Sunday walk on the Greenway.

Mimi and Papa take the kids bike riding really often. Kaiya's gotten to be quite the little speedster on her bike. Balancing fairly well for her age - might just lose the training wheels sooner than I would have expected.

This kid is about the cutest thing you have ever seen on his little trike w/ his helmet and those little legs pedaling as fast as he can. He just has a hard time keeping up with Kaiya!

Little Mechanics

The kids had fun on Sunday "working" on the car with Papa. Big things to do like fill up the antifreeze and messy stuff like that. It was fun sitting on the swing watching them use their tools to do the work. They thought they were big stuff. I hope they learn a few things... mechanics are expensive -- might be nice to have one in the family. :)

I love my blue-eyed babies. And what about Kaiya's haircut! :) I don't think I had posted a picture of that yet. She has a friend that she wanted her hair to be like so we made the big cut. She was pretty cute about -- very concerned about what Daddy would think, since she knows that Daddy likes his girls to have long hair. And then the day after it was cut she looked in the mirror with a very serious expression and asked if I thought it grew any overnight. It's been a good summer cut and she loves that I don't make her pull it back much.

Back to Blogging. Serious this time.

I've said it before... but I have really let this blogging thing go. My main excuse is that my digital camera has been broken for nearly a year. And after my most recent call to Canon technical services support line I decided to bury the camera. Minimum service charge for the camera is $150. Now... we used some Christmas bonus money from back in the day to purchase the camera five years ago -- and it wasn't cheap. But $150 minimum to get it fixed! Not a chance. They don't even manufacture the camera anymore. Less than a week after I made the decision to start shopping for a new camera, I saw an ad in a Staples ad for a Kodak Easy Share w/ a 10x optical zoom for $99. I had kissed all my dreams of a zoom over 4-5x goodbye because they just weren't in my price range. So I ordered it right away.Let's be honest -- a picture-less blog is just no fun. So I'm ba-a-ack!

Good night. Sleep Tight.

Last night I went in to check on the kids before I went to bed and noticed that Kaiya was practically falling off of the bed. When I looked closer, this is what I saw. :)

I assure you... this is not how we put them to bed. Sneaky little boogers.

Wordless Wednesday - Pouting

July 4th

We got a great tip from one of our patients about a rodeo in the area. We decided to head out to it on Saturday, the 3rd. It was so much fun -- loads of bull ridin' and muttin bustin'. And the infamous "Ring of Fire" that Tony said he would have done if he hadn't been wearing flip flops. It goes something like this: 10 foot chalk circle drawn in the ring, whoever wants to volunteer gets a chest guard and stands in the middle of the ring. And then they turn a bull loose. Last person standing in the ring wins $200. Let's just be honest. There is no way in heck I would allow him to participate in that. The bull picked one guy up with his horns and tossed him out of the ring. They shot off some fireworks at the end, and they were just good enough that we were able to pass them off to the kids as the "real deal." Which meant that we got to stay home on the 4th. We bought some small stuff to shoot off for the kids... I love the expressions of my dad and Kaleb in the picture below! Wonder what they are looking at.

Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge

Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge is subtitled "Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul." That subtitle is a great way to summarize the book. John and Stasi candidly tackle all of the intricate aspects that collectively make up a woman. They teach how women long to be romanced, women long to play a role in a shared adventure and women have a beauty to unveil.

I think this book is a must-read for every woman. Personally, I was excited about how I could apply what I was reading to the raising of my daughter. While I was in the process of reading Captivating, Kaiya decided she wanted her hair cut. It was the first time we went shorter than the shoulders and it was such a drastic change for her. The one thing that she kept saying over and over was, “Does Daddy like it?” Just as the book says… every woman has a Question. “Am I lovely?” “Are you captivated by what you find in me?” As a little girl, she longed to know that Daddy still finds her beautiful – even with a different hair style.

If you haven’t had the chance to read it, pick it up!

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Wrapping up the trip to Indiana

Some pictures from our time w/ Tony's mom. The kids had fun playing in the pool and blowing bubbles! And lots of snuggles from Nannie!

Meeting Brayden

Another special thing from this trip to Indiana was getting to meet Brayden. Brayden belongs to good friends of ours, Austin & Kristina. Each of the kids loved to hold him. And Brayden got his first adjustment!

Aunt Bekah and Uncle Brent came up to visit on Friday too. They were able to sneak in a couple hours with the kids and brought silly bands!!

Friday we spent the day swimming in Nannie's pool. My friend Connie came up to visit with her kids and we had a great time. Kaleb was a little shy about getting in the pool (he fell in Thursday night and had to be rescued by Daddy) but he had lots of fun "pushing" the big girls into the pool. He cracked up every time thinking he had sent them into the cold water.

Sarah's Garden by Kelly Long

I love summer because the TV is off more, the days are longer and it just feels right to read a book. My latest read is Sarah's Garden by Kelly Long. Sarah is a young Amish woman who loves to work in the garden -- it's been her gift from early on -- she was born in the garden! Her older sister marries and she is given the job of working at the family's roadside stand. During the first week of working, she meets Dr. Grant Williams, her new Englisch neighbor and veterinarian. There is an immediate connection and before long, Sarah realizes that she has fallen in love. It’s a forbidden love and could result in Sarah losing her family and community.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical picking up an Amish fiction novel. I wondered if it would be like other Amish novels I have read. Author Kelly Long really surprised me! While the Amish theme was very present in the book, she intertwined several other themes throughout the book. There was the theme of forgiveness, the theme of choice (choosing to grow old in bitterness or gentleness), the theme of honor.

The author did an good job at developing the main characters in the book. There were other characters that didn’t present in this story as main characters, but I found very likeable. I particularly enjoyed Sarah’s relationship with her brother Luke. And at the end of the book there was a sneak peek of the cover of the next book in the Patch of Heaven series. I was happy to see that some of these characters I got to know in this book would reappear later in the series.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

We had fun playing hide 'n' seek in Great Grandma & Grandpa Cook's house! She has beautiful gardens and lots of fun places to hide in the backyard.

The kids with Grandpa Tim. We had such a good time!

Indiana

During the first weekend of June we headed back to Indiana to see family and friends. It was a quick weekend, but flying helped tremendously to extend our time a bit. The kids have flown before, but this was the first time that they were aware of being on a plane.

By the second flight, we had figured out a handy little trick to making better time changing planes. The kids loved riding on our suitcases and everyone got a real kick out of it.
More posts from the trip coming this week...

Mother's Day... a few weeks behind.

Just got this picture back and my present (The Food Network Magazine subscription) came in the mail this weekend, so thought it would be a good time for a post. Had a great Mother's Day. We ventured Uptown for church - we usually go nearby the house to Providence, but it wasn't Tony's volunteer week and we decided to mix it up. It was fun to see a different campus. Church was great -- yummy hand painted chocolates (thanks Elevation!), 5-minute massages, and family pictures. We got to have our picture taken by Cheyenne Schultz.


After church we had brunch at the Original Pancake House (yummy). Then we headed home, threw the kids in the car and went to Carowinds for the day. Topped the evening off with Mexican food for dinner. And that made for one happy mama!

Happy Memorial Day!

This picture is a good summary of life right now. I'm really enjoying it.

Trip

We're taking a trip back to Indiana this coming weekend for Tony's high school reunion. Fun times. :) We decided not to tell the kids (hoping to avoid the every-10-minutes-asking-how-many-more-days-til-we-leave business). Tony did tell them this weekend that there is a big surprise coming up later this week. Kaiya's had a few days to think about what it could be so I asked her today and this was her response:

Kaiya's guesses:

1) Chuck E. Cheese
2) Monkey Joe's
3) Carowinds
4) Disney World
5) Go Camping
6) Get on an airplane and go camping.

Kaleb's guess:

1) Chuck E. Cheese

The suspense is getting pretty exciting around here!!

Kaleb

Kaleb is getting bigger and was in quite the ornery mood last night. Here's a little glimpse into his personality.



We have started potty training around here. Our count of potties in the potty are pretty good... so its gonna get intense around here I think. Just want to have it conquered.

Save-a-lot Giveaway

Thought it was time for a fun giveaway!! You can read about the fun I had at the Save-a-lot grand opening here.

Win a $15 gift card to Save-A-Lot!

For those of you who live near a Save-A-Lot store -- leave me a comment with your favorite thing about the store and I'll pick a random winner on Tuesday -- comment entries need to be in by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 10th. If I don't know you... leave me your e-mail address so that I can contact the winner!