Day 210 - My Beautiful Family

My dad is in town and tonight we met at the park to have cake to celebrate his and Destiny's birthdays.  It was a lovely night and we just relaxed and had a fun time.

Day 209 - Destiny's Birthday

So my sis turned 23 today.  It's kinda cool because our ages are now flipped.  She's 23 and I'm 32.  :)   We're still at the Ladies Retreat and it's been so amazing so far.  I don't think any of us slept last night, but that's okay...  it's worth it! 

Happy Birthday, Destiny!  (And also, a happy birthday to our daddy, too!)

Day 208 - Ladies Retreat!

Ladies Retreat started tonight and we've been having a blast!  My friend Mia made these cool hair clips and headbands to try and sell and so we were looking at them and goofing off with the doll heads.  We kinda got a bit crazy with them.  ha ha

Day 207 - We Win!

A year ago today, we lost a very special person, Cory McCool.  He died 2 days before his 32nd birthday and left behind a wife and two small kids.  There have been many times over this past year that I have thought of him and his dear wife and wondered why on earth would God choose to take him?  He was an awesome minister, singer and friend to many.  The other day, in my dailly Bible reading, I came across this passage in Isaiah 57 and I finally felt like I understood why God decided to take him.

Since his death, his wife Jina has been a continued source of inspiration to me.  You'd expect that she'd be down and out and discouraged, but she's anything but!  Here's what her Facebook post said today:

Jina McCool wrote: Maybe you're wondering "WHAT IS JINA DOING TODAY"... Here it is... I woke up Thanking My God for another day..not a sad day..A GREAT DAY! I'm taking the joys of my life to some FUN lunch, (we will, like everyday.. talk about their awesome dad) Then..we are taking ANYTHING they want to the cemetary. Balloons, pictures, toys...anything!  I'm not letting my children feel fear and deep sorrow today over death. Dwell on the good..no, the GREAT!!! And what God has for our future...The ultimate Goal...WE WIN!! 

The last words Cory said before he died were "we win!" You're right, Cory!  God bless you Sis. Jina!  We win!

Day 206 - Blueberries!

A friend of ours took a trip out to the blueberry farms this weekend... and was so kind to bring us back a 5 pound box!  This afternoon, I had the kids take them out and wash them.  After that, we spread them out to let them dry. 

Before this experience, Alexis claimed she didn't like blueberries.... and after all of this, she now does!  Yay!

Day 205 - We are the champions!

Our guys had to win both games toinght in softball in order to be the champs!  And they did it!  Congratulations Cornerstone!

Day 204 - Nursery Duty!

So tonight, it was my turn to keep the kiddies in the nursery during church.  Skylah came in and helped me.  We had a fun time passing out snacks and playing with them.

Here's Jaxon and Josiah...  so very cute.

Day 203 - Trio of Boys

We went to a little girl's birthday party today... it was fun.  During the present opening time, my friend Mia was holding her two boys and Carsten!  I was kind of far away from them, but I still think the pictures are cute. 

Day 202 - Puppet Show

Our little city has the greatest library I've ever been in.  The preschool room is fantastic - filled with all kids of fun things for the kids to do.  We've been going there for many years.  I'm feeling sad because Ty is starting to outgrow it and whine about going.  He wants to play on the computers they have there (see previous post) but most times I won't let him.  He needs to expand his imagination in other ways, too.

Today, I told him "no" when he asked if he could play on them...  instead he whined when it was time to go home because he was having so much fun with the toys!

While Tyrus was playing with all these animals, Alexis and Carsten were doing a puppet show.  So fun!

Day 201 - Computer Time

Our kids LOVE to play on the computer...  they beg and plead and ask all the time to get a turn!  Most days I let them play for a bit as long as their chores, and reading and writing assignments are done for the day.  Today, Tyrus rushed through his stuff so he could play Lego Star Wars.  :)  Oh, and it seems when one is on, they all sit and watch the other one. 

Day 200 - Bro. Jim's Scooter

We have a great guy in our church who rides a motorized scooter to and from church.  All of the kids LOVE to take turns riding on it with him.  To be honest, I don't think he minds one little bit!  Tonight the kids all took turns taking a spin...

Day 199 - Scrapbooking, again...

So apparently, we didn't get in enough scrapbooking at our 12 hour crop Saturday.  Rebecca invited us over today to pull it all out again and see if we could get some more pages done.  The kids ran around and had a grand old time, and the three of us ladies (her mom included) scrapped, and scrapped.  :)  Here's a few of the layouts I did:

Day 198 - BFFs

Here is Alexis and her friends Jessie and Olivia tonight.  We went to watch the guys play softball.  The girls had a great time playing together.  I love this picture.  They all have genuine smiles, their clothes all match, and they are all beautiful.  Check out the differences in their complexions!  Stunning.

Day 196 - Cousins...

I love these little boys so very much! 

Day 196 - Scrapbook Day

Can you believe that I spent 12+ hours today at an All Day Scrapbooking Crop and I didn't remember to take ONE PICTURE until we were cleaning up?!  I looked at a bunch of pictures; I cropped and cut and pasted a bunch of pictures, but I didn't take any...  sigh.

Here's one of Rebecca and her sister-in-law Gabbi as we cleaned up tonight!  Oh, and Sis. Baxter peeking through also! 

We had such a fun time tonight... I'm only disappointed in the fact that it's over!

Day 195 - Daddy's Gazelle

A while ago, Josh bought a Gazelle Freestyle.  The kids love, love, love to play on it.  Josh doesn't love it when they play on it, however.  Sigh...  Maybe it's because they do this with it?

Day 194 - Camping!

Tonight we went camping ... well, sorta.  Aunt Sherrie and Uncle Ron were camping about 30 minutes away from us, so me and the kids and my in-laws drove over to spend the afternoon and evening with them.  It was fun.

Day 193 - Sweet sleep

Carsten woke up super early this morning and was such a crab!  I tried to convince him to come get up in bed with me, but he was having none of it and only wanted cereal...  So, I went and poured him some, and stumbled back up to bed.  A bit later, he came up crying (again) that he'd spilled the cereal.  I helped him clean it up and went back up to sleep for a bit more. 

When I came back downstairs (at a more normal hour :)  ) I found this -

- he ate all of his cereal, went and got some books, and fell asleep on the couch.  I knew he woke up too early!  How sweet he was sleeping like that though. 

Day 192 - "Bad Guys"

Carsten has a very active imagination!  Today he was a "bad guy" and he was "getting me" and then he got "got."  :)  So cute...

Day 191 - God's Best Gift

Today was pretty chill in comparison to the excitement of yesterday!  :)  Tyrus complained that he didn't feel very good, and sure enough he had a 103 degree temp!  Yikes!  Because of that, we kind of laid low for most of the day.  I realized very late that I hadn't taken any pictures, so I snapped a picture of our picture frame that sits on top of our computer desk.

The kids were each the same age in the pictures - 2 days old.  I think back to that time and it seems like it went by in such a flash.  They really are God's Best Gifts.

Day 190 - Quick Trip!

My mom flew into Chicago today for a Pampered Chef Conference she's attending there.  We decided that since she was so close (2.5 hours each way, vs the normal 18) we'd stop in and see her for the afternoon.  We left after church this morning, and drove up to see her.  She knew we were coming, but what she didn't know was that my sisters and their babies were coming too!  You should have seen the look on her face when she realized all of us came!  It was priceless!

We spent the afternoon together and tried to take lots and lots of pictures.  Here's a few of them!

Day 189 - My Handsome Hubby

We spent the afternoon and evening today with our friends Dwaine & Mia.  We went to the Air Zoo and then to this quaint little Mexican restaurant.  It was a fun time!

Here's Josh right before we got on one of the 3D rides at the Air Zoo!  Love him!

Day 188 - Camp Jr!

Tyrus has been up at the old campgrounds this week for Camp Jr.  He had a blast, he told us!  Last night, we went up for the Kids Service.  I snapped this picture then - not great quality, but still cute.

Camp ended today, so we went back up to get him.  After the very fun and cool service, it was time to grab his stuff and head out.  The kids wanted to play on the playground for a bit, so I let them.  It was a beautiful afternoon and we had no reason to rush off...

Day 187 - Out!

Here's what I saw tonight when I looked back at Carsten in his car seat...  poor kid was OUT.  And the sunglasses just add another dimension, don't you think?