FRIENDS!

my kids bring out the dress up in EVERYONE!!

who knew?

so i have never clicked on that little button on my dashboard... "followers." i was so surprised at some of the people that i found that read this. HI! I began this site as a connection to our friends and family that live far away, but it has turned into a fun way to just say what is on my mind too!

as of a couple of weeks ago, i merged my other site with this one which simply means that i will periodically be posting the things that the LORD is teaching me as well. That is a shout out mostly for my PC girls that are missing out on summer bible study! :)

I'd love to hear from some of you that read, but don't comment... I won't write names... yes, i'm talking about YOU! I miss hearing from Ya!! :) I made it easier to write comments on my site. You don't even have to have a google account.... that is for my DAD!! :)

anyway, thanks for reading and spying in on our lives.... we are glad to have you and we hope that you feel encouraged and... occasionally laugh uncontrollably!

oh, dear..

allie has poison ivy ON HER FACE!!!

eeeeeek!!!!

H, I, and J

i haven't posted about our last two verses. i have to say that it has turned into bi-weekly scripture just so that we can slow down a bit, but the kids are still LOVING it and KNOW them all! i have been pleasantly surprised by their memory.... now if those verses would infiltrate our hearts too!!
H was Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and mother."
i filled a jar with shinny stones and labeled two jars with the kiddos names.
every time they honored mom or dad without having to be asked or told they got to put stones into their glass.
they loved playing with them and hearing them as they were dropped in. however, i only recommend using this activity for a short training period. kids this age have a hard time with volume and i felt like they could not grasp how far away from the top they were (sticker charts show a blank and it is easier for them to tell how much longer).

the letter I was Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." we gazed alot on these two weeks... gazed at flowers, bugs, stars, our skin, the moon, and even animals at the zoo.

we are still on J which is Hebrews 13:8. "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." This is a great verse and has been speaking to me in big ways, but i'm having a hard time teaching the concept so that they can understand it. any ideas? please leave me a comment if you have any thoughts!

discipline

it is not a fun word, BUT it is soo good for us. with the help of lance, i have begun to get out of my "mother of an infant" stage. after all, Riley is over a year old! :) what that means in this house is earlier bed times, no snooze buttons, longer time in God's word, and exercise. it has been so refreshing to my body and my SOUL!!

lance and i have both taken a challenge to read 30 chapters a week. so we pick a book of the bible (i've chosen I Cor.) and divide it up so that we read 30 chapters that week. for example: i read I Cor. 1-5 for six days last week and this week I am reading 6-10. it helps me in two ways: 1. i become very familiar with the text (almost memorizing it in some parts) and 2. you don't miss much... you see the details, themes, repeated issues, etc.

one of my favorite verses so far has been 2:4-5:
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on GOD'S POWER!"

as far as exercising goes... that comes much harder for me. i'm simply not motivated and i get bored really quickly. because of my issues, i have a rotating schedule going: wii fit on mondays, bike ride on tuesdays, 30 day shred on wednesdays, bike ride on thursdays, walk on fridays, break on saturdays, walk on sundays. i'm walking and bike riding 2 miles now, but hope to up it soon.... the time is the hard part.

soccer?

fashion statement

+ backward shorts

+ barking orders

+ dancing

+ confused little brother

=
a soccer game! HA! :)

livin' it up

at the ZOO!
riley got some cash for his birthday and we used it on a gift that keeps on giving. family passes to the zoo for a full year!
here is the crew (minus three babies) that came to the first of many trips.

allie and her friend maggie

caleb with two of his friends, walker and miller.... and the goat!

check out this HUGE ostrich!!

the big kids are checking out the elephants and giraffes!

Thanks to both sets of grandparents for the family passes!! we will be enjoying the zoo LOTS!

our weekend

our 2010 summer leadership team met this weekend to plan and prepare for the summer. aren't they a good looking group?

here are our guys...

and the ladies....

and, of course, allie LOVES having staff around anytime. This is diana one of our resident staff (meaning she is here year round) and one allie's favorite girls!

hard decisions do not come easy

many of you may not know about our puppy woes. we got cooper just over two years ago. he looked like this and allie LOVED him!

we soon realized that three kids and a dog were more than we could handle. we picked him because he was the puppy sleeping in the crate while the others were yelping and jumping all over each other. in hind site we believe he was sleeping because he had worn his hyper self out. our vet told me that most goldens calm down after a year, but ours would most definitely take two! HA!

she was right. our dog took a full two years to even begin to be manageable. allie still loved him, but he knocked her over constantly and caleb wanted NOTHING to do with him! with every passing day we felt bad about his lack of attention and exercise. i don't even get to work out so making time for the dog to get in a walk was clearly not going to happen. we decided that he needed a home with more attention and love to give. not everyone was on board with the decision as you can see below, but she is coming around.

this is our friend lauren.... and, now, cooper's new owner. it was hard to say goodbye, but knowing that he is going to a great home made it much easier. she is wonderful and even runs... he is going to be in dog heaven with her! and i even think they look like they belong together! don't you? when she came to get him, he laid at her feet and begged to be pet... he just knew!

by the way- just as this picture was being taken, caleb kicked water and mud all over lauren... that is the reason for the laughing! :) ahhhh my family! it is no wonder we needed one less needy soul in our home. cooper, we miss you! lauren, thanks for loving him!

UPDATE: the kids are loving that they can play in the backyard today! we bought them a toy box for all their stuff and it is their new (POOP FREE) play ground!

our girl.....

a face for everything!

beach bums!

it is hard to believe that we live just down the road from THIS:

last sunday we took advantage of an hour and decided to BUILD sandcastles,

soak up the sun,

and get dirty!

it was well worth our time!
how would you spend a free hour??

time is flying by!

here is our youngest BIG boy!
Riley is coming up on 14 months and i desperately want it to SLOW down.
he still has the easiest personality
laughs and smiles all the time
climbs to the very top of EVERYTHING

today was a big day for him. it was the first time that he took a nap in his crib instead of the pack-n-play... on your third kid you just make due with where everyone sleeps! :) since i keep finding him sleeping on top of my clothes, i thought it was time to move him out of my closet... after all... he is a BIG BOY now! :)

captured

our family will never look like this again so we wanted to make sure that we had some good pics! our sweet friend, beth, offered to capture our faces while it is still called today! AND she did a fabulous job... we were so pleased.

it is nearly impossible to get five people (especially those under the age of five) to look at the camera at the same time!

but i love that their personalities were shinning through!

little miss had a hard time being natural...

and then there was our mr. GQ

i LOVE this one!!!!

here is the front view of our sneak peek pic (fyi: we were given a warning from three police officers shortly after this was taken... so take note... it is illegal, but apparently we aren't the only ones with that trouble! HA!)

i love that caleb is leading the crew in this pic... that doesn't happen often.

sweet riley needed a hair cut and scraped up his nose the day previous to this... oh well.

i even got a few pics with my man!! yeah... that doesn't EVER happen!

kiss, kiss...
hope you like them... thanks again beth!!!

where i have been...

this week was our local children's consignment sale! you can check out all the details here. this picture is only the room of clothes... there was SOO much more! I volunteered on Wednesday night so that i could shop early and i worked it all day Thursday and Friday to earn a little extra cash! thank you to grammie for keeping the kids while i was away so much.

it would be impossible to gather all that i bought and take a pic, but let's just say that we did good! :)

we came home with new bedding for Allie, a desk (that is getting a makeover), 3 pair of cleats, 7 pairs of shoes, 18 pair of shorts, 16 shirts, 5 dresses, a swimsuit, set of new books, a shower curtain, Thomas the train track pieces, and three Christmas gifts that are put away for December.
I LOVE THIS SALE!

sneak peek

this week is crazy, but here is a sneak peek of the family pics we had taken recently....

happy easter!

the kids were excited to see Jesus atop the mountain this morning. they did not enjoy waiting the three LONG days, but it was a great lesson in WAITING!

our Easter baskets were very practical this year... the shoes they needed for their outfits.

this picture had to be included b/c it was the ONLY one i got with all three of them before church. HA!!!

these two are way more cooperative... i know Riley will come around to my picture taking craziness!

mr. handsome!

i know, we cut his hair... i don't want to talk about it.... i have cried twice! my man is looking pretty hot in this pic!! :)

we managed to get a family pic thanks to the offer of a sweet friend at church (thanks jenny!)

after church we had several friends over for lunch! they were brave considering that caleb is covered in pudding and allie is holding a knife in this pic... nice!

we hope everyone enjoyed today with family or friends! we are grateful for our SAVIOR!