Wordless Wednesday.....

Brought to you by the letter...... P

I'm interrupting the Summer Catch Up posts to show you how we are currently spending our days......

We have had a successful trip to the potty for several days in a row, now, so we are working on our potty training skills!  We've made up our own sign for using the potty... picture wrinkling up your nose and waving your hand in front of your nose, saying "SHOOEEEYYY" like we do after stinky diapers, and this has become our sign needing to go!  She has told me a few times BEFORE she actually goes, and now she's telling me sometimes after she goes, but it's all steps in the right direction!  Sometimes we have to sit for a while, so we sing songs.....

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout.... here is my handle, here is my spout"

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out"

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain"

 make faces.......

this is how she really feels about the whole thing!

 fake cry.......

pretty convincing, huh?

 and sometimes she claps and  claps and tries to trick Momma that she already went!  Fun stuff, I'm tellin' ya!  But her favorite part is the hand washing after she goes.....

(and flicking water on the mirror)

So, if you try to call, or need to come see us, you might find us a little occupied, but we're having fun!

{Have I mentioned how stinkin' proud we are of this girl???}  no pun intended!

Summertime...

Time is flying by, already this summer!  It's hard to find the time to post and keep everyone updated on us!  I feel like we have blinked and the first 3 weeks of summer have flown by!  I think I'll go back to week 1 and try to update, so I can go back and see what we've done when I look back.

Week one was filled with the annual city-wide garage sale, day at the beach with cousins, cousins sleeping over, meeting friends for breakfast, who were here from OKC, and Jacob getting his annual checkup with immunizations so he can be ready for 6th grade in the fall.  I was pretty proud that I got his scheduled before it was time to go back to school, I'm usually so bad about scheduling the immunization appointments!  We made over $200 at our garage sale, and I was able to re-stock Caleb's entire summer wardrobe, since he outgrew everything he owned!  I was also able to add a couple of outfits to the girls wardrobes and a couple of new outfits for Jacob (since he gets a little tired of hand-me-downs), as well! 

This first pic is actually of Jake and I on the last day of school.  We wore our matching school shirts one last time... I served as the PTA Treasurer for Jacob's last year of elementary school, and although I enjoyed serving his school, and meeting lots of fun ladies that I worked with, I was HAPPY to be done with my job and hand the books onto the next victim volunteer!

The boys and their cousin, Joel,  after enjoying their first of many sleepovers this summer!  I love that they are all so close in age, and that they get along with each other (mostly!). 

Our friends were here with a misson group, and had time to meet us for breakfast on their last day in Seattle, so we ran up to meet Jim and Brook!  I babysat their two boys back when all of our boys were little, and it was so fun catching up with them.  Brad and Jim served together at our church in OKC, and Brook and I were very close as friends and staff wives.  She is one of the funniest people I know, and it was fun to get together and laugh and talk about how much the kids have grown up.  We hope they come back sometime with the kids and stay for longer!

We found a little pool at Walmart and decided to get it for Ella Grace, and yes, she LOVES it!  She could and does spend alot of time playing in the water!  Her big brothers always make sure to add a few buckets of hot water to her pool, so that she won't get too cold.  They are pretty amazing big brothers, if you ask me!

Lots of popsicles are being consumed around here!

I will update more of our fun summer soon..... we've done lots of fun things already, and I hope we can make it last!  We had lots of things on our summer list, and we've already done lots of them, so I hope we don't run out of fun things to do!  With four kids, it's so important to keep busy and get out of the house a couple of times a week, or the kids start fighting and Momma goes a little nuts! 

We are still not sure what direction God is leading us in.  We still have our resume out there, and are praying that He will open up doors soon for us.  We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of friends and family during this time of the "unknown".  I can't even begin to tell you, and we pray that we can be that kind of blessing to others, and will never forget this time in our lives.  We appreciate your continued prayers and we continue to wait upon Him to open something up for us. 

Wordless Wednesday

{Welcome Summer}

Father's Day!

I am so honored to have a wonderful father in my life! I've always had the security of knowing that my Daddy would protect, love, and correct me, and having a Dad who leads his family in the ways of the Lord is the biggest blessing that I can think of. I'm so very thankful for my Dad! I'm so thankful that my kids have my Dad as their Papa.... I think he would say that the greatest joy in life has been his grandchildren, and he treats them like they are!

I'm also thankful today for my father-in-law, Barry! He (along with my wonderful mother-in-law) raised the man that I am honored to call my husband, and who is the best Daddy to my favorite kids on the planet!

Of course, I am so very proud of my husband and thankful for the way he leads our family. Our kids are so very blessed to have him as their Dad, and they would all agree. Quality time is so important to him, and he makes sure that he gets that time with each of our kids, which becomes more of a challenge when there are four kids!

The thing that has stuck out more in my mind this Father's Day, is this little girl........

She waited FOUR years to have a Daddy. Today was a day to be celebrated.... and even though she doesn't understand what all the hoopla about today means, she knows she has a Daddy, and she know that he LOVES her!!!! That is something worth celebrating!

And I just want to add.... there are SO many out there just like our precious Ella Grace.... they are waiting, and some have been waiting for many years for a Daddy to hold them and love them. My prayer is that God is tugging at a Daddy's heart tonight to find that child and bring them home! There is joy like none other when you do!

20 years!

We've hit a major milestone, and really, I don't know how time flew so fast to get us here, but we've hit the 20 year mark in our marriage!!!  I am so very blessed to call this man my husband!  I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is daily following God's leading to be the best husband and father that he can be.  He spoils me rotten and loves me unconditionally, and I don't deserve him.

We enjoyed a very RARE date night tonight (thanks mom and dad!), and we had a wonderful time spending time with just the two of us!   We left Ella Grace and Allyson with some friends, and the boys got to spend their first evening at home alone, with a large pizza, pop and the Wii!  There was only one piece of pizza left when we got home.... and the house was still standing, so I guess we'll let them do it again one of these days!

If I haven't said it before, we absolutely LOVE the beauty of where we live, and our very favorite place is anywhere near the Puget Sound.  We headed down to one of our favorite restaraunts down by the water, and did a little photo shoot before dinner.... we don't often have many pictures with just the two of us, so it was fun, and really easy to get smiles!  Thankful for the timer on my camera!

Can't wait to see where God will lead us in our next 20 years!

Look how far she's come....

What an amazing little girl!