the weekend

Friday, we hung around the house for a while and then headed up to the Little Elm Jubilee/fireworks. We walked to the elementary school and then took a bus to Little Elm Park. They would not allow parking at the Jubilee because it caused problems last year, so everybody was bussed in. We took blankets and found a spot near the water to wait for fireworks.

David chased Joshua around for a while, then I took a turn. Jacob, Cody and Karleigh checked out the sand at the beachy part and got their feet wet in the lake. Karleigh got most of the rest of her wet also, but that is to be expected.

The fireworks were really great - I was surprised with how good they were for a smaller town. It took us FOREVER to get a bus back to the school, then we had to walk home from there. We got to bed really late and had to get up really early Saturday morning to go to the zoo.

We left the house about 8:30, stopped in Denton at Kroger and then on to Gainesville to the zoo. We were meeting the Osterhouse's and they weren't there yet, so the kids all got out and played in the huge, beautiful playground outside the zoo.

When they got there, we went through the zoo and checked out all the animals. It was small, but really nice. After we had gone through everything, we headed back out to the park for lunch. We had both brought coolers with sandwiches and stuff.

We were home pretty early Saturday, and the kids just played and hung out. I went out to Mom's to feed her dogs and then came home.

Sunday, we went to church and then came home for lunch. The boys had their small group from 2-4. It was a swim party, and they both had a blast. At 6, David made hamburgers on the grill and Monika, Jenna and Julie all came over to eat and have our Bible study. That has turned out to be so much fun.

I am so very behind on laundry! Hopefully I can get caught up today. We should have a semi-normal day today, and I'm thankful.

I have no idea what sets him off, but Joshua has decided he is not going to sleep tonight. He has been doing so well, but when this happens, I immediately become just as frustrated as I was when it was every night.

I am too tired to do this tonight. We were up late last night and up early this morning, then really busy all day. I just don't understand it.

Cody

See Jacob's bunny ears?

Cody's sprayed in highlights.

My good-lookin' kid!

We are going to get the stuff to highlight his hair soon. Actually, I think we'll get Dena to do it (in case you're reading this).

I'm crazy...

Jayden, Jordan, Justin, Jacob, Joshua, Cody, Trace, Emily, Karleigh, Tori and Lizzie. We have a very, very full house. Right now, it's nap time, so the three youngest and Emily all are down. Hopefully Joshua will sleep for a few hours. He is still learning how to share his toys and his people. He's not sure about either, but he's trying.

Most of the other kids are gathered around a very lively game of chess in the dining room, and Cody's in his room being an "almost teenager", which we keep reminding him that an "almost teenager" is still 12. haha. He knows we're playing with him.

It's so great to have all the kids here. Joshua doesn't miss a beat with all of his own family (it's just when you add in all the rentals that he gets a little weird).

I don't know what we'll do tomorrow night, but I'm sure we'll take in some fireworks somewhere. On Saturday, we're going to Gainesville to check out their zoo with the Osterhouse's. Sunday, we're going to try to have another Bible study. We decided last week, that we don't have to skip Sundays if we don't want to. :-)

Maybe TMI? but still cute I think

The other day, I was putting up laundry in our closet. Joshua went running by me as fast as he could to the bathroom. He gets in there and slams the door (as usual). I'm so afraid he's going to lock himself in there that I've been practicing with picking the lock. haha. Anyway, I get to him and he's grabbed the toilet paper and pulled off a piece. When I opened the door, he pointed at his diaper and said, "Mom, poooooop". He squatted down in the bathroom and acted like he was wiping with the toilet paper. It was hilarious! He's been telling me lately when he needs his diaper changed. I'm hoping this is some sort of a sign that he'll potty train easily? Maybe that would make up for all the no-sleeping issues we had? Oh, I hope so!

Jacob is at Mom's until Wednesday when they'll bring him and Karleigh back to me. Mom and Dad leave Thursday for their summer vacation. They'll be gone at least two weeks. Cody and Emily come home tomorrow, so we'll have a full house. Trace will be here most days, so most days, we'll have 6 kids! I sure have appreciated and enjoyed the first half of this summer being so quiet. It's been nice.

It's cake!

Haha!

Monika brought this over for dessert for our Bible study (which is going absolutely awesome, by the way). We're going through the book of Romans. We were all talking tonight about how amazing God is in that we never, ever would have dreamed that the three of us would be sitting around studying the Bible together. We were all very wild teenagers, and alot of that was done together. God is a God of miracles, though. He's truly amazing!

I uploaded the pics from my camera.

tired baby

yogurt and cheetos, mmmm!

Uncle Julio's, double mmmm!

Granny Franny has a tv too!

Joshua's shadow

I couldn't get any pictures of him kissing it - he was too fast, but this is still so cute...

green hair and face paint

Jacob and Karleigh had VBS last week. Well, Karleigh had VBS and Jacob was Jr. Team Leader. He took his role as Jr. Leader of the Atomic Fizz (green team) very seriously...




Karleigh was on the Flash Fusion (yellow team). It was sooo much fun!

We took Trace every day with us, but he wasn't here for pictures. :-(

No Other Gods

I'm so excited. Beth Moore has a blog and is doing a book study on a book called 'No Other Gods' by Kelly Minter. She will post on her blog about it and then we are to get together with hopefully somebody else and discuss it. A lady named Rebecca came up with the ingenius idea of starting a message board for those of us with nobody to get together with. Yay! What a great idea! I can't wait to get my copy (hopefully soon in the mail) and get started!

Wow!

Somebody in San Antonio checks out my blog early!

Ok, why does this always happen? Just as soon as I brag about Joshua's sleeping, he pulls a night like last night. I have been up since 3:30. Yup, and now he's in bed and I can't go back to sleep because the kids have VBS in a little while. I've already showered and all that, so now I just have to get everybody else up and ready. I'll wake Josh on the way out and he'll just have to deal with it. It sure would be nice to sleep until about 9 with him.

Maybe I'll get a nap with him today. Haha. That's funny.

I will never, ever take sleeping for granted.

I promise. Josh has been sleeping well for a while now and it is so beautiful. He goes down around 9:30 at night and gets up around 8:30 in the morning, then takes about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Beautiful.

I used to kinda' give Dena a hard time about Kerstyn's sleep schedule and how protective she was of it, but no more! I repent! I totally understand and can offer the deepest sympathies to mothers who are not getting their sleep. I hope and pray with all my heart that time is completely over for us and we'll only have the occasional bumpy nights from here on out. And now I find myself just as protective of Joshua's sleep as Dena was - if not more. Sleep is absolutely sacred in our house now.

G'night.

a really nice weekend

We went to Wichita Falls to visit some friends. We haven't been there since March. Before that, we hadn't been there since October when we moved and then had my surgery. I wasn't in much of a visiting mood after the surgery, though, so we didn't stick around.

Friday, when David got off work, we headed to Chris and Mistie's house. David took a nap there and we hung out until after Dinner.

Our dear friends' daughter, Leah, turned 2 on Saturday, and Joshua was her honored guest. Actually, we were all named Joshua as far as Leah was concerned. Anyway, we ushered in her 2nd Birthday in style. She had a trip to Pizza Hut, a huge cookie cake and presents. And I forgot my camera (gasp!). It was like being nekkid! We had a wonderful time with Tim and Laura.

This morning, we went to church where we used to go. I loved seeing everybody and didn't realize how much I miss them until I saw them again. It was like visiting an old friend, but not like home anymore. After church, the guys went to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and the girls took all 8 children through drive throughs and back to Mistie's house to hang out for a while. There were lots of babies!

I doubt we'll even go up there much after March. Most of our friends will either be PCS'd or separated by then and we won't have anybody to visit. I am very thankful to the Air Force for the friends we've made.

She's not supposed to ask to go to the pool.

So, she's found about 18,000 ways to NOT ask to go to the pool! HAHA!

"Sure would be a great afternoon to be at the pool."

"Jacob, wouldn't you just love it if Katie would take us to the pool?"

"I sure could be swimming right now."

"Isn't this just the cutest swimsuit, Katie? It's right here in my bag if I were to need it today."

"Those kids sure do look like they love that pool!"

"I bet Joshua would love to swim!"

I guess it's obvious that Karleigh's been here for a few days. She was instructed very carefully by Granny Becky that she is not to ask me if I'll take her to the pool. Her creative 6-year old mind has come up with many, many others besides what's listed here to suggest I take her without coming out and asking. I love that kid. Oh, and she's been to the pool twice since Sunday.

I know, I'm strange

but I can be strange if I want to.

I've always, always, always loved cemeteries. I love how peaceful they are. There is one close to our house that I've always loved to go out and just sit in. Zion Cemetery's first burial was 1859. It's still active today, but is very small and quiet. I took a break yesterday and went out there for a bit. The sun was just right, so I took some pictures.

Some pics from yesterday

This is a road close to Dena's house.

These birdhouses were behind the DQ. Thought they were funny.

Yesterday, Josh and I went up to Dena's for the evening. Mom and Dad called and asked if I could keep Karleigh until Thursday because Mom got time off from work and they want to go to my grandparents' in Missouri. Of course. So, they brought her to El Chico's where Dena and I were gonna eat and ate with us on their way out of town. It was really nice. After dinner, we went to Dairy Queen for Blizzards (super-yum!). We all had a really good time. It was nice to hang out with them.

This morning, Jake's team actually won a game! I quit posting all the scores because it was just so sad. Anyway, it was one of those edge-of-the-seat games that was very close the whole time. Jake caught two pop flies and scored 4 of their runs! Go, Jake! I wish Cody had been here for it. He would have loved, loved, loved winning a game.

So, you think you can dance?

Laundry!!!

I have done so much of it the past several days, my head is swimming! I went into Cody's room to get it ready for company and it was crazy in there! He had stuff stuffed everywhere. I'm not surprised, he's a 12-year old boy, but it was still nuts. I took everything off his top bunk and threw it into his closet. Then I fished all the clothes out from under his bed and threw them in the closet. I stripped/washed his bedding and put it back on. The girls who slept in there used a sleeping bag on the top bunk and his bedding on the bottom. I decided I'd tackle all the stuff in his closet today. I pulled it all out and probably have about 10 loads of laundry to go. Once I get done washing everything, I'll head back in there for all the trash/broken stuff. Hopefully he'll be happy when he comes home to a nice, clean bedroom.

Jacob's was tackled right after Cody left, but it still has a ways to go. I'll get in there and help him too, when he comes back from Mom's, or better yet, once I get done washing all of Cody's stuff.

I hit Emily and Joshua's room yesterday and cleaned out/organized alot of Emily's toys. I'm so glad she has things here so that she feels like it's her room. Joshua's stuff is mostly in the living room in a bucket, so I try to keep it pretty organized for him. He mostly just sleeps/changes in their room. I do need to get through the dresser again so that she has a place for her clothes when she's here for the summer.

Once they start school, I'm sure I'll take care of washing their clothes again for them - if nothing else, out of self defense. I can't stand stuff stuffed everywhere and I know they're both at a point where they'll appreciate it.