Gone Fishing

Nanny and Papa came up this pastweekend and spent the night at Mom and Dad's house. We had a great time with them. They are as cute as ever! I miss them so much and was glad to be able to spend time with them. We don't get to see them too much with the kids being in school and me babysitting thru the school year, but hope to be able to take some day trips this summer to see them. Maddie is totally in love with both of them. It was funny, she barely gave them room to breathe! She even had Nanny coloring with her and playing playdough and I am pretty sure she thinks Nanny is her new BFF! :)

Dad, Papa, the boys, Gina & kids all went fishing at the pond next to their house. I think everyone had a good time (minus the ticks some of them had on them...DISGUISTING!!). Anyway, here are some pics from fishing.



See, I wasn't kidding. Maddie was stuck like glue to the poor man. :) (Isn't he just the cutest man , ever? ;) )

Joshy catching a poor defenseless fish and Courtney supervising the situation. Gina even got in on the action! (I haven't been fishing for years and years and was reminded again how nasty & slimy it is to touch those fish and worms...gross!)


Dad showing off all those tats! His newest one is of some dogs or something. Come on dad, no more or I will be forced to call you a RN! :):) J/K Feel the love!


Even the princess got in on the action. Although, don't be fooled. There is no fishing line on this pole and she was just posing with it and pretending the whole time...no getting slimy for her! Now there is the Maddie we all know and love. ;)

It was a fun day and hopefully we can all do it again soon!

Its Definitely Summa time....

...and here is the new summer 'do'. Bald and beautiful. Somebody's daddy got a little clipper happy and here is the end result.

I miss all that beautiful hair, but his daddy and him teamed up against me and the bald head won out. What a great looking head, Kobe! ;)

Kensi's Dedication

We had Kensi dedicated to the Lord earlier this month. I was a bit nervous leading up to the dedication because my little munchie was sick the week before and then broke out with this crazy looking rash a few days before.

Ugh, right? That is pretty freaky looking. Long story short, we found out the hard way she is extremely allergic to amoxicillin....Yikes! Poor Kensa! She was a bit irritated with the whole situation, as you can imagine, so I wasn't sure how she was going to do for the service. But little Miss pulled through like a champ and did great!

It was an absolutely beautiful time. We had some friends sing "How Great Thou Art" while our pastor walked her around the church. She saddled right up to Merle and decided to be buddies as they cruised the sanctuary. If I knew how to put videos on here, I would post it because I am pretty sure it was the most amazing version of "How Great Thou Art" I have ever heard. So powerful. As we kept trying to pick a song for her dedication we just kept coming back to that one. I know its not a "typical" dedication song, but it just seem to describe how we feel when we look at her and such a great song to proclaim over her... How great our God is, how beautiful, perfect, how imaginitive to create such a precious little girl in His image. Our pastor prayed over her commiting her back to the Lord and that His will and purposes be done in her life and also a prayer of blessing over her for health (very fitting with the rash and all :) ), strength, courage, faith and a joyful heart. May it be so, Lord!

It was a special time for us as a family. We were also glad to have most of our immediate family there. Here are some pics!

Kobe and Kensi before church.






I love how she is looking at Merle in this last picture like she is really listening to what he is saying. :)

What a complete and total blessing she is. A pure delight and we are so thankful that God chose us to be her family.

My funny Kids

I am trying to be better about writing (or typing I should say)down the funny things the kids say. Because lets face it, ever since I found out I can print this blog into a book form, my journal that I have for the kids has pretty much not been written in. Anyway, these are some things that struck us as funny and I want to remember them.

The other day I was in the kitchen and Maddie had just gone to the bathroom and came out and looked at me with a serious face and said, " I really need Jesus" and just walked away. Ha! I guess she does some pretty deep thinking in there and discovered her deep need for Him on the potty! It was pretty hilarious and profound all at the same time. :)

We found these pictures taped to Maddie's door a few weeks ago:



Translation : "No boys allowed in my room. Kobe can come in my room."
Amazing how they can fight and pick non-stop but when it comes down to it, they are buddies and look out for each other. Way to look out, Maddie!


Also a couple of weeks ago she asked me if girls could be rockstars. I told her yes and then she informed me that she had decided to change her "job" when she gets older from being a princess to being a rockstar. So good to know she has her feet planted firmly in reality....hahaha. Talk about extremes, Maddie is going to be a rockstar and Kobe said, " I want to be a worker at KFC, because I like chicken." They are so funny....I think I am going to keep them. :)

Its Baseball Time.....

Kobe has just started his first year of baseball recently. He looks so incredibly adorable in his little uniform. He had been so excited about signing up for months now. So after his first game we were hugging him and telling him how great he was. I asked him how he liked it and he said, " I think its boring. I don't want to play anymore." What? All these months of excitement and just like that he's over it? He said it goes to slow (which, I must agree he has a good point. :) ). I thought it was cute that he decided his whole baseball career on his first game. We talked about how he had already made a commitment to the team and when you make a commitment you have to follow through even if its boring. So the little man has stuck it out and is really starting to enjoy it! I wasn't prepared for how serious some of these "baseball parents" are. Oh my goodness, you would think you were watching the major leagues with how intense they get. Yikes! I love watching Kobe play...it is truely hilarious! If he is in the outfield longer than 5 minutes he suddenly becomes way more interested in how far he can kick the dirt or playing with a rock and when he is in the duggout and its not his turn to bat, him and his little buddy will climb the fence and jump off....he is so funny! He is quite a slugger though. Who knows if he will want to play again next year, but its been pretty fun so far this year watching!



Come on, isn't that the cutest little outfit. I love his little baseball pants. I do NOT love washing those little pants 3 times a week. :)

The team....the mighty BEES! buzz buzz, baby! Note: see how half the team is looking away or playing with something else...this is what they do when they are in the outfield too! It is so cute and funny! Don't think those serious baseball parents like it, though. :)

Kobe's personal Cheerleader. (check out those shiny lil teeth!)



Oh no, your eyes are not decieving you....that is super Dad out there helping to coach. Go Roy! He looks so official with that clipboard, doesn't he?

So a great big yay for Kobe! Way to stick it out this season and who knows, maybe by the end of the season he will really love it!

More Pics from the INCREDIBLE Lisa...:)

Here are some more pics I got yesterday from our photo shoot with the amazing Lisa. Seriously, I cannot sing her praises enough. She is so talented! I will treasure these photos forever. My only problem now is...how am I supposed to decide between all these which ones to print and to enlarge? I guess thats a good problem to have. In the end, I am sure I will print every last one of them! I love how she really captured their individual personalities in these pics. Thank you a million times over, Lisa!





I love how "candid" these are of Kensi. Just catching her 'in the moment.'







These pics are so great of Kobe. Correct me if I am wrong Lisa, but as I remember almost all of Kobe's pictures were just taken with Lisa following him as he was playing and hardly any were posed. He was so funny. He would literally hear her camera click one time and take off..hahaha! He was way more into the pond and rocks than having his pic taken, but she did such a great job of capturing his little personality I think. :)



This girl was a poser for sure. She loves the camera....and Lisa...her new BFF. :) I can't decide if I like color or black and white better. They are both so beautiful in different ways.













Oh my, now decision time....eeek! And even though contrary to what you must be thinking, these are not even all of them....just some faves. :) Again, I have to sing Lisa's praises!!! I think she needs to open a photog business asap and everyone should go to her because she is simply the best! :)