Cornelius Chronicles

   Happy July 24th this Friday! We are so grateful for pioneers, both in the past and in the present, who blaze trails of faith and hope, and who set examples of courage and love.  Happy Pioneer Day! Rebekah helped the boys make their own covered wagon pioneer craft using materials they found around the house and an inspiration picture she found on the internet.  They used lined paper, scraps of cardboard, popcycle sticks, and strait pins to create their very own wagon train. I just love how creative and crafty Rebekah is and I love how she is able to share her talents with her siblings by patiently helping them make fun crafts too.  She's a great example of teaching and sharing talents with others, as well as an excellent organizer of people.  She is an awesome leader in our home and in the community. 

Cute Maeve before the brothers find water guns in the toy drawer.  Maeve after the brothers find the water guns in the toy drawer.  No worries though, she seemed to have given as good as she got.  :)   ***** A giggling gaggle of children playing inside the pack n' play fort on Sunday afternoon.   We just love these silly kids and their creative, if terribly messy, ideas for fun.  :D  *****  Some cute pictures of our adorable Baby Owen.  We just love this little guy to pieces! This cute outfit is now on its third Cornelius boy.  I just love it and thinking of my happy German family, the Aldenkirchs, who sent it to me for Baby Loyd, whenever I put it on one of my sweet baby boys.  Yea for dear friends, adorable babies, cute tiny clothes, and happy remembrances.

Note : Rebekah comes with us to the Splash Pad too and has tons of fun playing in the water, but this trip she happened to be the designated family photographer for part of the fun and so doesn't appear in any of the pictures.  Thanks for the awesome pictures, Rebekah!  :) Thank goodness for cool water on HOT south east Texas summer days.    Can you guess what tone of voice Xavier is using in this picture?  If you guess "whining" you guessed right!  He can be such a little brother sometimes.  ;P

There is a little bit of everything in this post, so I apologize that it is a bit disjointed.  We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!  God Bless America! This is what Owen's crib looks like when the boys decide he needs more toys to play with.  It was a toy-splosion!  I know a little girl who really loves "choc-it" ice cream cones.  Can you guess who that might be? Here are my 3 cute boys playing paper towel tube light sabers.  One is never too young to start playing Star Wars.  :D  I know a funny baby boy who happens to LOVE frozen raspberries.  Can you guess who that is? Rebekah and Loyd both got to go robotics camp for a week with Dustin. They all had a lot of fun building awesome robots in teams of two, and then pitting their creations against other awesome robots in competition.  Rebekah's team came in first place for her age class.  She got the award for best robot driver.  Her robot was name...

The kids are bringing home their notebooks and folder from school this week now that the school year is almost over.  In her writing notebooks I found this revelation by Rebekah of the true account of how Spring Break went down at my house this year while I was away having lots of fun at my sister Jenny's wedding in Arizona.  Dustin is totally busted.  :D ***** My Spring Break Boring!  All day picking up toys!  We cleaned and cleaned.  That's all we did.  My dad made us.  I didn't even get to go in my room.  Dad said "It's too wet." (Note: Dustin cleaned the carpets.)  He also wouldn't let us go in the hall.  The only good thing that we got to watch, his robotic game on the computer.  He won (team 118).  Later he said "time to clean your room." Uge, more cleaning!  Every day!  Worse Spring Break ever!  We cleaned the hall, bedrooms, my room, brothers room, TV room, kitchen, living room, mom's and ...

Firstly, Aunt Liz can you give us some pointers on proper chapstick application?  I don't think I got the lesson quite right for Maeve.  ;>P ***** It's the end of the school year, so of course our social calender has been jam packed with lots of fun class events and parties.  Here are some pictures of a few that happened this week. Dustin was able to arrange his work schedule to make it to Donuts with Dads at Loyd's 1st Grade class.  They had fun hanging out and eating some yummy morning donuts.  Loyd even made his dad a stylish new tie which Dustin wore all day at work.  Yea, it was that cool.  :) Rebekah's 3rd Grade class had a fun Luau party to celebrate all their hard work this year.  We enjoyed a yummy Hawaiian themed lunch, activities, and show, complete with professional Hula Dancers and all.  It was a fun afternoon of Hawaiian fun!

Xavier is our latest Trooper School Preschool Graduate!  After 2 wonderful years of learning and playing at Clear Creek's Trooper School Preschool, Xavier graduated with honors, receiving the award for "Most Enthusiastic." He has truely loved every day of preschool.  He has been blessed with outstanding Trooper Teachers who showed him so much love and care, as well as 20 of the best kind of friends in his fellow preschoolers.  It has been a delight to watch him grow and develop though his preschool experience.  The best moment for me was when I overheard him singing "A-B-C" in the shower last Saturday night.  I'm so thankful for great teachers who get my kids excited to learn!  Hold onto your hats, Kindergarten!  Xavier is on his way!