4th of July Week

We had a great week to celebrate America's Independence. The Pickerings invited us to their lake house on Grand for a couple nights. We had so much fun there. It's always relaxed and full of good conversations and friends. Chance, their son, joined us too and I do believe Miss SJ developed her first crush! Momand dad stopped by to see the girls and give Daniel a birthday gift. it was fun showing them around. Thank you for an awesome time, Molly and Kevin! 

On Friday, we left Grand Lake to head home and pack for Beaver Lake! Daniel and I just bought a popup camper! We were beyond excited to try it out for the first time and to go camping with the Smiths and Fleers. The Smiths also borrowed Brooke's dad's boat so we took it out Friday night. We cruised the lake, stopped at JJ's for dinner, sang along to a "just learned" version of Sweet Caroline then drove over to another marina to watch fireworks. Big big day and night for us! Saturday was spent being lazy during the morning then swimming for a few hours followed by a HUGE fish fry by the Smiths. Mom and dad also stopped by to see the popup on their way home from Branson. We all went home, Sunday, dirty and exhausted but full of fun memories! 

      

Girls Weekend 2013

A couple weeks ago 4 of my college girlfriends and I had a little reunion in Dallas. We met at Shelly's house Friday through Sunday. Friday night we had dinner at Whiskey Cake followed by a painting party in Plano. That was fun but really hard for this non-artistic chick! Pretty sure my painting isn't going up anywhere! Saturday we shopped and ate out at a couple cool restaurants in a neat little area of Dallas. Sunday we enjoyed super cool temps with coffee on Shelly's back porch. I loved sleeping in and being off mommy duty for a couple days. Thanks to Shelly for hosting us! 

VBS 2013

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil...Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always...(Ephesians 6:10, 11, 13-18 ESV)

Our church's second ever Vacation Bible School was last week. It was great! Our theme was The Armor of God based on the above passages. I taught the 9-12 year olds and was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved it! My favorite lesson involved feeding the kids brownies and tricking them into believing I put a little doggie poo in them. I had them convinced they couldn't taste it because it was only a teeny bit. They all said they wouldn't have eaten the brownies if they'd known what was in them. Well, duh, they wouldn't have even touched them! They were thoroughly disgusted but happily relieved when they found out I was kidding. We then explained how important it is to keep up your shield of faith by avoiding movies, music, video games, etc. with even a small amount of unwholesomeness. I love that!

One of our classes throwing "darts" at my co-teacher, Buck. 

Sarah's BFF, Jude joined us!

Along with Millie and Riley!

The two seconds they paid attention in the closing group session. 

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Caroline turned 2 on June 2nd! What a quick two years it has been! We have been so blessed by this little fireball. She loves to cuddle, eat (any item that's not food as well!), play outside, read books, watch tv, and do anything big sister does. I'm pretty sure she has no idea she's younger than SJ. 

If you have spent any amount of time around Liney, you have probably heard her crazy loud tantrum scream. The other day I downloaded an app that records how many decibels any sound is. Well, she registered just under 105 db...a little less than a jackhammer. Ha! Clearly this was un-scientific but still...she's LOUD.  Speaking of tantrums, though, I have been able to stop her by sticking her in her crib and telling her to come out when she calms down. It works! She'll stay 5-10 minutes most times and comes out happy as can be. My eardrums appreciate it! 

This summer holds a lot of change for our Liney-cat. We'll begin potty training at some point. She already takes her diaper off as soon as she pees and brings it to me. Oh joy. She will also move to a big girl bed...this was the absolute worst transition with Sarah so I hope it can't be any worse than that. As soon as our contract with our realtor is over we'll move the girls bedrooms around. I'm planning to move them into the same room. I'm sure this will be a tough transition as well but once we get it figured out I think it will be so fun for them! 

A few other notes about C: I can't remember her weight/height but I know she is 50th/85th percentiles respectively. She also had a two year shot at her last checkup...not a single tear. She barely even flinched! The only tears were from SJ, who was mad because she couldn't also get a shot! Ha! She still sucks her index and middle fingers and cannot go to bed without monkey and "bankie." 

Oh sweet Liney, how we love you. You are such a joy to dad and me! We hope and pray for you to love Jesus and trust Him always. You are my favorite 2 year old in the whole world! I can't wait to see how you grow over the next year. I know you will meet and conquer these transitions like a champ and I'm excited to cheer you on! Love you baby girl! 

Gulf Shores 2013 Part 1

Just a sneak peek of some of our pictures! 

College Reunion 2013

Our 2nd annual college reunion was a blast this year. We met up with 4 other couples at Beaver Lake a couple weekends ago. I love this sweet time together. We eat, relax, eat, laugh, eat, reminisce, and (my favorite part) have a share/prayer time the last night. Last year we prayed for four of the families to become pregnant. This year we rejoiced with one another as all four were either (very) pregnant or already cuddling their newborn. How cool is that?! Praise The Lord! 

Our weekend!

We had such a fabulous weekend! It all started Thursday with a trip to Crystal Bridges for a ton of children's events followed by a long nap them cupcakes with the Walkers. So much fun!

We went back to Crystal Bridges on Friday night with the Woodys and Kirbys (why didn't we take pictures of ourselves?!) to view the Norman Rockwell exhibit. It was awesome! I just love living in Bentonville! We then headed to our wonderful square and ate dinner at Table Mesa. Good food, great friends and wonderful conversations, all without children. What a rare treat!!!

Saturday we hurriedly cleaned our house to show it at noon. The realtor showed up with clients at 11:30...while we were still there. How embarrassing! We quickly left and went to meet Ree and Papa for some shopping and lunch. We then came home and relaxed for a few hours before a babysitter came to keep the girls while all the adults went out for dinner, again, back at the square. This time we ate at Flying Fish, yum! We then walked around the square and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

Mother's Day included church, lunch at a new Mexican restaurant and a loooong nap for me! Ahhhh, I just love these kinds of weekends! Now for some pics!