End of April/First Part of May

Elaine, Natasha, and I had the privilege of attending a Ladies' Day hosted by the Hickman Road congregation here in town. It was G-R-E-A-T, if not attended by as many ladies as I expected. Ladies' Days here in the Midwest aren't as popular as they are in other places we have lived. Weird. Anyway, the theme was "Taking Off the Mask," about how to be authentic with others and encourage them toward that goal as well. It was, seriously, super good. I took a picture of the two crafts we got to bring home, so I could have a reminder of the day. :) In the picture, Natasha, Elaine, and I are standing on the top row, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th from the left....



A church friend had a Discovery Toys party. I bought the kids "Mosaic Mysteries", which they are greatly enjoying. Justus is barely old enough for it, honestly, but he's coming along with it. Natasha, of course, did one pattern from the book and has freehanded from then on. Not surprisingly, the topic of these two 'freehand' mosaics she designed is Greek Mythology. (We're now in book 3 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, with Jeremy reading us a chapter most every night after Family Worship.) Smiling Cyclops:



Tantalus under the fruit tree.



For his birthday (These pictures are obviously not in order!) Justus used some of his birthday money to buy Brandon a Nerf sword so Brandon can play Nerf Sword Battle with Justus and Jeremy on Tuesday afternoons when Brandon is here with us between school and scouts. What fun!!









Natasha is working on a new book. Well, 'was', I should say, since she lost her computer privileges for a month as one of her punishments for badly mistreating her brother one day three weeks ago.... :\ She'll get back to it, all in good time. Additionally, that bad behavior has STOPPED, wonderfully ... and hopefully not temporarily.... I took a couple pictures of her working on it.





Justus's birthday. Okay. Jeremy asked him what kind of cake he wanted. Chocolate-on-chocolate, a scorpion, was the request.... I baked two 9x13" cakes so we'd have enough cake to make plenty of mistakes ... and boy, did we need them!! Jeremy's first idea, to have the scorpion tail curve UP INTO THE AIR did nnnnot work. :( Strangely, however, once we got the cake into its final design, the parts-and-pieces that remained, also kind-of made a scorpion shape!





The Thompsons and the Gordons were invited to supper for a tame little celebration of Justus's 8th birthday. Good times.



Nerf Bow-and-Arrow.



A new Bionicle guy (Lego).



Scouts Advancement Ceremony. Here is Dylan, Brandon's little brother, on the night of Justus and Brandon's advancement from Wolves to Bears. Big stuff!



A short dramatic production was performed. Justus was a reader, of which this mama was particularly proud. He was one of the youngest boys participating, and he did EXCELLENTLY. So proud!! :] Reading, itself, has been somewhat of a challenge for Justus; he basically just doesn't like it much at all.... Enunciating and speaking up, in themselves, have also been a challenge for Justus, as you faithful loved ones know. One more challenge is that Justus has actually stated that he doesn't like doing things in front of a crowd. Combining all three items of discomfort, therefore, presents a challenge of significant magnitude!! This was a moment of achievement manifested. Go, Buddy!!



Here is cutie Brandon in his role as Dr. Beanes. (Story of "The Star Spangled Banner" is what the play was about.)



Wolves' Advancement Ceremony, one parent per Wolf.



Now they're Bears!! (Grade 3)