Not What We Were Hoping For . . .

After three and a half hours of testing and looking at images we finally got some answers. First, the lump is not fluid-filled, but solid. (Solid could be a malignant or benign tumor, so it still doesn't tell us a lot.) The second thing we found out was that the radiologists found another area of concern that they wouldn't have even found if I had never gone in. So I have a biopsy scheduled in a couple of weeks for the lump and then they want to moniter the other area. I guess it's in a really difficult place to biopsy or they would just do that too at the same time.

The good news is all of yesterday's stuff was covered by a grant because we don't have insurance. The bad news is the biopsy won't be covered and they estimated it would be two or three thousand dollars. Yikes.

I am so grateful that God is in control. It seems that a lot of things are difficult right now but I know He is our refuge and strength. I read something great yesterday at breakfast that was just a good reminder. It was something about how when we have all sunshine we're living in a desert. So true. Sometimes there's gotta be a little rain.

All I Want For Christmas . . .

. . . is peace, I guess. A little less than a month ago I went in for a yearly check-up and my doctor found a lump. She said it might go away but it hasn't, so I get to go in for more tests the day after Christmas. I have been able to ignore it for a while but it has been on my mind a lot more the last couple of days. We have breast cancer on both sides of my family, but I'm not going to think about that.

This has been a difficult time for our family. We welcome your prayers.

Jury Duty

I just put eight children down for quiet time here at my house. Yes, eight. It has been one heck of a day so far.

Why are there eight kids here? I have my three and Leah, and then my sweet neighbor Theresa ended up getting jury duty. So . . . she was in a bind, because she has four little ones.

So I have eight kids today.

It actually hasn't been too bad. There are six girls ages 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, and 6 and two boys; ages 17 months and 1 year.

As I'm typing this I'm realizing how crazy it is. I don't know how big families with lots of small kids do it!

I got jury duty about four years ago. When I got to the courthouse I (and all the other people called) was shocked to find out that if we were picked, we would be serving on a grand jury. I wouldn't have known why that was a significant difference then, but I soon learned it was a six-month committment! The good part was the grand jury met only once a week. And luckily for me, we didn't have kids yet, so I didn't have to search for childcare.

The hardest part about being on a grand jury is the the proceedings are secret, and often the cases we heard involved crimes against children. I still think about some of those cases now, years later. The most interesting case involved a prostitution ring. We got to see testimonies of actual "clients" (who were like normal businessmen) and also there was a huge board with all the pictures of the prostitutes posted on it. All I can say about that is . . . we're not talking "Pretty Woman" here.

I better go get some cleaning or reading or something done while I have the chance. :)

Fun . . . Fun . . . Fun

Big Huge Labs has this tool I like to play with sometimes. You can pick a picture and they let you do all kinds of frames on it. To try it, here's the link:

www.bighugelabs.com

p.s. That's not our Taylor, but she sure looked like that as a puppy!

We Elfed Ourselves

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1188150716

Furry Visitor

When you first see this picture, you probably think, "oh, how cute!" I thought it was cute too, until it wouldn't go away.

This kitty roamed our backyard for about five days. She tried to get in the back door (and even the front door) every chance she could get. The milk in the picture is from Allie, who snuck it outside when I wasn't looking. She and Emmie also named the cat "Ella", much to our dismay. (Once you name them, you have to keep them, right?)

Anyway, Ethan and I finally decided we better call Animal Control. This didn't upset either one of us because:

1) we aren't cat people

2) the poor thing was going to starve or freeze in the backyard

So I called Animal Control. And the woman on the other end of the line asks me, get this, "Do you have the animal contained in a box or carrier?"

What?!

I politely returned her question with one of my own, "You mean I'm supposed to catch the thing?" (In my head I'm thinking, 'if I wanted to chase cats around all day I would have gotten a job at a pet store!')

By her silence I assumed that was, indeed, what she meant. So then she told me the animal control officer would be out to our house sometime in the next few hours.

Meantime, I had to catch a cat. I went into our garage and got a little box. Then I thought that maybe cats could jump higher than 6 inches, so I better get a bigger one. I settled on a Rubbermaid container with a lid. I put an old towel inside and some shredded turkey. (I knew we would get rid of that turkey one way or another.)

After leaving the door open for a fraction of a second, the cat was inside the house. Next came the Rubbermaid. I quickly learned that the cat wasn't going to stay in there longer than it took to get a mouthful of turkey. After about seven attemps, I finally got the lid on with the cat inside. Whew! Oh, and for my cat-loving friends reading this, don't worry, there were air holes.

In the next hour or so that kitty was headed for the humane society. I'm sure she'll be some lucky little girl's Christmas present soon.

As for us, I think we'll stick with kids and dogs!

Disappointment

Sometimes life just ain't fair. We were supposed to have Emmie's friend birthday party tonight. The theme is "BIG" and I had made her a gigantic rice crispy treat, decorated with streamers and balloons, and for once all of her friends were able to come.

Then she got up this morning.

She was coughing, and it sounded like a barking seal. Probably croup. Then she was listless and complained about being cold. Her temperature was 102. Right now I am holding her; we just took her temp again and it was 104. Poor kid. I still think she doesn't understand that she's not having the party tonight.

We're going to try to reschedule, but in the meantime . . . rice crispies, anyone?

Three years ago, three minutes before Thanksgiving . . .

. . . our precious baby girl was born. (Here she is at her family birthday party with her cousin Mackenzie.)

Her current faves:

song: "I like to move it, move it"

food: cake

saying: "I'm funny."

toys: My Little Pony and anything princess

activity: dressing up like a ballerina with Allie

Happy Birthday Emily!

Let It Snow!

Aaahh . . . the first snow of winter. I love it. The kids just had to race outside and let the snowflakes fall on their faces. I didn't blame them. Even the dog was ecstatic.

When they were frozen and ready to come in, I made them hot chocolate and turned the fireplace on. Then we listened to "The Chronicles of Narnia" on a cd.

Perfect day!

Baby Shower Gift

One of my best friends since middle school is having her first baby! She and her husband have decided to name her London. Her middle name will be Joy. I wanted to make something special for her so I painted this for the baby's room (on a canvas). They are doing pink and chocolate brown in the nursery. I need opinions because the baby shower is tomorrow . . . do you think she'll like it?

Thanks!

Ridiculous

So I was just browsing one of my favorite clothings designers online when I came across this:

What the heck is that? According to the listing, it's a winter frock. Yeah. I wouldn't be caught dead in that, winter OR summer.

Seriously, people.

p.s. And you can have it now for the low, low price of $69.99!

Sometimes I feel like the bamboo seed

The Bamboo Story

One Day I Decided To Quit. I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with GOD. "GOD", I said, "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me.

"Look around", GOD said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?" "Yes", I replied. "When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo." GOD said. "In year three, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit." GOD said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." GOD said to me. "Did you know that all this time you have been struggling? You have actually been growing roots?" "I would not quit on the bamboo, I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others." GOD said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful." "Your time will come," GOD said to me. "You will rise high"

"How high should I rise?" I asked. "How high will the bamboo rise?" GOD asked in return. "As high as it can?" I questioned. "Yes." GOD said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

Just a little encouragement. :)

I just have to share a lovely email my husband sent me yesterday. It read,

"Can we PLEASE at least go meet this pretty little puppy dog?"

Then I scroll down, way down, to . . .









Aaaagh! This is not my idea of a new addition to the family. Although I will admit that anyone who has talked to Ethan in the past couple of years has probably heard about his desire to own a mastiff. I certainly am well aware that he wants one. :)

We used to have a dog. Her name is Taylor. She's a very sweet, 40-some lb. boxer. She lives with my parents now. We are actually dog-sitting her this week while my parents go to the coast. We love having her here, the kids love her, and I enjoy not sweeping. But it does remind me the not-so-fun aspects of dog ownership, like picking up after they go potty. I don't even want to think about what that would be like with a mastiff!

Next Tuesday ought to be interesting. We have an all-day staff meeting at the church and we will be having childcare here at our house. Last year our kids got a little crazy being in the nursery all day so I offered to let the caregivers use our house. I'm sure it won't be hard at all to care for 7 kids and an energetic boxer! :) (Right.) Actually, I'm going to try to come up with an alternative plan for Taylor during the day. Does anyone want a visit from a lovable, furry friend?

Sometimes we underestimate them . . .

So I wanted to touch on something that really stood out to me at the retreat last weekend. Our speaker was Connie Julin, formally Connie Pent, of the famous Pent family who traveled and performed around the country years and years ago. Someone in her family wrote a book about them titled "Ten P's in a Pod". Anyway, she told us dozens of funny, sweet, and inspirational stories from the time she was growing up. Her father was a visionary, and he took the path less traveled when he decided to raise his children by the Bible and show the world the results.

One thing Connie talked about that surprised me was how much she incorporated Bible reading into her family once she was married. Ethan and I do read Bible stories to the kids and we also do devotions with them, but it really is a different thing to just have them listen to God's word. So I started last week reading 15 minutes every morning from my NIV. I let the kids color pictures of what they heard or hold a doll or just cuddle with me, but they weren't allowed to talk. I am AMAZED how well they have been doing! I never really thought kids could handle sitting like that -- it's nice to be proven wrong. :)

The best benefit to this is . . . I'm actually reading a lot more of the Bible myself now! We are going to try to work up to 30 minutes a day. Wish us luck!

Retreat

I feel like I have really been neglecting this blog lately but life has been so full! This weekend I was up in Cascade for a Keepers of the Home retreat. It was awesome. I really didn't know anyone who was going so that was kind of scary, but it turned out just fine.

I feel so refreshed and so much closer to God. It's amazing what a couple of days away will do. All three of the kids stayed with Grandpa and Grandma while I was gone. They had a blast and completely wore out my parents. :) Allie talked Grandma into buying her a new pair of shoes (sparkly red) and Emmie asked for "blue underwear". What a goof.

At the retreat a couple of the other girls and I tried to find this elusive "challenge course" that we heard was on the grounds. It was quite an adventure. We spent about an hour hiking around trying to find it, then took a truck out. We ended up doing a little off-roading (Ethan was so proud when I told him) and we finally found it. Unfortunately, the road we took didn't leave any room to turn around so we had to back down the hill with twists and turns for about a quarter of a mile. It was intense. I wasn't driving, and it's hard to just trust someone you barely know when the margin for error is so small! But I'm alive, obviously, so all is well.

The girls have been celebrating because they only have one more day of their "no treats" ban. We had to lay down the law about three weeks ago when a package of Andies Mints went missing. They thought they were so sneaky but I found all the wrappers underneath their beds. I think this punishment has really sunk in. Now anytime I tell Emmie she can't have anything (like when she wanted to sleep with her balloon, for example) she just looks sad and says "Yeah cuz I ate Andies Mints." It's kind of funny, but I am looking forward to this punishment being over as much as they are! Pretty soon we will be back to their regular diet of candy, cookies, and junk (just kidding).

Highway Robbery

It's good to have health insurance, right? At least I would assume so. However, I don't think we will be having any in the foreseeable future. Why? Ethan just got his health insurance packet at work and it was almost $900 a MONTH to insure our family!

From this amount you might assume we all had some sort of a medical problem. Not even close. We are all in great health. It's just that there are only fifty or so employees in his company.

I guess if we decide to have any more babies it will mean a midwife again. Which is okay, I guess. I just like to have my options.

Allie is reading!

I just had to share my happy news that my big girl is now learning to read! It's so fun. This was her first sentence:

See me eat.

Thrilling, huh? Actually, it was very exciting for both of us. We have been doing school now for over a month and it has been wonderful. Who doesn't want to be in preschool? Everything is fun again. :)

Now I just need to convince Daddy that we need a class pet!

(I'm thinking a horse.)

Heartbreaking

I was browsing through blogs the other day when I came across one that really broke my heart. It's from a couple who lost their baby shortly after she was born. What impressed me so much with this couple was the way they handled it. In a horrible, difficult situation they gave praise to God. The most amazing post was on July 5 (just a few short days later) when they listed all the things they were thankful for. You can see their story here:

http://babycrouch.blogspot.com

Praise God for people like this! They are an inspiration.

A Listening Walk

This morning in school we read a story called "The Listening Walk" and were inspired. So we invited some friends over and decided to take a listening walk of our own. Each of the kids had a little book to write down and draw pictures of the things they heard. We didn't go very far, just around the block, but it was amazing what they picked up on! Some examples:

* wind chimes

* an airplane

* a water fountain

* a cat's meow

* leaves rustling in the trees

It was probably the most relaxing walk I have taken with the kids in quite a while. When we got to the common area of our neighborhood we took a break for a picnic lunch. We were sitting in this grassy knoll with gentle hills all around. The kids decided to roll down the hills and before I knew it they had me rolling down with them. It was surprisingly fun! I actually didn't think I would roll . . . you know, being a full-size adult and all. But I had plenty of momentum! :)

Our little break was interrupted by a sound you never mistake: sprinklers turning on! We had six kids ages 4 and under, a double stroller, picnic blanket, food, and books that we had to quickly pack up. It was crazy, chaotic, and fun. Poor Ryan got a shot of water right in the face but he just grinned (after getting over the shock of it!) And of course, I was trying to haul the dumb stroller up the hill backwards and when I got to the top I realized the brakes were on! What an adventure. :)

I'm going to leave the picture out of this post

So a couple of days ago my mom was in town and she visited with the kids and I for a couple of hours. We got out the camera to take pictures of the kids getting their nails painted with Grandma's special silver polish.

Allison enjoys taking pictures so I let her take some shots. Big mistake. A few minutes after she took the camera I heard her snickering from under the table. She looked up at me with a big grin and said, "I just took a picture of Grandma's bottom!"

Sorry, Mom.

:)

Stick a fork in me; I'm done

This morning I stabbed myself in the foot with a fork. A fondue fork, no less. I would not recommend this to anyone who may have a fondue set. It hurts! Ryan had pulled the set onto the floor and I didn't see it in time. Yikes.

Hope everyone else is having a better day. :)

Already?

Went to Costco today. Enjoyed being greeted by rows and rows of . . . Christmas decorations! Seriously. I know this happens every year but it never ceases to amaze me. It's September, people.

In other news, the kids think we should paint flames on the mini-van. That discussion has been tabled until further notice.

A Good and Perfect Gift From Above

Unexpected blessings are so incredible. When we decided that I would be a stay-at-home mom several years ago I knew it meant we would give up some things. One thing I figured we would never have is vacations. But God is so good. A few weeks back a friend from another church contacted Ethan about serving with their worship team for a family conference . . . on the Oregon coast! They offered to pay our gas and provide meals and a place to stay. And best of all, the trip was on the weekend of our 7th anniversary! It was like a dream come true. The actual campgrounds are located between a lake and the ocean. It's gorgeous. They had a playground, water slides into the lake, boating, mini golf, a treasure hunt, an enormous slide (that you ride down on with burlap bags), and much more. I really felt like God just gave us this trip as a gift. Here are some pics:

Ethan carrying Emmie out to the ocean

The girls just had to bury their feet (and their shoes, seperately of course)

I loved the look of this windmill -- can you believe it's made with Gatorade bottles?
This was the lake at the campgrounds
This river was what we could see out the front window of the little cabin we stayed in.

Some favorite memories:

* Ethan entertaining the kids with his reportoire of voices -- Elmo, Cookie Monster, etc. -- while driving.

* Ethan asking the kids (while in the van), "you guys having fun back there . . . you getting jiggy wid it?" and Emmie answering, "No jiggy".

* Allison's great excitement over the broken, not fantastic shells she found.

* Playing several Dora memory card games at the cabin.

* Emmie thinking of and making a "sand angel" (I think we're still washing sand from her hair).

* Watching the kids touch starfish at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

I could probably go on and on, but I'll save the rest for our scrapbook. :)

New Experiences

What a day! Today Allie had her first day of preschool here at home, she also started ballet, and we visited the fire station.

School: I never imagined I would want to homeschool but I'm loving it so far. She did a little bit of work at her desk but the majority of our time today was spent curled up reading together. Emmie was such a sweetheart and just hung out with us. (Ryan slept!)

Ballet: Allison put on her ballet clothes about an hour before class and didn't take them off until the evening. She's taking the class with a friend and I love that.

Fire Station: My pal Mari organized a trip for a bunch of us moms who live in the same area. The girls were impressed with the bell and the pole the firemen slide down. I was impressed that they each have their own room with a shower! (The fireman giving us the tour did say they have one of the nicer stations.)

When the fireman demonstrated how he put his gear on he made a little "pfft" sound when the breathing apparatus went over his face. He joked and said, "Oh, excuse me," and all the kids laughed. Tonight Allison said, "Do you remember when the fireman tooted?" I said, "Yeah," and she asked me if he had really tooted. I said, "No, he was just being silly." She got a serious look on her face and said, "No, mom. Firemen don't make jokes."

Ouch.

Does having stitches twice by the age of four mean anything in the grand scheme of things? I sure hope not. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.



I have never had stitches and neither has Ethan. Allie has made up for both of us now. Yesterday she was climbing on something she wasn't supposed to be on when she lost her balance. She fell on the corner of a filing cabinet. I kind of thought she would just have a bump on her head but then she pulled her hand back from her hair and it was covered with blood! It made me sick to my stomach. Thanks to my neighbor K. coming over, I was able to take her to her dr. right away where she got five stitches.

Sigh.

That actually was the end of the story, but then shortly after we got home I started getting sick. It looks like Ethan and I both have the stomach bug that's going around. When it rains, it pours . . . right? But to be honest I am just so grateful that this is what it's like when it gets bad for us. I mean, we are seriously blessed when we compare ourselves with just about anyone else on the face of the planet. We have access to good doctors, clean and comfortable living conditions, and the list goes on. I am very grateful.

Oh, as a side note -- while we were all convalescing last night we watched "The Last Mimzy". It was cute with the exception of one character; overall a fun movie.

Trip to the Lake

Back from our getaway and boy are we tired! Some good memories:

* watching my baby play in the sand for the first time




* high performance jet skis

* the kids loving their "jet ski"





* eating Sharon's good cooking

* the "s'manwich"

* watching Barry and Ethan pose with their "s'manwiches"!

It went by way too fast. I can't wait until next summer!

What's that?

Allison is a big helper to me; really she has been a good helper since she could walk. So the other day when I asked her to change her baby brother's diaper she cheerfully complied. Except this time she noticed something --boys and girls DO NOT look alike! So she asked me some questions about why Ryan looked different and I answered them without having to go into much detail (thankfully!)

I didn't think much of it until a couple of hours later when I got Ryan up for nap. As I opened up his diaper, I was very surprised to discover that *someone* had put a little ponytail holder around his "boy part"!

Little girls always want to decorate something!

Getting Crafty

I just had to show off some fun stuff I made with a friend the other night.

I've always wanted something to hold my recipe cards in place while cooking.

Our fridge has been overwhelmed with artwork, so now each of the kids will have a place just for their masterpieces. My little Picassos haven't seen these yet -- I may just wait and surprise them for Christmas!

It was a fun project. I got to use a sander for the first time (which probably would have terrified Ethan if he had known!) The art boards for the girls are pink and purple with polka dots.

Question for friends . . . what is your favorite craft? (If you can narrow it down to one!)

I guess we won't be on Good Morning America

I was giddy with excitement (okay, that word is really dumb, I know) from about 9:30 last night until 10:00 this morning. The reason? A new friend of ours invited our kids to come play on one of these : http://www.inflationcreations.net/rentalpages/funforall.html

Not only that, but their company is being featured on Good Morning America in a couple of days and they needed some footage of kids playing on one of their toys for the program! So naturally I was looking forward to this.

So we pull up this morning and my first thought was, Where are the Good Morning America people? We soon found out that they are far too busy to actually fly out and do and live shoot (what was I thinking?!) but our friend would shoot his own footage to send to them. Still okay, just a little disappointing. Since I will probably never go to New York and stare through the window during one of those shows I was at least hoping for an innocent walk-by while the camera rolled here. :)

As soon as they got the water streaming the other kids who had been invited were all over the slide. Allie and Emmie just stood next to me and held hands. To be fair, they were a lot younger than the other kids there and the slide was probably taller than anything they've ever played on.

Allie ended up going down one time at the very end of the hour but I don't think our friend was taping at that time, so . . . I guess I got excited for nothing. :) But I'm still happy for our friends to have this opportunity. This is actually the second time for them -- they rock!

Changes

Our big boy has taken his first step! Coincidentally, on the same day he took his first step he also got two huge bonks on the head. So much for getting his one year pics done this week. :)

An even bigger accomplishment this week:  Giggles is finally potty trained! (Imagine crowds cheering.) It was like she suddenly decided she was DONE with diapers. She also picked up a couple of new words; much to Daddy's horror. (He doesn't like the kids to say bathroom words). Anyway, she had just used the potty the other night and as she flushed she cheerfully called out, "Bye, bye wee-wee!" I about died laughing at the look on Ethan's face. I admit, I'm not super fond of "pee-pee, and wee-wee, and poo-poo," but you have to call it something, right?

Tag

I've been tagged by Amber . . .



4 Jobs I've Had:

preschool teacher
waitress at Chili's
piano teacher
barista



4 Places I've Lived:

Fruitland (in the country)
the dorms (at BSU)
Wyoming (short-term housing during drum corps)
Meridian (our first house!)



4 TV Shows I Like:

Lost
24
Alias (so sad it's over!)
Everybody Loves Raymond



4 Favorite Foods:

graham crackers
homemade pumpkin bread
fettucine alfredo
white chocolate cherry mocha (is that a food?)




4 Websites I Frequent:


http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/
http://www.family.org/
http://www.half.com/
http://www.freecycle.org/




4 Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

At a spa
jetskiing in McCall
dance class
Hawaii




4 Movies I Love:

A Walk to Remember
Chronicles of Narnia
Last Holiday
Save the Last Dance




4 People I Tag:

Andrea F.
Dionna
Andrea W.
Heather

From the mouths of babes

Today Allie and Emmie have some friends, Grace and Leah, playing here all day. We were playing out front and watering flowers when the girls starting yelling for me. They had found a dragonfly on the driveway that was wiggling around. We sat and looked at it for a while and I told the girls, "I don't think this one's gonna make it. He's dying."

The kids all sat there quietly until Grace said (very seriously), "I sure hope he's saved."

:)

Silly Story

A couple of days ago I was talking with Spunky about how long we had been going to our church. I told her that her dad and I both went there even before we knew each other. Then I told her "you know, your daddy was one of the first people I met at our church".

She got this impish look on her face and said, "What did he say . . . (and then in a deep voice) 'I don't have a wife. Do you wanna be my wife?' !!

Crazy girl! Ethan and I both got a good laugh out of that one. :)

Keepers of the Home

Last night I went to my first meeting of "Keepers of the Home". It was awesome! I had no idea what to expect but basically the speaker covered ideas about how to keep to a schedule so your family life isn't crazy. We really need that. We don't even have big kids involved in activities yet and our lives are hectic.

One of the main points emphasized getting up an hour before the kids and doing your quiet time with God. I'm all for that, but I swear my kids can hear me breath the second I wake up. It's so weird. So today I crept out to the kitchen, poured a glass of milk, grabbed a banana and a nutrigrain bar, and snuck into our closet to read my Bible. (The closet seemed to be the only place they wouldn't think of to look for me!) Anyway, I had barely cracked open to Proverbs when I heard Ryan wailing upstairs. It never fails. So I brought him down and fed him. At least I could still read my Bible while nursing. I think he still has a cold, so I'm not too upset with him. :)

Summary of the new routine for day 1: not a bad start . . . .

Happy, happy birthday baby

One year ago today our precious son came into the world. He has been a complete joy and blessing to all of us.

Races away when diaper is changed!
Y
Always happy
N

D
Adores his big sisters
N
I
E
Loves to cuddle

Ryan: "little king"; Daddy's middle name

Daniel: "God is my judge"; Grandpa's first name

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Slimed!

This morning I was sorting books in our "school" room when Spunky came up behind me and started running her fingers through my hair. I love that feeling -- it practically makes me fall asleep. Then little sister decided to help. So the two of them were playing with my hair and I really must have been relaxed . . . because a few minutes later when I told them to go play I reached back to put my hair in a ponytail and my hair was all slimey! It felt so disgusting. Turns out Giggles had brought the hand soap from the bathroom in to "wash" mommy's hair. :(

As if that weren't enough -- today I actually woke up early to get a shower in before the kids woke up. (That almost never happens). I might as well put swim suits on the kids and myself, turn on the water, and go rub my head on the slipping slide!

Summertime

It has been too long since I've blogged so I have to make up for it! Here are a bunch of pictures from the beginning of summer until now . . . Above is Allie dancing with a friend at "Family, Flicks, and Fun" put on by our youth group at a local park. (Way to go, guys -- it was awesome!) Below is Emmie being SO brave and going in the super big astro jump obsticle course. What you don't see is about two seconds after the picture was taken she turned around and ran back out! Maybe next year. :)

Dinner with Brandon Heath!

Thanks to my super awesome husband I got to go to a dinner with BRANDON HEATH! I'm still happy about this, in case you can't tell. He was here to perform at the God and Country Rally but the night before he did a small performance. Before the performance we had dinner with him and a handful of other people. It was great. Here's a link to his page to hear his music: www.brandonheath.net

Oh, I should mention that Ethan did NOT want to be in this picture because he thought I was being a total dork. But I pulled him in before he could escape. :)

This was the view of the outdoor concert. It was sooo beautiful. There's nothing like listening to worship music with the sun setting and the breeze blowing gently. Aaahh . . . .

Okay, here is a picture of Brandon singing outdoors . . .

And our friend, Jesse Shuster, singing before him . . .

Jesse is really talented. To hear his music, go to: www.jesseshuster.com

My son has been exploring like only a curious baby can do lately. I was around the corner for just a second the other day and here he was when I came back! Of course, I had to tell Grandma and what does she say? "Just a couple of weeks ago I heard about a little baby that got inside a dishwasher and was killed!" Thanks mom. :) Aren't grandmas' so helpful? Ok, to be fair I do appreciate all the safety tips she brings to my attention. I think it just must be different when you are the parent.

Oh, last but not least. I have probably stopped for at least one yardsale every weekend this summer. Is there like a yardsaler's anonymous out there? Anyway, I was so happy to find this little bookcase for Ryan's room recently. It was $3.

Aaahhh. Summer.