Tumbling

Sadie has been asking to take gymnastics and dance classes for a couple years now.  Because we had our house for sale, I waited to sign her up.  (I also missed the sign up dates for winter session while we were moving into our house.)  When summer rolled around we finally got Sadie into a tumbling class.  We decided to let her try some classes at our YMCA.  We love the staff and the programs they offer.  Kinnick and Sadie did 2 weeks of swim classes at the beginning of summer and Sadie's tumbling was on Monday nights all summer long.  We loved spending our Monday nights at the Y this summer... Sadie did tumbling, I did Zumba and Marc would meet us for swimming afterwards.

Sadie loved her teacher Miss. Heather (who also happens to be one of my favorite Zumba instructors!)  At the end of her summer classes Miss. Heather told Sadie she could move up to the next class because she had mastered all of her beginning skills.  Sadie decided she really wanted to try a dance class so she's taking a break from tumbling for fall to do a hip hop/jazz dance class (also taught by Miss. Heather!)  She's excited to try dance but also wants to do more tumbling (we told her only 1 thing at a time).  She's been practicing her cartwheels, handstands, jumps, and bridges every day... inside and out!  I love watching her learn and develop.

Visit from Grandpa & Grandma

We enjoyed a visit from Grandpa & Grandma Gorsch (and Aunt NeeNee) when they brought Sadie home.  They came Sunday afternoon and stayed through Tuesday morning.  Sunday night we enjoyed dinner and dessert with dominoes!  On Monday we took the kids to a splash pad/park for a picnic lunch.  After naps we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for some more fun!

Glad we could have some more summer time fun with people we love!

Summer Reading Program

Have I mentioned that we love our library?  Over the summer the kids enjoyed weekly story time and got to participate in the summer reading program.  The library had a HUGE kick-off for the reading program... on sign-up day they had a petting zoo, big trucks, music, cotton candy, popcorn, and popsicles.  Each kid received a reading log that they brought into the library each week to be checked.  Each time they got to play "Plinko" to win little prizes.  Also, at each benchmark goal (every two hours of reading) they got certificates for something.  They received some fun free passes for things like: Slammer's baseball game, roller skating, "Jump Zone" bouncies, McDonald's happy meals, ice cream, Lego Land, Applebee's kids' meals, mini pizzas, and more!  We've had fun using some of our certificates this summer.

When the kids reached their end goal of 12 hours of reading time, they each got a raffle ticket to enter in the grand prize drawings.  Sadie chose a $50 Target gift card, Kinnick chose a Leapster, and Macey chose an Olivia book with stuffed animal.... and WON!  (The 2 year olds had a separate drawing with different character books to choose from.)  

    

Sadie and Kinnick were bummed that they didn't win but we were all excited for Macey.  She loves her little "Olivia" pig!

Sadie's Weekend with Aunt NeeNee

After vacation and a quick stay at Miss. Jennifer's, Sadie was off again for more traveling and more adventures!  She told me at one point this summer, "Mom, I'm not even used to sleeping at home because I've been going so many different places."  I believe she's loved every minute of it! 

 I met Stephanie Thursday morning to pass off Sadie.  She enjoyed 3 days and nights with Aunt NeeNee (and Grandpa & Grandma) then they all brought her home and stayed a couple nights with us.  It was another fun thing to squeeze into our disappearing summer.

Sadie enjoyed LOTS of special time with NeeNee.  Their activities included:  lunch at McDonald's, a shopping trip to Claires, singing performance (by Sadie--her VBS songs!), feeding the ducks, pedicures, lunch at Burger King, a trip to the pool, watching LOTS of gymnastics, shopping trip to the $ store, making necklaces with Grandma, and children's church.

Sadie is lucky to have so many great aunts and uncles... especially her Aunt NeeNee!

Royal Family Kids Camp

You may remember my post about the RFKC walk-a-thon back in May... Looking back at that post makes me a little sad because we had our whole summer in front of us and now it's gone... almost.  It's gone fast.  We had our garage sale and participated in the walk-a-thon for Royal Family Kids Camp, camp seemed so far in the future.  Well, it came (and went) and we were lucky enough to be a (small) part of it!

On August 1st, Marc and I joined 5 other members of our small group at camp for the day to help with "birthday party day."  Our small group completed a study this past winter called "Rooted."  During the study we were challenged to choose a mission project to do together.  After lots of consideration we choose RFKC.  We held a garage sale that raised enough money to send 2 foster kids to camp for the week and we decided to volunteer our time to help at the camp.

Royal Family Kids Camp (RFKC) is a national organization that puts on a yearly week long summer camp for foster kids.  There is a branch located in Joliet area that puts on a camp each year for 50 kids.  The goal of this camp is to let these kids know they are HIS kids, bless them, and provide memories to last a lifetime.  Some of these kids are shuffled from home to home or live in large group homes... many fall between the cracks.  During camp, they get an abundance of one-on-one attention, and they get to feel special!

The highlight of each week is "birthday party day".  The lady who organized us (the extra day volunteers) has been doing the birthday party for 7 years now.  Her goal is to give these kids perfection.  We spent the morning wrapping presents and then enjoyed lunch with the campers and staff.  After lunch we worked for 2 hours straight to transform their cafeteria into a colorful, balloon-filled birthday bash.

When it was party time, we stayed in the background and watched the smiles light up the room.  Each child got his/her own jumbo cupcake (so cute!) with a candle and a HUGE bag filled with presents.  After the cake and presents were enjoyed they had one big dance party.  After the party the kids had lots more special treats to enjoy.  Marc and I got to help make popcorn and sno-cones to pass out.

The most emotional part of the day for me was when the director told us (before we started decorating) that they knew for certain that some of the kids at camp this week had not had their birthday celebrated in the past year.  I feel so blessed to be a parent to my three kids, but I know that God has called me to care for orphans.  I don't know at this point what that calling will look like over the next many years, but I know that I will obey.  I will teach my kids to obey as well.

As a bonus, Miss Jennifer kept the kids overnight for us.  We got to have a date night Tuesday night and spend all day Wednesday serving at camp with our friends.  We finished our day be stopping at our favorite sub place in Ottawa on the way to pick up the kids.  Great date day!!  

Wisconsin Dells

We took our family vacation to Wisconsin Dells.  This was our first vacation taken with JUST our family.  We all had a great time!

Day 1:  Breakfast at Home... Driving... Lunch at the Machine Shed... Arrive at Hotel... SWIMMING!... Pizza in our Room... Planning our Trip

 Day 2:  Lazy Morning/Breakfast in our Room... SWIMMING... Picnic Lunch... Visit a Cheese Store (Candy for the Kids!)... MORE SWIMMING... Bowling... Dinner at Buffalo Phil's (Food Delivered by Train)

 Day 3:  Breakfast in our Room... Lost Canyon Tour (Horse-Pulled Wagon Ride)... Paint it Pottery (We designed a "Gorsch Family Star" Plate)... Dinner at Paul Bunyon's (We bought the kids a book with Paul Bunyon Tall Tales)... SWIMMING!... Popcorn & Movie Night in our Room

 Day 4:  Breakfast outside & Playing on the Playground... Riverside & Great Northern mini-Train Ride... Picnic Lunch... Driving Home

 I had REALLY been wanting to try the new chocolate chip frappe from McDonalds--it was a perfect "driving home" treat (and SO yummy!!!)

 We used a ticket system for our car ride (thanks to my sis-in-law Cori for the idea!) and it was a complete success!  Our ride wasn't too long (about 3.5 hours) but I wanted to make it special for vacation.  Each kid was able to earn a ticket for each 10 minutes of riding if they were well behaved.  Any whining, arguing with mom & dad, complaining, or fighting with siblings resulted in loss of ticket for that time period.  Once they earned their tickets, I did not take them away.  They could trade tickets in for rewards:  4 tickets--choose a movie, 5 tickets--20 minutes of iPad or Leapster time, 6 tickets--choose a treat ($2 or less) at the next gas station stop OR choose a treat from mom's bag of surprises.  This worked AMAZINGLY for Sadie.  She was the most well behaved she's ever been for a car ride.  No fighting over what movie to watch, or kids saying they were bored.  In the future I will probably up the amount of time to earn tickets (10 minutes was a bit tedious) but it was nice because Sadie could watch the clock and tell me when it was ticket time.  I decided to keep the tickets in the car for future car rides (trips to our parents...)