Butterfly

My kiddos are always trying to catch a butterfly. We were outside playing one day and Elijah did it, he caught a little white butterfly! He was so excited and pleased with himself. He had to show it off and I had to capture the moment with my camera. Thought I would share the moment with you.

Can you see the white butterfly? It may be more like a moth, but to the kiddos it makes no difference. Here he is showing me the butterfly, and then the butterfly got away.

So Sarah and Elijah are chasing this butterfly down to try and catch it again. So funny to see these two going after the same butterfly.

Timothy did not get to hold the butterfly and he is real upset! Is this not the most pitiful face? :(

Celebrating with Grandparents

On Saturday my parents and Bryan's parents came to help us celebrate Sarah turning 8! We took her out to eat to the restaurant of her choice. She received some very nice things from Pop and Gigi and Paw and Maw! After we ate lunch we came back to our house and had cupcakes! Although our visit with the grandparents was short we enjoyed them being here for Sarah's birthday!

Remember that Elijah got a set of luggage for his birthday, well Sarah knew what she wanted from Gigi....luggage!

Timothy loves luggage! Well, he likes playing with it and getting in them. He is so cute that I would pack him up and take him with me! :)

Another thing Sarah asked for was a new set of sheets for her bed. That was her gift from Paw and Maw.

Sarah has such a contagious smile and such a beautiful heart!! I can not even begin to list all the many ways she is a blessing and joy giver! So thankful God chose me to be the mother of this precious girl! I love you Sarah!!

Sarah loves it when they sing "Happy Birthday" to her! She had such a fun birthday celebration with family and friends! :)

Sarah turned 8!!

I am so far behind in my posting! :( I sure don't know why? :)

Sarah had a birthday last Friday and she had a great time! We celebrated for three days this girls birthday. On Thursday night we had a birthday party and her friend from church, Emily, came. She brought Sarah a picture of them together at Kid's Camp, it was real sweet. The girls even got to decorate the picture frame together! Emily's parents hung out with us and we had hotdogs, chips, cake and ice cream!! The girls had a great time together! We are so thankful for Emily and her family! Emily got to spend the night and then on Friday morning we gave Sarah her gift from us, a book and a watch. The girls got to spend some time together and Emily went home after lunch. Then on Saturday the grandparents came and we celebrated with them (that is my next post). I just can not believe my girl is 8! She is growing up so fast!


Sarah and Emily

Sarah had asked that instead of a gift for her that they bring a gift to go in the Toy Store at our church. This store is for families in need at Christmas. This is a picture of Sarah opening the gift to put in the Toy Store.

Sarah showing off the picture that Emily gave her! So sweet! Thank you Emily!

Enjoying Birthday breakfast!

Sarah opening her watch! She has been asking for a watch and I knew this is what I wanted us to get her. She loves it!!

I thought my little artist needed an artist's pallete for a birthday cake! :)

Grass Cutting

"The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8 This scripture came to mind when I was thinking about posting this. Isaac has been such a big blessing to Bryan in helping cut the grass. Isaac says he likes helping cut the grass and he does seem to do a great job! Also I want Isaac to know this verse and hide it in his heart. My prayer is that he will know the truth of God's word and that it is one thing we can always depend on to stand forever!

Day with Daddy!

Last Friday Bryan took the kids (except Joanna) to pick blueberries, to the hands on science center and to lunch. We are so thankful that Roy and Tish let us come and pick blueberries! They had so much fun and picked about a gallon. Enough to put in the refrig and enough to freeze. Then they headed to the science museum and so enjoyed the many fun things there! To end a great day they went to lunch at McDonald's and got to play on the playground there! Bryan is such a great daddy and I am so glad he takes the time on his off days to spend time with the kids! Joanna and I took pancakes to a friend who had a baby and visited with them for a while! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Helpful Hints

Wanted to post the chores that Elijah can do. He turned 4 at the end of May and is quite the helper! :) He can fold all the towels and wash cloths, put up the silverware from the dishwasher, make his bed, fold his clothes (we are going to start working on putting them up), clean up his place after a meal, dress himeself, bring the dirty clothes or dirty towels to the laundry room,he can help straighten up his room (any room), vacuum the floors and assist in just about any other chore that needs to be done. Again let me stress that these things may not be done perfect or the way that I would do them but he is getting them done and learning along the way. What a huge help he is when he is helping our family function. And yes he does complain and whine but we are working on that. :)

These pictures were taken last week and he was having way too much fun posing for the camera!! LOL! :)

6 months old!

Yesterday our baby was 6 months old! I truely can not believe it!! She has grown up so fast and keeps growing every day! Where oh where has the days and months gone? All this to say, my time with her is short so I want to do my best to invest in her as much as possible. I want to spend time with her, love her, read to her, and make the most of every minute with her. Before I know it she will be crawling, walking, talking, starting school, finishing school, getting married, having children....whoa!!! Deuteronomy 6 :7 tells me "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." That is what I have been called to do as Joanna's mother and that is my goal everyday. I want her to know Jesus, to follow Jesus and to "Love the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her mind and all her strength". I love this little girl, but oh how much more God loves her!!! Happy 6th month birthday, Joanna Ruth!! Thought I would post a few pictures of her over the past couple of months. I am sure I will be posting about her crawling soon...she is close!

Coldwater Creek

On our last day in Alabama we got to spend some time with a lady that is very dear to us. Mrs. Shirley and her husband were members of West Park Heights. He was homebound and Bryan took Isaac with him when he would go visit Mr. Tommy Joe. Isaac built a sweet friendship with Mr. Tommy Joe. As a family we would go and visit them and would have some of the best time with them, just precious! The summer of 2009 Mr. Tommy Joe passed away and we continued to visit with and love on Mrs. Shirley. I called her while we were in Alabama and let her know we wanted to see her and spend some time with her. She suggested Coldwater Creek. We had never been there before so I really didn't know what to expect, I was thinking a crowd of people. We arrived there and there was NO one else there and it was soooo nice! We got to really spend time with Mrs. Shirley and the kids loved playing in the creek. We took a picnic and ate sandwiches for lunch. We so enjoyed this time!! Great Memories!!


Mrs. Shirley and Isaac

I thought Elijah would never get in, but he finally did and liked playing.

Sarah enjoying the scenery.

Mrs. Shirley palying with Elijah and Timothy

Timothy had the most fun! He LOVED it!

Thank you Mrs. Shirley!

Me and Joanna

Mrs. Shirely even remembered Isaac's favorite kind of chips and brought those for us to enjoy with our sandwiches.

My mom and dad joined us for the picnic.

So glad to be home!

I don't know who was more glad for us to be home, me and the kids or Bryan! On Thursday my parents took us to meet Bryan. So we said our good-byes and then loaded up in our van and headed home. Bryan got a lot done on his doctoral project while we were gone, which was really good and meant that he could breathe for a couple of days. On Friday we took the kids to see Cars 2 and then to get ice cream. The kids did a great job of helping clean the house before we left for Alabama and they had memorized scripture and the little boys learned to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and we wanted to reward them for a job well done! It was so nice to spend some time together as a family and be with Bryan. I just love it when we are together as a family, when we are not it just doesn't seem right!

Cars 2 was an OK movie. I think the first one is better by far! So glad we didn't pay full price to see it, we went to an early movie.

We LOVE ice cream! Bryan treated us to ice cream from the "Marble Slab". That was soooo good!

Time with Family, The Howell's

Happy 4th of July!!

Paw and Maw with Joanna

My kiddos enjoyed every second at Paw and Maw's

Who is that?

Guess Who!?

Lovely....I think!? :)

Too cute.....but who is it?

The BIG fisherman!

Isaac went fishing with Paw

I think we wore them out!!!

We arrived at my mom and dad's last Saturday. Bryan ate supper with us and then he had to head back home, but the kids and I had plans on staying at my parents til Thursday! We enjoyed being with them soooo much! My dad was off work that week with it being the 4th and my mother had taken off so we really got to enjoy being with them. On Tuesday afternoon we went swimming at the Thrasher's. They are a very dear couple to our family. The Thrasher's were at West Park Heights when we were there. Wayne and Bryan would go visiting together and became really close. Mrs. Nancy was Isaac's Sunday school teacher when we left and she is one of the sweetest ladies. Our family has many memories of our realtionship with Wayne and Nancy and the many ways they have been a blessing to us! Thank you so very much Mr. Wayne and Mrs. Nancy for letting us come over and go swimming. We enjoyed getting to see you two and visiting with you. On Tuesday and Wednesday my dad took Isaac fishing and Isaac LOVED it! Wednesday Isaac caught a stripe and he was so excited! On Wednesday morning my mom, the other kiddos and I went and ran a few errands. We also realized why the kids and I don't go many places, when Joanna is ready for her nap she LOVES to be in her bed (or play pen). She cried the majority of the time we were gone that day (just a few hours). Wednesday night the kids and I went to church at West Park Heights and was so glad to see some of the others that are very dear to us. Mrs. Pat was right there to help me get the kids out of the van and to their classes and then she also helped us get back in the van. Mrs. Pat and Mr. Jim are another couple that was always a blessing and encouragement to us. Sarah had a special relationship with them, matter of fact they were her Sunday school teachers when we left. Thank you Mrs. Pat for helping out on Wednesday night! It was so good to see you and Mr. Jim. We saw many others and it was such a sweet time of fellowship. Sarah was glad to see two of her friends from WPH, Hannah and Lauren. I was also just as glad to get to visit with their mom. Sharon has always been a source of encouragement to me as a homeschooling mother and wife. Thanks Sharon for the time you took to spend a few moments with me. Much love to our friends at WPH!! WOW! We had a great time with my parents and the others we got to see. And the funny glasses, we found them at my mom's and I just had to get pictures of some of us in them. The kids thought they were so funny and the pictures I took....even funnier! :)