Mercy Me

My very thoughtful husband surprised me with tickets for a friend and I to go see Mercy Me at the State Fair. Oh, wow, what a wonderful night filled with worship and rockin' music! Brian was in talks with my friends husband and then, bam! Us ladies were treated to a kid-free night!

I wouldn't even know where to begin on this awesome concert. It was just amazing. So, because I love all the songs written by Mercy Me, I have changed all my songs on the blog so you can have a "mini" concert when you come to visit our family happenings! Hope you find comfort in the words to their songs and are encouraged by them. Enjoy!

Grandpa Andy's Day Care

Grandpa Andy has surpassed the "What a Grandpa does" to the fullest extent. He so graciously said "yes" to watching my kids for two whole days while I could go to a fantastic leadership conference. He also added his 4th grandchild to the mix on Friday when Elizabeth dropped Izzy off for awhile too. So....Grandpa Andy had 4 kids in one house, with no access to a car, forced to have only the kind of fun that a grandparent can provide...good times, good times!

Usually we don't really know what goes on during these secret babysitting moments but my dad took several self-incriminating photos for me to share with the world! Here, if you look closely, you will see mid-day snack happening out on the deck with Izzy (in highchair,) Haley (at kids table,) boys at patio. Seriously, nothing but good times!

After lunch there were two really tired girls in the house but only 1 crib. Thus, the always practical grandpa found a great sleeping spot for Isabella :)

Of course it had to rain, which usually means indoor activities when mommy is home...but, when Grandpa Andy is watching them a rainstorm seems like a perfect time to "Sing in the Rain."

The boys even told me that they didn't have to wear shoes! Rule breaker!!
This morning it is raining again and Haley asked me for her "ubella." :)

Thanks dad for watching them so I could be renewed and refreshed. I really, really appreciate it. My kids will always have these precious memories of "when grandpa was here, we did..."
Thank you.

I feel the need.....the need for speed!

Posted by Brian - (Some of these pictures are hard to see in their current size, click on them to make them bigger)

Feel free to put on the old Kenny Loggins track while you read this.
Yesterday we packed up the family cruiser and headed to Oshkosh for the EAA airshow. We are fortunate to have some friends with a hanger across from the actual show, so we could set up some chairs, have some great grilled food and let the kids enjoy the sights. The airshow is billed as the World's Greatest Aviation Celebration and it definitely lived up to the billing. Within 15 minutes of arriving, we got to witness the take off of the new Airbus A380 which is the world's largest passenger airplane. It was pretty cool! As you can see from the picture below, it took off going straight up and then continued to do a few fly-by's for everyone to see. After the Airbus left the actual show started with a bang. If you look closely, you will see some stunt planes circling a parachutist with an American flag attached to him. Pretty cool sight to see!

INCOMING Warbirds!!!

Tyler utilizing his binoculars to check out the planes.

Jacob trying to "catch" a plane for the camera.

Haley with her "noc-lurs".

Haley getting a plane ride from her big brother Jacob.

The warbirds in formation.

After the show was over, our friends let the boys get in the cockpit of their 4 seater plane. (Sans keys) The boys thought this was the coolest thing and got to turn on the lights and panels. They got a quick lesson on how to steer a plane and learned how to talk to each other on the headphones.

Maverick and Goose in the cockpit. If they could have taken it out for a spin the would have!
Thank you again for inviting us up to have such a great time. The kids will be talking about this for weeks and are already planning for next year.

Happy Birthday to YOU!

I feel like I am always starting out my blog entries with "It's been really crazy this week." But....it has been really crazy this week! The kids are I are knee-deep involved in "Discovery Days" at our church, kinda like vacation bible school, and we are loving it! The kids, the volunteers, the love for God...it's been an amazing week. Jesus wants us to have child-like faith and where better to learn that then by surrounding yourself with 64kids for a week!

Before all the craziness started with did have time to have a backyard BBQ for my mom's birthday. We had a beautiful day to be outside and also pose for special pictures like this one of Nana and Bumpa with their girls :)

The boys took time to decorate the cake and the house for Grandma Gail's special day.

This picture was classic because the boys beat Grandma to blowing out her candles.

So we had a re-do...or a take 2!

We tried (again) to get a family photo. Jacob will give you a wink and a nod anytime!

Zoo-tastic Time

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the zoo with Grandma Gail, Auntie Bethie, and Cousin Izzy. We had a fun-tastic time!

The boys somehow got everything they asked for on this particular zoo trip. (It helps to have a gracious grandma and an awesome aunt along with us!) We enjoyed a train ride, soft pretzels, popcorn, and blue slushies all afternoon!

Of course we hit our favorite "hot spots" at the zoo. Tyler has to see the Bongo, Haley now likes to see the Monkeys, and Jacob always needs to visit the Tiger. (By the way, Jacob lost another tooth on the bottom!)

Every time we go to the zoo we see something that we haven't see before. Whether that be the strange/loud noise a zebra makes when he's mad or checking out the hyenas "off stage" in their cages, we always see something pretty cool at the zoo.

That being said...we didn't expect the Tiger to jump off the tree and fly through the air towards the glass window!!!! He also leaped out of his wading pool and came over to the window to shake off all his water onto the glass. The kids went wild!!!! Izzy jumped into Grandma's arms! Haley was frozen in fear and the boys cheered.

"Get in my belly!" "Yum....lunch!" .......said the tiger. The zoo keeper said they call the shelf the boys are sitting on "the buffet line."

Haley wanted to be right up there with the boys but would never, ever take her eyes off that cat.

Here are some relaxing times with the girls. Izzy watches everything that Haley does. Now that Izzy can crawl she likes to be right were the kids are.....in the middle of the action, so to speak.

In a sing-song high pitched voice..."I'm not in my stroller. Nah, nah, nah."

Check out Izzy's teeth!

She took her zoo trip in stride and loved every minute of it.

The boys enjoyed their spoils of blue slushies. Check out Jacob's rolled back eyes and Tyler rubbing his belly. Ummmm.

Bye for now! Have a great weekend!!!

Cleaning out the Clutter

The weather here has been very chilly lately. We found ourselves dressing for October temperatures in the middle of July. But we took advantage of this crazy cold weather to spend some time indoors cleaning. Now, the boys run in the opposite direction when I even mention the word but when I said that I wanted to clean out their toys, they were right there to help. Sort of. We (Brian and I) decided that we needed to downsize the collection of toys throughout the house. The boys (Tyler and Jacob) were not on board with this idea.

If you look closely there are 3 kids and a husband in this picture. All the kids thought it was great fun finding old toys and bringing them back to life (new batteries.) Even daddy put on the clown nose to boost everyone spirits.

Oh, here they all are! See the looks of excitement and fun! And their Grinch sized hearts when we told them we were donating their toys! Well ok...we are still working on the whole "giving with a gracious heart" concept.

The other exciting part of our weekend was when daddy caught two bunnies in his live traps. Those rascally rabbits will not eat our garden this year!

The three boys took the rabbits to a near-by park and released them into their new home.

Well, I am still overwhelmed with toys and clutter but after the 1st of many trips to Goodwill we will clear up some much needed extra space in this house!

Discovery

Life with a 2 year old girl has been a brand new experience for us. Haley has a humongous vocabulary and understands almost everything we say. That being said here is the conversation we had the other day....

"Mommy, I have boobies."

"See!"

Yep, I see them. Hee Hee.

"Boobies fall!"
Now that is something I know all about!

Life with a toddler with two older brothers is waaayyy too much fun!

Have a great weekend!