3rd annual Aunt Kelly & Nieces Day

"Only an aunt can gives hugs like a mother, keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend."

During the summer, I had the 3rd Annual Aunt Kelly & Nieces Day with Mallory & Morgan. Such a fun tradition the past few years.

This year we started with lunch at a fun pink, girly placed called Silver Spoon. The girls were quite amazed at the light fixtures made out of silver spoons. :)

And then we headed to our local paint-your-own-pottery place. This is when I'm reminded how different my boys are. And how different these two sisters are. I won't name names, but one was done with her painting pretty quick. And I had to keep encouraging the other one to maybe speed up just a little. :)

Both seemed to enjoy picking out the colors and did a wonderful job with their piggy bank masterpieces.

I love all three of my nieces. (Lots of fun outings with 13-year-old niece, Mary Tish, as well. This was the only one I could find that was from the years of digital pictures.)  :)  Such a special opportunity to have time with just them. Always hopeful that the relationship I have with all three will stay strong.

Will ~ 3.25

Love this boy!

Happy Faters Day!

We started the Father's Day celebration on Saturday by going to Wade's Happy Place...the lake. :) That trait is being passed down because both of the boys love being out on the boat. I am still a nervous boater, but I'm coming around. It makes Wade happy being there, so I'm happy. :)

And on the actual day, we first celebrated with a few treats to show him we appreciate and love all that he does. The Snapfish calendar has become a tradition and fun project. And my favorite part of it all was the "Happy Faters Day" sign. :) (Proof why copyeditors are vital to society.)

We seem to also be making a fun tradition of heading to Mo Mere & Poppy's house on Father's Day. Seems fitting as all the fathers in the family enjoy ending the night hitting from the fairways. And hilarious that Tate still calls them all "goofy golfers," like Mo Mere taught him several years ago. Only one near miss this time with a flying golf ball. Always a special day to be thankful for the dads in my life (missed being with my own Dad this year, since he was not feeling well)!

And this may be the first-ever picture of the four Strzinek cousins all looking at the camera together. :)

 Mary Tish is so sweet with Will.

I love this picture. Robert planted a brand new tree on the day Will was born, April 15, 2010. We all call it the Will Tree. It has grown quite a bit!

And all of these pictures just make me laugh. You can't tell, but these boys sure love their Daddy...and the golf course!

 But hey, I did get one great shot of the evening! Tate & Poppy. SO cute!

Woo Woo Dance

Tate & I were both excited to go see Eddie Coker at a local performance this summer. (And sidenote, I'm SUPER excited that he will be doing student assemblies at Tate's school and a concert that same night for all of the families this fall.) And what a fun surprise to run into some old friends, Jill & Maddie. :)

His performances are full of energy and fun, but also have such a great message to the kids about being "happy, healthy humans." Plus you get to do the Woo-Woo Dance, which is just greatness!

Build Your Kingdom

My super talented friend, Paige, gathered up some willing participants for a music video. It was so much fun for the kids and the adults. Some serious blackmail video would be of the parents in the background directing the kids. :)

Tate now has this song memorized word for word because we have listened to it so many times. Hearing him sing these words is music to my ears.

We seek Your kingdom first

We hunger and we thirst

Refuse to waste our lives

For You're our joy and prize

To see the captive hearts released

The hurt; the sick; the poor at peace

We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause

We are Your church

Build your kingdom from Paige Pearson on Vimeo.

Sports Camp

Our church puts on a great Sports (and Art) Camp every summer. This was Tate's first official year to pick a sport, while Will got to go with the other preschoolers to Mini-Camp.

Tate chose basketball from the options and had a good time. Majority of the kids who picked basketball were several years older, but he and a few other friends his age went for it. It was definitely a little bit of an eye-opener that playing the game basketball is not quite like the preschool TOT program.

One night (while completely exhausted), he came home really upset not understanding why everyone kept taking the ball from him. :)  A good lesson in sports while still being a good sport. By the end of the four days, he was jumping right in there with the rest of them.

And yes, he wore that headband every single day. Totally his idea. And yes, I did wash it!

And oh my, I sure was proud of Mr. Will. I told one of our children's ministers that I didn't know how he would do since each night was a different schedule of activities. He had a few hard moments, but overall did great and was able to stay with the kids his age most of the time and loved all of the games and crafts. Sure made me happy to see these pictures of him having a good time. :)

And finally, I helped in the Art Room (hello air conditioning!).  The kids did such a great job creating some beautiful works of art.

My friend Kelli & I had a group of 3rd grade boys. They called us "Y" & "I." They were pretty hilarious in a mix of a sweet, gross, funny kind of way. :) But that is what 3rd grade boys are supposed to do, right? They really were sweet, and I was pretty impressed with some of the things they shared during our break-out sessions.

Such a fun week, and I'm so thankful our church puts something like this on not only for our family but for several hundred around our community.