Happy 13th Anniversary

Sometimes my children amaze me. At times, it can be tempting to miss those sweet baby days, and then I stop and think about the amazing little people they are becoming and I LOVE it. The girls knew that we had our anniversary in Ohio, but didn't really get to celebrate much. The Little Guy can only be left with a babysitter in our home and is required to be with Tommy or I every second when we travel. We were fine with that, every season is different, but those girls had big plans!!!

The first full day we were home Addison was asking me lots of questions about the dinner I had in the crock-pot and they were asking if they could make a dessert. I finally figured out they were planning something. They pulled off a candle light dinner, they fixed up and served along with dancing and clean up after.

They worked quietly all day. They made the menu, decorated the table, prepared the dessert and side items for the dinner I had started and even called Tommy and told him to bring home flowers. They planned "fancy" outfits for each of us. When Tommy arrived home from work, they took him upstairs to get him ready and Addison took me to my room to put on a dress and she fixed my hair and make-up (no matter I hadn't even showered on this particular day!!).

They worked so hard to make dinner "peaceful" and "quiet" for us. Addison was especially concerned with keeping everything going and reminded the Little Guy 100 times not to ask us for anything. :)

We shared our wedding album with him and spent some time talking about what marriage and anniversaries mean. We danced, we laughed and we just soaked up  the royal treatment from our children. I love their hearts to make our day special. We pray that they learn now how important marriage is and that we do our very best to provide them a good example.

O-HI-O

We made a summer trip to Ohio and had the BEST time. It was hard to imagine that it had been 1 year since we had seen most of our friends. We caught back up instantly. The girls were delighted to see their friends and the Little Guy was thrilled that there were boy friends with boy toys!!! Here are some highlights!
~The Bowles new backyard forest with rope swings and a creek.
~Spontaneous BBQ's in the Janzen's backyard, just like old times.
~Fishing and riding big wheels at the Sphires house.
~Leaving the Dad's with all the kids while we Mamas headed to Melting Pot.
~Both girls lost teeth, by tying dental floss to their tooth and a big pillow, then throwing the pillow off the Sphire's balcony. It works!!! The only hard part was finding the teeth.
~The girls had sleepovers with different friends every night.
~Tommy and I celebrated our 13 year anniversary! We celebrated with a 30 minute trip to the outlet mall with Little Guy in tow. We shopped in a hurry, because he wasn't feeling well and was starting to run a fever. We didn't have a stroller and he is like a small linebacker. 30 minutes was pretty much as long as we could carry him.
~Swimming at our old neighborhood pool.
~Gracyn choked on a cheesestick at a restaurant on the way down, couldn't breathe or make a sound and had to be heimliched.
~Addison choked on cheese pizza in a restaurant the next night and had to be heimliched. Hopefully we never have to do that again!!
~The little guy threw up in the car on the way home. Doesn't even phase us anymore. We had a bag ready, pulled over to throw it away and kept going.
~Addison got to take a lesson with Chloe at her riding school.
~Reagan and Gracyn got to go to an art class with Olivia.
~Watching the Little Guy learn what a basement is. It was extra fun because the basement he discovered is one big playroom for 3 boys.
~5 days of non-stop fun with precious friends!!!

Summer Fun

I am determined to keep documenting summer, before I post back to school pictures, which happened this morning. Tear!!!

Reagan's Fin Fun Mermaid was a big hit! She has wanted it for a year and finally got it for her birthday. She spent lots of time in that tail at the pool this summer.

Taking a break from all the swimming. 

Every year we look forward to the release of the new American Girl Movie. We waited until Tyler was at preschool, had our friend Anna come down and enjoyed an afternoon with popcorn and the Grace Thomas movie.

These two. No idea what they are doing. My girls call them the twinsies. They are together most of the time.

We spent a good chunk of summer (4 hours a week) driving to and from and attending speech therapy. I came to enjoy my time in the waiting room with the girls. It was fun to read, play games, or work on sewing projects without any of the "interruptions" that distract me at home (laundry, dishes, etc.). The girls also took turns going back to the therapy room with him. This was great, as they are big helpers/teachers to him and they were able to see how to correct/encourage him with some specific speech struggles. Bonus for them, there is a crazy fun gym back there and marshmallows they use for rewards!

Addison dropped the kickstand of her bike on her foot. It was black and blue and swollen instantly. When your child with a super-high pain threshold is crying, you head to the ER. Nothing was broken, thankfully, but they gave her this fancy boot for a souvenir. 

There has been tons of cooking and baking by this crew. Addison really enjoys being in the kitchen and has been a HUGE help to me on almost every meal this summer. There are even a few meals, she can handle start to finish on her own. Amen and Praise the Lord!!!

4th of July was an all day party at our friends house. There was a cookout, fireworks and tons of swimming. Fireworks are legal here, so it is INSANE!!! Crazy amounts of BIG fireworks ALL NIGHT LONG.

Swimming in the dark under the fireworks.

She started hip hop. This may be my new favorite picture!

Reagan took summer hip hop too. She liked her class, but more than anything she liked helping with the baby girl ballet class the hour before hers. Those girls were adorable and Reagan was so sweet and helpful with them. I love her studio and an thankful to the owner for letting Reagan have this experience.

We loved Vacation Bible School.

We spent MANY hours at the barn. Including a week of pony camp, where Addison worked hard all week and climbed 3 levels in her Pony Club Certification. She tested for a few days and is now a level D3.

Maggie, this old dog. We love her. These days she pretty much just needs a soft place to nap and some snuggles. 

Old friends from Texas included us in their roadtrip. The Sharps spent a night with us. Addison taught a riding lesson to their youngest daughter, we had lots of time to chat and catch up and we showed them around Bentonville.

The Little Guy turned 4 with a Spider Man party at the pool.

There were more pedicures. I can't afford to have all 40 of our toes prettied up at once, but usually one girl at a time gets to tag along. They keep up with the rotation.