Danielle, My Belle....That could be a great title for a ballad!

On Wednesday we took Danielle to get her ears pierced....then out to Applebee's for her birthday dinner.  Friday, we had some of Danielle's friends over for a slumber party...I attempted to make homemade ice cream :)  It was supposed to take a half hour for it to be finished in the ice cream churner bucket-thingy, however, two hours later it still looked like a milkshake, BUT it tasted great.  I had denied myself the plan B option of getting another tub of ice cream....thinking....I will have faith this will work and I will completely follow every direction :)  I have a tendency to ad lib recipes sometimes, but NOT this time.....so we ended up having a chocolate chip milkshake poured over our brownies.  I would still classify it on the level of YUM.

Savannah helping me put up some birthday decor before the bus brought the other girls home

Danielle and friends....with sisters too, of course!

The crazy pic...girls getting ready to play musical nails

 

Blue Again!  Isn't it nice to have blue skies and great weather again!

 On Saturday we went to the Teddy Bear Factory in Chelsea for a tour.  I don't know if you remember a previous blog, but there was a time a while back where we talked about where the girls would want to go if they went abroad and everyone was mentioning a different country, except Danielle, who just wanted to go to the Teddy Bear Factory :)  Her wish was granted and she bought a teddy bear with some of her birthday money.  It was really fun....and they actually have some really interesting items in their "museum" collection.  Brad and I loved the story of how President William Taft tried to replace the Teddy Bear (named after Teddy Roosevelt) with Billy the Possum....haha!  Imagine if our kids played with possums instead of teddy bears.

After the Teddy Bear Factory, we were so close to Ann Arbor we decided to head over to a used instrument store there to check out their cornets and trumpets for Kenna.  We found one we liked for her and purchased it....then we were "serenaded" all the way home to trumpet blasts :)  Kassi said, "Kenna, you should find a really busy place and play it for money!"  I did not verbalize my thought that they may pay her to stop playing at this point....because she is so excited about it :) She says it is her goal to toot it everyday through the summer....you can pray for us.

Savannah has been working to raise money for a mission trip she is going on this summer, so on Saturday she was weeding flowerbeds for a family from church.  She had like $75 left to raise to make it to her goal.  So we went to pick her up and she had already been paid $10 for her work....but, the lady handed Brad a check and said, "I want to cover the remaining balance for her, but I don't want to give it to her right now, so can you give it to her later?"  That was a huge blessing!  She was speechless when we handed the check to her....she just stared at it and said, "WHAT?"  I guess that is not entirely speechless, but close :)  We were refraining from covering the balance because we really wanted it to be something she worked for so she could take ownership of it....I think it is really important that she learns to work for things and I am praying especially for God to work in her heart during this mission trip.  I know it can be such a perspective changer for kids when they see and work with people who live in totally different circumstances.  God can really impress their hearts with a compassion for others.

Then, last night, Brad and I had the opportunity to attend a concert in Kalamazoo...it was Ernie Haase and Signature Sound...a Southern Gospel group.  It was enjoyable to be out with friends and the group was very talented. Southern Gospel is not my favorite style of music, but I appreciate the talent....for sure!  I am going to work on some of their little dance steps :)

Their bass sang "Old Man River" for us and I think it was actually better than when I had seen the Broadway show in the past.  Then, most surprising for me....was their piano player/songwriter sang a song for us.  When they said he was going to sing and he was sliding to the edge of the piano bench to face us, I had this feeling that he was going to be really good.  His style is like the Rat Pack...the old crooners that I LOVE!  I had to have his CD.  It was funny because, he writes almost all their songs, and he is great on the piano...but, he seemed almost a little shy of his own talent/ability....like it was awkward for him to be highlighted.  ANYWAY, strangely, I liked his work the best.

His name is Wayne Haun and his CD is called "Old Soul"....if you like the crooners, you'll enjoy it.