Friday, June 29, 2007

Relaxing Friday

I still have no pictures to share, but thought I'd post an update on our week.

VBS at First UMC is officially over! We wrapped up last night with a family night from 6-8 pm. Only to find out that we were tearing everything down afterwards! I was home before 10 pm though. :o)
I will be stepping down as a co-director at 1st UM. Next year, I will be directing Calvary's VBS. I'm really excited about this job. Calvary has two directors, where 1st UM has 5! I think I will be able to get things done much faster and more efficiently, with less people in charge.

Besides VBS this week....
did I mention that half of the church's AC was out all week? And that it was in the 80s-90s all week? And extremely humid?

I also went to stay with Becca twice this week. We had good visits. Her grandmother passed away Monday evening though. This was very hard for her. Please keep her in your prayers! She got her trachea removed on Monday and her speech is improving every time I see her! Thursday she laughed and smiled a lot, despite feeling sick to her stomach. (It may have been because she was thinking of her grandmother's viewing.) Also, I bought my laptop up and we were able to get online. She hadn't been on since April!

Today, Brady and I slept in until 8:45!!!! It was great! We had a relaxing morning. This involved cleaning his closet and bagging up clothes that no longer fit and some laundry. I went to see Dr. Taylor and Joyce this afternoon. My neck is still bothering me, but my lower back feels a lot better. (He strapped me down and stretched it out!) Brady and Jon went to open swim at the Y. And we wrapped up our evening with ice cream at Rocky Top. Brady's treat!!!!

A look ahead to next week:
Brady leaves for camp on Sunday. He will return home on Tuesday.
And then...... we're off to Texas! Taco Bueno, here I come.
Please pray for us as we travel. Pray that we have a safe trip. That we can stay awake that long! And pray for Raider who will be left behind at the vet's.

Monday, June 25, 2007

One down, Four to go!


We survived the first day of Vacation Bible School! Only four more days to go!
Just how many kids were there today?
Only 135!!!!
I'm pooped already!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Mr. Clean

Brady has me a little worried. If he's this into his hair now, what is he going to be like when he's a teenager? Friday night, this is what was going on in our bathroom while I was on the front porch coloring a giant 5 ft by 4 ft Trivial Pursuit game board.

There's never a dull moment at the Van Cleave house!




Everyone should enjoy some yogurt after having their head shaved!
(By the way: the giant thing on his cheek is a tatoo he got at Bible School)

Monday, June 18, 2007

A Few to Catch Up

Here is Brady with his posse, Nick and Jared. The boys were at our house for the afternoon. This is right before we all took the dogs for a walk. They felt they needed hats like Jon before they could go anywhere. (FYI, they are all the same age. Brady and Jared are 3 days apart. And I think Nick, in the middle, is several months older.)

Daddy got Raider his very own pool! It's been so hot here. Raider loves to cool his toes in the water.


Vacation Bible School: Brady got to go up on stage and help lead the 1st and 2nd graders during cheer time. This year's theme was "Game Day Central."


Tomorrow: pictures of our very own Mr. Clean!!!!

A Bad Blogger

Why have I done such a bad job this past week? Well quite simply, I've been pooped! Last week was the first of the 2 Vacation Bible Schools I'm involved with. I was in the nursery all week with 1-2 high school helpers and 2-5 "babies." Luckily, the babies were all between 10 mos. and 23 mos. But 3+ hours with these guys will sure wear a person out!

In addition to my mornings in the nursery, I've had:
2 afternoon meetings to prepare for the other VBS (I co-direct this one),
we've had a luncheon,
a family night,
Jon had a softball game,
it's been 80-90 degrees all week,
I spent some quality time Friday afternoon at Dr. Taylor's office (I got a massage, and found out I had a rib out. That hurt a little, but felt great once Dr.T fixed it!),
Saturday morning was busy (thankfully Brady did not have a game this week),
My dad got into town Saturday afternoon,
And Saturday night we went to the Drive-In! It was Brady and Jon's first time! We saw Shrek 3 and Fantastic 4. (It was 1:30 when we got home!)

So, now that you've suffered through all of my excuses, here are the little ones that wore me out:
This is all of them. I know it looks a little cruel, but 3 of the 5 were already in there playing. My helpers put the 2 babies in just to take the picture!


Myia and Kellin, they were the big kids in class!


Miss Myia


Kellin


And Brady! He was only there 2 days, but he cracked me up. He's an eater! He had to have snack at his own private table because he kept trying to take Myia's and Kellin's snacks!
Look at those cheeks!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Tag

Tag....You're it

Four of my favorite jobs:
1. Wife
2. Mother
3. Teaching (swimming, school, Sunday school, ..... )
4. VBS Director (obviously, if I'm doing it again! or perhaps I'm just crazy.)

Four of my favorite local places:
1. Rocky Top (ice cream)
2. Wherever Brady is playing ball
3. Calvary Evangelical
4. At home (there is really nowhere else. This town is too small!)

Four of my favorite foods
1. Bueno
2. Spaghetti and meatballs
3. Cookies
4. Almost any fruit

Four of my favorite international places(I've never visited any...but I'd like to go to....)
1. Italy
2. Canada
3. Jerusalem
4. Australia

Four names of people I am tagging:
1. RyAnn
2. Amanda (except she's in Mexico)
3. & 4. I'm going to post this on MySpace since I have no blogger buddies! :(

Extras

Here are a few extras that wouldn't load earlier.

I think I look a little weird in this one, but Dallas was sticking her tongue out and that was too cute to delete!

Jon, with a little boy growing out of his head.


A happy Raider!

Our Sunday

Jon and Raider walking ahead of everyone else. (Actually, I think Dallas was way ahead!)

And who else but Brady was way behind! Don't you love the outfits he comes up with!


My happy baby girl!


Dallas was actually "yelling" at Raider. Whether it was encouraging words or telling him to keep his wet body away, I'm not sure!

Part 2

Raider swimming....

Dallas was lifeguarding. (I thought this picture was funny because it looks like she is standing on his back!)


JON!!!!


Brady? What are you doing over there? (Like girls, it appears boys can't go to the bathroom alone. At least girls don't go in public though!)

That about all for now. We have VBS this week. I am worn out! I love being in the nursery, but Wednesday is a hard day for the little ones, and for the adults taking care of them.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Silly Family

I had a great idea for a picture of the 3 of us. We all laid down with our heads together and Jon was going to take the picture. After half a dozen tries, this was the best one. And the only one with all of our heads in the shot! So of course, Brady would have his finger in his eye!

So then I kicked Brady out and gave him the camera. How cute are we! So in love!


And naturally, you can't have a family picture without including Dallas. She sure loves her mom!


*** For some reason, I can't load more than 3 pictures at a time tonight! Tomorrow I will post pictures from our walk on Sunday! ***


It's Me!

Last week I bought some CUTE new shoes, a shirt, and some jewelry. Sunday I felt so cute, I let Jon take a few pictures before I changed into my typical shorts and t-shirt. Blogger is being difficult, so I only loaded 3 of the 5-6 pictures.

I loved this one! Jon wasn't giving me time to do my fake smile, so I was just being silly.

Ummm, Jon? Where is my face? (I guess he was getting a shot of the necklace!)


Check out the shoes! And the nice tan!

Saturday, June 9, 2007

By the Way

They won!

The 2nd Game of the Season

Brady and Gage. Notice a little difference in sizes? Gage is going into 1st grade. Brady will be a 3rd grader. (And they are both expected to hit from the same pitching machine!)

Silly guy throwing the ball while they wait for the first game to finish.


He just never seems to enjoy me taking his picture! (He sure looks tall when I'm sitting down)


Brady's on deck!

Part 2

Jon pitched to Braden's team today. They usually have a pitching machine, but it broke during the earlier game. Here he is "pitching" to Brady. (The mound in this league is really close!)

Brady at the bat. (check out the new batting gloves!)


On first with Coach Etter.


A shot through the fence of Jon pitching and Brady on first.
(He doesn't look like he's ready to run. Does he?)


He was out at second, but he came into the dugout smiling!


*** On a side note, you may have noticed that I referred to Braden as "Brady." He informed me tonight at dinner that he would like to be called Brady now. We'll see how long this lasts. He was only Josh Klinker for a few hours! ***


Sunday, June 3, 2007

Our Saturday

Sorry I've been a bad blogger this past week. I have several reasons for my lack of posts:
1. I had finals last week
2. It's just been too hot to do anything but complain about the heat.
3. On Wednesday, my grandpa cut his finger off while sawing. Jon & I were in charge of cleaning up the crime scene while he was taken to Columbus for surgery.
4. I've discovered Myspace.com and have been working on a web page there.
5. Braden finished 2nd grade this week, so..........

Here is an update on our Saturday: Braden had his first baseball game of the season. They were slaughtered! He played first base the entire game, made a few outs, hit on each of his at bats, and was totally gross by the end of the game! But he was smiling!


Later in the afternoon was the Peony Parade. Here is 1st UMC's vacation bible school float. This year's theme is "Avalanche Ranch."



Braden walked in the parade with some friends and passed out VBS goodies.


Dallas and Aubrie watched the parade together. Aubrie REALLY needs a dog of her very own. Don't you think?



And now that summer has arrived, this is where Raider can be found. He lays as close to his fan as he can get. We've even had to yell at him a few times for licking it! We are considering having him shaved. We ran into a lady that works at the vet's office and she said it would be good for him. (His hair has been clogging the vacuum!)