Christian's Prayer

Overheard at bedtime tonight:

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for my letter "c" and for my firetrucks and my choo choos and the TV remote. Amen."

Every night it's something different and something rather entertaining. Some night he lists everyone he knows and other nights he thanks God for every color he can think of. It's very cute and I'm sure God loves it!

Summer's Here!

Ryan's traveling again, so last night Amy and I and all five kids has some summertime fun! McKenna even enjoyed watching all the action from her car seat! Can you believe she's wearing a 6-9 month outfit?? She's getting so big!

Samantha, Emily and Emma

Emma loves to play with our neighbors. The girls come over almost everyday to play. Yesterday we got a new "toy box" for all the outside stuff and they had a grand time playing with the box.

Notice how the boys like to swing. They're hysterical swinging on their stomachs. This is what they do everyday! Check out Abigail's cool trick!

Then we got out the sprinkler! We grilled hot dogs...
ate some watermelon...

enjoyed some homemade Popsicles...

and then we topped the evening off with sparklers!

Look at Abby's face in this picture. She was a little nervous about the sparklers. Christian wouldn't even try holding one. He's terrified of fireworks and for a good reason, but that's a story for another day.

Check out my sister's blog for more pictures of our evening! She'll be posting them soon!

100% Sweetness

Cute girl! Cute dress! Cute voice!

Can you tell that I'm just in love with this girl!!

Done

1 neighbor with a pit bull =

48 panels

52 posts

192 brackets

958 screws

2 gates

4 hinges

2 latches

52 post caps

107 bags of quikret

Countless hours of work

Help from: Mike, Brian, Ryan, Todd, Craig, Donn (Dad) and a little from me!

Wild Water Fun!

Apparently I've been giving the kids a little too much freedom in the backyard since we've fenced everything in. I was in the house feeding McKenna and chatting with Amy while the boys were outside figuring out how to turn on the hose (now what am I going to do for the rest of the summer??). By the time we got outside both of them were totally soaked. So we went with it and decided to drench them! They ran and squealed and begged for more for more than half an hour. Check out the sheer delight on their faces in these pictures!

FREE Movies

When school's out, kids around the country visit selected Regal theatres for the Free Family Film Festival. It's a fun-filled nine weeks of movies for kids and parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to the community, and best of all it's FREE!

Selected G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity. The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer.







Valley Mall, Hagerstown Schedule: 10:00am



06/17/2008-06/18/2008

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G)

Firehouse Dog (PG)



06/24/2008-06/25/2008

Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - Veggie Tales (G)

Evan Almighty (PG)



07/01/2008-07/02/2008

Everyone's Hero (G)

Bee Movie (PG)



07/08/2008-07/09/2008

Arctic Tale (G)

Shrek The Third (PG)



07/15/2008-07/16/2008

Curious George (G)

Hairspray (PG)



07/22/2008-07/23/2008

Clifford's Really Big Movie (G)

Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)



07/29/2008-07/30/2008

Mr. Bean's Holiday (G)

Happy Feet (PG)



08/05/2008-08/06/2008

Charlotte's Web (G)

Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep (PG)



08/12/2008-08/13/2008

Wallace And Gromit (G)

Surf's Up (PG)



I don't know if I'll really be brave enough to take all 5 kids to see a movie, but we'll probably try it if I can find another mommy who wants to go with me! Let me know if you're up for it ladies! And thanks Lori for passing on this info. to me!

Memorial Day

We ended up having some great family time this past weekend with just the four of us. We cooked out, played in the yard, finished up the last details on the fence, laughed a lot, cooked out some more, went to church, took naps and basically just lived the American dream. So thank you to all of those in uniform who serve our country proudly for making moments like this possible for my family. We owe you a debt of gratitude!! God bless America!

Big News

Well, it's big news for me at least. Everyone in my house is growing up and I'm loving it! Christian has been potty training for about a week now and it's been a remarkable experience. I had been dreading this whole thing for months and I had been putting it off because I didn't want to deal with it while I was 8-9 months pregnant and then I didn't want to deal with it while having a new baby. I figured I'd be cleaning up accidents constantly and we have carpet that's less than a year old, so I was really not looking forward to potty training. Well, it's been completely different than I imagined. So far I've cleaned up one accident and it was in the kitchen (and actually I think Auntie Amy cleaned it up). Christian's had a few accidents outside but that's just because he didn't want to come inside and interrupt his playtime. So finally I told him he could pee outside in a specific spot by a tree (I know I'm grossing some of you out, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do). Christian took this whole peeing outside thing quite literally and the next thing we know he's pooped in the yard too. Ryan and I quickly clarified the rules about that and it hasn't happened since! Christian spent the first few days asking for a diaper but he's over that now. This morning I walked into his room and he had taken his nightime diaper off. He said it was bothering him and he didn't want to wear it. The best part was that after a night of 10 hours of sleep the diaper was dry! Yippee!

The picture above is of our reward system. Christian gets a certain number of stickers and then he gets a prize. The prizes have basically been things he would be getting anyway like a new Lightning McQueen bathing suit, a colors workbook, a new Cars toothbrush, colored pencils, etc.

Christian's favorite prize so far has been this Thomas the tank engine ABC puzzle. This morning I overheard Abby and Christian singing the ABC song trying to figure out which piece should come next in the puzzle. This is a great way for them to learn their letters.

The other big news is that McKenna has been sleeping in her own room, in her own bed for about 7 hours straight a night (last night it was 8 hours)! When she came home from the hospital after having the flu she was still having trouble breathing, so she had to sleep in an upright position and I had to be pretty close to her to make sure she wasn't having trouble breathing. So for the past several months she's been sleeping in a swing in our bedroom. This is a hard habit to break and I was nervous about moving her to her own bed because she's been sleeping through the night for awhile and I didn't want to ruin it, but she's doing pretty good. She still ends up in her swing around 5am, but other than that she's staying in her own room, in her own bed.

So my babies are growing up and it's great!! God is so good! Just so many blessings! And yes, I do count easy potty training as a great blessing!

Enjoy!!

Big Brother, Little Sister

I love this picture. That expression on McKenna's face says it all! She's annoyed with that big brother of hers already.

Abby asked me the other day, "Why does McKenna stick her tongue out all the time? Doesn't she know it's rude?"

We've Been Busy

Life's been pretty sweet lately....busy, but good.

Abby at our last playgroup of the school year.
This picture brings incredible joy to my heart. I love it that these three choose to play with one another, even when they have 20 other kids they could be playing with. We've come a long way! Oh dear, now I'm crying just thinking about how far we've come.
Abby loved the water balloon toss.
That night after our playgroup Christian actually prayed and thanked God for water balloons. He really loves water balloons!
The boys checking out their loot from the candy scramble.


While Ryan was traveling we decided to surprise him by painting a wall in the kitchen. Christian loved helping with this activity.
Believe it or not, he didn't get any paint on himself!

This little girl just goes with the flow. She was sitting in her high chair today and Nate was standing on one side of her, Christian was standing on the other side. They would crouch down and then jump back up and yell "peek-a-boo." The poor girl was terrified, she startled ever time but she never did cry. She's getting used to all the attention. Nathan gives her a lot of attention. He is constantly putting a blanket on her and giving her toys.

Busy Busy Tuesday

We had a pretty sad morning at our house. Way too much fussing, crying, pushing and pouting!! No one was happy. (You probably think I told them to look mean in the picture...I didn't)
By 9am I realize that I just might not survive until naptime if we had to stay in the house all morning. It's a chilly day (in the 50s) and it's rainy outside, so we headed to McDonalds to play at their playland.
Our friend Jacob and his mommy met us there and we happily played for over an hour! Yippee!! We love McDonalds.
The best part was that McKenna slept almost the entire time. She looks a little pink in this picture because the playland is outside with just a tent over it and they have heat lamps inside. I had her sitting right under one of the heat lamps. Doesn't she look snuggly?!
Then we headed inside for a little lunch. Last fall I used to be able to buy one McNugget meal and it could feed everyone, but those days are over. Now Christian likes cheeseburgers and Abby likes the Crispy Chicken snack wrap and Nate likes nuggets, so we don't frequent McDonalds too much anymore. Today Christian had orange soda for the first time and loved it. Nate had it too, but I don't know if that was a first for him or not. Right when it was time to leave the rain became a torrential downpour. Isn't that always the way it is! I was completely soaked by the time I got all four kids buckled back up in the car.

Our afternoon ended up being pretty uneventful. We all spent lots of time in the bathroom. I'll have to post more about that later. McKenna has been such a delightful girl today, I really hope it lasts through the night!!

Can you guess??

Can you guess what all this is about???

The Hair Cut

Abby's bangs were getting a little long so I trimmed them last Friday night. Without thinking I left the scissors out on the bathroom sink so that I could trim Emma's bangs later. Apparently this temptation was too much for Abby and she decided her bangs needed a little more trimming along with a chunk of hair on the side of her head. I didn't notice that anything was wrong that night and I didn't see Abby at all this weekend. I told Amy on Friday that I had trimmed Abby's bangs, so for the entire weekend Amy was thinking that I did a horrible job. She was just being kind by not bringing it up. Yesterday, as I was giving baths, I found a rather large pile of hair (that I immediately knew was Abby's) hidden on the floor behind the toilet. I called Amy and told her what I thought happen. She was just relieved that I wasn't really that terrible at cutting hair. Abby really likes the hair cut she gave herself. She's quite proud of it and it didn't even occur to her that she should NOT be cutting her own hair. This picture doesn't really do it justice since the wind was blowing. She does look awfully cute with her multi-layered bang look!

Silly Boy

Christian was having a great time with the Elmo bath foam tonight. He covered himself in it and then asked, "Can I wear this to church?"

All Boy

This is a picture of Christian standing in my BEDROOM holding a caterpillar! Apparently this is what happens when I sit down at the computer to blog. I think the toddler days are over and the little boy days are here. He loves dirt, worms, caterpillars, dogs, and anything that makes a mess.

3 Months Old

McKenna is three months old now! Actually she's a little older than that, but it's just taken me awhile to post these cute pictures!

McKenna always giggles and smiles when she first wakes up from a good long sleep. She's such a cheerful girl, most of the time. When you talk to her she makes every effort to "talk" back!

What a huge blessing in my life this little girl has been!

Can you see why her daddy can hardly even let her cry? She's going to be totally spoiled if he has anything to do with it.

I just thought I should include a little proof that she's not always happy. She can let out a wail just like her brother when she wants to.