Star Kisses & Planning....

Last night (Friday), our friends, Seth and Sarah, and their kids, Collin and Natalie, came over for the evening. Also, Luke's friend (as well as Collin and Natalie's friend), Ava, was over because her parents were with their Community Life Group.

Collin's 4 years old. Ava's 3 years old. Natalie's 2 years old. Luke's one year old.

How does that all sound? Fortunately, it was very nice outside, and so, we spent most of the evening outside on our deck.

When I left work yesterday, I brought with me these....



Yep, a couple of boxes of Star Kisses from DQ....Go Figure. I brought the newest flavor of Red, White, and Blue (cherry, watermelon, and raspberry).

I mentioned it was nice outside. I was VERY THANKFUL for that. They can be a bit messy with kids. But, this is one of my new favorite photos of kids and DQ -- right on our deck. Here's a photo of Collin, Ava, and Natalie -- very much enjoying their treats. I LOVE their messy mouths.



And, to not leave Luke out -- he did have a Star Kiss as well. The Star Kiss was his first "official" frozen treat that he's had by himself. By "himself," I mean practically a whole one to himself. No, he's not quite ready to hold one himself and eat it. Here's a photo of Luke, eating his Star Kiss with his dad's help.



All four of the kids enjoyed their Star Kisses. All four kids had either red or blue on their mouths. Luke and Natalie win the prizes for having the most Star Kiss on their shirts. I pre-treated Luke's stained shirt and washed it this morning, and it only mostly came out. That's O.K. There's just a small red stain on his shirt. I haven't heard yet whether Natalie's stained shirt became clean?????

Of course, we, the adults, had blue and red as well -- especially Seth, here in this photo with the blue teeth.



Between the four kids, Collin and Ava finished their Star Kisses first. Then, it was off to blowing bubbles in the yard -- as well as asking a couple of times about climbing trees of which we all said, "We don't think that would be a good idea with these trees." It was cute because as Collin and Ava were wondering around, Natalie followed, while slowly, but surely, finishing her Star Kiss.





While the three older kids ran around the yard, Luke merely played on the deck -- trying to eat leaves several times. Here he is, playing with his tennis ball on a string. If you look closely, you can see the nice red stains on his shirt.



After awhile, Luke was tired and a bit cranky. It was his bedtime, so he went to bed. The other three kids continued to play well with only a few tears shed because of one child having more bubbles than another child. Whoa -- DRAMA!

Now, our evening did truly have a purpose....besides playing outside and eating Star Kisses. Marc and I and Seth and Sarah worked together to plan out the upcoming semester with regards to our Community Life Group.

We decided, after working out the logistics, to try something different this coming semester. This was at the suggestion of our friend Debby :)

We're going to actually, a couple times a month, meet separately as men and women. Some of the evenings, just the women will meet, and the guys will be responsible for childcare. Some of the evenings, just the men will meet, and they women will be responsible for childcare. Some of the evenings, we'll all meet, and childcare will be needed. Then, we'll still try to have a Game Night once a month.

We'll see how it works. If it doesn't work well, we won't do it again.

Here's a photo of Sarah and I -- working to plan out the calendar. If you look closely, you can see that we are kind of laughing -- a little secret: We were truly just posing for this blog, BUT we did indeed do a lot of planning for the upcoming semester.



What are we going to study, you might be asking????

Well, after looking at various options and resources, we decided to do the same thing that the Young Married Sunday School class women did this summer....Only two of us were there at that study this summer, and neither of us were able to make it each time.



It's the For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn.

The guys will do the For Men Only by Jeff & Shaunti Feldhahn.

The weeks that we get together -- we'll share what we've learned about each other :)

Also, during each of our meetings, we'll be holding each other accountable for various things we're all working on....We'll also spend time in prayer.

Thanks Seth, Sarah, Collin, Natalie, and Ava for a fun evening.

**NOTE: I figure I must add something totally and completely NON-RELATED to our Community Life Group. I will say this to avoid questions on this blog post. DQ used to have five different flavors of Star Kisses: Lemon-Lime, Grape, Orange, Cherry, and Banana. Several years ago, DQ came out with the Red, White, and Blue Star Kisses. Since that time, sales of four of the five original flavors have DRASTICALLY slowed down to the point that International Dairy Queen made the decision to pull all of the flavors except for Cherry and Red, White, and Blue. Nope -- in my ten years working for International Dairy Queen, I had absolutely NO decision making power with regards to Star Kisses. It was merely a business decision on their part.

So, sorry if your favorite flavor of Star Kiss is no longer carried. My favorite was Lemon-Lime, and so, I'm a bit disappointed too.