Obi Wan Kenobi

Tanek is in love with Star Wars. Stephanie ordered him a costume and needed a Jedi robe to go with it. They had a picture on the internet with directions. I found a few old patterns that I combined to make the robe. He was SO excited with his new costume and new light saber. He is going with his mommy and daddy to Disney to the Not So Scary Mickey Halloween Party and he is ready.
His daddy took him and bought him this new "cool" light saber.

Jedi's have to have a green light saber instead of red so of course he needed a new one.

He is making good use of his light saber and being a good Jedi. May the force be with you.

Children's Choir!

Last night our Children's Choir sang in the evening service. We had a great service with just music and singing. It was our music ministers 21st anniversary and we always have a time of celebrating that. It was a great service and everyone loves to hear the children sing. The little people in the white are the 3 & 4 year old's and the little ones in the navy are the K-6th grade. They did a great time. Children just sing from their heart. It is amazing how they can learn all the words and just sing. I can't believe Tanek is already in the older group. He started in choir when he was 3 and this is his 3rd year. He loves it and of course we LOVE to hear him as well as the other children.

At the fellowship afterwards a lady at our table mentioned that she did not make it up in the choir in time to watch the children sing, but that watching the parents and grand-parents was even more fun than watching the children. It is a sure thing that when your child or grand-child is singing the adults will come to hear.

The workers do an incredible job working with these kids and it really shows. I just can't wait to see their Christmas program.

My friend Jean was visiting from N.C. and she got to hear them too. The last time she was down was when Tanek was singing as a 3 year old.

End of an Era!

Today was Mrs. Dimples last day as a hairdresser. For the past 30+ years she has taken care of our families hair needs. She knew exactly how to cut my hair and I never had to worry about it not turning out. I have very thick wavy hair and she knew how to cut it so that it went with the waves. So many times hairdressers will wash it first and then cut it and then you can't see the way it grows and it equals disaster. My kids grew up with her cutting their hair. Tanek after a year or two finally got to where he would let her cut his hair because he said "Mrs. Dimple is so nice". I wish we had a video of the very first haircut he got. I think he was a first for Dimple. I know it was a first for me. I had never seen a little guy fight so hard while getting a haircut. We literally held him upside down and I was feeding him Cheerios while Stephanie held him and Dimple tried to cut his hair. Whew!!! We could have won for the funniest video's, but we were not able to take any because we were too busy trying to hold on to him. But as you can see now he is sitting very calmly and getting his hair cut like a big boy.
He has come a loooong way. I cut it for awhile but I am not a hairdresser and really couldn't do a good job on it. He has very thick coarse hair and she new exactly how to cut it. We are going to miss her SO much cutting our hair. However, we are happy that she is going to retire and have more free time to do as she wants. She runs a nice little gift shop and framing store next to the beauty shop and she will still keep that open. We will be visiting her often. She has been far more than just our hairdresser over the years she has become a very special friend. She attended our weddings and baby showers. Now we will have time to do some fun things together like going to lunch. We wish her a very happy retirement. We love you Mrs. Dimples.

The Cutest Little "Spark"!

I forgot to post this picture yesterday. I just love the way Tanek is looking up at his papa. He (Tanek) loved his new walking stick that his papa made for him.

Such a cute little "Spark". Tanek is ready for Awana's. He is very proud of his new vest and the patch he earned last week.

He is enjoying Awana's a lot. He is learning new Bible verses each week and enjoying all the fun they have in Awana's.

A small science project!

Today in school we were reading about Mt. Rushmore and the images of the four Presidents that are carved into the stone on the side of a mountain. We also studied about all the different kind of rock and other substances that God created when he created the world. So for our science project we carved a face from dough. Not quite as hard as carving a face from stone but it was a fun project. We also read about how only God can produce life. We can make images of man from stone or dough but only God can breathe life and create a person.

Tanek is kneading the dough to make a face.

Getting it all ready to carve the face.

Carving the face. Wonder how long it took to carve the presidents faces out of stone?

Very carefully working on the details.

It's a little hard to see the details, but here is a scuplture of a face from "dough" created by a 5 year old.

After school Tanek couldn't wait to go for a walk with the new walking stick his papa had made him. Whenever we go for a walk he always wanted to use papa's walking stick and it was too tall for him. Papa made one just his size and he had the best time walking with it. He likes that he has a walking stick just like his papa. Since the walk was pretty hot we kept it short and then they came home and went swimming which was pretty cold. We are between a little hot to walk in the afternoon and a the water a little cold to swim.

My Latest Project--DONE!

A couple years ago my sweet hubby had these stairs built up to our storage attic. He was afraid I would kill myself going up and down the pull out stairs as the opening was kinda small for some of the boxes I was putting up there. AND....he was having to help me get all the big yard art for Christmas up and down every year and it was a BIG job. SO....he had these stairs built. It is much easier getting things up and down, however I don't really keep the big things up there anymore as we bought a new storage shed last year that is on the ground. However, these stairs needed to be stained so I decided this was a great weekend to do that. It started out as a great project. I worked on it for several hours on Thursday and the weather was nice, cool and breezy. The job required so much bending and going up and down that by the end of the day I was really hurting. My back was shouting NO NO NO!!! On Friday I worked a couple more hours on it and my back and whole body were yelling at me by this time to STOP! So I did. For some reason this 67 year old body doesn't like to do what this 67 year old mind tells it to. BUT today Saturday I Finished the job. YEA!!! It looks SO much better and other than all the climbing, bending and getting up and down on my hands and knees a million (so it seemed) times it wasn't all that hard. Messy, yes. I am glad it was washable because I had a lot of it on me.

This is the before picture. Just unfinished pressure treated wood. The hubs and I painted this whole building a few years ago. Another big job.

I am not sure who had the idea of all these spindles, surely not me. They were really a pain to paint each one. But I do think they look nice and it keeps anyone from falling off the stairs.

It was really a lot of fun trying to get the bottom of the stairway painted.

Notice I even repainted the roofs of the birdhouses. Everything needs to match. I guess I will also paint the wood that the birdhouses are sitting on. Another day for that. Now I think a flower bed under the stairs would look really good. Since it doesn't get a lot of sun under there maybe I will build a planter and put some Hosta's in there next Spring. Sounds like a good idea.

You can see the little door to the attic on top. Now it doesn't look like a stairway to nowhere since I painted the door too.

Now that this job is finished I am hoping to get the fences that go across the sides of the house stained too. THEN, I will be ready to start putting up my Christmas decorations by the first of October. So much fun. I had no idea this is what I would be dong at 67 years old. I am not sure what I should be doing at this age, but it must not be this. At least my body tells me maybe I should do something else. Any suggestions???

My sweet hubby did fix US lunch on Thursday and yesterday we did Chinese take out. So, that was fun.

Recess!

We are near the end of summer so whenever we get a chance we swim for recess. Tanek loves the water and will stay in until he is really cold. He has so much fun playing in the water.
Papa goes in with him a lot more than I do. I take pictures and let them go in. I do go in several times a week, but it has to be pretty warm before I go oin.

He loves it because this year he gets to jump off and swim in the deep end. He can go all the way to the bottom and swim on the bottom and it is 9 1/2 feet deep.

This is what the sky looked like on this day and that makes it too cold for me. I like to swim when the sun is out very hot and then I don't get too cold. Tanek doesn't care what it is like out. As long as it isn't storming he wants to go in. Today it really felt cool out and you can definitely feel fall in the air.