Memorial Day Weekend

We had a whirlwind of a Memorial Day weekend! On Thursday evening, Lily had her piano recital. She played Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, and another song and she did a great job! She loves learning piano!

How is our girl getting so big!? *sniff*

After Lily's recital, we left town to drive to South Carolina (6ish hour drive) for my brother's seminary graduation. We thought we would just drive partway, get a hotel, and then drive the rest of the way in the morning, but the kids went to sleep and we were making great time, so we drove straight through.

Friday morning we took the kids to Downtown Greenville to show them some of our favorite spots from our college days. We went to Falls Park and had a great time walking across the suspension bridge, exploring, and watching the ducks. 

Such a beautiful park!

Ava loved the ducks!

It was a really hot day so after we walked around the park for awhile, we went in Spill the Beans coffee shop for some ice water. We got into a conversation with a security guard who commented on the number of children we have and said we look like missionaries. It turned out that she had been a missionary overseas and is now in a waiting period before she starts more mission work. 

We grabbed Chick Fil A and headed to another park to meet a bunch of family for lunch! It was so fun! There were lots of kiddos/babies to play with and meet for the first time. It was pretty much a family reunion!

We went to the hotel for some rest time in the afternoon before heading to the graduation ceremony. It was a very special service! My dad preached the graduation address and all of our immediate family was able to attend except one of my brothers and his family. 

We came home on Saturday morning - we had to hurry back because Jacob had a wedding in the late afternoon. Thankfully the trip went smoothly!

Early on Monday morning (Memorial Day) we heard this strange whooshing noise and we looked out and saw this hot air balloon! So fun! I ran through the house like a crazy person calling the kids to get up fast. It was a cool way to start the day!

Our church hosted a tool and gadget shower Monday afternoon for my brother in law and future sister in law who was in town for the weekend. It was a cute shower, but I forgot to take any pictures!

Monday night we went to my sister's home for a family supper - grilled hamburgers and hot dogs! Yum! My sister got a ton of water toys, bubbles, outdoor games, cool bandanas, etc for the kids! They had a blast! 

Our weekend was filled with family - immediate, extended, my side of the family, Jacob's side of the family. Family is so special and we feel like it is very important to make memories with them and cherish the time we have together. We are thankful for each one!

xoxo,

Resurrection Sunday 2016

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! It was busy because we had a moving sale on Friday and Saturday, but we enjoyed beautiful weather and a great turnout! Saturday night the kids had the best time having a glow-in-the dark egg hunt with some neighbor friends! On Sunday we had church and then a family dinner at my sister's house. 

Our little family.

Our oldest and youngest. 

Lily and Ava chatting with out of town family.

These boys love books!

Papaw and his miniature self. haha

Love these ladies but wish we had thought to get a picture with my sister in law before she left. 

This is exactly what Monday looks like after a busy fun-filled weekend! ha!

xoxo,

Valentine's Day 2016

Ok, so I don't decorate very much. Like at all. I get so overwhelmed when I go to Hobby Lobby because I LOVE EVERYTHING...but I know I can't get everything...soooo I get NOTHING because I can't decide what would look best. OH my word, it's a vicious cycle. 

But anyway. Now I have a 6 year old daughter who wants to decorate all the things! I've got to step it up in the decorating department. Thankfully I have a sister, sister-in-law, and daughter who have a great eye for decorating!

We gathered these decorations along with a heart shaped wreath and a Target $ spot banner to make the house a little festive. The sign I've had since Jacob and I got married, and the chevron print is a printable I found on Pinterest and stuck in an unused frame. The kids were so excited when we got it set up. Holidays are such a big deal to children, and I'm so glad we were able to pull together few decorations to make it special for them.

I only had a small amount time between Jacob's rehearsal and concert on Saturday to get my groceries and valentine's gifts. I was running like a mad woman and everywhere I went there were crazy long lines. Anyway, I got the 4 big kids notebooks, crayons, and stickers from the Dollar Tree, Ezra got an outfit from Target clearance rack, and Jacob got some of his favorite foods - trail mix, cream soda, jerky, etc. Very romantic, I know :) Obviously I had thoroughly planned. Not! 

Jacob got me a new griddle (the one we had was practically dead), a selfie stick, and dove chocolate. I slipped 1 dove chocolate heart in each of the kid's bags. They were thrilled! :)

5 of my sweet valentine's before church.

My main man. I love this guy! 

We are enjoying the selfie stick! I love that I can now easily get in pictures with my kids. I want to capture memories with my kids...not just from behind the camera. 

xoxo,

Snow days.

Last week we got snow for the first time this season! The kids were so excited to watch it come down and get to play in it! Lily and Levi had the best time playing in it, but Asher and Ava preferred to stay inside. 

Early in the week Asher had a bar stool fall over and smash his toe, so he pretty much spent the whole week on the couch. He enjoyed hot chocolate though! :) 

We got about 10.5 inches when it was all finish! This picture was taken at 9pm - I love how light it is outside at night when there is snow on the ground. Jacob and I went for a walk after we got the kids to bed. 

The next morning Jacob wanted to brave driving out to my parent's farm so we could participate in sledding and snowboarding behind the 4-wheeler. I'm not that much of an adventurer, but I didn't want to be left home alone with the kids. Ha!

The roads were pretty rough in some places, but the two big mountains that you have to go up/go down on the way had been scraped, so that was good. We got a little stuck going into my parent's driveway, but when Jacob backed up and took a "running" start we made it. 

Levi enjoyed getting a clump of snow and slowly eating it. 

Levi and Uncle Joshua ready for a sled ride.

Lily and Uncle Joshua having fun on the sled!

Jacob took his snowboard and while he was waiting on a rope to hold on to, he took a quick ride holding on to the sled. Ha

My mom invited us to stay for lunch and I enjoyed getting to help her cook it while Asher and Ava played inside and the others were outside burning off energy.

This week we had a couple of days of ice. Ugh! I'm not a fan of ice...but thankfully we didn't lose power! I am ready for spring now! :)

Catching Up: Christmas activities

Lily has been taking piano/music lessons from one of Jacob's violin student's mom. We trade lessons and it's worked out great for Jacob to teach the daughter in one room and Lily to have her lesson in another. Lily's been learning composers, rhythm, theory, fun songs and games. She loves it! She had her first recital right before Christmas. There were 4 or 5 other kids her age/level and they performed two songs in the recital. Lily did great and didn't have any stage fright. I was preparing myself for her to get nervous because I HATED recitals when I was taking piano lessons, but she was just excited and didn't act nervous at all!

The last storytime at the library before Christmas break. My kids love going to storytime every Monday morning! The teacher is so great to keep their attention and do really fun things.

Singing to elderly friends and family. We missed going singing last Christmas because Ava was just a month old and it was freezing cold. The kids had such a good time this Christmas! They know lots of the Christmas carols so they joined in singing. So precious!

Our kid's co-op Christmas party. We do a twice a month co-op with some other families at church. We do a different theme each time - not super structured because our kids are still young. Myra's mother-in-love came with salt dough ornaments and helped each child paint a couple ornaments each. 

We also acted out the Christmas Story! We were missing some children because of other obligations, so some of the kids were shepherds and wise men. :)

There is this awesome trail of Christmas trees in a nearby city where you can walk through for free. All the trees are decorated with a different theme. We went one evening after Christmas and really enjoyed it. There were some really creative decorations!

Right by the trail of Christmas tree is an outdoor ice skating rink. The kids had never been skating before, but they wanted to try. Asher tried for about 2 minutes and then cried until we took his skates off and let him sit on the side and watch the others. I didn't skate, so I kept Asher and Ava on the side. Jacob, Lily and Levi had a blast! L&L pushed the green push thingys and they whizzed around the rink. There is a homeschool ice skating day each month at an indoor rink closer to where we live, so we are thinking of trying that since they had so much fun.

Sweet Levi!

Blurry Lily going the wrong direction on the rink. Haha.

We had so much fun making memories over Christmas. I'm thankful for everyday I get to spend with my family. 

Family Day 2014

Every December we dedicate a day (or part of a day) to be "Family Day." Jacob is so busy during this season, it can sometimes be a challenge to find a time when he's free. 

We started our day with a small town parade. It was so fun!

Then we headed to a Christmas tree farm. It was our first time to do this and it was a lot of fun! 

We picked our tree and Jacob worked for awhile to cut it down with a dull hack saw, but that didn't work so well. Haha! One of the workers came of with a chain saw and cut it with one swipe. 

There were free pony rides and a small petting zoo, so we took advantage of that. Lily and Asher rode the pony - so fun!

We decorated the tree. This year we used colored lights for a change. 

After our traditional homemade pizza supper, we decorated penguins (in past years we have always done snowmen, but we used the last of the snowmen last year and the kids wanted the penguins this time. :)

The kids opened their Christmas jammies and then we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas. :) Ava's jammies were Lily's first Christmas pjs. We like to give the kids their jammies early in the month of December so they can enjoy wearing them all season.

I'm thankful for the memories with these wonderful, crazy people!