See Who's Two

Yesterday was Bentley’s birthday!  She is now two years old.  How the time has gone.  We didn’t do much in the way of celebration yet.  The girls will have a joint party with the grandparents in another week, so we just gave Bentley one small gift on her birthday.  Bria also made something for her to open (so sweet).  We also had a few cupcakes to share at bible study last night in honor of her birthday.

The presents from Bria, who worked the last couple of days to make them.

The Mrs. Potato Head from Mom and Dad.

Bentley showing us that she is two.  We have been working on holding up just two fingers.  She still needs some help to make it work.

What a beautiful little girl.

Her expressions are always great.

This little girl is very precious to us.

Labor Day Fun

This last weekend we had a lot of fun with David’s sister and her family. They came out to visit us, and we were able to see our newest nephew for the first time. He’s a cutie, and resembles both of his brothers. With five kids there was no lack of activity. The kids spent a lot of time outside riding the John Deere tractors (thanks grandpa and grandma), playing in the playhouse, and pushing the toy lawn mower around the yard.

Bria and Cousin C playing something from their imaginations. They had several disagreements throughout the weekend about how to play; each one had their own ideas about what they should do.

Sitting on the propane tank before sliding down.

Bentley wanted to do everything. She tried keeping up with the older kids, but she also wanted to sit and look at the baby. It was hard for her to do all that she wanted.

Bentley and Cousin L playing the piano.

Our biggest activities over the weekend were replacing a window and touring one of the local tourists attractions, 1880 Town.

David and J working on the window after they cut a whole in the wall. (It is nice to have some knowledgeable construction support before you cut a huge hole in your wall.) The previous window was a small octagon over the stairs for the dining/kitchen area. This new window lets in more light and allows us to see out the front of our house from the kitchen. I love it already, even though there is still a bit of work to be done around the inside of the window.

Our trip to the 1880 town was fun, though it was extremely windy and a bit chilly. The kids had a great time looking in all the buildings and climbing in every wagon. They even had a short comedy and music show that we attended. In the time that we have lived here, we had never been to the 1880 town, and it is something we would do again.

There is more that I could write about and more pictures that I could post, but hopefully this gives a good idea of our fun without being too much.

Small Projects

At the beginning of last week the girls went down to grandpa and grandma’s for a few days so David and I worked on some small projects.  One of the projects was painting the bedroom doors in the basement.  We painted the whole basement last fall, but the we wanted to the doors and different color and paint them in the shop.  David painted the doors, now they look 100% better.  My project was to get Bentley’s name up in their room.  We had vinyl letters in her room in the last house, but they didn’t stick to the walls so I had to do something different.  For a whole year I have wanted to do this.  I finally had all the materials and the time to get it done.

Bentley knows those are the letters to her name.  She points to herself and says “Bentey’s etters” (that’s as close of a spelling as I can come to her pronunciation).

Special Visit

Towards the end of this last week my sister and her husband came to visit us.  They were on their way through to camp in the Hills.  Bria and Bentley had a great time with them, and so did we.

A game of hide-and-seek.

Someone new to push them on the swings.

Blowing Bubbles

Sitting with Aunt Tonia.

Our other activities included walking through our towns tiny crazy days, going out to eat, and a ranch rodeo.  The girls even went to the rodeo with us.  They amazingly made it through the whole thing without whining, wanting to run around, or demanding to much junk food.

We were so glad that Chris and Tonia could make it.  We don’t get to see them very often, and when they do come this way it is usually to Mom and Dad’s.  It was fun to have them come to our house.

A Week Late

Last week the girls and I took a trip to the capital city to meet up with some friends who were camping an hour in the other direction.  We only get to see them a few times a year and since they were so close we wanted to make sure we saw them.  We all had lunch together then took a trip to the little Discovery Center, a park (about the only one not under water), and Walmart (we always have some shopping to do).  It was short, but fun.

The rain puzzle that shows how water comes from clouds and goes through a whole system until it makes it back to a body of water.

Digging for fossils.

“Kinects”—there was a display of a large Ferris Wheel, a double Ferris Wheel, and Roller Coaster all built out of Kinects.

A lesson in friction.

Fun “bikes” that don’t have pedals.  They are used to teach toddlers how to balance on a bike by walking instead of pedaling.  All the kids of walking age had a good time trying them out.

We would have liked to get together with our friends again because they were going to be camping close by for another two weeks, but we just can’t seem to find a day that will work.

Bible School

Vacation Bible School started on Monday at our church.  We are a small church and don’t have a lot of helpers.  I was in charge of the decorations and backdrops.  I worked on them for the two weeks prior to VBS with a little help from some friends.  Due to the small number of helpers I was put in charge of the crafts too.  Someone else had those all planned, I just have to instruct the kids.

Here are some pictures from the decorating I worked on:

The theme is “God’s Ultimate Rescue”.

Riding Around

The last couple of weeks have been packed full (I will show you why in the next post). The girls have had to take a few moments to go for a ride.

This was one of the really hot days last week.

Bentley has figured out how to make the motorized tractor go. Now we just need to work on the steering. A few days later they were out riding their tractors together, and Bentley was doing a much better job holding the pedal down continuously.