Happy Summer!

Whew! Summer is here in full swing! I guess we've been extra busy! I thought I'd post a few pictures. My camera has not been working right which is very disappointing! I missed Caleb's Birthday, Aly's cute bee part in her class play, and a trip to Missouri to visit our close friends there!! It works as long as I don't need a flash, so I guess we'll be taking a lot of outside pictures.

Catchin' Up

I've had a few posts started for a while now but haven't taken the time to finish them. So I thought today I better just sit down for a few minutes and catch up a bit.

Aly's Celebration
Aly got to celebrate her birthday last week. Her Birthday is August 4th. I guess you could say that she is now 5 and 3/4ths. She was so excited, you would think it was her Birthday.

Those of us with Summer Birthdays can empathise with not getting to celebrate at school. That must be why Aly's school lets them celebrate their Summer Birthdays before school is out. :) She really really wanted flower cupcakes to bring for snack. I thought that would be easy enough to pull off, forgetting when you bring snacks at her school, it's for the whole school, not just her class. So...fifty cupcakes and 100 flowers later, her grand Birthday snack was completed. She confirmed that it was all worth it with her huge smile and big hug when she saw the finished product.

Caleb's Class Field Trip

This was a first for me - a trip to the Zoo as a parent and not a teacher. I have to say it was a lot less stressful! I had a group of four kiddos including Caleb and got to run after them as they went from place to place excited to see the next animal. I didn't have to collect all the money, make sure everyone had their permission slips, make sure kids were split up into groups and certain kids together, certain kids separated... It was nice The animals were fun for the kids to see, but I think the main source of enjoyment from the day was snapping pictures. They had so much fun trying to catch the animals and each other doing funny things!.Caleb's group shot

Thanks!

I just wanted to thank those of you who signed up for Swagbucks under me! I hit the $60 Amazon Gift Card mark!! I just have to decide what we "need" to purchase with that money. It's funny how it's not even real money, but I still find myself wanting to spend it wisely. Has anyone purchased anything fun with their "Swag"money? Anyone else not wanting to be left out of the fun can sign up by clicking this link or the button below. Here's my original post on Swagbucks if you aren't sure what I'm talking about.

Happy Birthday, Our Sweet Anna Mae!

What a joy you are sweet girl.
2 months old catching some rays. :)1 year old.1 and a 1/2.


Happy Second Birthday!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and a wonderful Resurrection Sunday celebration! We had a great time at church and then a delicious lunch with family, friends and football players.

Easter Egg Hunting

Jacob and Anna had so much fun this year hunting Easter eggs. We had their little friends, the other Jacob and Anna over so I decided to have a little Easter Egg Hunt with them. It was a beautiful day and they had a great time.


It was rainy and cold on Easter Day, so Aunt Jodi let us hide eggs in her house! They had a blast!

Thanks Brian and Jodi for the wonderful meal and great time!!

Aly's Series of Unfortunate Events

The Soccer Saga
Well, Aly's had a couple of minor accidents over the last week. The first was a soccer injury. She somehow ran her face into a little boy's head. Any guesses who that little boy might have been?Yep. Big brother. We knew it was bound to happen given the odds...
* 9 5-7 year-olds
* 3 older boys
* 6 younger, smaller,more timid girls
* Caleb's intensity
We were actually hoping that if Caleb did (accidentally, of course) run into or kick a little girl, that it would be Aly so we wouldn't have any issues of angry parents or lawsuits!! :) Well, it happened in practice as it turns out. To any onlookers, it may have appeared for a short time that Aly was dying. But thankfully, she came out of it with only a bloody fat lip. After she realized she would live, she was quick to show off her battle wound and proudly retell the story. Caleb felt bad. It didn't slow him down for too long, though! The "Dynamic Duo" was back at it by the game on Saturday and were even able to pull off a win!

The Trip to the Emergency Room
Less than a week after her soccer mishap, Aly decided to go for a quick bicycle ride. I let them ride on the sidewalk in front of our house to their little boundaries. I am able to keep an eye on them from inside, so it is nice usually. But Saturday night I was finishing up supper waiting for Chuck and the boys to get home and I heard the dreaded crying from outside. I ran to open the door expecting to find a scraped knee and elbow, but instead I saw Aly with blood splattered all over! I looked her over and found the source of all of the blood! Her chin had a gash about an inch long and lets just say I didn't have to wonder if it needed stitches. When Chuck got home, we headed for the emergency room. Aly was very nervous about the impending stitches but was remaining fairly calm. I quoted a few verses to her about being strong and courageous and the Lord being mighty and powerful and being right there with her. Then we prayed together for Aly to be brave and calm. She did a great job. I think it was Chuck and I who needed the prayers to be brave and strong. I looked over at Chuck at one point during the shots to deaden the area hoping for a bit of his strength to soothe my uneasiness and instead found him ready to pass out. One nurse was rubbing my back while the other put a cold pack on Chuck's head and neck. We felt like such wimps!! We have been to the emergency room 4 times with Caleb and have seen our share of cuts, but this was different! I could go in to detail, but I will spare you the goriness! Anyway, three stitches later (we think he could have fit 4-6 more!), Aly was well on the way to recovery. Chuck and I were a different story - we were still queasy the next morning!! We thank the Lord that this was just a "minor" injury.