Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Crazy, Busy Weekends!

Life is anything but boring when there are three kids and friends and family that live far away (and by far away I mean anything over a couple hours...).  This past few months we've been having a whirlwind of activity on the weekends and this old lady is feelin' it! :)  Sad, no?

But first, one of the things the kids like to do with Daddy is make french toast for breakfast.  They crack the eggs, mix it and even dunk the bread and place it in the skillet.  Makes for a bit more cleanup but at least they're having fun!!  (and yes, I do believe little Caleb is jammin' out to something here...he marches to his own drummer, just like his momma!)
In May Caleb and Abby were SOOOOO excited to welcome their new baby cousin Faith to the family!  This was trip #1 (and #2 a week later...) to visit some family.  We were able to go up to Uncle Chris and Auntie Em's and hang out with baby Faith for some time.  Isn't she cute??  I think she takes after her aunt... 
Then, for the 4th of July weekend, we decided to go visit my Grammy and Pappy along with Kerry, Rich and Marissa.  I know, who in their right mind would decide to go to GEORGIA in July!!  But God was definitely smiling on this trip because the weather was GORGEOUS!!  It was crazy lovely and we had SUCH a good time!  So fun, in fact, that we didn't take hardly any pictures.  It was just as we were finishing packing that I remembered we needed a pic of Grammy and Pappy with the kids!!
Then the weekend after that we had cousins from the other side of the family in to visit and the kids all had a BLAST playing together!  The toy room was sufficiently trashed but they also enjoyed cleaning it all up the day after. :)  The kids had so much fun, the camera forgot to make an appearance (I know, do you see a pattern??  Oh, and I didn't mention Papa Rick came to visit the weekend before the 4th and, yup--you guessed it...no pics!)

This past weekend we took ANOTHER road trip up to Tomah, WI to visit my best friend and her family.  Shannon and I have been friends since I was in 7th grade and it stinks living almost 8 hours drive away from her. :(  Again, we had SUCH a good time!!!  At least this time I remembered to get the camera out at least a few times....here's Weston, Tyler and Aiden.  Tyler and Aiden were born just under one month apart and it was SO fun to watch them toddle around together!
Princess Abby and Princess Lydia (and Aiden looking on...wanted to be in the picture!) Abby and Lydia are about 7 months apart in age and they played ALL weekend together!
Knight Caleb and Darth Vader Weston doing a nice sword fighting scene for us.  Weston is almost a year and a half older than Caleb, but they get along GREAT as well!!
An attempt to get a pic of ALL the kids together and as you can see, Aiden wanted NO part in it!
So instead, here are the other five.  Aiden just HAD to be in the other picture so we'll leave him out of this one. :)  See??  Everyone looks HAPPY!!
And of course, me and my BFF Shannon.  I am SOOOOO thankful that God has seen fit to keep her a part of my life for all these years!  We may not see each other as often as we did in high school or college (we saw each other EVERY.DAY! in college) but I know that she is there for me and even in all my moving around since high school, Shannon has been the constant. :)  So thankful we were able to spend some time with them over the weekend!!
The summer is winding down for us but we still have more fun friend and family time coming!  I think by the time school starts in a few weeks I'll be ready to stay home for a few days. :)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

With this ring, I thee wed

July 13, 2002...The day I married my man.  I am SOOOOO very thankful that God chose me to be his helpmate.  I pray that as we continue in our lives together that we would always be looking to God as the head of our house...that we would continue to work together to be the parents our children need.  I pray that I would always be the wife my husband deserves and most importantly that I would continue to grow more in love with him every day.  It hasn't been a smooth 8 years but it hasn't been completely rocky either.  Praise God for that! 

Thank you Caleb for being more than the husband I deserve...I love you dearly and am SOOOOOOOO proud of you!  Thank you for bringing me along on this adventure...may we always allow God to direct our sail.  Love you!!