2014 Level Up Party

After the 2nd service this morning, our church held its annual Level Up (Back to School) party for all of the kids.  They served hot dogs & ice cream and had lots of activities available for everyone.  

Cooper was in the mood to have his picture taken today ~ Reagan, not so much!

 muscle man!

 trying to cool off with some orange sherbet

 there was a crazy hair station, as well as face painters

 a ballon artist

 bouncy houses

and a dunk-tank

 Reagan and her friends from small group

 Cooper in one of the bounce houses

 bouncing down the slide

 Reagan had fun in the bounce houses too!

 Check out the action from last year's party here.

After all that fun in the sun, we put on our winter clothes and headed to the ice skating rink for a couple of hours.

Sevierville Saturday



This week, instead of Bible Study, our small group decided to have a day of adventure!  We started the morning off with a delicious breakfast cooked by our hosts for the day, Becky & Bob.

on our way to FUN!

 after breakfast, we went Zip Lining!!

Greg went first!

 my turn

 our group for the day (7 are from our small group; we had 3 that didn't zip line and 2 that couldn't make it)

 on this line, we went tandum

 Next, we went on a 4-mile hike in Smoky Mountains National Park and had a picnic at the half way point.

Then, we went down the Alpine Coaster.  It was so fast, and so much fun.

Finally, we ended our day with dinner and a milkshake!

REAL Soccer

Cooper had a make-up soccer game tonight...in the rain.  His coach told them they were "real soccer players" now because they've played in the rain!!  Cooper did great!  He scored 3 of the 5 goals for his team!!  They would've won...if we kept score!

side kick

 throwing the ball in

 I think he thought he was playing football for a moment!

 getting in on the action

 turning the ball his team's direction

 blue team wins!

 yeah, yeah, yeah!

since it was raining, the next age group up didn't have enough players show up, so Cooper was asked if he would like to stay and play with the big kids.  

 they were bigger than him, but he played his heart out!

 Coach Chris giving a half-time talk

 Go Cooper!

 he's not scared to go up against the big kids

 ...and win!

 After the soccer games, Cooper and I came home to join our small group Bible study in progress.  After the Bible study, we had a small birthday party for Maggie, who turned 6!

the party favors were a hit!

 Happy Birthday Maggie!