9 Years Old Today

Happy Birthday Kenny-Cat! We love you so much.

Jeeping

What is more fun than going to your sister's friend's barbeque? Having one of your friends that is a sibling of your sister's friend. Avery was excited to play with her friend.

As Hungry as a Horse

Another image from our time with friends.

Horsing Around

A couple weeks ago our family had a fun opportunity to hang out with Kenna's friends and their families one afternoon. We had a picnic, played, and went for horse rides around the property. We are missing a couple kids from the picture but most are smiling for the camera.

"I've got all my sisters and me"

I never knew I could pray so much about so many things when it comes to these 4 little people. They truly are a gift. We pray constantly for their futures. Words like "integrity" "compassion" "God-fearing" crop up a lot. I can't believe God thinks I can raise them up. It's a lot to bear sometimes. But then I am reminded that I am not doing this alone and I am thankful for that. He is in control of all things!

Miss Responsibility

The title says it all. She is highly responsible. Way too much for her age sometimes. I hope she looks back at her childhood with fondness. She will be the first to volunteer to do things around the house when asked vaguely to my audience of children. She will do things without being told. . . most of the time. She is self-motivated and attention to detail in her homework may come back to bite her. Like last night. She missed GEMS because she had to finish her paper. Granted, this was unlike her because she waited until the night before to do it. After some inquiry she said she knew over Easter break that she had to complete it. I don't know if she's entering the Tween years with forgetting some things or she's so exhausted from being responsible all the time that she will just drop EVERYTHING when there's a break. She has enjoyed baking lately. She has made cookies and a couple other things. This last time I reminded her that she does have to clean up afterwards. She hasn't baked since then. Hmmmm

Meow

Kenny-Cat, she brings us great joy and has brought us to our knees in prayer too. When she is "on" she's on! She is funny and loves sharing what's she's reading or what she dreams about. She remembers great details of her dreams too. She's really into swinging on the monkey bars and doing flips on them. Another great passion she has is for reading. She'll often have to be reminded to say "hi" as she gets into the car when I pick them up after school because she will quickly stick her nose in a book for the ride home and let the others share their day. I love the first picture of her. It captures the look she often gives as her response to something goofy Blake or I say to her. Oftentimes we try to joke with her and that is the look she gives. It's kind of a funny-but-not-going-to-quite-give-you-that-satisfaction look.

Fashionista

Ok, so I tell Avery to act natural and show her a few "poses" so she's not just standing stiffly and this is what she comes up with. She's a little model in the making. Avery is 7. I can't believe it. She still shines her cute dimply smile this way but she is becoming a tad more moody. I think it's under the suffrage of two older sisters and having Carter take the "baby" roll. She has a sweet spirit inside, it's just being a little stifled by the "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha Syndrome." She is always the first to make a card for us and others who could use a little cheering up. She is the first to give me a hug. She is our tender-hearted one.

Cards

I don't know when Carter's nickname morphed from C-Dawg to Cards but that is what he responds to lately. He is fun to have around on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will miss him next year when he goes to Kindergarten. He's my little "Snuggy-Bug." Recently, he has been calling out "Love Bugs" instead of "slug bug" so he tallies them up and then gives me kisses on my cheek when we are safe. (He made Blake and I promise not to cash-in on the love bugs until we are at a complete stop) He loves shooting baskets with the newly acquired hoop as well as call out all the makers of cars and trucks.

Easter

What a beautiful day! The day after a powerful thunderstorm. We enjoyed a wonderful service at church and then off to Opa and Oma's for Easter. All the day was enjoyable from not having school the next day to spending time with family. The highlight though was probably when Ayla caught a catfish off Opa's boat. I don't want to put out any red flags to PETA but we had a little fun with it first before we returned it to it's watery home. We put it in Opa's fountain for awhile while Jude wore Opa's bathing suit to "swim" with it.

Sea World

We got to see all the animals in Sea World for break. It was a great time walking around and seeing all the talented animals.

Avery's 7th

Avery had a great birthday on Wednesday. We decorated some cookies before the day even began. Everyone in the house was excited for the upcoming birthday party . . . except maybe for the C-dawg. He asked me earlier that week if he could be in his room during the party if he got "tired." He was already making plans for his easy departure. We made fun Kool-Aid cubes for 7-up drinks and blinged out some hankie purses. They took a little warming up to karaoke-ing but once they got comfortable we couldn't pull some away. I thought it would be important to get some non-sugary foods in them so we had Walking Tacos for dinner. Jacie and her friend Daisee and Kenna were a great help but I owe a special "thank you" to Blake for all he does to entertain the kids and help make it fun.

Hike

Blake and I were able to get away for the weekend a couple weeks ago. It was such a blessing for his parents to watch the kids so we could do that. We did a little bit of everything. Eat, hike, thrift, go to the Pasadena flea market, and relax.

Geo Bee

It seems every year I hear about the Geo Bee and the Spelling Bee from Blake. This year was a first, we got to hear about it from Jacie. The Geography Bee was a couple weeks before the Spelling Bee so it gave her good practice. I never thought I would experience more nervousness sitting in the audience than being on stage, but it did happen. She did a great job.

Unwilling Leader

Carter was an unwilling shepherd this morning. Though he had two followers he did not want to touch them. Our favorite annual day is here again. Blake's "Excuse Note" assignment has our family in a tither. As you know from past posts, we have a hard time getting ready for school and today was no different. Between shepherding and digging in a receptacle for free Farm Show goodies we barely got to school on time. We are all eager to see how creative these students are this year!

We are finally at the stage where we can go trick-or-treating and we don't have tired kids but it's always a bit rushed on a school night. We usually enjoy going to Opa and Oma's for pizza and going around their neighborhood. Our tradition every year is to visit our neighbor Betty at her daughter's house so she can see them dressed up. Next year will be extra special since we don't live by her anymore.

Four Lil' Pumpkins

After a few busy weeks of packing up, fixing things, moving, and unpacking we needed a little reprieve from all the "house stuff." We went to our local pumpkin patch for a little break. We almost missed it because the patch was almost done, as it was towards the end of October. It's amazing how God provides even with little things. It was a nice afternoon for our family and every thing was free thanks to the family who owned it. We enjoyed dinner, a hayride and free pumpkins to adorn our new home. What a generous community we live in and what a wonderful husband I have. We are often on the receiving end of generosity thanks to my wonderful teacher husband and thankful parents to him.

On the hunt

Sometime during our summer Blake and I decided to start looking at houses. Who knew how busy we would become with all that entails?

Park

October still had mild temperatures. We enjoyed an afternoon playing kickball, skating and rip-sticking around.

Walk thru

California. That's what Jacie's grade got to do in October. It was actually a very neat way to learn all about California. I learned a few things too. It was very interactive and all the children participated with a part they had previously memorized even though at the time of memorization they didn't know how it was going to be part of the program.