Month: May 2014

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!

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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:

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!

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.

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

Someone acted silly during lunch.

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.

I got a sweet surprise at the door!

I played Dutch Blitz with these girls tonight.

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!

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!!!

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:

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

We went for a long walk…

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.

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

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

What’s camping without s’mores??

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

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.