Father’s Day

I know I have mentioned time and time again how blessed my kids are to have Ben as their dad.  He is the perfect mixture of fun, silly, disciplinarian, sensitive, smart, Godly, cuddly, patient person for each of them.  Carter’s favorite thing about his dad is, “He likes to wrestle with me and lets me stay up late.”   Caroline’s favorite thing about her dad is, “He is funny and nice”.  Leighton’s favorite thing about her dad is, “When he makes up stories to tell me at night”.  Ben totally lives in the moment and just said last night after dinner, ” We are going to look back at this stage of our life as the BEST days of our lives!”

For father’s day we gave Ben some new golf clubs.  He was totally surprised!

On Father’s day we relaxed in the pool all day!

The kids planned a candle light lasagna dinner…Ben’s favorite!

We are so thankful for all the JOY Ben brings to our family!

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Caroline’s new hobby

Caroline has been asking to learn how to sew for a long time now.  Sadly I know NOTHING about sewing…but her MiMi does!  MiMi watches the kids every Tuesday while I am at work.  The first week of June, MiMi took Caroline to Hobby Lobby and they bought fabric, thread, buttons, needles, and a beginners sewing book.  To say that Caroline was ECSTATIC would be an understatement!  She brought them home and started teaching herself how to sew.  She has patience/persistence like no other child I have ever known.  She will literally sit for 2 hours in her bedroom sewing.  At first she needed me to tie a knot in the thread to begin with…now she does it all by herself, or uses a back-stitch to keep it in place.  It is pretty remarkable.  I have been so proud of Caroline.  I love that when she sets her mind to trying something new that she will stop at NOTHING until she learns to do it perfectly!  Skating, reading, sewing, gymnastics…are just a few areas in which I have seen her persistence pay off!

She has sewn two pieces of fabric together…sewn different shapes onto it…and sewn some buttons on.  Completely by herself!

She drew this butterfly on to the fabric with a pencil…and then stitched around it.

 

Thank you MiMi for teaching Caroline how to sew…she is LOVING it!

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Sweet Cousins

At the beginning of summer we always make a list of fun things we would like to do over the break.  Having sleep overs with our cousins always ranks high up on the list.  The kids LOVE when Bailee and Taylor come over.  Bailee (13yo) and Carter get along really well.  They both like to play outside, play the play-station, and listen to music.  Taylor (11yo) and Caroline get along really well.  They both love to do arts and crafts, play games, and swim.  Leighton runs around and plays with everyone.

The first morning they were here we walked to the park to feed the ducks and then walked on over to the ice cream store.  There were a ton of ducks and turtles…very cool!  I don’t know what it is, but feeding the ducks is so peaceful.  We all loved it!

We stayed up late, played a lot of games, went to see Madagascar 3, had water balloon fights, and laughed a lot!  What a great beginning to our summer break!

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Sports and Art Camp

Our church put on a sports and art VBS the first week of summer.  We all had a great time.  I got to help in cheerleading…which was a lot of fun.  The girls in my group were precious…and I think they all learned a lot!  Carter was in basketball…which he loved.  He came home drenched in sweat each night from playing so hard!  Caroline and Leighton were in mini camp…where they got to do a little bit of everything:).  They all loved the praise songs that we sang each night…and are still singing along with the CD in the car.

Leighton getting her hand painted…

Caroline and Leighton during praise time…

Carter and his buddy Hunter

Carter showing off his basketball skills on the last night…

We loved Sports Camp!!

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Carter’s end of year program

We had a fantastic school year this year!  Carter LOVED going to school every day!  He made us get him there 30 minutes early so that he could play with his friends before school started.  He studied hard and learned a lot in Mrs. Middleton’s class.  I can’t say enough wonderful things about her.  She was so good to teach individual styles for each kid.  Carter is becoming such a GREAT reader…his confidence is soaring! We have loved being at Florence Elementary.

Mrs. Middleton

Carter getting ready to go on stage for his program…

They sang a few sweet songs and then got to walk across the stage to receive their award.

It was such a great year, but we are ready for SUMMER!

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Memorial Weekend

We typically go to Oklahoma for Memorial Weekend.  The kids love to go to Nanna and Poppi’s house with their cousins the Barnes.  I love it that they enjoy going there…lot’s of great memories are being made!  Always one of their favorite things…FISHING!

Hop on the golf cart…let’s go fishing…

Carter and Barkley…

Sweet Caroline…

Brooks and Carter…

Harrison and Leighton…

We were sitting in the golf cart  watching everyone fish, play and laugh.  I was sitting there thinking about how good God is…beautiful weather…family we love…precious children.  Ben pipes up with my thoughts exactly…it doesn’t get much better than this!

Water Balloon Fight!

Leighton loving on baby Emma…

Sleepy Heads…

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