John Jr's first tooth came out ... after only 9 years of waiting!

Well, folks, we've been waiting a long time for this momentous occasion. In keeping with family tradition - I was about 8 years old when my first tooth came out - he finally lost his first tooth. Keep in mind, I still had baby teeth in high school. Anyway, last night was so special when we discovered his friend accidentally knocked John Jr.'s tooth out of his mouth. Now, it was hanging by a thread anyway, so the inevitable was just a matter of time.

House pictures

This is the view from our back yard. And a picture of the back deck. Don't you LOVE our deck furniture? It's the latest thing, I'll have you know! Looks like the Beverly Hillbillies live here! Actually, they do ... :-)

Our house in the summer

It's nice to be at our house in the summer, when there's NO SNOW! The lake is so peaceful and beautiful. John and John, Jr. have enjoyed fishing, and we've done some things to fix up the landscaping. We planted hydrangeas! You can see those - barely! - to the left of the house. Those trees are so huge, so you can't see the house very well in the summertime from these angles.

Saline Rodeo

We enjoyed a rodeo with some church friends, and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect. It's been a really exciting summer, filled with all kinds of special activities!

Medieval Faire in our town of Manchester

John, Jr. has enjoyed a passion for all things medieval since our friends loaned us the Christian film Pendragon, which I highly recommend! He is also excited about his Lego Kingdoms, which as you see below, he received for his birthday. This was an amazing event. Real sword fighting! He got to make a shield, sword, etc. He's determined to get Mom just as passionate about this stuff as he is. I'm trying ... :-)

Neighborhood Bible Time at AABC!

Here is John, Jr. with our fearless NBT leader, Mr. Nick! It was an incredible week for our church. I highly recommend this program to YOUR church. John, Jr. enjoyed the games, competition, and Bible stories.

On June 25th, we celebrated John, Jr.'s 9th birthday! It's hard to believe he's been our sweet boy that long, and what a joy he is to our hearts. We had a baseball theme party (hot dogs, too!), but he got tons of Legos. Such a special day for such a special boy!

Blogging again ... finally! And thanks to Katie Burtt!

Well, you lucky people, after months of no johnvanclan3 blogging, we are back up and running! Aren't you so thankful? Life can go on! Seriously, it's been a while because we had some strange things happen with our blogspot. So I will try to catch you up with all the nitty gritty details of our life and our wonderful summer at home!