Adventures on Big Pine Lake

Last weekend we headed up north to Big Pine Lake for a weekend with Jeremiah's mom's family for a little reunion. It was a really great time!

Saturday was a little chilly most of the day, but we didn't let it get us down. We played in the sand and water all day. The kids each caught their maximum number of fish and we had a GREAT fish fry that night! Mmmm Mmmm!

Sunday was glorious and we spent the day, again, playing!

Here's the little man, thinking he is a big man, going to go out on the tube! Maybe in a couple years buddy.

Here he is again, thinking he's all big, heading out on the PWC (Personal Water Craft- we're not allowed to call it a jet ski in our family... it's that whole "tissue" vs. "kleenex" thing... "bandage" vs. "bandaid") Jonah- as night was setting in on Big Pine.

Phi McGee (as her Auntie Bex calls her) climbing up the monkey bars.

He really IS a redneck! We have proof!

Nate, Jeremiah, and Matt all heading out on the PWC. The next picture would be of them all falling off the watercraft and into the water, as you can see here they're starting to tip. NERDS.

City gone Country

There have been two occurances within the last week that have spoken to both my "city girl" side and "country girl" side. I grew up in the suburbs, so not even really the city, but I did go to college right smack dab in Minneapolis, blocks from downtown. And I don't even really live in the country now, but our old house in Buffalo was one house away from a corn field and you could see the silo from my front steps.

Anyways. Earlier this week I had a "first" that made me more country than city. I hit my first animal. I was buzzing down Pulaski Road when I saw a little chipmunk on the other side of the road. He started to head the other way, but then quickly panicked and headed towards my side of the road. One bump later, I looked in my rearview to see he had apparently decided that this life was just too hard and one encounter with my tires and it was all over. I was not too broken up about it, Aphia and I continued talking about whatever it is we were talking about and she was none the wiser.

Today we had a storm out here in Buffalo. I guess the news people were all over it, but I really did not watch since the only tv that gets reception is in my bedroom upstairs and we were chilling in the family room.

Jeremiah called me around 5:45 and said, "Are you home?" I naively said, "Yep, there's no t-ball tonight (a little bummed about that)." To which he replied, "Well obviously!!" I said, "Huh? Why obviously?" He said, "It's hailing here in Delano, there was a tornado, and the sirens are going off. And it's headed your way!" "Oh! Well it's just raining here. Huh."

A few minutes later it did start to hail, so I scrambled to pull the van into our already packed garage. I was very successful in squeezing it into a super small space on the first try, not touching anything, but also not being able to get out my door or the other front door. I had to crawl into the back seat (spilling coffee along the way), open the sliding door, climb out over bikes, get around to the front and climb over the hood to get back in the house. By the time the van was in the garage it was done hailing the two stupid, little hail balls that lasted about 5.8 seconds.

Jeremiah called back a few minutes later and as we were chatting my definite city girl showed herself! I was standing in the front of our house, looking out the living room windows and said to him, "Wow! You should see these clouds! They look crazy! I wish you were here to see this! It's right above the neighbors house kitty corner from us, just barely above their house. The clouds are kind of like moving in a circular motion! I'm sure it's not a tornado though. They're just really big clouds that are just moving around in a circle. It's weird though because it's like some clouds are coming up from the ground and being sucked into the big ones on top! Well, how long does it even take for a tornado to form?" "About 3 seconds! I think you should go to the basement!" He firmly replied. I said, "Ok we'll go down there." And we did, but not before I first went outside to video tape the clouds in all their craziness with my cell phone. Yep. City. Yep. Moron.

Oh and I guess that was the "tornado" that touched down just north of Buffalo. Did I mention that I live on the very north end of Buffalo? Hmm, who knew?!

Hello VBS, My Long Lost Love

Today was Day #1 of Vacation Bible School at church. VBS is one of my MOST favorite times of the year. This deep, deep seeded love began YEARS ago. It all started in 7th grade actually, the first year I was able to be a helper. I only actually attended it one year of VBS as we had just joined our church in 6th grade.

So travel back in time with me to 1993, when I was a little "sevie" (as my mom used to call me and my bestie Mandy). My mom and I pull up to church in our family's full sized van to drop me off at the VBS planning meeting. First off, this is a "planning" meeting and if you know me, you know I'm already giddy. Secondly, I get to the room and there are snacks, major kudos to the planners of said planning meeting. And lastly, we get binders. With lists. And charts. Color. Coded. Charts. I am now having heart palpitations because I am so excited.

I loved sitting through every single minute of this meeting and getting ready to have "my own" class. Too bad I was actually only a helper to an adult teacher. I must also apologize to that teacher because I am sure that I walked in and said something to her like, "I'll be fine leading the class on my own, you can go out for coffee, you are no longer needed here."

My mom also reminded me of a nice little (weird, crazy) gesture that I made after the meeting. I wrote a thank you note to Cindy, the Children's Ministry Coordinator, for such a wonderful meeting, telling her how much I was looking forward to VBS. She later, told my mom that she got the card from me, saying how sweet it was and that she had never received a note thanking her for a meeting before.

So here are a few pictures of VBS's that I have led. I don't have all the pictures of all the classes, but here are a handful.

Above is of Karin and I with our class. This is the earliest picture I have, but I was 16.

The above and below pictures are of the classes that my brother Michael and I led together. These were some of my absolute favorite classes. The class below was AWESOME at Bible quizzing. We even brought in a couple other high school teachers to quiz against our kids and OUR ROCKSTARS BEAT THEM- FAIR AND SQUARE! I kid you not.

And finally the class to end all classes is below. This group of 13, 5th and 6th grade boys did me in for a while. I had to go on hiatus. My "helper" was my brother Richie. He was usually the worst of them. He's the third in from the right in the back row. He looks like one of them, not a helper. 13 boys need a male leader. I might need to write an un-thank you note to Cindy on that one. ;)

And here we are, eons later. Me and my own kids heading off to Vacation Bible School. My prayer, dream and hope for them is that they will grow a love for VBS, but moreso for Jesus through VBS and other places/people. I can safely say that I think we are on the right track- as is evidenced by the leaves, vines, and "Scarlett Mackaws" that Jonah has been coloring, cutting, and taping all over our house since we got home from "SonQuest Rainforest" VBS today. He is decorating our house in the exact same fashion that church is currently made to look like.

Dedicated to the Lord

On Sunday, June 13th Jeremiah and I will stand before our church family (and related family) and make a promise to the Lord, to Isaiah and to them to raise up our little boy in a Christ following home. We will promise to teach him the words of the Bible, pray with him and for him, and to model, to the best of our abilities, what it means to be a Christian.

Isaiah John Kruger~ Your daddy and I pray that you will grow to be a man of God, loving Jesus and loving people. We pray that you will be a boy and then a man who is full of integrity, passion, love, devotion and whose heart is filled with Jesus! We pray that you will be a light to the world and a leader for Christ. We love you beyond words!

How do I love thee... Let me count the ways...

I am quickly falling head over heels in love with our new abode. She is open and spacious, warm and inviting. Each time I come in her doors, she greets me with love. Ok, it might not be this way to the average person since when they walk through the front doors they are greeted with stark white walls (that for now I have agreed to leave that way for Jeremiah) and really no furniture in the living room. But to me, she is becoming home, the place where our family belongs.

Some of the things that I love about her are:
*Her extra wide stairways (most are 3 feet wide or so and ours are 4 feet)
*Her plush carpet in the family room
*The fact that you can stand on the upstairs stairway and look down into the kitchen, living and dining rooms and it feels so open
*Her great backyard that is fenced in (though it doesn't seem to keep mangy little mutts inside- he just jumps right over!)
*Her three garage spaces
*Her center island in the kitchen
*All her cabinet and counter space in the kitchen
*Not having to clean out a bagillion toys from the tub to take a shower (since the kids have their own and we have our own!)
*Her ceiling fan in my bedroom with the remote
*The fact that the dishwasher is on a "light switch" up on the counter so that kiddos cannot just start the dishwasher by locking it
*Her back entryway through the laundry room
*Her main floor laundry room
*Her ample windows for natural lighting
*Her disposal in the sink (I grew up with one, but Jeremiah refused to ever put one in the old house, because it was just one more thing that could break- which was true so I didn't fight it)

Now just as in any relationship there are those things that bug you, but aren't "break it" deals and here are a couple:
*Her closet space is not ample
*Her linoleum in the entry way and kitchen are pretty scuffed and gouged up

And well that's all I can think of for now so, I'm thinking- She's a GEM!

Where you at?

We at da new house!

Monday May 24th we took possession of our new home! Here are the kids in the new, empty family room. Jonah and Aphia LOVED running, running, running in circles in the big empty rooms. Jonah asked, frequently, if we could leave them empty so that they would always have a place to run! He's not super thrilled with all the stuff that got moved in. But as for now, the living room sits vitually empty, save for the piano and a hutch and so they can run in there. But that is what our fenced in backyard is actually for!

Here are the kids in the kitchen on the first night. We had a picnic on the empty floor with Happy Meals!

Now real life is setting in... continuing to unpack, organize, rearrange, unpack some more, organize some more, rearrange some more. Plus making sure that everything is set and ready to go at the old house so that we can list it tomorrow! I'll post some pictures of that soon, it looks great and is ready to be SOLD!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all who have helped out with our move and transition! There were many, many people who helped out and we are SO GRATEFUL for the help of family and friends.