4th of July in B'ville

Sorry to the rest of the known world, but this post is for the grandparents!  I think they are the only people that would want to see this many pics of our family!  HA!  Enjoy our trip in pictures...

fireworks in Grammie and Poppy's backyard

 practically falling asleep watching the fireworks in downtown B'ville

hey...  we're still smiling after all these years with LOTS of kids.  

and they have a fun time together too... praise the LORD!

downtown had bounce houses, games, food, and live music.  it was a really fun small town affair!

hey OH!

we have our moments too...

 sparklers.  so glad we got this pic because it took 10 layers off our youngests thumb.  and the best parent award goes to...

my girl!

 with daddy too!

4th of July arts and crafts

finished product

we played outside the WHOLE time... it was perfect weather!

did you know our poppy has his own skit closet?  he let the kids play dress up!

we hit up the park

and it's not a trip to see our gram and pop, if we don't go to the kiddie park too!

 

good times had by ALL!!! thanks for such a fun time, gammie and poppy!  We are counting the days till we come back in Aug!!!

when my sigh broke his heart

Am I alone?  Do you find yourself letting out sad sighs throughout the day?  You know, bending over to pick up all the cars that were strune about the living room… sigh.  Putting all the laundry away to look over and notice the dirty-clothes basket is full again… sigh.  Listening to your kids scream at one another over who gets to push the elevator button… sigh. It seems like it just isn’t that hard to find something to sulk about these days. 

However, my sweet six year old taught me a very valuable lesson this week.  I was definitely (as much as I hate to admit it) having a sigh-filled day.  The kids had worn me to the deepest point of down and it was only nine in the morning.  As I was sweeping for the third time since breakfast, I let out one of my all too present sighs.  Our bright-eyed, blonde sweetheart looked at me and asked what was wrong and I told him I was sweeping AGAIN.  He sweetly asked me what happened and I replied (ever so graceLESSly), “kids happened!”

He melted.  I watched him sink in his chair and say, “I’m the worst boy ever!” Oh!!  I would have done anything to take back my words… to take back my sighs!!  We had a great follow up conversation, but he let me into that secret world of a kid’s mind.  The place where they hold their thoughts that they usually don’t share.  He said that when he sees me frustrated by the messes they make, he feels bad about himself.  OUCH!!  Do I want my kids to be responsible and help around the house?  Absolutely!  Do I want them to use manners and attempt to get more food in their mouths than all over the floor?  Of course!  But more than that, I want them to see a mom that models Christ’s love even in the mundane day-to-day tasks of parenthood.  I can’t just teach them Philippians 2.  I want to live it out!  May we all “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves.”  May we “look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.” And ultimately may our “attitudes be the same as that of Christ Jesus!”

blueberry reunion

we made a trip to blueberry hill farm to meet up with tyler friends!  it was a sweet reunion with a sweet reward!  here are some pics of our day...

somehow the east kids didn't make the pictures.  ;(

the rest of cancun...

lance and i really enjoyed our flight over.  lots of time together and good reading.  the best part... it was quiet!  ahh!  this was the first pic i grabbed upon getting to the resort!  the service was really excellent!

our first day out and about after almost 12 hours of sleep.  vacations have certainly become different since having kids.  ha!!

post wedding pic, but a fave!

a series of fun pics with miss taylor

 and miss blake (love both these girls SOOOO much)!!

one day we ventured into mexico and got to see real life there... honestly, it made me sad.  i wished we could spend some time talking with these people.  this was life... the resort was not.

 the barrels of water on top of houses was a good reminder of the things we take for granted in the US.

fun pic of my sweet man sitting during our tour of chichen itza... sadly, almost the whole wedding party got sick.  boo cancun!!

the chichen itza ruins were really amazing.  we are so use to immediate results.  it must have taken years of labor to produce these structures.  i can even put my mind around the time this took!

we made sure to get a few pics in front of this because one of our kids' favorite shows is backyardigans and they have an episode called chichen itza pizza.

this was the "sports arena."  see the small hole on the side of the walls?  that is the hoop that they had to get a ball through using a racquet.  the captain of the losing team was beheaded.  i'd say it looks a little different for our athletes today.

loved seeing the thatched roves.

these little guys were everywhere.

this was the sink hole at chichen itza... the entire civilization was built around this.

luckily we swam in THIS sink hole and not the one above...

it was crystal clear and super cold.  i truly unique memory

oh, and we got to meet these guys.  yikes!

we made some really fun memories.  although we were sick a majority of the time, i'm so glad for the experiences!!