Ben's Dedication

Ben was dedicated on Sunday July, 18th. We were so grateful the Bro. Randy was able to do this last dedication. He has been my pastor since i was about 13 and married Eric and I as well as dedicating the other three kids.

It is such a important thing for Eric and i to do. The dedication ceremony is more for Eric and I than anything. We make a public commitment to raise our child in a christian home and to provide the best christian foundation we can. It made it even more special to know that Ben, the baby that wasn't supposed to be, was here against great odds. God must have a special plan for him and we can't wait to see what that is.

Family Luau

Moving around hasn't always allowed us to have family birthday celebrations for the kids. For the first few years we happened to move right after Jack and Ella's birthday so we would have little parties as we passed through Alabama on the way to our new home. This is year number four. Somehow the date has gotten moved to the summer and it serves as more of a fun family gathering than a birthday party.

This year we went with a Luau theme. Instead of the bounce house, Mom and Dad had a pool put in. It was hard not to have the bounce house but i survived the hot July heat in the pool. :) Our family and friends traveled in for a wonderful day of visiting. We always have the best time and every year seems to get better and better.

A BIG thank you to all that came. It makes us feel so special that you all would take the time out of your busy schedules and drive to Mom and Dad's to see us. I can't tell you how much we appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Alabama Vacation

As soon as our visit with Mari ended the kids and i hit the road. It was our trip to Alabama that was scheduled for mid-July to the end of the month. We had to make a last minute change and leave early.

See, Eric and i have always moved together. However, when we moved to Florida he was called to leave and go to Georgia. We thought after he finished those he would maybe get on a longer job that we could all go to. He finished the jobs in Georgia, all ahead of schedule. This allowed him to be placed on a new job in Kansas. Yes, Kansas. Unfortunately, it was only for 5 months so it wasn't long enough for all of us to go with him. This left us with some difficult decisions. What do we do? We talked a lot. Jack will be starting school next year and john the year after so we decided it would be best if we started phasing out of our moving. This led to an early trip home for HOUSE HUNTING!

Eric looked at quite a few houses and we got it narrowed down to one....

By the time i got there it was gone. Boo. We still had a wonderful visit. It helped that Mom and Dad surprised us with a swimming pool. Just in time for our family Luau and Ben's dedication. More on our journey to find our first home to come.

The Wilkes Visit

After our 4th of July playdate ended our dear friends Mari, Auston and Aby Wilkes rolled in. They were only staying a few days so we had to do a lot of catching up and quick. We haven't seen them in a year so i was looking forward to hanging out and having 6 kids in the house. The girls shared Ella's room and the boys shared Jack and John's room. We didn't do much. Just hung out by the pool and played with the kids. Mari worked but made time to take some family pictures of us. We had a great time, well, except for the moment Auston thought he was superman and jumped into the pool without his floaties. Scary. My camera also died. Yes, my new camera.sThanks Best Buy for replacing it for free. Mari- Thanks so much for taking the time and making the long drive down to visit. I has a blast!

Play dates

Ella has attended two play dates since school ended. I thought it only fair i allowed her to plan a play date for her friends at our house. I thought this was a great idea since we would be moving and i would only have to do it once. I started calling around and found that Sunday afternoon would be a good time for everyone. Well, i had forgotten that Sunday also happened to be July 4th. Great, now we would be having an Independence day party. Angela was going to come home with us after church, Emma and Lisa's mom would drop them off and Derek and Melissa's mom would stay and help me out. Emma and Lisa's mom brought her nephew and left him too so i was glad another mom offered an extra set of hands. Eric was here too. He stayed on clean up duty most of the day. :) 10 kids made for a very busy day. The boys split into the boy room

and the girls quickly formed a fashion show that included all kids of tricks on Ella's gymnastics bar. They ate pizza and ice cream

and a few took a swim. Our boys were thrilled at all the company and the fact that they had other boys to play with. What was supposed to last 3 hours lasted 6. A long day but everyone had a good time. I wouldn't mind doing it again. Good thing since Ella is asking when she can plan another one. :)

Dancing is an expression

A quick blog before bed. My kids make me laugh. Thanks Disney for the beats.

Well, Hello

It has officially been a full month since my last post. I am feeling like a newbie and like i have found my old friend again. I never realized how i use my blog as therapy until I was too busy to write. See for every post there are probably two i write that never get posted. You know all about my feelings and gushy stuff no one really wants to read. HA. Well, i am back and will get caught up on July's activities and you will see where all i have been while i was vacationing from my blog. One thing is for sure, I have missed you!