summer days

We decided a few days ago that we had finished all that needed to be finished for school and so we declared ourselves on summer vacation. Jennifer is pretty excited to be done with school for a while. After a busy few days we decided to enjoy the warm weather outside. So we broke out the sprinkler and water table. What a great way to start summer vacation!

Mikayla does not usually like to be near the sprinkler but she was running after Jennifer so she ended up fairly close.

 These two girls love, love the summer because they get to play in the water. Such fun!!

 And this sweet baby loves playing in the water too. I could not leave her out. She loved being outside playing in a tub of water. She was so happy!

 Yes, you are seeing this correct. Mikayla dumped some water on Kelly's head. For this brief moment Kelly was not so happy, her only unhappy moment while we were outside. 

 And then Mikayla sat down to play with Kelly. 

 Jennifer got a little crazy with the sprinkler for a brief moment. And me being the silly mom that I am, I sat my camera down on the swing and it got wet. Our track record with cameras is not so good. So for a brief moment I thought we were down another camera. However, I am happy to say that it came back! So while trying to figure out if was broke or not I took a few pictures of this sweet baby girl!

Happy summer everyone, hope you are enjoying the lazy days as much as we are!

out with the old

So after almost 25 years of being sat on, rocked in, slept on, wrestled on and climbed on it was time to say good-bye to our furniture. If you grew up with us you recognize this furniture from Bill's house, if you went to college with us you recognize this furniture from our apartments and if you have ever been to our house in the past 11 years you recognize this furniture. It has been through a lot! But after months (and I do literally mean months!) of looking, it was time to say good-bye to the old and get ready for the new.

 I have been sitting on this furniture with Bill for over 18 years. This furniture is in pictures of us dressed up for prom, studying in college and rocking all three of our babies. Oh the things this furniture has seen and been through!

Oh the memories that these pieces hold, it was a little weird taking it out of the house. It is funny the timing of us getting new furniture. Us getting something new is a big change, especially after over twenty years! Bill shared in church on Sunday how God has used us getting new furniture to help him realize some things about change in his heart. Who knew God would use new furniture to work in our hearts?!! As change is happening all around us, it is good, hard but good! And we look forward to the new memories that will be made on our new furniture, after all we hated furniture shopping so much that we will probably have our new stuff for 20 plus years too!

party time

Today was party day for all three of the girls' birthdays. Jennifer has been counting down the days until everyone came to celebrate birthdays. It was also Jennifer's last soccer game on Saturday so everyone was able to watch Jennifer in action on the soccer field.

 This cute girl could have cared less about birthdays but I think she was loving all the attention.

 It was a nice afternoon to play outside while we waited to open presents.

 Kelly didn't care about what was in the presents, she just loved the paper.

 Jennifer, as you may know, was all over her presents. She could not wait to open them.

 Mikayla was a little tired by the time we opened presents and was excited because her big sister was excited. 

 Bring on the tissue paper!

 Of course there was singing with cake and ice cream.

What a fun day celebrating these three sweet girls! They loved all the attention and having grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins here to spend the day.

ice cream fun

To end Jennifer's birthday we decided to stop on our way home and get some ice cream. Partly for Jennifer's birthday and partly to end the night on a good note. Mikayla had a little spill when we were done bowling and had to have a trip to the ER. She climbed up on a chair and fell down. We aren't exactly sure what happened but somehow she got a nasty cut on her finger. Thankfully she didn't have to get stitches but her finger had to get wrapped up. Mikayla can be a little on the dramatic side, so needless to say there were a lot of tears from the sweet girl.

The birthday girl was just excited to get ice cream. 

Bill was trying to get Mikayla to make a sad face with her finger. Once he got her going she was just silly. She was laughing at herself, we were laughing, it was a great way to end the evening.

And this baby girl... She was being kind of funny too! If we would hold a cone up to her, she would lean forward with her mouth wide open. I'm thinking Kelly may like ice cream.

The ice cream fun didn't last long for Kelly. She moved quickly to a napkin, which she refused to give up even when it was time to go.

And Mikayla was on a roll! The longer we sat there the sillier she got.

After a fun filled evening it was time to go home and get to bed...

Sitting at Dairy Queen after a fun filled birthday was my favorite part of Jennifer's birthday. Our family sitting together being silly and laughing. Sweet memories made on Jennifer's 9th birthday.

9 years-old!!!

Today was a big day at our house...

It was this sweet girls birthday today!!!! In case you may not know it, Jennifer loves it when it is anyone's birthday. But she definitely loves it when it is her birthday. So there was a lot of excitement going on, starting at about 6:15 this morning.

Our morning started off with a special birthday breakfast, a doughnut.  

 A candle in a doughnut and singing Happy Birthday, makes this girl very happy!

 She could hardly wait to open her presents.

 Jennifer was pretty excited about this present- roller skates!!

 Kelly was just looking cute while Jennifer opened her presents so I had to include a picture of her.

 We got Jennifer some elbow pads, knee pads and gloves to go with her skates. She looks like she is ready to go skating!!

 Striking a pose and looking so cute.

 The picture is a little blurry but Jennifer spent a good portion of the day in her skates. She rolled around the living room on her own and down the hall with a little help. While Jennifer loves her new roller skates, I may have wondered a time or two why we thought they were a great idea, it probably has nothing to do with the amount of times my toes may have been run over already...

 This afternoon we took Jennifer bowling!! She was pretty excited about getting to go bowling. And what made it even better was that some friends joined us for the fun. 

Sadly I didn't get very many pictures of the kids bowling but it was a fun time! Jennifer may have been more excited about eating at the bowling alley than she was about the bowling. We ended our fun day with ice cream (I actually have a bunch of funny pictures of us but I will save those for another day!).
As all 5 of us laid in bed early this morning, Bill asked if I ever would have dreamed when I woke up 9 years ago that this is what our family would look like. I laughed out loud at him! I never could have dreamed what God had in store for our family beginning 9 years ago today. And yet I am so very thankful and love how God has shaped our family into what it is.
Happy Birthday Jennifer!!!