CC 2009

Wow! What a week we had. For those of you who don't know, CC 2009 stand for Cousins Camp 2009. Cousins Camp is held at my parents house in Harrisonburg, VA and includes my whole family (my grandparents even made it down for a few days!). It is a week full of being together and having fun and being exhausted! 7 children 11 and under (5 of which are 3 1/2 and under) make for a lot of fun and a lot of work! I included A LOT of pictures below - how do you choose just a few?!

We are thankful to the Lord that we all want to be together and that He makes a way for it to happen each summer. We love you all Gillan Family!

Here we go...

Becky made some neat sponges that we played with our last night.





We made these neat shirts with spray paint and contact paper - it was very fun (for the adults :) )





Cousins!







A little playtime!



Candy Land with the big cousins.



B especially loved the air hockey table.



We went for a "hike" with the whole family and then a bigger hike with just the big kids.

Music Time with daddy

Daddy and the boys love to play music together (mostly Owen!). Tonight they had a special time playing "Praise God," Arise" and "All Creatures of our God and King." It's a joy to listen to them! Here is a sample for your enjoyment. Please join us in praying that they truths that Owen sings and Baxter listens to (at this point) will really sink into their hearts!

A wedding weekend

This past weekend, Matt had the privilege of performing the wedding of some sweet friends here in Richmond - Marcus and Jen. We have been meeting with them since their engagement for premarital counseling and have really grown a special friendship with them through our times. They both exude Christ and care for us AND our boys well. It has been a real blessing. Their wedding was a joy!

Matt was able to wear his new robe for their wedding too - he loved it even though the robe itself was very hot.







One neat connection is that Jen went to High School with three of my college roomates. I have known who she was since my days at JMU. One of those girls, Emily, was at the wedding. It was so neat to have our worlds cross and to enjoy some time with Emily at the wedding and reception.

Random Summer fun

Here are a few things that I have just forgotten to post about. Just some fun things we have been doing this summer.


A little fort/reading time.




Our "baby" pool is JUST barely big enough for two boys (one toddler and one preschooler)!



We went to the zoo with Matt's family at the end of June. We didn't take too many pictures, not many animals were out that day. Here is one of us by the big ZOO sign at the entrance. The highlight of our trip was certainly the metro ride!!



Owen has a new bike! We found this at Costco about a year ago for about $15!! We bought it and just gave it to him. He loves it!

"Pa"

Baxter loves ALL of his grandparents. He likes to call them all the same name. He calls them "Pa" or sometimes "PaPa." He'll learn that they are really Grampa, Gramma, Grampop and Grams, but for now, this is really sweet.

We love you "Pa!"

Encouraging Paragraph

I just sat down to read a few pages of "Instructing a Child's Heart" by Ted and Margy Tripp. It's awesome!

I only got through one paragraph. What a great encouragement to keep at it with our kiddos. It is God's design and it will bring God's blessing!

"There are innumerable spiritual blessings for children who live under God's structures of authority (parents/teachers...). They learn that God is good and kind. They learn that creatures find happiness as they know and trust God. They understand that the true nature of freedom is not autonomy (being a law to myself), but joyfully walking in God's laws. They learn to trust God to work through their parents to bring blessing to their lives. They learn that true joy is not having my own way, but following the will of God. They learn that living at God has ordained is the best life a created being can have."

Need I say more?!

This is just what I needed to hear today - as I feel that Owen AND Baxter have been trying to throw off our authority as their parents a lot in the last few days. What a blessing to know the result of keeping at it. What a reminder that we are to be good and kind in the way we parent. What a reminder of the richness of the Gospel at work in our lives and in the lives of our precious children. Thank You Jesus!

Cow Day!

We ventured to Chick Fil A today dawned in our best "cow-boy" apparel to receive FREE food! Matt and I were also dressed up, but we didn't take any family pictures. Matt even had a cow nose. Owen said "what a great daddy!" He is right!!

Potty Update

We're doing well with our potty days! It's pretty exhausting, but it's gone remarkably well! Here are a few pictures of O and B. B is really into it, but I cannot even imagine doing both at the same time!!

Wedding Date

Matt and I got to attend the wedding of some friends this past Friday evening. Matt's folks came and watched the boys so that Matt and I could go just the two of us. We enjoyed our 6 hours in the car (3 each way) and time at the wedding without the boys who were enjoying their time at home with Grams and Grampop. Thanks Grams and Grampop!

Our friend Helene took this with her new camera!

Potty Day(S)!

Pray for our sweet O, we're potty training this week. So far so good. It has only been 2 hours, but he's still excited. Pray for patience and endurance and success! Here are some pictures to help you picture our days :)

Owen's P is for Potty shirt and undies.



Owen chose to start his undie experience with Mater from the movie Cars. When Baxter saw them this morning, he pointed and walked right up to O's buns making his truck sound. It was priceless.



We made a big P for potty out of blocks today.



Hidden in the P is the word POTTY (well kind of - Poty).

Art Project Failure

Owen and I tried to do this art project the other day that I found in a magazine. It was a bust. All Owen wanted to do was eat the Apple Jax cereal. I should have known that! We were attempting to make candy trains and bracelet's. Oh well!

Goats and Rocks

Here are some pictures from a family day trip to Maymont. Our battery died, so we didn't get many.

Feeding the goats!





Exploring some rocks with daddy.

Spoon!

Looks who is STARTING to use a spoon?! We haven't yielded control yet, but we let him practice this morning - our boys love to eat so much they are more concerned with getting it in their mouth than with making a mess.

A new look

I hope you enjoy our new blog layout. It was a great three years with the other one, but I thought it would be fun to mix it up a bit. We'll see how it goes!

Can I spell OPEN?

A few weekends ago, Grams and Grampop (Matt's folks) came to town. We went to one of our favorites for lunch - Superstars. On our way there, we walked down a block of store-fronts and Owen discovered the OPEN sign. He looks for it everywhere we go and says OPEN!! when he finds one.

This morning we were playing a game that we have on the computer and you have to type your name on the train ticket before you start. He typed the "O" and paused. He looked at me and said "Can I spell OPEN?" I said "Sure, buddy." He then typed "P" "E" "N." OPEN.

What an amazing thing to watch a mind learn to read and interact with God's world! What a neat thing that one day he'll be able to read God's Word! What a blessing that we can learn to read for such a purpose as that!

New Slide!

We got this awesome new slide at a yard sale this weekend for $10! Right now it's inside, but we plan to put it in the yard. Here is our WHOLE family having fun. O took the one of us.

Summer is here!

We are glad that summer is here - even though it's really hot out!

Here is a game that we played when it was hot out one day. It's called "Back and Forth". It involves drum sticks and a ball. I was on Baxter's team. He caught on quickly.



Owen's first corn ON the cob! YUMMY!! I love the food of summer - yummy fruits, corn on the cob, burgers...the list goes on :)



A little outdoor playtime.

15 Months!

Our little B is 15 months old now - he is about the 25% for his height and weight which is just a little bit smaller than O was at this age. He is such a joy! He is picking up new words left and right and using them with a huge smile on his face. He loves people - usually at a distance - but offers many many passerby's a great smile and wave and an occasional "hi". He is just a joy. He drives his big brother a bit crazy especially in the double stroller.

On a walk with a good friend the other day this is how it went. O was real cranky to begin with. Not good. B kept putting his feet up on the front bar of the stroller. No problem. Until they landed on O's side. Bad news. Big freak out by O. Put blanket on O so that B's feet wouldn't touch him. Walked three more steps. B's feet now landed on the blanket, still no good. Rolled up another blanket to make a divider. This lasted about 10 steps. I don't remember what happened after that, but B had a huge smile on his face the whole time! He isn't yet doing it on purpose, but it doesn't go well with O. My friend loves watching how I react and what I do on these walks to seek to keep the peace. She just marvel that I had two blankets in the stroller in JUNE! Partially laziness and partially the grace of God!!

Now all days are not like that, but I thought it was a funny story about how sweet and funny and yet very different from his brother our little Baxter is!