Summer Bucket List and Loose Teeth

This is the first summer that we made a bucket list and it's been really fun.  Any time we don't have something scheduled we consult the list and see what we want to check off.

We've been bowling

(Bella did a little good luck dance at the ramp every time she rolled the ball - so adorable!)

 and kayaking,

 been to Chuck-E-Cheese

 and Germany - not sure which the kids liked more :), been swimming a lot, played little league baseball,

 had picnics at the park, tea party with friends, visited Greenfield Village multiple times,

organized our church's Vacation Bible School, driven to Toledo to the Imagination Stations (children's museum down there),

been to the movies (How To Train Your Dragon 2) (Bella and Christian's first time seeing a movie in the theater), played at park days with church friends,

gone to the farmer's market and multiple science/comedy/magic/puppet shows at the various libraries
 around here.

We're in the process of building a tree fort.

Benjamin wanted to go running together on Saturday mornings (Saturdays so Kelly can watch the others), and we've done that.  It's been a really fun summer and we still have a month to go!

Also on our bucket list: Benjamin's baptism which happens in 8 days!!!  So excited!

Today's bucket list check-off was Jackson Pollock painting.  This was one of Bella's contributions to the list.  I'd talked to her about Jackson Pollock a few months ago and she'd been so excited to try painting like him, but every time she brought it up, there just wasn't time for it.  So we put it on the bucket list and finally made the time for it today.  She was so excited.  We had a blast flinging paint.  Our canvases weren't nearly so large as his, but we had a great time looking at his paintings online and designing our own.  We talked about how we can alter the result by holding the brush closer to the paper vs. farther away, the direction in which we fling the brush or with which intensity.  We tried various different techniques and styles and everyone made multiple pictures.  It was a lot of fun.  Then I asked them to hold up their favorite for display.

We're going to have to find a good place to hang all these works of art!

Then this evening after 4 days of trying to convince Bella to "just pull that tooth out!" she came running to me, tooth in hand and a smile like this:

She was so happy.  It'd been hanging by a thread for days and days but she was so afraid it would hurt to pull it that she wouldn't touch it.  The adult tooth was already half way in behind it.  The one next to it is hanging by a thread too, but that one hasn't come out yet and, true to form, she's not letting anyone near it.  Can't believe she's lost her first tooth already and then in a month she's starting first grade!  What a big girl.

On Monday she was in charge of planning the lesson for family home evening.  She planned the whole thing without any help.  When it came time for her to begin, she grabbed a small rubber bouncy ball and some blankets.  Then she laid the ball under the layers of blankets and asked a volunteer (Benjamin) to lay on them. She asked if he could feel it.  He said he could a little.  She added a few more until he said he couldn't feel it at all.  Then she said that the ball was the Holy Spirit and the blankets were the distractions and temptations of Satan and our own sins.  She said that the more we sin against God, the less we can feel the influence of the Holy Spirit.  It's not that he's gone, but simply that we can't feel him. Then she asked how we can remove the blankets of sin and temptation.  We talked about repentance, coming to Christ and being better about following his example.  As we talked, she pulled off the blankets one by one until just the ball remained.  Then she asked Benjamin to lay on the ball again.  Of course, this time he could feel it very well.  She encouraged us all to stay close to Christ and always stay worthy of the Holy Spirit's guidance.  I was amazed.  How did a 6 year old come up with all that?  I asked her later and she just said, "Well, it's just like the princess and the pea!"  I asked if she'd seen that in a class or another lesson and she said "No, I just made it up."  I'm totally going to steal that idea for a primary lesson one of these days.  Love her!