Rite of Passage with Piercing

Today was a memorable day! To celebrate Ruby turning 10 years old on Monday the 26th, we made a trip to Claire’s for ear piercing!!! The subject of ear piercing came up when the girls were tiny. I thought maybe they could get their ears pierced so that they would look more like a girl…since they were both fairly lacking in the hair area for quite a while and neither of them kept bows on their head. Josh let me know that was not gonna happen. Ear piercing was a big deal to him, and he thought maybe when they were turning 16 years old they could get theirs ears pierced. 😊 Well, somewhere along the way a happy medium was reached–double digits!

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She had quite the entourage to witness the occasion. Mack added his commentary through the whole ordeal…”This is so scary!”….”So they use a GUN??” And then he would try to make silly faces through the window to Ruby as she patiently waited.
Molly was excited and nervous for Ruby. She videoed the event. She is a very sweet sister! She did well considering she wanted so badly to also be able to get her ears pierced! Some how 14 months is a long time to wait.

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We also ate at California Pizza Kitchen with Uncle Jason and Aunt Merrilee. They gave Ruby a cute, cute outfit, a new purse and two Nancy Drew books…with the cutest updated book covers!

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We had a great day! And more birthday celebrations are coming this week. Can’t believe our first baby is about to be 10! I’m so grateful I’ve been able to spend so much time with her. This morning she got her hair cut and then she and I enjoyed breakfast at J. Christopher’s. It was a sweet time.

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The kids and I have been to the pool a few times so far. It is warming up nicely out there…finally.

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Mack also got a haircut this week.
I love these little kids.

Long Week

Without my husband, this week has been long. We’ve made it through and had plenty to do, but I am missing my friend!!
Here are a few pictures from today:

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We hope to close these doors in a few weeks. Still have work to do and books to read and states to memorize….but we will make it. I hope!
C’mon Weekend!

Some pictures from our day

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Sometimes when Josh isn’t filling his side of the bed, I invite little guests to sleep over…I usually question that decision at bedtime when I’m exhausted from having the whole day without Josh’s help. But we do have some fun conversations.

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Molly had a special guest today! He is a cutie!! We enjoyed loving on him.

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Someone acted silly during lunch.

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We got to meet a new friend! He is a newborn…with a very funny older sister! Molly’s day couldn’t have gotten much better. She ❤️ babies.

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I got a sweet surprise at the door!

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I played Dutch Blitz with these girls tonight.

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And Mack put this thing together with my help.
It’s been a good day. We are plugging along with school work…not much longer now!

Mother’s Day Weekend

It has been a nice Mother’s Day! We started celebrating Friday night because Josh had to be on a flight this afternoon. He was very kind and bought me this neat wooden thing (for lack of a better term) and had little strips of paper in each compartment with sweet messages from the kids, like “My love for you is as big as Lego Land….from Mack” to “You are more beautiful than the most beautiful horse…from Molly” and then Ruby said, “My first memory of Mom is when she would pray for me on the way to Kings Academy.” They were all sweet, loving messages that I will cherish.

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I love being home, so we spent Friday night at home watching movies. Josh went to the grocery store for me Saturday morning, and he brought lunch home! I made breakfast for dinner, and there wasn’t so much as a crumb left over!
Being at home allows for lots of play time, rest time, reading and even catching up on laundry. It also was the weekend Mack mastered snapping! I can tell where he is because I just follow the snapping. It’s so funny. Molly talked Josh into a trip to Wal-Mart so that she could get some fabric to see something. She ended up making a pillow for her sister…precious!
Here are some random pictures from the weekend.

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After the kids finished their fourth movie of the weekend, I gave a little speech about how wasteful movie-watching is and how many more valuable things we could be doing with our time!!! And I pulled out our read aloud. It’s a book about Gladys Alyward. So far, it’s an amazing God story. I highly recommend it.

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This morning we enjoyed our time at church. We have a fabulous church. I love the people there and the way we do things for so many reasons. Not the least of which is the preaching. Pastor Johnny walked through Proverbs 31:10-31. I was challenged and encouraged in my role as wife and mom.

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We sent Josh off after a quick lunch, and the kids and I went to my favorite store and then I let them get a Sonic slush. The rest of this day has been nice and calm…a great end to this Mother’s Day.
I definitely missed being with my mom this weekend, but we are all going to be together soon in a couple of weeks. She’s a great mom. I admire her and appreciate all of her sacrifices for my sisters and me. I love her and realize daily how giving and patient she has been with me! I was a sweet kid some times, but I also had a temper, pushed the limits through the teenage years and was more selfish than I’d like to admit. I think it’s true that grandchildren are Grandparents’s reward for not killing their teenagers. My mom used to recite this poem to me, and boy was it appropriate!
There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of forehead; And when she was good she was very good, but when she was bad she was HORRID!”

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Thanks, Mama…for everything. I love you and thank God for you.

We ❤️ Sunshine!

Wow. What a gorgeous week we are having. This sunshine is fabulous. The kids got hot and sweaty trying to do school outside, so we pulled out our handy-dandy water buckets. I’ve posted about this a few times…THE best gift Gran gave the kiddos!! You hook up this blue disc to the end of the hose and each kid has a bucket that, when pushed down onto the blue disc, fills up with water. So, the water only flows out of the hose when the buckets are being pushed down on the blue disc. As they’ve gotten older, the water play gets a bit more aggressive. If you are a mom of toddlers, try to find this toy!!!

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Camping, anyone?

We had some family time out in the woods, and I had such a nice time. It was great to be with each other and away from our every day routine and responsibilities. The kids played so well out there. Josh did the cooking and made coffee each morning. It was great! The only little obstacle was the bathroom….it was 150 yards up a hill and was easy to get to during the day. In the middle of the night, however, I just did not want to go by myself. 😁

Here are some pictures from our fun camping trip:

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We got all set up and then Molly and I went to check out the “Comfort Station.” Not bad. Not great either.

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We went for a long walk…

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We had a really nice view at our site. We thought it would be a good idea to try out the percolator so that the morning would go smoothly. Coffee is an important part of my morning.

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Molly and Mack waded out a bit too far in the water and basically just ended up swimming!

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Ruby played her heart out and ended up snoozing by the fire.

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What’s camping without s’mores??

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The tent was nice and spacious…the kids slept great out there! And there was room for our (Josh and mine) blow up mattresses!

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We read this book while we sat around the fire. It was such an amazing book! I highly recommend any family to read it together. It’s a true story set in the Philippines and recounts how a village of Balangaos came to learn about Jesus and how the New Testament was translated into their language. We loved it.

We are already looking forward to another camping trip! I enjoyed the family time so much. Thankful that we are making such great memories together.