ahhh, i'm back

i believe that blogger has been making some changes and they have sent me into a panic (because i write a few blogs for a side job as well).  my problem...all of a sudden my blogs were written in arabic and it took me days to hunt down the right buttons to press to fix it all back up.  now that we are rolling in english, i'll catch you up.

 our little guy is standing... not on his own, but those legs are strong!

 A is missing her baby brother pretty bad

and, let's be honest, he is missing her too!

oh, and he's eating like a champ... this was his first time for carrots! yum!

a flash back

i put together a photo collage in memory of our nine years together

i think the wildest part is the family pics that grow bigger and bigger! :)

did you know

that i married a character?

these are the skit characters that he was when i first met him and fell in love with him

i love how much he can make me laugh!

the 29 on his chest is how many days until we got married
(man, that seemed like a LONG summer)

and you know what they say...
if you can't beat 'em... JOIN 'em!

we are celebrating our ninth anniversary today...
nine years of goofing around together! :)
and i've LOVED every moment!

love you babe!

somebody has been missed!

C stuck pretty close to sister yesterday afternoon. she had an amazing day at school, but the boys missed her alot!

can't wait to see how today goes!

so brave!

A woke up excited this morning...

which is great because she has had alot of anxiety about this day.

it was hard to give up control and trust the LORD completely with this little girl and her day!
but so good and soo necessary!

extra kisses before we take off this morning.

i didn't want to embarrass A by taking a bunch of pictures, but i had to grab one! she whimpered all the way down the LONG kinder hallway.. she is the LAST room on the hall. but she came in, found her name, and sat... MIRACLE! i patted her shoulder and told her to have a great day. she didn't look up, but frantically colored her coloring page while swallowing hard and say, "umhum." :) she was trying to be sooo brave and big!


now if mom can be so brave and make it till 3 o'clock!

why public school?

in this country we are beyond blessed with many different options for school (all of which i believe have positive aspects). we have friends in private, public, home school, and Montessori. i get asked quite often how lance and i came to the decision to put Allie in public school. before i give my list of reason, let me first say that we plan on making this decision for each kid for each year. i do believe that we have to be good students of our children and know them well enough to know when changes need to be made. we will not shy away from making a different choice for caleb or even making a different choice for allie next year if the Lord leads in that way. but for NOW... for Allie... for this year... here are the reasons why we chose public school:

1. the circles that allie runs in are pinecove and church. she needs to be exposed to the world and learn to be in the world but not of the world. just like we begin disciplining early, teaching manners early, etc i feel like she needs to begin reaching out to those different than her. many people think it is too early, but i feel like this should start now. it is a constant conversation to be an influencer and not negatively influenced... this will provide good practice ground.

2. lance and i are talking and praying about her area of ministry. sharing and showing Jesus to all... no matter what or where. we are excited about allowing the LORD to dictate her experiences which leads into a third reason...

3. this decision takes more faith and more trust. it has been our experience that the right choice for us is usually the uncomfortable one. we are super nervous and i think that is a good thing! it will have us on our knees ALOT!

4. with multiple kiddos i do not need to stretch myself thin or i will have nothing to offer lance when he gets home. we decided that we would rather focus on being the spiritual teachers for each of our kids... academics can fall into someone elses responsibility.

those are the things that the LORD has put on our hearts over the last year, but we believe that the spirit convicts on an individual basis... what the LORD asks of our family, he may not ask of yours. Be sensitive to His leading... feel pressure from NO one... this decision is a god-lead family choice that looks different for everyone!

as i was packing my very first school lunch tonight, i was having to remind myself of all of these reasons. her first day is tomorrow and i think i'm more nervous than she is!
ahh! prayers appreciated! ☺

kindergarten... oh, geez!

i am undoubtedly baffled that i have a child entering kindergarten. it feels like yesterday that this fresh out of college teacher was welcoming her first little class of five year olds.
ahhh, where did the time go?

on Thursday, allie met her teacher. the first female that will have equal amounts of influential time with our daughter. so this lady is a BIG deal... Mrs. Martin... i am praying for you as much as i am praying for my kiddos. you will have an enormous impact on our little girl - how she adjusts to a school driven day, her love for academics, her self-esteem, and a million other things!

lance and i both realize that educators are not solely responsible for our children once they enter school. and we know that no one cares for their spiritual growth as much as we do. for this reason, i took allie on an overnight school prep night!

the main purpose was to pack as much fun into 24 hours as possible.

movie √
jellybeans √
painted toenails √

staying up till 10 √

back to school shopping √
early lunch √

we were super successful with the primary goal! the secondary goal was to check off some discussions that needed to happen before school:
excitement
fears
respect
privacy
and make sure our little girl feels comfortable talking about anything she wants to!

three quick days of VACA

when your hubby's busy season ends on a sunday, meet the teacher is on thursday, and there is a new baby in the family... it makes LOTS to pack into three days. i'll try to make it short and sweet while hitting all the highlights!

we drove to OKC on Sunday

and had some fun on the river walk

grammie and poppy met us there

and took us to Zios for dinner... YUM!

we rode one of the river boats after dinner.
mom and dad caught a quiet moment!

monday morning we headed to canadian, tx to see lance's bros family. they took us to a gem of a restaurant, the bucket, for lunch. homemade EVERYTHING from bread to tortillas to cookies! why do you have to be soo far??

drum roll please... the biggest reason for the trip...
this is Kiptyn!!

uncle lance got to hold the little guy!

while uncle kent got to hold griffin for the first time

then it was off to the canadian fire department. Uncle kent is a volunteer fire fighter. he got the kids tshirts and let them climb all over the trucks!

they even tried on the equipment!

caleb hanging out with his cousin mason on the front of the truck.

and as soon as it started... it was over. we had to say goodbye to the fam and head back to OKC. we got back to the hotel around 11:30pm and pitched the kids in bed (ask me later how you get four sleeping kids from the car to the 4th floor without waking them up ☺)

the next morning we hit up the hotel pool before leaving for dallas.

we got to dallas in time to eat at twisted root! BEST burgers EVER!

and we found a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L park to play around in.

and that wraps it up... we drove home the next morning ready to get back into a normal routine in the sisco home!

summer recipes

now some of my friends may think that this is going to be filled with salads and other light, summer meals, BUT our camp friends know that these recipes are the yummy, delicious snacks that were devoured during the Ranch bible studies or other moments in the summer...
so, without further adieu....

peanut butter dip

butter cake squares

eclair cake

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

puffs

chocolate sheet cake

enjoy! and let us know if you make any! :)

looking forward

to more moments like these!

today is the end of summer camp here. it is always bittersweet because we miss the staff sooo much, but the ease of the pace is desperately needed!

so proud of our staff that poured themselves out like a drink offering all summer and even more proud of my man that never let the craziness get the best of him! Lance, you're a wonderful man that works HARD and honors the Lord in and out of your job! love you!

much needed

time with this girl is always so good for my heart.
my friend ashley and i had a quick night away last week.
just us
quiet hotel room
small talk over dinner
a little shopping
showers and baths
long night of uninterrupted sleep
relaxed fun with no clue what time it was

ashley is 8 months pregnant and completely radiant. i'm so blessed to have a friend that loves Jesus with all her heart and is so loyal to me despite few conversations and very little moments together.

little fish

our kids LOVE the pool

low dive

high dive

head stands

blobing

they do it all... no fear!

g watched from afar too!