Refined Undignified

Here's a few shots of the dance team we have the pleasure of working with. Their blog of their trip to England can be found at the link on the side. There you can read personal notes/updates from the various team members.

Summer Plans

So here it is...'The List' - all the things my (oldest 2) kids want to do this summer. I saw this idea on another blog and I can't remember where (sorry). Basically, you just let the kids write down all the things they would like to do over the summer - 'anything goes'...explain to them that you might not do EVERYTHING on the list (ie - Sam listed not taking a bath for 4 weeks!) but the goal is to see how many things you might actually tick off by the end of the summer.

Abby and Sammy each made their own list and then I compiled the two so that it was legible and added a few of my own ideas. We now have them stuck on our hallway wall and as we do things the kids can tick the boxes.

It was interesting to see what they each came up with. Abigail's had a lot of items to do with food, and Samuel was a bit more eclectic. I'll try and do a follow up post to show how much of our list we accomplished. Stay tuned!

Interesting enough, this is what our summer schedule is based on currently -



We are hosting a Christian dance team, 'Refined Undignified', for about 4 weeks. They are going around dancing and sharing the Gospel all over London. It has been Dean's job to arrange all of these 'gigs' and they are keeping him pretty busy. You can find out more about them through 'facebook' or 'youtube'. If I had more time and knowledge I could provide you with a link to some of their stuff but it is really late and guess what!? - I have more laundry to do!!!

Happy Birthday Aleah!!

Aleah turned 3 this week! We managed to squeeze in a little party in the park for her on Thursday. She was thrilled that it was her happy birthday and all she asked for was a purple cake. How can you refuse something like that?!





(It was quite windy, it took a lot of people to light the candles.)


She woke up Wednesday morning (15/07) to balloons and presents. (I was up very late the night before making a banner for her...no one in our house noticed the spelling mistake until the afternoon!) She opened presents under the watchful eye of her sister.



She was thrilled with her boxes of special American cereal sent from Grandma (with the help of a friend...thanks Connie!) Samuel was in charge of taking picture that morning!

All in all we had a wonderful time celebrating with her.






(This is Levi and Ivy - Ivy was born on the same day as Levi, in the same hospital...they really enjoy eachother's company.)

Summer Fun

Okay, so when it's HOT and there's no air-conditioning, and you don't have a garden (yard) to let you kids go let off some steam...what do you do?!? You buy a paddling pool, stick it on the roof, and see how many of your kids you can fit in it!!!



Well, I must say that the pool was actually smaller than I thought it would be, it's really a baby pool that can be used indoors as a ball pit or outdoors as a pool. BUT that did not stop my almost 11 year old daughter from trying to get in it with her toddler sister, which then prompted Sam to go for a dip as well!! Now the question that should be on your mind is ...is Levi in that pool too??? CAN YOU SPOT HIM???




Other things we've been up to...

Going to a school fair and having fun with animals...note to self: Next time, remember that you are allergic to Guinea Pig hair before you pick them up and help your kids hold them and then rub your itchy eyes...!!!!






Oh yes, one more thing....HAPPY BELATED 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!


Aleah, Sam, and I painted a Flag to put up in our kitchen. (Sam was off school sick one day, but not quite sick enough to stay in bed.)It is an accurate representation of the flag my kids will tell you - 50 stars for the 50 states, and 13 stripes for the 13 originals colonies. Dean put a stop to them learing the pledge of allegiance!






Aleah made an Independence Day wreath for our front door.




Cupcakes that we took on our picnic with friends of ours who are Americans living over here. (NOT and accurate representation, I know, but there were only 2 families, and my tray was only so big!)