Spring Break 2008

At the mouth of the cave-Emmy was ready to go!

Going down the shaft 250 ft. below ground!!

Daddy and kiddos

Our first break in "Grand Central Station"

Another photo op

Stalagtites

Mr. Photo himself

The whole gang

Our ranger, Jeff Foster, who led our adventure!

This past week was Spring break for us. The large majority of the week Scott worked-roofing and a swing set. He put in several long days. We saw less of him than we do in a normal week, but it all payed off when we got to leave Friday morning for a short vacation. We headed to Kentucky to visit Mammoth Cave. We went with another family and had a blast!! The boys said, "This is the best vacation ever!" We asked what was their favorite part...they concluded the cave, but swimming was a close second! Go figure...that part is FREE!! I remember being the same way!:) Here are a few pictures of the cave. We took a two hour tour-it was very cool!

1st Grade Bible Play

Signing autographs:)
Kelsey played Miriam
Matthew and mom

Namaan and Miriam
Matthew and his friend Logan (aka the king's servant)

Namaan and his wife

The Thursday night before Spring break Matthew's class had their annual Bible plays. Matthew played the lead part as Namaan in the one play; the other one was Baby Moses. Of course we are a little partial, but he was great!!! I think we are starting to see interest and talent in this area even at this age-he is quite dramatic!! :) Enjoy the pics!

Happy Easter

MBBC Wrestling Alumni Reunion

Yesterday was a crazy day!! We went to St.Louis for a reunion of the MBBC wrestlers. We left about 9:00am and returned at 4:30am this morning. We stopped in Terre Haute and joined Warren and Tana for the trip. What a great time we had!!! It was fun to see everyone again and hear testimony of what God is doing in each life and how He has used wrestling in the lives of these men. We praise the Lord Warren was up to the trip. He wasn't sure it would happen just a few days before we left! We are so glad it all worked out. Hopefully he isn't paying for it today!

Trophy Winners!

Last night was the Grand Prix-a tradition that has been carried on since we had AWANA here at our church. It is jokingly (well, in most cases!) called the "daddy derby". The kids can have up to two cars to race. There are trophies awarded for design and for speed. Matthew decorated his like Mr. Potato Head and Andrew's was camoflauged. Scott helped get them ready to race, but the boys helped in the decorating. He warned Matthew ahead of time that his would probably NOT win in the speed category that he should aim for design:) Andrew's he thought would be fast!!! WELL.....Matthew's car kept winning each round and we just kept laughing-never expcecting that to happen!! He ended up taking first place in speed and third in design. Andrew's went quite a ways and ended up taking second place in speed. It was a fun night! Here are a few pcitures of the boys and their cars.

Andrew turns 10!!!

I know, it is hard to believe....I now have a child in the double digits for age!!!:) Where has time gone?? I can't be old enough to have a 10 yr old! Seems like a flash and we were just becoming parents for the first time. I told him the other day that I wish I could just freeze time. He didn't think he liked that idea. He just smiles at me when I get all sappy like that. We had his party on Friday night in the HHCS gym. What better place for 13 boys to have a great time??? They actually asked Andrew if he would have his party in the gym again this year like he did a couple years ago!! They played kick ball, dodge ball, lazer tag, basketball. It was fun to watch them together. I made Danielle's giant cookie recipe. It tasted great, but the decorating wasn't the best. Oh, well, nobody complained! Andrew had asked everyone for money this year so that he could buy a Nintendo DS. He got enough, so he was pumped and ready to go shopping on Saturday morning!! He has had an extended birthday celebration-Friday night party, Saturday shopping and getting his DS, today out for birthday lunch and tomorrow is a birthday lunch date with mom!:) Happy birthday, buddy, we love you!!

Smile Under Construction!

A few weeks ago!
Today!!

Oh, My!!! What a mouth!! The tooth fairy went broke at our house this week! Matthew lost two teeth. One tooth he pulled out Sunday night DURING church and then the other his teacher pulled out on Monday. He thought he wanted to wait until the "fairy godmother" visited aka "nana":), but we told him he would have dangling teeth for another several weeks before she would come! He has two more teeth that are VERY loose. The one on the top is even hanging in there crooked! The bottom teeth look like piano keys-large, small, large, small! We are transitioning from little kid smile to big kid smile and it looks pretty rough in the mean time!!

A Blessing

Have you ever done something to try to be a blessing to someone else and in the process received more of the blessing yourself?? This weekend Scott and I were able to go visit our friends, the Brokerings, and that is exaclty what happened. Most of you who check my blog already know this family and their story. If not, I will fill you in. Warren has stage four colon cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs. Obviously he is in a fight for his life. He is undergoing chemotherapy at this time. For more detailed information you can check out their blog at http://www.thebrokeringfamily.blogspot.com/. Anyway, we both got babysitters for our children and went out for dinner together. We had a great time laughing and talking and just getting caught up. Warren told us about his job at the clinic where he is the chaplain to other cancer patients. I just sat listening and thinking about what a challenge, encouragement and comfort he must be to those other patients in the very same situation as he is in. God has allowed Warren such a unique opportunity to be used of Him. The strength that we witnessed in this couple can only be explained by the grace of God. I looked at Tana and could only hope that I would have the same calmness of spirit that she portrays if I ever was found in the same situation. They are leaning hard on Him and trusting Him for every day of the future. Why should I be any different?? Each day I am given is of Him. Every situation I am faced with should be brought before the Lord as fervently as we bring this man/couple before the Lord. Every trial we face only brings us closer to Him and allows us to experience His love for us. I truly thank the Lord for their testimony and the challenge that they were to my heart!! We treasured the time together and look forward to the next time-hopefully soon!

Camo Room is Finished!!

What it looks like inside!


What it looks like outside!

Today was a snow day due to an ice storm, so I took advantage of some extra help with watching little ones and finished the boys' room. Here are a few pictures of what the finished product looks like. I promise not to put any more pics of the rooms up after this...my mom and sister want to see it!:)

Our little cheerleader

I just had to post these couple pictures of Emilee in her cheerleader outfit. We had the state tournament this past weekend. Believe it or not, we only made it to a few games this basketball season and so she hadn't worn the outfit and would not be able to fit in it next season. It cracks me up how girls (even when they are little) know when they look cute, and want everyone to notice them! She just beamed in it and kept patting her tummy to make sure everyone noticed how cute she looked. Of course the students and parents thought it was great. Except for the girls on the basketball team. They couldn't imagine her being comfortable in a CHEERLEADER uniform. She loves to watch Haley, our babysitter, cheer. She claps when she claps, puts her hands on her hips like Haley, and puts her hands in the air and wiggles her fingers like the girls do when they finish a floor cheer!! Only time will tell if she will the be the girl on the sideline cheering or on the floor playing ball. Either one will be just fine!!!:) Sorry most of the pictures are not real clear....the girl never lands!!

Bye Bye Crib

The big girl
The big girl bed




Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Okay, I admit it....I WAS NOT READY to take the crib down and move on from the baby stage!! I am so sad that the crib will be gone forever!!! Plus, why ruin a good thing??? She sleeps SO well in her crib and no new little family member is coming behind her to push her out as before!! Well, I had a weak moment yesterday and finally gave in to it. It didn't help that her daddy had assembled the toddler bed several weeks ago and left it in the garage for her to gaze at and tell everyone she sees "I Dora bed!" After a little nudge yesterday by a dear friend (who will remain nameless!) she said, "Michelle, she is two!" OK, OK, I will do it!! Of course I didn't have to say it twice to Scott and he had the bed in place in a flash! Well, I must say it was pretty uneventful. She cried at first because to her it was just a playplace that she had just been jumping on with Luke an hour before!!!:) Scott laid down with her for about 5 minutes and we only went in once to a cry that ended up nothing. She even slept in until her normal wake time! Quiet night...we'll see how nap goes. Never quite as easy when it is light out and you see all your toys in your room!!!:)


PS***It is now naptime and I have to tell you that she is such a good girl!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is making this SO much easier on her poor mommy! I laid with her for a few minutes and kept peeking in on her after that. She never got out of bed and was very quiet. Not long after she fell asleep! Hopefully she sleeps her normal length naptime. And to think I doubted her!!!!:)

The Big Reveal

*** See the previous post as well for pictures leading up to the finished product***

So here are the new rooms as they appear today!!! We still have some decorating to do in the boys' new "camo" room (the rest of the old border down and new up, things on the walls, etc), but our room is done and we love it!! It is smaller, but very cozy and oh so worth it to have the extra space in the boys' room. I have wished for a long time that the kids could have a playroom somehow and I think this solved two problems in one!! We have a larger bedroom for them AND enough extra space in there that we solved the playroom part as well! They play back there a lot now!! Thanks for good thinking brains, Lord. Thank you! Thank you!!

The Big Mess

Okay, forgive me for not posting.....again!! We really HAVE had the rooms "done" for some time, but I didn't want my folks to see it on the internet before they saw it in person!! They were here last Friday on their way home from Orlando and I wanted to wait until then. Since it has taken so long I have a bunch of pictures to show you all and I don't know how to post more than five. Is there a limit? If not, someone please tell me how to do it!!!???!! Anyway, I am going to post several times today because I don't know how else to share all the pictures!:) It is feast or famine with me!!:) These are the pictures of the big mess in switching closets. I was so overwhelmed I left with Emilee and Andrew to go shopping while Scott tackled the big job. He is much better at that than I am. I helped by getting little fingers out of trouble! Emilee dumped more boxes of games and puzzles in seconds than you can imagine. She was having a blast! The finished product was wonderful....sooooo much more space for all the toys and games in the new closet. Still can't believe all that stuff fit in that little closet!! It was a great opportunity to get rid of junk and weed out clothes and such that was no longer needed. Scott had fun teasing me for what all he found in our closet...especially all my shoes!!

"An Evening in Paradise"

Mrs. Glenn wasn't there so we couldn't let Pastor miss out on pictures!!
Won the best dressed couple award
Mark and Lisa
Greg and Nicole

Saturday night was our valentine banquet here at church. We haven't had one in years so we were unsure what the turnout would be like. We had over 140 people there!!! Scott and I were on the committee and were very excited about it! Obviously by the title you can tell it was a valentine luau. We asked everyone to wear their best Hawaiin dress and people went all out! We played the Newlywed Game and had a "mystery couple" that everyone tried to guess who it was by clues the couple had given us ahead of time. The food was catered and it was wonderful too. Scott took pictures of each couple after they came in and received their lei. Here are a few pictures of some of the people you might know. From the response, I think there will be another one next year!!!=)

PS. Too bad the weather had to be so frigid...I think the thermostat in the room was set at 75 degrees so everyone could stay warm in their summer duds!