busy nights and pictures

This last week and a half have been crazy busy. We have had something going on nearly every single night, which has made for some pretty tired kids. :) We have absolutely nothing going on the next few days, and we are going to keep it that way so that we can get some normal sleeping hours going on again.

I have been amazed though at how well they have both done. Kate has really enjoyed being out and about with people. And Seth has been running around and playing with the big kids...jumping in puddles, getting super muddy, and doing all sorts of fun stuff without needing us! Too bad that hasn't worked for Sunday School yet, but hopefully he will be fine without us there in the near future. He even cried when he had to leave his "friend" Caleb (who is our neighbor and in middle school) to come in for bed the other night. He grabbed onto Caleb's legs and asked Caleb to hold him. He's never done that to anyone before, well, except for us!

And now I have lots of pictures to share to make the family happy. :)

From Friday's graduation...Kate is "playing" here with her friend Ellie, who is 2 weeks older than her. Maybe later this next year they can actually play together. I am super jealous of Ellie's hair! I keep telling her mom that I want to make her a headband or bow or something! Oh, and I got Kate's dress at H&M after Christmas for 500 forint, which is a little over $2! And I just happened to have some matching ribbon from Leah. :)


Here is a picture I stole from a student off of Facebook (her blur effect with the caption "I love him!"). You can see Seth carrying that MASSIVE Bible all the way down the aisle by himself. He had such a great time! The seniors were more than pleased with their choice. :)


The graduation ceremony was during Kate's nap, so we spent the majority out in the foyer playing and trying to keep her occupied. She finally just fell asleep in my arms at the reception afterwards.


The weather last week was terrible, cold and rainy. It was not good for graduation parties. :( The temps barely reached 50, and now this week, they're in the 80's and 90's. For the very first time, we set up the pool we got last summer from my parents. Kate LOVED sitting in the water and playing! Seth was super excited to get in, too, and he was very cautious around his sister. He would get the toys for her once they were out of reach. They played so well together. Seth happily went to bed tonight because he can't wait to go swimming tomorrow!



Kate got these adorable shades in the mail. I love them. She loves them. Not once did she try to take them off. She is one step ahead of her brother in realizing that she can look through them and see just fine. :) Notice that Kevin has purple shades himself, which he purchased in Cyprus.


These last few days have been filled with lots of goodbyes, some just for the summer and others for good as they move back to the US. Pam and Oliver left yesterday. I didn't get any pictures as our timing of saying goodbye was comedic and oh so fitting. But we spent last night over at the Lang's to hang out before they left this morning for the summer. Miriam was so good with Kate, and Kate just loved all of the attention from Miriam. I took a ton of pictures of the two of them together, and they all turned out great. There are some good ones of them both looking and smiling at the camera, but I liked this one because they are looking and smiling at one another. It was so sweet!


We had a cookout tonight for any of the seniors still around (and three other students who were back to visit). We cooked up a lot of chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs. I made quite a bit of food, and a majority of it was eaten. But we still have a ton of meat left! I am happy because we can just have those leftovers for dinner the next couple nights. Who wants to cook in the kitchen when it's in the 90's and there's no AC?! But there were 17 kids plus our family. Back at the end of January at the senior auction, we had purchased Ben (aka chicken dish boy) as our senior slave, so we made him "work" tonight. He honestly didn't do too much work, but he did run the grill and do some cleaning up in the kitchen. He was a great sport about it. He even wore the apron. :)


Marie and Hannah posed with Kate this evening at the cookout. There are a lot of kids I love at ICSB and a few others who are just super special. Hannah is one of those people. I would love if Kate grew up to be like her. One of the other senior girls said that Hannah was someone who possessed all of the fruits of the Spirit. She is beautiful on the inside and out, quiet and hard working, who loves the Lord. She gets along with everyone, but I have never seen her participate in any conversations that are not pleasing to the Lord. I wish I could have spent more time with her, but I am glad for the time I did have. She is a treasure!


And finally, Kate tackles a piece of bread. I can't remember if she is supposed to have bread yet, but she loves it. She loves to feed herself!


And that's that for now!