AWANA Games and (Gasp!) Cheating on Our Diet

So today was the AWANA games at Cedarville University, and we are all pretty wiped out.  In fact, Ted is asleep on the couch...he hasn't been feeling well the past couple of days.  He thought maybe it was side effects from all the vaccinations he had to get on Thursday, but this morning he was convinced that he's just getting sick.  Boo.  He was quite a trooper, though, going to the games in a LOUD gymnasium with anywhere from 12-16 churches participating at a time!  We had to be there at 9 a.m. for the T&T game time, which actually didn't start until 10:00.  Then, that ran late, so Sparks-A-Rama didn't start until 1 p.m.!  I did bring snacks, but it was a loooong time before we got lunch!  And poor little Lucan was a trooper, too, and made it through pretty well.

Charis and Tobin's team got 3rd place, which was a good thing, since the T&T team from our church has placed last the past couple of years!  So they were happy with 3rd!  And Charis was especially happy that she won the beanbag throw or whatever it's called...she filled in for lack of a 5th or 6th grade boy, and she beat all the other boys out there!  And Tobin and his partner Josh p-u-l-l-e-d their way to a tug-o-war victory after the parents nearly shouted themselves hoarse!  (I heard comments like "Use the force!" and "BOTH HANDS!" and "Keep your butt down!"  I've heard scary stories of competitive baseball or soccer dads, but never AWANA games dads...OK, I confess, I was yelling right along with them, LOL.)

Arden got to help out with the boys' balloon relay.  (There were only 4 T&T boys.)  I think he enjoyed that.  Then it was time for the Sparks-A-Rama.  If you have never seen the Sparky Crawl, you just don't know what you're missing!  I was kind of in and out with these games, since Lucan was reaching the end of his limit and decided he would rather be UNDER the bleachers than sitting ON them, but I think I did see all the events that Arden was a part of.  And our team earned 2nd place!

Ted and I had talked about going "off" our diet a little bit for a treat today, and we decided we would do it.  For one thing, we knew it would be a very, VERY long morning, and we did not want to have to haul a cooler around with us.  And concession food obviously was not going to work for us.  So, after all was said and done with the games, we went to Young's!  Now, don't judge us, LOL.  We DID have sugar-free ice cream!  However, potatoes (i.e. fries) and hamburger buns would not be allowed on the GAPS diet.  I did ditch my top bun and used the lettuce instead, and truthfully, Ted and I just don't even really LIKE white buns at all.  The kids didn't hesitate, though!  Charis chose coleslaw instead of fries, but honestly, I'm not sure that was any healthier of a choice, LOL.  The splenda-sweetened ice cream was actually pretty good.  We weren't even going to have that at first but decided that we would go ahead when we realized it was actually sugar free.

I have to confess...it was so nice to feel "normal!"  I'll have to save some of my thoughts about this for another post, but there has just been a lot of stress in our family because of all we are undergoing, and we were in desperate need of some family fun!  I really, REALLY enjoyed getting to sit and enjoy a meal with my family that I did not have to prepare from scratch OR clean up after.  The sunnier weather was a bonus, too, even though it's terribly windy out and rather chilly.

So...first time "off" our diet...we'll see if anyone has any adverse reactions in the next few days!  It has officially been 7 weeks that we've been doing this, and everyone has been sooooo good.  I went out with some mom friends on Monday evening, and I had a salad and resisted the cookies from the bakery that everyone else was getting.  (I didn't bring my own salad dressing, though...probably should have done that, but oh, well!)  And Ted has resisted MULTIPLE temptations at work.  He said he didn't realize how much junk people brought in before he made the decision to not have any!

We're still not exactly sure how long we'll be doing this diet...Ted may have more health issues when he returns from Afghanistan since he has to take antibiotics the whole time he is there--yikes.  He said it isn't even an option; he has to do it.  So we want to be sure to get him on a good probiotic, and I'll be mailing him homemade sauerkraut so he can keep getting good bacteria into his system!  He's one of the main reasons we started the diet...the other two being Tobin and Arden.

So, for us here at home, I think we'll at least keep doing this through summer and into fall and then see how the boys are doing.  They are both still taking their allergy medicine; I'm not sure how much longer we need to be on the diet before we should try to wean them off that in order to evaluate how they are doing.  That's something I need to research more.  But neither one has had to use the inhaler in the past 5-6 weeks, and one or the other of them was needing it almost every day prior to that during the months of December and January.  (Which is odd, because typically their allergy/asthma flare-ups are spring and fall.)

So I guess it remains to be seen how long God wants us following this regimen.  In the meantime, we are definitely making good lifestyle changes, and I know we'll never go "back" totally to the way we used to eat/live.

Seven on Sunday

1.  Temps are above freezing!  The ice/snow around us is melting, and it's supposed to be in the mid-50s this week.  The sun is shining.  Life is good.  I look forward to leaving our cave this week.

2.  We've been living in a sick house the past week.  Lucan started last Sunday with a fever and only yesterday began acting like his normal self.  Tobin has been miserable the last few days and in fact missed the Avs hockey game with Ted and Arden Friday night, choosing to stay home and go to bed early.  Arden has been hacking the last few days as well.  And since Charis has had a stuffy nose for going on two weeks now, that leaves Kenna, Ted, and me the only unscathed people thus far.  Here's hoping things get better so we can enjoy the good weather...

3.  A paradoxically frustrating and encouraging thing:  the boys are apparently experiencing a "healing crisis."  Both Tobin and Arden have experienced a relapse, which has included a lot of coughing, wheezing, and needing to use their inhalers.  This is normal and to be expected as their bodies have been undergoing detox.  So far my own detox symptoms only seem to involve sneezing!  Odd, but it was mentioned specifically in the document I read, and I can't explain my sneeze attacks any other way!

4.  I'll be 12 weeks along with this pregnancy on Tuesday.  Hard to believe the first trimester is almost over.  I'm trying not to be concerned about the fact that I haven't felt any movement yet.  I know it's fairly early, but I felt the last 3 babies by 11 weeks.  Ted thinks I've just been too busy...I don't know.  I'll feel a lot better after I hear the heartbeat at my next appointment, which is February 22.

5.  Last week I joined a ladies' evening Bible study for a short time.  We are studying Max Lucado's book Fearless.  I saw the announcement in the bulletin and figured it was appropriate, given all that I'm facing this year.  The study just runs 6 weeks.  The group meets on an on-going basis, but I can't really commit to a long-term evening study.  I was blessed by the first meeting I attended last week and look forward to getting to know these ladies better.

6.  Yesterday was the AWANA Bible Quiz Team competition, hosted by our church.  Charis had been on the team last year and worked hard only to have the event canceled by bad weather, and it just couldn't be rescheduled.  So I was glad this year that both she and Tobin were able to participate.  As a whole, our (rather large) team didn't fare so well, but I think it was great that so many kids were involved.  Charis did win a "High Honor" award, and she and her teammate placed 4th for their book division.  Though Tobin was really not feeling well, he did pretty well, and I'm proud of him for participating.  (He was a bit reluctant at first!)  Next up...the AWANA games, and Arden will get to be part of that!

7.  I have a princess "par-tea" to plan.  Our little Kenna turns 4 in just two weeks!  She has requested a princess themed party, so I plan to recycle some of the activities we did for Charis's 5th birthday and make Charis my official Party Helper.  We will send the boys out for some fun and enjoy hosting a few dressed-up little girls for some games and tea time!  It will be fun and challenging to come up with treats that even our guests will enjoy, given our current menu options, but I look forward to baking something fancy and even more to helping Kenna celebrate her special day.  She has been looking forward to it literally for months. :-)

Wrapping Up

Things are starting to wind down. Last week we went to the last PEACH homeschool meeting, which was the "Showcase of Shining Stars." Charis had the opportunity to perform two piano pieces and did very well. (If you're a FB friend, you can see the link to her video on my profile!) Then Wednesday night we attended the AWANA awards night. Charis received her Excellence Award, and Tobin received his Sparky Award. Arden is on track to get his next year.

I suppose other folks are winding down the school year...we have 4 weeks of Core 2 left, and I must admit I'm ready for summer NOW! It kind of feels like cheating to just skim through the last few weeks, but this seems like it has been the looooongest school year ever, probably because we didn't start until nearly September with moving last summer. I keep telling myself there is no rush...I'm not planning to start Core 3 until (probably) we get back from our Williamsburg trip in September. I'm looking forward to our various summer activities so much, though, that it's hard to decide to keep plugging away with our current schedule!

Winding Down

We're in Week 36 of Sonlight's Core 1. It has been a GREAT year! I'm sad that I haven't yet ordered the next core, but Ted and I agreed it would be better to just wait until we get to Ohio. I know once we have the books in our possession it will take some heavy-duty locks to keep them out of the kids' hands, LOL!

Mostly we are on track to finish by Friday. Charis just today finished her week 35 Language Arts, so she'll need to crunch if we want to finish by Friday, but she and I agreed it would not be a terrible thing if she finishes things up next week. Tobin is finished--I think that kid needs more work next year! I will definitely make him do more of the writing assignments. He got a pass on a lot of them because, having done this LA with Charis last year, I realized how frustrating it was to throw out a writing prompt with little guidance and expect a 6 or 7-year-old to be able to write a paragraph. This year I was a lot more laid back about it, sometimes letting Tobin dictate to me, sometimes changing the required topic to something he was more interested in (usually Star Wars, LOL).

I've begun realizing that Arden has gotten the short end of the LA stick--he breezed through his Ready for the Code phonics books, but since I had a hard time keeping track of everyone, he usually finished before I was ready to watch him with the writing part...and I've noticed that he's making some of his letters backwards now, particularly the lowercase "b" and "d," which is understandable. His capital letters are fine, and he's reading quite well, so I'm not terribly concerned...it will just take some concerted effort on my part to help him with his practice, which I intend to continue through the summer.

We will also continue math at an unhurried pace over the summer. Charis has had some troubles with multiple-digit multiplication, but she seems to be getting over the hump. We've had to take it pretty slowly with these lessons, but I don't mind. She only has 5 more lessons in her Gamma book, and I'm confident she can start the next level once we're ready to start "school" up again. Arden is nearly finished with the Alpha book, and that's with me trying to slow him down! Tobin is about 2/3 of the way through Beta. Once again, I'm sure if we want him to, he can be ready to begin the next level when we start Core 2 with Sonlight.

PE has come to an end as of last Thursday. I am really going to miss the SAINTS program! The kids are, too! They have learned so much about so many different sports. They've gotten to try everything from archery to baseball to Capture the Flag. They've played tennis, kickball, flag football, soccer, and run relay races. They've learned to listen to a coach and get along with teammates (and those on the opposite team!), and they've learned about glorifying God with their attitudes and abilities. Coach Chris, shown in the picture with the kids, is a great guy, and I'm so thankful for the time and effort he and the other coaches have invested into our kids.

AWANA has also ended for the year. The awards ceremony was last Sunday. I don't have the pics downloaded yet, but maybe I can come back and insert a picture here. All three kids finished their books this year, and both the boys also completed their review patches. The church we're going back to in Ohio also has AWANA, so we look forward to continuing next year. And the year after next, Kenna will be a Cubbie!! Wow!

It looks like I'm down to just one or two more business events here in Las Vegas. As much as I want to reach $2000 in sales for this month in order to keep my current career title, I just don't see that happening with a trip to Idaho scheduled for 10 days and only one stamp club meeting!! I'm not complaining...my focus now is on sorting and organizing our stuff, weeding out things I don't want us to have to unpack later, and preparing our family mentally, emotionally, and physically for our move.

AWANA Awards

Last Sunday evening was the AWANA Awards Ceremony at church. Charis has graduated from Sparks and will be moving on up to T&T (Truth & Training) next year! Tobin and Arden will both be Sparkies next year. It was a good year for all of them. Arden earned his Cubbie bear pin; Tobin did everything except the additional workbook; and Charis not only finished ALL of her review patches, but she also did EVERY SINGLE additional workbook as well! She was one motivated little chickie!!

And now...drum roll, please...my first attempt at a slideshow for your enjoyment!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

More Tidbits

We had some beautiful weather a couple of weeks ago, and since Kenna was driving me crazy with her wanderings around the house, I finally took her out back and put her on the trampoline. She LOVED crawling around on it, and I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the little hair she has sticking up from all the static! (You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it in order to see her static head.) I did let the kids on, but the boys had to come off pretty quickly because they couldn't refrain from jumping. Charis crawled around with Kenna for awhile, and then I took the baby inside because I needed to do some other things. It was a fun change of pace for her, I think.


February 9 was the AWANA Sparks-a-Rama. Charis and Tobin had been practicing with their team for a month of Saturdays, and they were eager to go compete. Our church had enough kids to form 2 teams, and of course our kids were on separate teams, which meant we had to watch both sides of the gym! Arden and Kenna were in the stands with us, which was interesting...Kenna wanted to crawl all over the gym! She had awakened at 6 a.m. that morning and hadn't taken even a little cat nap before we had to leave--the kids had to be there by 8:45 a.m., and it was nearly a half-hour drive to get to the school. By the time we got home it was nearly 1:00, so down Kenna went for a much-needed nap. Both of our teams placed 2nd, and the kids seemed to have a great time.


One of the couples with whom Ted and I have enjoyed playing Settlers of Catan (our new favorite game) ended up suddenly having to move to California. We got together for one last game night the Saturday before their move day. I had offered to keep the girls for Laurie since she would be alone with the packers and movers and had to clean, etc., so Alyssa and Katie came to our house last Monday. Laurie was one of the very first people I met after moving to Las Vegas. She was part of a play group that I attended for a little while, and she also became a member of my first stamp club here. When Ted and I learned how to play Catan, I told Laurie, since she had told me about the game while Ted was deployed and I thought it sounded like something we'd like. Though we hadn't seen each other for awhile, we all got together and enjoyed game nights on occasion through the fall and winter. Ted and I prayed that we would be able to show God's love to the M family, as they had told us they weren't very religious and didn't know yet what they planned to tell their girls about God. We were sad when we learned they would be moving, as we felt like we were just starting to get to know them better.

Charis, my tender-hearted daughter, had prayed for their family the night before we were to watch the girls. She told me that night that she wanted to tell Alyssa (the 5-year-old) the Christmas story, the Easter story, and about heaven. I told her that was a wonderful thing to tell her friend, because she might not know those stories like Charis did. Well, the next evening at dinner, after Laurie had picked up her girls and we had said our goodbyes, Charis informed us that she had told Alyssa about heaven, and Alyssa had said she wanted to go, too! Charis told her that she needed to have Jesus in her heart to forgive her sins, and then she even modeled a prayer that Alyssa could pray. Alyssa's response was, "I can't remember all that! Can you just pray that Jesus will come into my heart for me?" And Charis did!

Now, I make no judgments as to the condition of Alyssa's heart before the Lord, but I am so thrilled that Charis loved her friend enough to be sure to tell her the gospel before having to say goodbye. Lord willing, Alyssa will remember that conversation and begin asking questions of her parents. We're praying that they will find good Christian friends who will show them God's love and water the seeds that have been planted. What a challenge my daughter is to me, to be bold in proclaiming the salvation our Lord wants to give everyone!

The Books of the Old Testament

Recently Charis said a whole jewel's worth of sections in her AWANA Climber book. She learned them on her own, and they included a number of verses, all the books of the Old Testament, and all the books of the New Testament. Here's a video clip of her reciting the OT books--I did not prompt her, nor did I correct her pronunciation, though we did work on that at other times. :-)

AWANA Has Begun

The kids have attended two AWANA meetings so far this year. I can hardly believe we have three children old enough for the AWANA program! They love it, and I love that they enjoy it. They learn so many Bible verses plus have the opportunity to interact with other children...you know how we home school families have to be careful to "socialize" our children. *smirk*

Charis is in 2nd grade Sparks, Tobin is a kindergarten Sparkie, and Arden is in his first year of Cubbies! He absolutely loves Cubbies. When I picked him up last Wednesday evening, he had to sing the whole Cubbies theme song to me before we left. It was adorable, and I decided that I must record him singing the song. We did so yesterday, and while the video did turn out adorable (of course), I have to say his spontaneous concert was much better. For one thing, Arden tends to perform and then immediately tries to see himself on the digital screen, just like he poses for a picture for about two seconds and then wants to see how it turned out. So he kept trying to walk behind the camera to watch himself, and his singing was a bit rushed. I asked him questions about the Cubbies motto and theme verse to try to keep him in view.

For those who don't know, here are the words to the song so you can get a better idea of what Arden is singing:

"We are AWANA Cubbies, we're happy all day long,
We know that Jesus loves us, that's why we sing this song.
We hop because we're happy, we jump and shout for JOY,
'Cuz Jesus is a friend to us, he loves each girl and boy."


So here it is, Arden singing the Cubbies theme song!

AWANA Awards Night

Is this school year really almost over?! WHERE is the time going?? It seems that not so long ago we were attending last year's AWANA awards night and the EAGLES promotion/graduation ceremony. Now we're getting ready to do it all over again!


Tobin has "graduated" now after completing two years of Cubbies. He and friend T.J. did a great job of sitting with their leader and group. I was actually quite amazed that Sherri didn't come get me to take my child away! He probably was better behaved for her than he would have been if he had been sitting with me anyway. T.J. was so cute--all he wanted was to get his Cubbie Bear to put on his vest, and he was so proud of it! (The bear is the first-year Cubbie Award...Tobin got a ribbon to put behind the bear, which somehow didn't seem to excite him the way the bear excited T.J.)


Charis has now completed 2 out of 3 years of Sparks. In this picture she is sitting with her friend Hallie, who is also a home school friend. (In fact, Charis loves Hallie so much that she named one of her stuffed animals after her!) Charis has so many friends from church and home school activities! In fact, all my kids know so many people. Arden, who sat with me during the ceremony, was thrilled to be able to cheer on all the people he knows as they walked across the stage. What a blessing to be surrounded by godly friends! It's amazing how close we can grow to people in such a short amount of time. It's a gift God gives military families, I think! LOL

AWANA Grand Prix

This was our first year to participate in the Grand Prix. Charis was so excited when she learned she'd get to make and race a car...unfortunately, she was sorely disappointed when she learned it wasn't a REAL car she could actually fit inside and drive herself. However, she and Ted had fun working with the wood block. Ted drew a few designs of typical racing cars, and Charis very firmly rejected all of them. She knew what she wanted, and she even drew the plans for Ted! So, a convertible it was.

My job was to help with the painting and decorating. Once again, Charis had very definite ideas about what she wanted to do, so my only contribution was actually getting out the paint and squirting it onto newspaper for her. She did all the rest!

Ted bought some weighted fishhooks, and we clipped off the hook part and screwed them upside down into the "seats" of the car so that they looked like people. With the pink finish and purple racing stripe, it looked like a Barbie car or something, but Charis was justifiably proud of her work.

The big day arrived. With the maximum weight limit at 5 ounces, we breezed in at 4.6. Tobin and Arden joined in the fun by purchasing Hot Wheels for their own race with other Cubbies. All the kids and adults were in one small room, which made for lots of chaos, but thankfully Kenna slept through all the commotion. I was bouncing back and forth between the big track and the Cubbies' track. Arden was convinced his car won after each heat, even though he only actually did once, but his excitement was contagious and fun to watch. Tobin didn't win any heats, but he did manage to pick out the one and only Hot Wheels with a skull and crossbones on the car doors, so he was happy with his "pirate car."

Charis's car came in dead last in the first heat. I was so proud of her when she put on a brave smile and said, "Kennedy's car came in first!" Her friend Kennedy had raced against her and won, and I was happy to see Charis's good attitude. Fortunately, unlike last year (from what I hear), it wasn't a single elimination, so Charis was elated when, quite awhile later, her car came in first. Unfortunately, it came in last in the next heat, which meant she was eliminated altogether.

We probably would have been all right, but a well-meaning friend told Charis that she bet her car would win an award for best design because it was "so darn cute," and, as she told me privately, the judges would be able to tell that Charis had done it herself. I didn't want Charis to get her hopes up, but she began to assume that she'd get an award. I watched from the sidelines later on as the names were called, and when I saw the third place winner for design, I was fairly certain that Charis was not going to get an award. Her little face got longer and longer with each name that was called, and by the time it was over her little lip was quivering. She could hardly keep from rubbing her eyes for the Sparkie group picture and came and cried on my shoulder immediately afterward.

I felt so bad I got teary myself, but it was a good life lesson. We can't always win, but we can be happy for others who do. Friend Kennedy won a trophy for the race, and friend Jillian won a design trophy. We had fun and learned a lot, and hey, there's always next year.