GO!

And, we are off!  I drove to WV to meet Terry and Jessica so I could bring the boys back with me for spending the week and attending VBS this week.  Not a whimper from anyone so far!  :D

We met at the Montgomery/Paint Creek exit on 77.

It was about 6:20 when we pulled into the parking lot.  We didn't unpack the car.  We walked right over to the church, which was already in progress.  Let's just say that I have NEVER driven that far that fast before!  Thank the Lord that there were no police as I was doing 80 and 90 most of the way!

After church I fixed some scrambled eggs and toast for our supper!  They ate like little pigs!  Actually, so did I!  :D

In case you haven't noticed, you will soon, that Chance is in the "let's make a face for the camera" stage!  :D

Then we played some UNO.  Thad won the first game!  Then Papa won, then Michael and by that time, Thad was done playing since he wasn't winning any more!  :D

The Winner!

Next, ice cream!  YUM!

Another goofy face!

Thad could have sworn that he saw some lightning bugs, so we took a jug outside and tried to find them.  They did capture a moth!  No lightning bugs, however!

The only lightning we caught tonight was in the sky!  Awww!  The rain coming down right now sure sounds sweet!  :D

I thought this was just heat lightning at first, but there were some streaks of lightning along the way, which I could not capture.

 Thanks, Jessica, for organizing the clothes in separate baggies!  Love it!

Well, the lights are out and I haven't heard a peep, so I think I am going to retire for the night!  And it isn't even 11 o'clock yet!  WOW!  The rain pounding on the roof is too irresistible!  :D  NITE!

On Your Mark, Get Set.........

More preparations today before the "Hail, hail!  The gangs all here!"  Tomorrow, Jessica and I leave from our respective homes after the morning services to travel and meet in the middle between here and there!  :D  It still remains to be seen if Chance and Thad will actually come.  I think if Chance does that Thad will, too.  Michael will come regardless!  Then on Monday sometime Elisabeth will bring Hannah, Ryan and Abby and we will switch out vehicles so I can have the van all week to transport all 6 kids around, assuming Chance and Thad stay.

After having the D&C yesterday, in which a HUGE polyp was removed and sent to the lab to confirm it is not cancerous, I was a good girl and rested (slept mostly) the rest of the day.  And slept like a baby all night, too!  That is, from 1 a.m. to about 9 a.m.  I really figured after sleeping most of the afternoon that I would be up all night!  So, I was ready to go and run some errands today for preparations for the grandkids coming.

First of all I stopped at Mega Thrift to find some T-shirts for wearing to VBS.  From there I went to Michael's because I had a 60% off coupon that I got some adhesive with and also found some marked down 3 ring binders covered in paper so I can decorate them with scrapbook paper when needed.  Then I went to Dollar Tree to look for items to make some of the ideas I posted yesterday.  I didn't find any pool noodles!  Booo!  I did find balloons for the Balloon ping pong game.  I also got some glow in the dark necklaces that I plan on using as hoops for tossing over stakes at night.

After Dollar Tree I stopped at Aldi and Walmart for some more groceries.  I wanted to go to Lowes to see about the materials to make the terracotta flower pot bird bath, but I was just too stinking hot and had not yet eaten so I gave up on that idea this go around.

I cut up sponges and a shelf liner and made these sponge water bombs.

I cooked a pork roast all day and shredded it to have BBQs sometime this week.

Thawing some ground turkey and hamburger for sloppy joes and tacos.  I will go ahead and cook the meat so I can just grab it and finish adding the sauce, etc to it.

I washed off the grapes.  I'll put them back in their bag and store in the fridge after they dry some.

The lunchables and some of the yogurt and lettuce for the tacos.  I bought some corn chips to make a taco salad.

Lots of water that the kids can add flavor packets to all by themselves and write their names on their bottles.

Tim said he would take dish duty next week!  I am planning on having the kids share the chore of cleaning and setting the table, too.  Also, I will allow them to help me do what little cooking there will be.  Can't wait for the week to begin!

Getting Ready

I've spent some time the last couple of days surfing the internet for ideas of activities to do with the grandkids while they are here during the week of VBS next week.  I know I haven't posted much on this blog lately, but I want to make sure and keep the moms posted on our activities.

One of the things I'm going to do will be a group effort.  I bought 3 sets of 3 books of this type a couple of years ago, with the intention of giving them to the kids at Christmas:

Each page has a prompt of a creative activity to participate in.  There are no right or wrong ways and the activity will depend on the readers' interpretation.  To give you an idea, here is the first activity:

So, my thoughts as to how to get all of the grandkids involved is to have everyone gather around the table, pick someone to begin and go either counter clockwise or clockwise.  I have chosen to go counter clockwise.  So, the "drawer" will draw a line in whichever direction he choses, N, S, E or W, across the page(s) alloted for the activity.  The persons sitting to the left and right will take hold of the book and move it as the "drawer" draws his line.  I will have everyone use a different colored pencil, crayon or marker.  After the first person has made their mark, the book will go to the person on his right and the process will continue until everyone has made their mark.  I will post a picture of the end result.

Here's another one of the activities further in the book:  Find a long stick.  Tape a pen to the end of the stick.  Try to draw something holding the opposite end of the stick.

Another is entitled "Disaster Area" and the instructions are to fill every square inch of the pages with "stuff."

(Most, if not all of the following were ideas I got from this Pinterest Board:  https://www.pinterest.com/teachread152/grandparents-and-grandchildren-ideas-for-having-fu/) Another activity I found is to do a Nature Scavenger Hunt.  I haven't decided if we will stay around the house or go to a park to find the goodies on the list:

It is double so I can print out 2 at a time.

Here are a few other things I would like to do, and some of them depend on the temperatures outside because I cannot do heat!

Balloon Ping Pong with paper plate "paddles"

Marble races with a pool noodle cut in half

Marble bowling using pencil erasers as the bowling pins

Bean bag toss on the parking lot with target being drawn with sidewalk chalk

Some more pool noodle activities

This is called a Water Blob.  You fold a 10x25' sheet of plastic in half, duct tape the 3 edges, leaving a hold big enough to fill it with water before taping it completely shut (adding blue food coloring, glitter, etc for added interest).  I wonder how long it will stay intact?!  :D

So, there you have an idea of some of the things I would like to do next week during the day.  With VBS being every night, I am planning on doing very little cooking!  I will be doing some pre-cooking of things we can just heat up when we are ready.  And I bought tons of lunchables.  I still need to get a few other things and I'll be ready!  :D

But, if Not!

Here's a good sermon to listen to, even though I do say so myself!  Preached by my husband back in 2013 just after he found out that his cancer had returned.

But, if Not!

We are still battling the melanoma.  Here is an update on his condition from a facebook post I made today:

I haven't posted an update in awhile, but a friend just jarred my memory about something Tim pointed out to me last night.

The current treatment that the doctor put Tim back on (the combination of 2 pills, treatments 6 and 7) stopped shrinking the melanoma lumps under his skin about a month after he began taking them again. However, as long as no new lumps were developing, the doctor intends to keep him on the treatments.

Last night, however, Tim pointed out a lump he found yesterday on the front of his leg above the left knee (under the skin). His next appointment with the doctor is the 13th of this month. There is another clinical trial in the works that the doctor was checking on to see if Tim would qualify to participate in if and when needed. That may be the next step.

I know this has been a looooong process and much prayer has been offered on Tim's behalf, which we appreciate so very much! While we would love for this trial to end, we don't know what the Lord has in store for us. We would LOVE for the Lord to take it away permanently, but if not, we will still trust and serve Him until He takes us home to live with Him!

Tim is feeling great!  No pain!  Healthy appetite!  So, in the trial, there ARE blessings!  He could be so much worse off!