Wordless Wednesday

Pool Time with Daddy!!!

Hugs!!!!
I just love that look on McKenna's face.

Oh my I love these three!

Big smiles when she's playing with Daddy!

She loved being thrown in the air!

Big girl in the lifeguard chair!

Imaginary Friend?

Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up? I didn't, but my sister had an imaginary dog named Whispy (I think that was his name??!!). She's always been the creative on. Me....not so much. Well, McKenna doesn't exactly have an imaginary friend, she's just obsessed with pretending that she's Abby. In this picture above, she's pointing to herself and telling me that she's Abby. I think she would actually like it if I started calling her Abby. It probably has something to do with the fact that whenever she puts on something new (like this bathing suit) she has learned that most of the time it was Abbys.

The other day I went in to get McKenna up from her nap and she had moved her pillows and was sleeping with her head at the opposite end of her bed. I asked her why she was sleeping like that and she said "I Abby." It took me a minute, but then I remembered that Abby has slept in McKenna's room with her and had been facing that same direction.

This little "I Abby" scenario has played out over and over in our house. Maybe I need to get Abby over here to help me potty train and get rid of that binkie!

Sweet Victory

I think I've mentioned before that about two years ago Christian had a very scary experience in the deep end of a pool. I learned a very hard lesson about my ability to keep track of four mobile kids at the pool while nursing a baby. Clearly that was a very bad plan. I should have MADE everyone wear life jackets. I didn't and Christian is now terrified of the water since his babysitter basically had to save his life.

Ugh...I can't even stand to think about it. Thank you Jesus for guardian angels!

Moving on...

So Christian is a work in progress.

It takes a little coaxing to get him out of the baby pool.

And then some more coaxing to get him to let go of the wall.

And then we had this issues of what to do about that green bucket that McKenna threw in the "deep" end. How on earth were we going to get that?

Sweet Victory!

It only took 15 minutes of discussion first and I could have easily gotten it myself, but this was HUGE. He's learning to stay calm and not swallow a bunch of water every time he becomes fearful.

And pretty soon this little move didn't take any coaxing.

And this was a huge moment!!!!

Please take note of the fact that my boy is all the way down there in the far left corner all by himself!

The smile on that face was pure VICTORY!

Maybe next time I'll actually be able to convince him to put his face in the water :)

Mommy's Birthday Present from McKenna

Nothings Ever Perfect

And I think that could definitely be said of this little mini-vacation we're on. We're having fun, but some things just never change whether we're at home or away. Bad attitudes still need adjusting. They probably wouldn't have been an issue if the dang mini-golf place would have actually been opened. McKenna is STILL dealing with this problem which I've learned to handle at home, but it's a bit of a different story when you're in the middle of dinner, at a sit down restaurant and she starts screaming "poopy." Nice. The four of us sleeping in one room last night was a rather unpleasant experience for me. I'm just a picky sleeper, so I pretty much didn't sleep which pretty much meant my patience was shot by the time we woke up this morning.

BUT...we are having fun. It just hasn't been a dream come true...which is okay. Sometimes I think I need to lower my expectations and not expect everything to go perfectly. We headed to Chocolate World this morning. It was fun and not at all crowded, so we rode through the tour two times. It's FREE so we might even go back tomorrow. We ran into a friend which was very random, but fun. We didn't go to the zoo because Christian has decided that zoos are boring. Again...time to adjust my expectations and remind myself that it's not about me and my plan all the time. Arcades are fun ((apparently)) so we wasted some money there instead. The pool has been a huge hit which is exciting because I have some timid kids when it comes to water. Maybe by the time summer rolls around they'll put their faces in the water :)

I've gotten the cutest pictures, but don't have my camera cord with me to upload anything. So you're going to have to wait.

We made it to Hershey

I've been hearing a lot of...."thank you so much for bringing me here." There is a certain four year old who just loves adventures like this. He showed a little bravery in the pool this afternoon and the kids and I headed to Friendly's tonight for dinner while daddy was still working. It just happened to be "Kids Night" which meant balloon animals and $1.99 kids meals! Ahhh...I love a good deal!

Bed time took about 2 hours. I'm not kidding. It's 10:30 and everyone just now fell asleep. Both of my kids have a tendency to sing/talk themselves to sleep. Not a big deal when you have your own room, but kind-of tricky when you're sharing a hotel room. So McKenna would sing something and Christian would promptly have to tell her that she was singing it wrong. You can see where this is going...things went back and forth like that for awhile even with me laying down the law a few times. Then Daddy arrived on the scene around 9:45pm and everyone had to get out of bed to show him their balloon animals and then we started the singing and shhhhing again.

Man I hope everyone sleeps in tomorrow! They probably won't because they know we're going to Chocolate World!

"Much You"

Those two words happen to be two of my favorite words on earth right now. You see, I always give McKenna a big hug and say "I love you so much" as I kiss her sweet little face. About a month ago she started doing the same thing to me except she would say "Much You" as she would hold my face in both of her sweet little hands. It took me awhile to figure out what she was saying and then it dawned on me...

"Much You" is her way of saying "I love you so much!"

"Hot Diggity Dog"

So apparently I've been watching a little too much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I actually used that phrase the other day in a real conversation. Thankfully the conversation was with Christian :)

Okay, so there are two very exciting things happening!!!!!

#1 Our boxes of clothes from "McKenna's Malawi Party" arrived in Africa!!! WooHoo!

#2 Tomorrow we are leaving to go to the "Sweetest place on Earth." Hooray! It should be a fun time even though this is a business trip for Daddy. We're tagging along and looking forward to having a little break from our routine!

Now doesn't all that just make you want to do the "hot dog dance???" My apologies to those of you who don't get the pleasure of watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on a daily basis. You might not have a clue about what I'm talking about. Consider yourselves the lucky ones.

Can you guess what today is?

When my mom carried these balloons into the house Chrisitan said, "Mommy, when you see this you're going to be so happy, you're not going to be able to stand it."

I got this absolutely beautiful decoration!

And clearly he is way more excited about this day than I am.

Ryan and I talked about going out to dinner tonight, but my children would be super disappointed. And since they are the best gift I've ever recieved I'm perfectly happy to spend my day with them.

The Highlight of our weekend...

Remember how I told you that we dug up a bunch of rock in our backyard??? Well, we had to fill those holes in with something.
So this excitement rolled up the driveway.

Oh the excitement. We all came pouring out of the house.

I'm sure Mr. Dumptruckdriver was wondering why we were all cheering and clapping and then of course there was me with my camera.

This boy has been loving all the dirt.

Ryan took off work on Thursday and Friday just to try to clean up our yard. We spent four solid days doing yardwork. Fun. Exhausting. Some sunburn. Lots of dirty clothes. Very muddy shoes. My hands were actually swollen from carrying so many rocks.

It's almost done. Not quite, but close.

Today I'm thankful for the rain, so we get to stay inside :)

Just me....talking about Haiti again. I'm sorry....it's just on my heart.

I've been reading THIS blog since the earthquake in Haiti. There are some awesome, Jesus loving people ministering in Haiti right now and I have been so challenged an encouraged by their servant's hearts and faithfulness to the Lord. Please click on THIS link. I really want you to read THIS post about how they take these sweet children who are literally starving to death and nurse them back to health. The pictures speak for themselves. They had a little girl come to their Rescue Center who was a year old and weighed only 5lbs. Did you read that??? Only 5lbs. Picture that for a moment (if you can't CLICK HERE, but I'm warning you...you're heart will be broken and you're going to feel selfish). I can hardly think about without crying and begging the Lord to please come quickly.

Okay...deep breath...no crying.

Moving on!

Anyway, I am so excited that they have been able to repair the damage to their building since the earthquake and they are opening up the new Rescue Center (for starving children) very soon. They have two huge shipping containers here in the United States that they are filling with donations and they will be shipped to Haiti next month.

They've created a wishlist at Walmart.com of the things they need for the Rescue Center. You can click here for all the information on how to send a donation. It's so easy and some of the stuff they need only costs $3. It's sent directly to their shipping container in MN and it will get to Haiti by the end of next month. I think it's so fun to be able to buy something and know that it is directly going to these precious kids. Here's a blog they've set up to show you all the stuff people are donating that is currently being packed in the shipping container. One thing they really need is Bumbo seats. I know I have one that my kids barely used.

Okay, I could go on and on.....and I know some of you probably get tired of posts from me begging you to give to something or send something. I just know that if we all do a little something it makes a huge difference and it helps bring LIFE to these children in Haiti. I know that I get tired of myself sometimes...tired of it being all about me and my kids. The Lord is constantly challenging me to think beyond myself, my house, my family and my stuff. So I guess that gets reflected in this blog...

i HEART my yard

Can you see my kiddos over there on the swing set???
Oh there they are!
We just love our new yard! And it's even better since we ended up with a free swing set and trampoline as part of the deal. I have a feeling the wii will become a thing of the past this summer. Christian just loves being outside and McKenna would sit in that swing for hours. I can't wait for summer!

The Rocks

Matthew 7:24-25

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock."

It seems that we have taken that verse literally!

Our house is built right on top of rock.

Lots and lots of rock.

We live in between two ridges of mountains and the result is lots of rock.

And our backyard is full of rocks that we knew we would have to mow around for the rest of our lives.

So, while the ground was still frozen (so we wouldn't rip up the rest of the yard) we had a friend come and dig up some of the rock. The plan was to just chip off the tops of all the rocks sticking up. No big deal right?
Hmmm....we started just before the first blizzard.....over a month ago....


And guess what we're still working on!

Thankfully we have a really useful helper! Ummmm....actually the really useful person isn't pictured here. The useful helper is named PopPop (aka. Dad, aka. Donn) and he's been working on our rocks for two days now.

Pretty much our whole back yard looks like this, except for a small spot around the swing set.

Lots of good time and back aches are ahead! But it will be worth it when it's all said and done. We won't have to mow around all these rocks for the next 30 years and that is something to get excited about. Well, you might not be excited...but I sure am. So that's the latest project at our house. I'm trying to decide what I should do next inside. The basement really, really needs paint. But that just seems like a daunting task, so I'm thinking about painting the dining room or half bath next. Keep you posted...

Sunshine

Today we enjoyed some sunshine!! I'm praying that the warm weather is here to stay. I also prayed that McKenna would continue to nap until she goes to kindergarten. She scared me today because it's the first time ever that she went the whole day without a nap. I am soooo not ready for her to give up her nap. I felt silly after I asked God to please let her be a good napper, but then I thought about it for a second and realized that God probably knows what a big deal that is to me and he heard me, just because he loves me. It remains to be seen what will happen with the nap, but I love that the same God who created this gorgeous spring day also cares about the minute details of my life!

There's no stopping this boy on his bike! I love it how to doesn't even think twice about riding with his boots and work gloves on!

The culdesac at the end of our street is his new favorite place to hang out. He loves it when I let him ride down there by himself.

McKenna is Miss Safety Patrol these days. She always makes sure that she and Christian both have on their bike helmets.

And she just loves wearing her princess snow boots with her Dora bike helmet! I mean seriously...how cool is she???

Heading home!

McKenna was so proud of the fact that she was riding a "bike."

The best part of the day was when daddy came home and grilled us steaks for dinner! Yummo!

Please spring...stay! We love having you here!