Our Little Artist

Okay....so we are proud parents:) This is a first for Ava. Of course, she has been scribbling for a while and loves to color BUT this is not just a scribble! She often asks after drawing something, "what do you think this is?" Ummmmm.... is often how I begin my answer. BUT, not there!! It's a face....with two eyes, two ears, two slits for nostrils, a mouth, hair!!! I asked her who it was a picture of and she said, "Papaw." There you have it....a proud artist and proud parents:)

May = Vacation

Last year we decided to take an annual May vacation with my parents. Last year we headed to Edisto Island, South Carolina! This year we landed on Lake Lure, North Carolina! Have to say I had never heard of it! We decided on it because of my parents timeshare availability but as well it was just one day of driving...8 hours.

We did lots of things and really had great weather! We were way up in the mountains and the one bummer was that it took about 20-30 minutes to get "anywhere" and let's just say if you are prone to getting car sick this would not be for you!!

These are a few pics of us on a boat ride taking a tour of Lake Lure....a man-made lake in which it was named Lure in the hopes that it would Lure millions to come and visit.
One day it was kind of chilly but we headed to Chimney Rock State Park. We packed a lunch and ate on these huge flat rocks over the river! I always love the idea of a picnic but it always seems it is never perfect:) You may not be able to tell from the picture but we are swatting all the gnats that joined our picnic:)

One of our favorite things of the week was playing at the beach! The kids LOVED it...who knew you could dig in the sand for soooo many hours. It was so relaxing because we were usually the only ones on the beach, the kids played so well on their own and there was a playground right on the sand.

Okay, I just put this pic on because look at me....I've got a hold of Cooper by the hood making sure he doesn't fall in and I'm trying to protect my dad's head from being smashed by the rock Ava is getting ready to wail into what she hopes will be the water but what I fear may be my dad's noggin:)

Clowns, Elephants and Jugglers

Last weekend our staff team went to the circus together! That's right:) I can't even remember the last time I went to the circus! I honestly wasn't sure how our kids would react...okay, really I wasn't sure about Ava. I knew Cooper's eyes would be glued to whatever was happening.

The first few minutes Ava had a hard time (even before it started) but really as soon as her friend Olivia arrived to sit next to her things were good! I love that! It was more fun to me watching our kids and our friend's kids than watching the tigers walk on two feet! I don't think Coop was always sure what was going on but he was sure to clap loudly and laugh when the crowd clapped.

Lately, I have been reminded to take the time just to enjoy the kids and the things they delight in! I somehow want to bottle up the pure joy they have in moments like these where they are enthralled with what they see!

A Few Pics from Easter

Happy Easter! We pray you had a wonderful time celebrating LIFE in Christ! We had a great visit from Nana and Papa last weekend! We were so thankful they came to spend time with us! This weekend we headed to Mamaw and Papaw's for a family get-together and then came back to celebrate Easter at our church on Sunday!

Thought I'd throw in this last picture...don't know if you can tell but Coop took a face plant on an outdoor track last week:) He had scrapes and swelling above and around his one eye but thankfully it is looking much better. I'm sure there's more where that comes from now that the weather is getting nicer and we are outside more! Happy Spring!

Oh What a Day!

Did you ever have one of those days that turned out to be nothing as you planned??? I'm sure you have...that was yesterday! For starts, Ava started puking during the night....why oh why does it always seem that puking takes place in the middle of the night???

When we woke up the next morning, she seemed to be doing better but Matt and I started to feel a but unsettled. We were suppose to go into work for a monthly prayer time and then our first meeting with the staff of the X-project that we will lead this summer. Late in the morning we get a call from our realtor to see if they could show our house at 4pm. (oh, yes, we do now have our house officially on the market:) Okay....long story short, Matt goes in to lead the meeting and I get another call to show our house at 1:30! Crazy....so I head out with the kids and thankfully Ava has done fine all day. We come home, do naps and then head out again with Matt to play at the park for the second showing......Yep....that's right as soon as we get home to sit down for "dinner" Ava pukes all over the dining room....then again before bed....okay I'll stop with the details there.

Thankfully, no one else has thrown up! Today has been much more low key:)

A highlight for me each week is Monday night....some Central State women come over for dessert and bible study. We've really enjoyed talking about God and how He relates to them even when it's hard to be a follower of His on a college campus. This picture was this week...we had dinner together and then they baked cookies and filled bags for their teammates who were heading to Florida for their Spring Break Track & Field meets.

Taking one day at a time

We are definitely ready for some warmer weather and for SUN!! In the meantime, we've been keeping ourselves busy....I love this picture! We bought a much needed new dining room table recently and Cooper had to be right with his Dad putting it up. He had so much fun being right there and "helping":) Let's just say it may have taken Matt a bit longer than planned:)We have made our way outside for some more family fun in the snow! The process of getting everybody ready has gotten much easier now that we've done it several times. You may remember from a previous blog that we were pulling our kids around in the snow in a red wagon...well the kids now know what sled riding is really suppose to be like. They loved being pulled around in the yard in the new sled and playing in the 3-tiered fort Daddy made!!

Ava and I have just finished the Letter A week. I found this free program that is printable online that teaches a letter each week. She loves to color, make, bake, read books, etc. and I really thought she would love doing something like this. Needless to say, I am doing a much smaller scale than what's online and it wasn't a lot of work for Mommy and seemed to be a lot of fun for her (and Cooper of course). So on Friday to complete our A week we made an apple pie....learning doesn't have to be all about reading, writing and arithmetic, right?

Vacuuming....some said turn on the vacuum and your kids will love the sound and put them to sleep...not ours! Ava was super scared of it when she was younger and Cooper well...he really has this love hate relationship with it. I wish you could see him....he gets out his little vacuum and stays on the other side of the room as Matt while he sweeps and the minute Matt moves toward his way, he is off and running to the other room with the vacuum in hand:)

What a Fun-filled Weekend!

Do you ever have those weekends that are extremely full but so fun and filling? That was ours! Our friends, the Horton's and the Person's, came over Friday night for dinner. Matt discipled the men when they were at Central State. They are now graduated, married and fathers! I also knew their wives while one also went to Central and the other to Cedarville. The Horton's live in PA now and came back for the weekend. What a rich night of catching up and encouraging one another.

Another wonderful thing of the evening was watching our kids play! We had 7 kids all 3 and under:) They had a ball together! After running amuck for lots of the evening the adults decided a VeggieTales movie was in order:)

On Saturday we went with our friends to a Wright State women's bball game. They were playing Wisconsin Green Bay who's head coach is a friend of ours. When Matt and I were dating we would double date with he and his wife. Matt was able to head over to the hotel after the game to hang with him and his team. He and his wife are great models to us of living out their faith and loving others well!

For many of us, snow has been falling and falling:) So, today I brought out some of the toys that have been statched away for awhile!!! Ahhh...they were like new:) The dress up clothes were one of those...thus the pics below. Let's just say we came to the conclusion that we need to purchase a few more items...like a fireman's coat/boot's, maybe a policeman's costume or GI Joe??? Coop in butterfly wings and pink princess dresses?? And all day, he so wanted to wear the glass slippers but they wouldn't stay on his feet because he was in his pj's all day:) Gotta love a snow day!