose birthdays are this month.

 Cleaning up the lunch hall together

The little guys <3

 All of the older kids headed out to the back parking lot...

 to warm up for Ultimate Frisbee by throwing it around a bit. 

And that is how our Sunday looks! 
I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of the update on our life right now! 
Look for the next post about a crazy-fun, impromptu trip to the International House of Pancakes, and T's kind of babysitting. : )