story fam

story fam

Monday, July 19, 2010

First Chance Camp

Ella and her counselor Melissa


Michael's group~his counselor is Pastor Mike


What happens at camp stays at camp
Last night we dropped Michael and Ella off for their first overnight church camp experience. Now if you know Ella, you understand that this is a huge step of faith for her. Ella is honestly terrified of bugs; specifically lady bugs and Japanese beetles-both of which are in abundance right now. She also does not like lake water, sweating, being hot-generally there is not a lot of love for the outdoors. What began as a confident, "yes I'll go", quickly vaporized into the chant, "I'm not nervous..I'm not nervous!". Thankfully there are a lot of very supportive and understanding leaders who quickly diverted her attention to the cool t-shirts (a fashion statement) and air conditioned bunkhouses. After a picture with Melissa her counselor, Ella was ready to head down to the beach. To my surprise, Ella was splashing in the lake water and building sand castles with her new friends.
What about Michael you ask? That kid couldn't get away from us fast enough! He didn't want us to walk him over to his meeting spot, didn't want us to meet his adult counselor (do I even need to mention that it just so happens to be our head pastor-eek), didn't want me to help him with his stuff, and didn't want us to even begin to approach him for a good bye hug. I also made the grevious error of bringing him his towel after dropping off his belongings in the boy bunk area. He looked at me like, "Mom you are seriously crazy bringing me this towel in front of the other dudes!". Michael had NO problem jumping in that lake water and before I left Pastor Mike informed me that he and Michael had a talk about mooning the other campers. It seems that Michael was unaware (this I do not doubt) that his swim trunks were sitting very low on his tushie. Sigh. Thank goodness Pastor Mike started out his ministry as a youth Pastor. He will certainly need some vacation time after this experience!! I am sure that Michael talked his ear off!!!! We go back to pick them up this evening at 5:30, and I am hoping that it was a wonderful experience for both of them. I want them to learn that learning about God is really fun and that being a Christian is also truly fun. I want them to grab on to God now so that we can build on that in the tween and teen years. I know that building a foundation now is so important-I'm really excited for them and know that it will be a great memory!!
Thank you to every person who volunteers their time to make this so special. You are for sure making Jesus smile!



Oliver's Baby Shower

Christine and Grandma Diane
Safari cupcakes




Christine getting ready to open her gifts

The gift pile

Aunt Kara, Christine, and Grandma Choo Choo

What a cute elephant!!

A beautiful quilt made by a family friend

Christine's a natural
holding baby Stella Eteau

Rose, Christine, and I

Tim (Dad to be), Grandma, Christine, and ??? What is Ray going to be called??

Tim, Christine, Grandma Betty, Diane, and Ray
On Saturday we had a big shower for Christine and baby Oliver. The turn out was awesome! We were so fortunate to use Diane's house and had a lot of help to make the shower special. The theme was jungle safari to match Oliver's bedding. Everyone was so generous-I know that Tim and Christine had fun putting together all of their stuff like the changing table, pack and play, and vibrating bouncy seat.
It was a great day! There are a lot of people eagerly awaiting the arrival of this little guy!!
Man I hope we aren't on vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if we are, Tim I REALLY hope that you remember the breathing!












Happy 4th of July


























This year we spent the 3rd and 4th of July at my Dad's house which is an annual tradition. On the 3rd there was a big picnic and a monster fireworks display for about 200 people; then on the 4th we got our own fireworks display. It was a nice weekend!








Saturday, July 3, 2010

Summer Tour of Peoria 2010

First stop...Trefzger's Bakery (BEST cookies and lemon tarts around!)



Second stop...Wee Tee minigolf


Third stop...the Riverfront



Checking out the Spirit of Peoria
Derek took the day off of work and we took a Story Family fieldtrip over to Peoria. We hit our favorite spots and had a really fun afternoon. This field trip is kicking off the renewal of our family time. We are recommitting to have a special family time once a week where we are going to come together for a fun (low cost) activity, some character building, and some time with God. Unfortunately with school and the busyness of life, this time had slipped away from us-so we are reclaiming what is really important-time for us to come together as a family doing fun things and learning about life from God's point of view.
Note: the food was great! minigolfing? probably not something we will revisit for awhile:)






Friday, July 2, 2010

Pool Party













We had the BEST day with Mrs. Nevius and Ms. Hatch this week!! These are some of the pictures from our Montage "Cooking with Mrs. Nevius and Ms. Hatch" party. It was an awesome day of biscut pizzas, cookies, cake, Shrek twinkies (yes, the filling was green), swimming, and wonderful conversation. I'm not sure who had more fun...me or the kids.
Let me add that after three years of having these wonderful women as kindergarten teachers it is hard for me to accept that the Story family will not see them on a daily basis. Sniffle. Although.. we will be stalking them in the halls of school...probably on a daily basis :)
Thank you again Mrs. Nevius and Ms. Hatch for a perfectly, lovely day!!
You are both wonderful and very special to us!!!!