Less Is More

Our small group has been doing a study on the book Living With Less So Your Family Has More. I might post the study guides for each week at some point, so that they are saved for the future...but anyway, as we all walk this path in learning how Less is going to fit into our lives, it seems I'm being bombarded with reminders that this is the way we are to live...

My Little Fashion Statement

She is all about dressing herself these days!

Graysen on the trampoline

Graysen loves the trampoline, but often times doesn't get to freely jump like she wants to with three older brothers on there...so, she really loves it when we go outside to jump during the day while the boys are at school!

Whew, that was exhausting, I'd better sit and stretch...

Oh precious baby girl, you are beautiful inside and out. Some days I just want to gobble you all up and keep you with me forever. Every stage and age gets better and better. I adore that you love ballet costumes and hair bows, and I love even more that you want to play football or jump on the trampoline while wearing them! You are precious in my sight, but most importantly, you are precious in His sight.

Cavities 2 and 3...

Hunter went to get cavities 2 and 3 filled. He was SO good this time around. No tears, no fears.

I think it helped that he had Graysen with him, he definitely wanted to show her how brave he was. watching cartoons while his mouth numbs up...

He told her "Graysen, if you ever have to have this done, you don't have to be scared, it doesn't hurt at all, and I'll come with you."

Adoptive Mommy Retreat

I don't think I'm going to be able to go, but I wanted to share with you something that I think looks amazing!

The Created to Care Women's Retreat!

If you are an adoptive Mommy (whether recently or 10 years ago), if you are in the process of adopting, or if you just KNOW that adoption is in your family's future, this retreat is for YOU!

If this retreat is not for you, or if it is, and you can't go, you can still purchase a T-Shirt!
The sales of this shirt go to offset the cost of the retreat and help make it more affordable for Mommies to go! (Look if you read only the red parts, it says "Love a orphan"!)

**UPDATE: I AM GOING!!!! I registered last night and I couldn't be more excited!

Go check it out,

The Babysitter

This conversation just occurred at our house:

Me: Okay guys, Miss Mindy is going to be coming tonight for a little bit.
Kids: Nooooo, wahhh - WAIT - Mindy?! YES! We love Mindy!
Hunter: She's sooooo good.
Silas: Yes, I like Mindy
Graysen: Yea!!! Mindyyyyyyyy!!!

You're a hit Mindy. We love you.

Weekend Wonderings Part II: football game

After breakfast Saturday morning the kids and I headed home to get ready for another MS&T Football game! It was a close one, but we (as if I had anything to do with it!) pulled out a victory in overtime! Chad finished the game with 10 catches, 119 yards, and 2 touch downs.

Joe Miner, the mascot, made a visit to the stands and gave high fives to all the kids!

At each point scored, someone does the corresponding number of push ups. I was digging this ROTC girl with her pink shirt supporting Breast Cancer month!

Graysen loves Chad's mom, Kim. She sat on her lap almost the whole game!

When the game gets a bit boring, what do we do? Play with Sissy's hair of course!

Grammie and Hunter, super fans!

Papa and Silas. He stayed glued to his side through the game. Too sweet.

Celebrating one of Chad's touchdowns

now the score reads this...

...and Kara feels like this...

but Gray's not too concerned...

whoo hoo! A victory. Such a sweet couple.

Thanks for including us on this journey Chad. We love watching you play!

Weekend Wanderings Part 1: Sleepover

Once again, our weekend was packed with fun activities! I decided to split our weekend wanderings into three parts this time, as there are tons of pictures again!

Our weekend started with a sleepover at NiNi's house on Friday night! Our children have been begging to have a sleepover since the boys have been home (May), so with both of our husbands out of town on the 5th Annual Disc Golf Road Trip (more on that later), we decided Friday was the perfect night! We headed over around 5:00 and had lots of fun!

We were serenaded through the night...

Ah, dinner! What's better than pizza and juice boxes?!

Awesome NiNi let the boys play a matching game on her phone...
(you know this did wonders for Silas who is obsessed with technology!)

At 8:00 we laid down and watched a movie.

Breakfast the next morning...muffins and cereal.

Thanks for an awesome sleepover at your house girls...we can't wait until next year to do it again!

Repost: Our Toy Story Date with Hunter

I posted this blog last October, but didn't have my computer up and running, so there weren't any pictures. I wanted to repost it with the pictures of our date!

Outside the theater

Lincoln and I took Hunter on a date to Opening Night of Toy Story 1 and 2 Double Feature in 3D! It's only playing for 2 weeks, so we wanted to go on Opening Night! We so rarely get to both do anything with our kids one on one that we were all very excited about it! My sister kept Graysen for us and we headed to Sullivan for the movies! We got there pretty early because I was afraid they might sell out... We got our tickets and a large soda and popcorn (with free refills) and headed in to find our seats. There were approximately 5 families in the whole theater!

So excited to see them in 3D!

Even though we've seen both those movies a thousand times a piece it was still quite exciting to see them in the theater and in 3D! We refilled our popcorn 2 times and our soda 3 times! Yikes! I've never seen Hunter sit on the edge of his seat and eat popcorn like that before! I thought he might turn into a piece of popcorn before it was over! He was precious quoting movie lines and laughing out loud.

The original family...

I'm so blessed that we are able to take our kids to do special things like that together. To me, those are the kinds of thing memories are made of. I hope that he always remembers that he is special to us and that we have always strived to take time to spend with him alone. We sure love our precious first born son!


We rocked the 3D glasses!

Kindergarten field trip to the fire house!

Graysen and I went with the kindergartners to visit the Fire House in town. We walked there with Hunter's class...Here we go!


How adorable is this group of kids? I was really impressed with their behavior as they all sat in the lines and listened to the Fire Chief give his presentation. (this is just half of the kindergarten classes)
The kids all got to try on fire hats, and then climb through the fire truck! My camera batteries were dying, so I didn't get a picture of Blake, but here is Silas...

and Hunter...
Graysen enjoyed the morning out, taking a walk and getting to see her brothers in their "new" environment.
At the end, they got to take the test to see if they were ready to become Firefighters!

As with everything, Blake and Silas had to go the extreme with it...oh, boys, someday you'll learn moderation and enjoying the moment without competition!



We had a great morning at the fire station!