Gavin Visit: Wed/Thursday

Wednesday night we went to church. We (well, actually Allen because I had music practice) took Kenny and Heather home for a slumber party. Before they went home they stopped at DQ for an ice cream. When they got home they watched part of a movie and then went down stairs and played dress up :)

This afternoon we decided to have a mystery bake off. I gave them a box mix of cake minus the box and had them decided what else to add to make a cake. They had so much fun. They did a pretty good job too. They added the correct amount of eggs. Then instead of 1 c water they added 1c of milk. Instead of the 1/3 c oil they added water. I was pretty impressed at how close they were. They even got the oven on the right temp!

Here they are frosting the cake. It actually tasted pretty good. It was a bit dry because of no oil but definitely edible!

Gavin Visit: Tuesday

Tuesday we got to go to the Monroe County Fair. It was such a beautiful night for it. Gavin and I at the tractor pull....no really you heard that right....I was at a tractor pull:)

Gavin, Joseph and Papa at the pull. Joseph plugged his ears most of the night

My handsome little boy

This is what I got when I asked him to smile at me :) What a cheesehead

Emily with her sweet dimple that mirrors Joseph's

Hannah and Gavin on the big swing ride. I thought she would be scared...nope

Our whole crew at the tractor pull. Allen's nanoo nanooo hand gesture is making me laugh. I don't think that was on purpose

One of my favorite parts of this picture are the classic tractor pull-goers in the background

MawMaw and Emily. Emily was her buddy all evening

Hannah was a Daddy's girl all night too.

Tuesday morning we went to the library summer reading program finale party. They had a magician. Hannah, Gavin, Kenny, Joseph, Heather and Em

Joseph and Emily leaving in their spaceship!

Hannah, Emily and I riding the Ferris Wheel. Joseph even went on this with me. I was so impressed that he didn't cry!

Gavin and Hannah riding the crazy spinning and twisting heart. I almost got motion sick just watching. They were just laughing and laughing! Too cute. What super memories for all of us!

The Weekend Review

Friday night my brother and his family came down to visit. They were also coming to drop off Gavin. It is his turn to stay for his IL vacation at our house. We had such a good time! I just wish it wouldn't go so fast.

The kids played in the backyard all day......and I mean ALL day. They got out in the backyard at 10:30. They swam in the pool until about 6pm. Then they played on the swingset the rest of the time. It was so awesome to have stuff for them to do and the room to do it :) I love love LOVE my backyard!

Allen, Chris and Dana staying cool under the covered patio. It would have been perfect if it weren't for the flies

We invited Kenny and Heather over to play for the afternoon. They all played so well together!

Pool number 3 of the summer. They keep getting bigger ;) This one was given to us. What a blessing!!!!! I can barely keep the kids out of it 24-7

We had our first ice cream truck experience. My kids didn't even know what the music was. Auntie Dana treated them all to an ice cream. Wowzers.....it must have been good :)

More melty messy faces of very happy kids

We ended the night with a campfire and s'mores. We were so very tired that we didn't stay out there long. Just long enough for yummy s'mores all around

Catch Up

"We are Marshall!" We got to see Marshall University when we were traveling home through West Virginia

This just cracked me up! Hannah thought of this all herself....I just LOVE the pringle can!

Papa and Joseph snuggling. Papa is just about the only one who can make Joseph sit still on his lap. On Monday Papa and MawMaw came over to help us with a few projects. Papa put up chair rail in the girls' room! It is soooo beautiful. I have to put pictures on of our rooms soon. I got them all painted and borders up and things. I just love it!!! MawMaw was a laundry maid and worked her fingers to the bone wading through my laundry yet again. What a blessing!!!! Thank you guys for all your help.

Interesting

Last night Emily asked me to lie in her bed with her for a while. We chatted for a while about the day. She then was holding and playing with her baby. She asked me why she was the one in my belly. I told her that she was exactly the baby that God wanted me to have, that she was special just for me.

All of a sudden she got this weird look in her eye like she was remembering something or something was dawning on her. She then said casually, "Before I was in your tummy I saw you." She said that several times. She said she was up, up high. Then she said, "I was walking by the houses....not walking [but rather] woooshing wooshing." She also said, "And I sat on the sun/son? and it didn't even burn my booty."

Later she said that God was holding her hand and that he did this (she gently tipped her hand to the floor and let go). She said she came down, down down. First she said she landed in the grass. That was interesting bc Allen was picking tons of weeds the day she was conceived. Today she said she landed in a pool (amniotic fluid perhaps).

Allen and I were pondering on if that is possible. We looked up the verse in Jeremiah. It said BEFORE being in the womb he knew me. Could it be that most of us just don't remember being with God before we were born on earth?

Funny thing is.....when I was little I told my mom something weird like that. I told her that I could see out of her womb and see her mom by the sink. I could see through the shirt and knew it was patterned.

Just an interesting concept to think about. Have you or your kids ever said anything of this type of experience?

NC Vacation: Friday

Thursday night Alan, Michelle, Julianna and Lily joined us at the hotel. We shared an awesome suite right on the beach. Friday we headed back down to the ocean. Joseph still liked the sand better than the waves, but he at least did better Friday. And once again......the top of Julianna's head :P

Those two were quite funny together. They loved each other, but then they loved to aggravate each other. The would steal each others toys just to get a rise out of the other. Then we would turn around and see them hugging. Very cute!

Uncle Alan and Julianna in the surf. She actually was braver with the waves than Emily and Joseph. She would just laugh and laugh!




Allen taking the girls into the waves. He is such a good daddy!

There weren't very many seashells at all. I was really surprised. Hannah was able to find two though. I was supposed to save them.....I think they may have been returned to the waves
Our whole group in the waves, well except me...someone had to take the pic :)

I was taking pics of my kids and a big wave came up and surprised us

The Moore family at the hotel's pool

Allen played so hard with the kids on Friday. I was so impressed with him. Man was he beat red!!! Hannah loved the pool. She was in there forever....and then didn't want to get out when it was about the rain. Allen even let her swim without her preserver for a little while because she was doing so well. Emily and Joseph got much braver too. In fact, Emily, Joseph and Julianna were all jumping into our arms before we left!

Saturday morning we left for home. We made it to Louisville, KY. Allen was getting tired and it was going to storm, so we decided to spend the night. It was a super room and it had a pool. So, before my eyes were even completely open Hannah had her swimsuit on and was ready to go! We grabbed a little continental breakfast and headed for the pool.

We finally made it home by about 4:30 Sunday evening. It was super to get home that early. We were able to unpack the car....ugh, more like open the door and let everything spill out! We were so cramped in there and had gathered so many things as I bought the kids prizes for along the road for good behavior and such. But we were able to detail Allen's car and even unpack everything inside! I was so grateful for all the help and all the work done. I was even able to get all the laundry washed and dryed. Now, just finding time to fold it and put it away :)

Super vacation!

NC Vacation: Thursday

Yahoo! We made it to the beach! I was so excited. The kids did pretty well. They were a little unnerved by the huge waves, but they were brave.

Sir Joseph liked the sand more than the water....actually he didn't dig the water much at all.

The hotel we stayed in. it was so very nice!

Awww...Daddy and Hannah time.....priceless

My three beach combers

The view from our balcony

View of the hotel pool from our balcony

My kids' first time to see the ocean!!!!

Me and the girls playing in the ocean

We took the kids out to a surf 'n turf restaurant for dinner. We wanted to try some seafood seeing we were on the coast. I thought I would give snow crab a shot. I love the shocked or horrified look on Joseph's face.

It was so fun. We all got to share it.

The kids actually liked it. I think they liked discovering the meat even more than eating it. Emily kept asking me....."is this real" What she was really asking was if it was still alive and if it would pinch her ;)

NC Vacation: Monday-Wed

We went to the museum on Monday then we got to come home and swim in the swimming pool. Here Hannah is relaxing while doing her lifeguard impression I guess :)

Can you picture this look 10 years from now?! Ahh....the teen years are going to be interesting. She really wasn't in a bad mood....just sick of pics I guess.

:*( He is becoming a little boy right before my eyes. No more baby!

That's my girl! That is a very typical Hannah expression

I guess this is more like the lifeguard pose

This is soooo funny. This girl walked into the coffee shop. Can you see the hand print on her shoulder? Note to self: see if someone can assist with the sunscreen next time!

Allen and Michelle with our whole troop of kids in front of the state capitol building

We went to the museum on Monday. We went because it was free admittance, plus you could pay to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was a tough time as they gave you little radioes to listen to and it was dead silent in the whole exhibit.....except for our kids of course. There were a lot of old people in there that were not thrilled with the distruption. Then there was a Nazi worker that followed us around. Ugh, I wanted to just knock her block off. She was so rude. Oh well. I am still glad that I was able to see the scrolls. Well, it actually wasn't the scolls as you would picture them. There were 12 fragments of the scrolls. Very cool none the less.

Standing in a dinosaur footprint. Joseph is roaring for you

Tuesday we went to the childrens' musuem. Oh it was SO awesome. I am so jealous. I would get a membership to that museum in a heartbeat. There were so many rooms to play, perform, explore and create. Plus there were gates in the younger rooms to keep them in.

Julianna is planting her garden like Papa

This was the grocery store. They had food all over the room for the kids to shope for. They had baskets and carts. Here the girls are learning how to weigh their produce

Emily and Joseph being firefighters

Joseph and Julianna cruising in the speedboat

Joseph driving the bus

In every room they had a craft table. Here the kids were able to make tambourines. It was so well organized and clean! There were young adults all over the place whose job was to clean up all day long. It was so nice

Emily and Hannah got dressed up in some costumes and were performing on the stage

Of course, the train exhibit was one of the very favorites

This one was so cute. They had a stage kitchen with food and pots and pans. The girls really got a kick out of it

My little chefs :)

Another hit was the water station. The plastic aprons did help, but there was still a lot of getting wet. They even had hand dryers at the station.

Joseph thought it was hilarious when he discovered if he held the duck just right he could spray water all over the exhibit....all boy!

Daddy teaching Joseph how to use a saw

The girls loved the saw! They thought it was so neat that they could use real tools!!!

The grand finale: the sandbox outside!

They also had a pirate ship that had three levels. The anchor worked, the flag pole and other things. Then they had props and costumes as well. Very well done!

ARRRR.....pirate Joseph

AHHHH......finally a face picture of Julianna.....ugh....except that I somehow couldn't get it focused. RATS! Foiled again

Julianna and Em loving the water