Gymnastics Class for the kids & a She-Retreat with my Mom!

I know…I stink at coming up with catchy titles to my blog posts.  Oh well, at least I am blogging! 

It has been BUSY!!  Last week the kids started their gymnastics class.  Our homeschool group organized a class during the day time for just homeschoolers.  It is nice to be able to have all 3 doing their classes at the same time.  I have to stay with Clara in her class because of her age.  Good thing they want this b/c Clara would not have done the class without me holding her hand anyway.  We are making strides in independence!  It is so strange to watch such an independent little girl turn into a quiet, worry wart that won’t leave her myself or her Dad or brothers easily at all!  BUT we are making strides in the right direction.  Cullen is still staying with Clara in her Sunday school class so we can go into church.  We feel it will be soon when she will stay alone but until she feels comfortable we are leaving it up to her.  She will grow out of this……so we will keep on keeping on.  Here are some shots from class.  You can check out Youtube to see pics of Clara on the balance beam and the bouncy trampoline too.  I will try to fix it so it shows up on the blog. 

(these pics are all from last week’s 1st class) Today she finally slid down the slide without holding my hand. 

I liked this shot.  All 3 kids in it if you look close enough.

Don’t you love Cullen’s form?  =D

The other day Clara came in and had dressed herself.  She really did a great job of matching up her outfit.  There was only one problem…..she forgot pants.  =)  She then wanted me to take pictures of her.  She cracks me up!

Isn’t she beautiful!!  She is just growing way too fast!  I cannot believe she is almost THREE YEARS OLD!! 

This past weekend I had the honor of spending time with my Mom at my church’s women’s retreat.  It was called the She-Retreat. We focused on being Faithful and not Fickle!  It was a WONDERFUL TIME! 

First it started off with making cupcakes so I could have dessert on the retreat and so the boys could take some to a birthday party they were going to.  Let me tell you…these dulce de leche cupcakes were GREAT!!  MMM, MMM good!  I am making them Friday when I have Mom, Dad, Matt & Candy over.  I also made chocolate to be on the safe side just in case the caramel ones did not turn out.  I have to say that the woman in charge of food at the retreat was an angel!!  I called ahead of time and got an answering machine.  No one ever called me back.  I then decided to call a day or so ahead and just see if I could reach anyone.  Well, I got an answer.  She said I needed to talk to Chris because she was in charge of the kitchen.  This lady was amazing!!  She was so thoughtful.  I figured before I got a hold of anyone I would be taking all of my food or fasting for most of the retreat.  She told me exactly what her plans were for cooking.  Went down the whole menu.  She told me to bring my butter, veganaise, and the homemade ranch I make myself.  She already had soy milk.  This woman made a point to search me out at our meals.  She laid my cupcake out on our little dessert plates like everyone else had on the table before we were seated.  She pulled the polenta before adding cheese, she pulled the potatoes so she could put my butter on mine, made me special roasted veggie soup, etc.  She would ask if I needed anything else, if I had enough, if I liked it.  She was an angel that made my retreat just that much more special.  I told her that she will never know how much it meant that she went out of her way to make me feel special and not like I was a burden.  

 

I asked my Mom to join me on this retreat.  We just don’t get enough one-on-one time any more without interruptions.  It was priceless to have spent this time with her!  We went on the zip line together .  Check out my Youtube site for the videos of us going down the zip.  It was so much fun!

We went horseback riding together.  I thought I got a pic of Mom in front of her horse but I guess I did it with just her camera. 

It was FANTASTIC!!  This was part of our bunkhouse. It was a great time of fellowship, worship, learning, and growing together.   I was able to get to know more ladies at our church and I am starting to feel more plugged into our somewhat new to us church.   I left with the desire to get more plugged in and to grow myself spiritually and to not stop learning His word so I can know His will for me in all things!  I want to be faithful in EVERYTHING and fickle in nothing!   As we learned……My faithfulness matters!!