Vacation Notice

Whew. I think I might actually have finished packing for our trip! Woo hoo. The kids and I will be joining my mom, dad, sister, brother, almost sister-in-law, and my sister's 3 kids in Branson. It's gonna be a wild, fun, adventure...and I am pretty excited! :)

So I will be on a vacay from the blog world for quite some time. I think it'll be good for me, and so hard at the same time.

Goodbye for now! ;)

Pray for my sweet hubby who has to stay behind for work and painting the house (and several other honey-dos)

Time Warp

I am thanking my lucky stars

that she is sticking to the story
that one day she will marry

her brother

Because

these pictures scare me...to death

I know it won't be long...and that it won't be her brother

Do you like your eggs salty?

Every night for over a year I sang to Jackson each night. He ALWAYS wanted 'Jesus Loves Me' until here recently. Now he wants a NEW song each night (sometimes more than one new song). This is exciting and I love that he wants to learn/hear new songs, but my brain is cutting out on me by that hour of the day and I have a hard time remembering songs on the spot (and their words for that matter).

Well tonight was no different. I tried several songs...ALL of which apparently he has heard. So I dug deep deep into my Southern Baptist background and came up with 'I Exalt Thee'...of which I only sang: I exalllllllt thee, I exallllllllt thee, I exxxxaaaaallllllllllult thee O Lord.

As I am singing he tries to sing with me. He tells me he wants me to sing it again, and then again. I tell him it's easy to remember the words, because it's only: I exalt thee

Then he tells me that is the funniest song he has ever heard. I am not following here at all at first. Then he says: Mom I don't like my eggs salty.

I just about died as I tried SOOOO hard not to laugh at him. It was so darn cute. So innocent. So awesome.

Then he said he didn't like them 'wiff shuger eeder'

How precious is that....?

I egg salty!.... Oh Lord :)

Pictures from July

July has been an absolutely INSANE month for our family. So the quick picture version is all I have to offer today.

So this is what your child's face might look like after you make them a Rainbow Smoothie (aka Princess Smoothie and Batman Smoothie) *recipe to come soon

My little diva at the Zoo.

He was being a statue :)

Just loved this face! Oh the faces she makes :)

Fun Family Foto

Daddy and Jackson---where oh where do they get their facial expressions....I think that is his version of 'party on dude'

We took 11 pictures of this pose trying to get her to smile. I am smiling in all of them with my eyes open...except this one...which be the ONLY one she is looking at the camera and not frowning...so there ya go.

Fireworks at the Eastland Mall...they loved them. ALthough this is way past their bedtime and she was a little grumpy

Jackson went go-carting with his grammy and pop this weekend.

Yes, my daughter is in her skivves in public...as in the RiverWalk in Jenks public. But whatever. I've momentarily stopped fighting battles with her. Will resume when I have energy

4 of the cousins at the Riverwalk--they are all meant for the stage.

VBS Day 1

We have VBS this week. Somehow I managed to get myself in-over-my-head just a wee little bit in responsibility, but all-in-all, the first day went well. We had 81 kids there. We planned for 100 just in case, so that went well. We have used/are using over 65 volunteers to pull the whole thing off. That is fantastic! I love that. People serving. Loving. Giving.

Couldn't ask for a better first day overall. God is good. Isn't it cool that He doesn't get tired....I sure am!

As always, please pray for continued goodness, grace, wisdom, love, strength, and joy for our volunteers; and listening ears, open-hearts, and willingness for our kids!

5 bucks, 5 friends, 20,000 kids

Last summer we went to Camp Barnabas. It was a great experience, a growing experience, a God-experience. Funny thing is, it wasn't even FOR us. It was for the mentally and physically handicapped to come and be loved on and experience things for one week that they normally cannot even fathom in 'the real world'. You can read more about my experience here. You can see our experience here.
One thing I know. Those kids and adults, those adorable campers, they NEED this time, they need this camp. Here's how we can help get them there!

Give Me 5!
Pick any news broadcast and few seconds pass before a new aspect of the dwindling economy surfaces. Here at Camp Barnabas, we see the reality of a downward economy in the rising needs of our camper families and their struggle to provide for their children. But we think we've found a way to meet the challenge of providing a life-changing week to the over 1,300 we champion. If you give $5 and ask 5 of your friends to do the same...give $5 and ask 5 of their friends...then simple math takes over. And we have the possibility of 20,000 fully-funded Camp Barnabas experiences. Click here to learn more.

For more information on Camp Barnabas email info@campbarnabas.org or call 417.476.2565.
Camp Barnabas • 901 Private Road 2060 • Purdy • MO • 65734

The BIG 4 Party

We took the last link off his chain for Sunday, which meant it was the BIG PARTY day. When I say big I mean BIG! We had a blast...and lots of people....and lots of chaos. The Super Hero Party of the year...

My big 4 year-old Superhero

Lots of super heroes showed up (one of the perks of being the youth minister's kid)

Daddy was Batman! Jackson was so excited!

We flew my nephew Jake up for Jackson's party because that was his one wish for his party. And once you see all the little girls running around in the following pictures, you'll see why I felt I should comply with his desire for a boy...one of his favorites! :)

We started with eating! Every good party has food...and we had lots of it.

Papa John and Jackson. Normally we get a lot more posed pictures with family, but this is one of the only ones I got. (*big bummer)

This is one of me and my brother though! His presence was a surprise! I was so excited he came!

Look at that happy guy! He is so cute. He had a blast and even though it was a million degrees, he kept his costume on THE ENTIRE TIME!

The little princess of the party. She looked too cute to leave her out of this post entirely.

We opened presents. Jackson could barely contain himself waiting. I think he asked me every 2 minutes if it was time. So I let him do this after everyone had gotten mostly finished eating. He was one popular boy during present time. See all those girls?!

They were so silly (all of them) about the fact that he got underwear for his birthday. I thought it was a cute picture though! ;) He's only wearing those right now. They are superheroes

They surrounded him no matter how far he tried to move from the crowd. Thankfully he isn't claustrophobic. Much more like a 'Ladies Man'. He got a TON of presents and truly loves them all! He is a very blessed little boy. Thank you all of you!!!!

He got a bike as his last present and loved it of course. But he was very fascinated with the horn even more :)

After presents we did the pinata, but we choose to do the ribbon ones instead of ones you beat, at least for now. They all got to pull one string. Then it still didn't fall. There were two strings left and Jacob and Jackson got to pull the last two and it ended up being Jackson's last one that broke it. So fun! They went nuts over all the candy. It was sort of anti-climactic though because we stuffed it SO full of candy that it didn't just come pouring out we had to help it...:)

The aftermath.

Then it was cake and ice cream time! He loved his cake. And so did everyone else. I must say that Walmart Bakery did an excellent job! I would highly recommend!

I don't know what this picture is, or who took it, but it CRACKED me up. I think they have candy in their teeth. But either way, it was funny.

We ended the party with trying out the new bike. He needs lots of practice, which he's reminded me, he will ask for EVERY WAKING MOMENT. He is cute. We took it up to the church on the much flatter ground and less traffic and he did much better. He'll get the hang of it much better there. He did SO much better than he did on our hilly streets.

After that we played with his Carerra Go Batman car track set that he "picked out" on line and my mom got him. Little did any of us know that it is the BIGGEST track I have ever seen. We ended up setting up the smallest track we could make, and it was still like 6 feet long. He LOVES it.

He has lots of new favorite toys now...pretty much everything he got for his birthday! We played play-doh, we played superman, Ben 10, with his new clock (a ton) and his new cash register (but we've realized we have to do this without Creighton), and all his new shirts and pj's have ALL been worn, along with his swimsuit and all of his underwear! Then Creighton and Jackson both got the coolest Crayola GlowStation and I they love it!

Thank you all who came and thank you all who brought gifts! He is in heaven!