Our fam in Saint Louis

Happy 7th birthday to cousin Asher! Seems like yesterday you were born, buddy! We were invited to his rockin' ninja party at their new place (aka: ski resort-like house) that God has so graciously blessed them with. 14 of us slept there... all in beds. Wow.

Asher's new skateboard. Better get those pads on first.

Even Lincoln sported his own ninja bandana...

And the girls were pretty fierce in theirs...

But have you ever seen an awesomer volcano cake with a ninja sword slashing through it?!

Visits from some favorite people...

Cousin Kristen came on a whim and we ALWAYS love her visits. She showers the kids with attention (and gifts)... and scrapbooks with me! Cousin Teresa has such a sweet way with the kids and loves to read to them. We look so forward to seeing her when she comes!

The kiddos with Grammie and Seth, our cousin from Iowa!

Lincoln with baby Paige (other Iowa cousin!)

Kindergarten Update

I forgot to update like I said I would! The first day: great, second day: awful, third and following: great. I think we had some unfamiliar feelings of insecurity, doubt and fear. Some girls were tough on her and I was ready to bust into the school and give those little girls a piece of my mind, but all is now well I am thankful to report. Her teacher is fabulous and she's made all sorts of friends and has even had a Friday night movie at the school where she got to take her sleeping bag and eat popcorn... when we dropped her off, she had NO friends there and the whole school was invited. You'd think a puny kindergartner would be terrified and change her mind completely about staying... not our Emma. She said, "I'll be fine, dad." And SHE WAS.

Kings Island Extravaganza :)

When I go this long without blogging, it gets more and more overwhelming! A little like scrapbooking... anyway, I finally put the pics from my camera onto my computer and got excited to post them. BUT it will have to be a shorthand version to get 'er done. :)

Kings Island trip with the Warners and Trombleys:

A CHAOTIC day, but we kept everyone alive and even managed to have lots of fun!

the boys

Just some cute pics of my sweet little boys...

The greasy, sweaty, exhausting STATE FAIR

What an awesome American tradition! Once again we had a super fantastic time at the fair- with BOTH grammies and 3 cousins! Plenty of rides and make-your-own slushies...

Can't wait til next year!!

Best buds

The moment he'd been waiting for... the dino ride!

Where's my ticket?

IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!!!

I never thought the day would come... and it's here. August 11th- Emma's first day of kindergarten. I also NEVER thought I would put her on a bus... and I did.

You thought the loose tooth was exciting. She came into our room this morning, near hyperventilation, and announced that it was TIME FOR SCHOOL!!! At least we didn't need to worry about any of HER fears or anxiety! The whole family walked to the bus stop to see her off. Mommy was holding up okay until Reese realized what was happening and starting sobbing. He just could not understand why we were sending her away... and was she coming back?? We prayed with her that God would help her make good choices and be obedient and a good friend and we all got through it... mostly because SHE WAS SOOOOO EXCITED. So in less than one hour, we're off to pick her up and go to McD's to hear all about it. Update later...

Checking off the last day of our countdown!

Waiting....

"I promise I'll be back, buddy."

There she goes... hold it together, people!!

First Tooth!

No joke. Emma has been talking about losing her teeth for about the last 2 years. She has been fascinated with the idea of being 6 and getting wiggly teeth and having the tooth fairy come. Well a couple of months ago, we discovered the first loose tooth and have been anxiously awaiting its falling out. On August 5th, the blessed event finally happened. Despite her wish for diamond earrings, the cheap tooth fairy left $1. Before

After!!

Luces!

Our great pals Micah, Drew, Hannah and Haddie came for a visit... we never left the house so the kids had plenty of swimming and playing time. When some other friends came over for a visit to play games with us we had the following ages all in one house: 7, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 4 months, 6 weeks. We managed to find a spot for them ALL to go to bed! :) Talk about a miracle! Precious Hannah looks up to her big buddy Emma!

Tasha the doggy

Tasha the dog decided to come for a visit and brought Aunt Kara along! The kiddos ate up every bit of it- and even learned some circus acts...

Delicious Playdate

Emma has been talking all summer about having a pool party with her girlfriends from preschool and sadly only one could come! We decided to still have Moira over and reschedule the pool party... and Grammie Debbie came over to make a yummy white chocolate peanut butter snack mix with the girls!

All that candy!

Caught red m & m-handed!

Good job, girls!

Judge me all you want

So this new child of mine is not exactly a stellar napper. I mostly carry him around with me until he falls asleep in my arms or the sling and then lay him down as I whisper a prayer for him to just STAAAAAAAAAAAY asleep!! So today I plopped him right smack in front of a Baby Einstein video in the playroom (Emma joined him) ... Did it work, you ask? For about a lousy 10 minutes. :)

POOL!!!

When we bought our new house, I'm not sure we were quite prepared for the time & money that would go into our ghetto rundown pool. But after a long road and many many dollars... we LOVE it!! The kids are in it just about every day. :)

BEFORE...

AFTER!!

Reese likes to play it safe on the stairs and drive his trucks

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Our resident handstand expert!

On the road again...

Happy 4th Birthday to cousin Seth!! We made the trek to Iowa again for our annual Seth celebration... and had a great time at his Spider-Man party. The kids played on the Backyard Adventure (call it by the right name or Seth will quickly correct you- it is NOT a playground) and on the Slip-n-Slide and with the teeball set. Wish we could've stayed longer (mostly to avoid the drive back in a 15 passenger van with all 3 kids on one bench and the rest ABSOLUTELY jam packed with furniture we bought from them)... until next July!!

Seth's expression describes his overall feeling of ending his nap to start his party...

Emma and sweet baby Paige (this baby is near perfect- she hardly makes a peep!)

On the Backyard Adventure!!

I love my Aunt Heather... and anyone who holds me

Yes, Reese, we actually CAN take this home!

I'm so big!

Lincoln Samuel is going to be 12 weeks on Monday and he's quickly approaching 16 pounds! We love him in all his chubby sweetness. :) He's smiling so big and sleeping much better at night.

His big bro and sis can't get enough of him!

I pledge allegiance

Josh has been talking about going to DC again for a while now and so for his 30th birthday I surprised him and took him there! Lincoln got to meet his namesake and we toured the city in awe of all the amazing monuments, memorials and museums that tell us about our American heritage. What an amazing history our country has. We packed as much into 3 days as we possibly could. We even got to see our super great newlywed friends Jon & Lauren who were in town on business! Josh stood in line at 6:45 a.m. to get tix to go up into the Washington Monument, we saw the Jefferson & Lincoln Memorials, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and Robert E. Lee's house, Capitol building (twice) which we also stood in line early for, White House tour, Crime & Punishment Museum, Air & Space Museum, National Gallery of Art, Museum of Natural History, a DUCK tour, Mount Vernon (my favorite!), Library of Congress, National Archives, and I may be forgetting something if you can believe that. We had such an amazing time- just wish we'd had longer! You better believe we're going back when our two favorite places open back up after renovation: Ford's Theater and Musuem of American History.

Can you do anything else but respect the thousands and thousands of men and women who have died for our country??

Lincoln slept through it, but here's good old Abe. What a guy.

Um, yes, that is George Washington's house! 80% original- we even got to see George's bed where he died.

Josh insisted on posing at every last place we visited. :)

The awesome view of the White House from the window of the Washington Monument!