Birthday Crazies = No Sleep Fo You!

Domino Tower...

Granny D is 93!

Workin Man...

Walmart Fun...

Long Time No Post...

Well, it has been months since my last post. John started a blog and I must admit, that I kinda felt off the hook on updating this one. That said, I hope to be a little better about updating everyone on our crazy lives. For those who still check this and are not aware, John has taken a new job at our church. It is a complete career change, and we are thrilled about it! God has been at work getting us out of our comfort zone, I believe, so that we might be ready and willing to take this new step of faith. John will continue to work with Dement (his old company) on a part-time basis, but Highpoint Church will be full time. I think his main responsibilities will be to run the "business" of the church and help with the human resources side, including managing tension, development and all that fun stuff that comes along with people.

Mason and Kenzie are busy playing soccer and loving it! Justus is Mr. Football. He has really taken to football and enjoys it much more than I thought he would. We are excited to see them all achieving success in their athletics. Justus is enjoying high school and the connections with friends he has made of the past few years being at the same school. Mason and Kenzie are still enjoying the home school routine...especially the chance to wear pjs and leotards to class.

Summer Vacation!

The last week in June we went to Florida with my fam. There were sandcastles being built, waves to ride and sun rays to catch. Justus, Mason and Kenzie could have stayed at the beach all day long! We had pretty good weather the entire week with a few showers and lots of fun getting to hang out with everyone for a week!


Our crew!













Here Mason is showing Stephen how to ride the board...and look professional even when you haven't the slightest clue what you are doing. Isn't that right "Uncle Dr. Stephen?!"






Justus showing the boys how it is really done!











Here's Kenz and all the crazy sea creatures she caught swimming around.

Home School Has Arrived!!!

This picture pretty well sums up a typical summer day at our house...notice the chocolate milk mustache. Just wanted to let you all know, for those still checking my forgotten blog, that our home school materials arrived...and I cannot wait to go back to school! Seriously, we are set with lots of neato materials and what appears to be a detailed and interesting curriculum. Mason and Kenzie watched me unpack it all and I think Kenzie is ready to start school right now! Mason is, however, enjoying his summer off.

Here is a fun shot of Mason pitching. He loves to pitch, play out field when there is actually action in the out field and he also enjoys catching...come to think of it, I can't come up with a part of baseball that he doesn't like.

Kenzie can be seen in green headed for the goal. She has really taken to soccer...her favorite position being goalie. We have finished up Kenzie's soccer and Mason's baseball for the year. Justus also finished baseball at the end of June, but more importantly Justus graduated from 8th grade this year. We are very proud of him. Here is a picture of Justus and his friend Danny after the graduation ceremony.

John is hard at work on his new business. We are all helping out where we can with that. We have had lots of change since we got married, but it has all been good change!

Weekend Festivities!

We had a whirlwind weekend with lots of fun and exhausting activities. Friday we mulched the existing flower beds as well as the one John created on one side of the house. That night Mason started playing in his first baseball tournament of the year...with a game at 9:30 that night. We had a tasty pre-game dinner and early bedtime for Kenz and off to the game we went blanket in hand. Saturday morning we got up for two more baseball games and a soccer practice. Mason's second game got rained out, but we got one full game in and Kenzie had her soccer practice. I think her team is going to be pretty good! It is too cute to watch 6 six-year-olds out on the field all at once chasing the same ball around. We spent the remainder of the day just hanging out and watching basketball and movies. Sunday came early with a restart of Mason's baseball game. The game kept us from making it to church, so we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather by working in the yard. John dug another flower bed...only about 4 more to go! We planted lots of fun things, including some roses, holly bushes, boxwoods, hydrangea, ferns and impatiens. Big fun, but extremely exhausting. Last night as we got ready for bed, Kenz wanted some sponge rollers in her hair, so we had lots of curl this morning, which is new for her and I think she isn't quite sure what to think about all that bounce! She looked absolutely adorable!!! Although, Mason's comment about her looking like George Washington wasn't really what we were looking for as far as compliments go. :o) Hope everyone had as fun and eventful a weekend as we did!

Kenz and Curlers

We played with the curlers today and had tons of fun. There weren't enough for us both to have curly hair, but since Kenz didn't want to look "silly" alone, I put a few in my hair too. Sadly it is rainy here today and most of it fell right out, but she just looked so cute, I had to share!

Long Time No Update!

Well, a lot of change has taken place since the last time I blogged. First of all, after much thought and prayer, I decided not to pursue the nursing degree, at least for now. John and I talked a lot about this decision and the thing I knew more than anything was that I want to be here for and serve John and the kids first. That meant taking another look at the path we had chosen to journey together over the next year and realizing that now is not the time for nursing school. So, you might be wondering what I am going to do instead...yeah, well, so are we! :)

For the past month I have been a stay at home mom and wife, working on getting things in order and trying to keep them in order. We start the day between 5 and 6, with running to do, clothes to wash and lunches to make! You can find me in the carpool line at 7:45 and again at 3:15. I love it! We are just starting to think of things I can do while the kids are in school to make a little extra money. There are several fun options out there...I'll let you know what we decide!

Justus and Maison are starting up the baseball season and Kenzie is signed up to play soccer this spring. Need less to say, we will be on the road from place to place a lot this spring. We just celebrated a 10th birthday. Maison had some friends join him for laser tag and then pizza, cake and a "how late can we stay up" party! John and I actually did sleep...until 2am when there was a loud crash upstairs above our room. I think the boys were bowling! Other than that, we're training two dogs (obedience school once a week with homework in between), adding a door to Justus' room upstairs, hunting whatever is in season, planning a trip to Guatemala, planning a vacation with my fam, and spending time with family and friends. We're enjoying any excuse to use our fine china...I think everyone should make excuses to use it!Grandparents day was big fun for Kenz. My mom, Gracie, and I went and had big fun at their program.
Kenzie wrote why grandparents are grand, and I thought you might all get a big kick out of what she said!

The boys went hunting the following weekend and had lots of success killing ducks and having fun! John's dad came and stayed with us for the week, along with his friend Jerry. Our friend Wayne joined the boys on their hunt and he and his wife came and stayed with us Saturday night and went with us to church. They used to go to our church before they moved away, so it was fun to have them back for the weekend!

The boys trying to stay warm. All you can see are Maison's eyes!

John and Wayne killed a canvas back (I think that is what it's called). It was very pretty and I think it is a rare kill in Arkansas. If I'm lucky, that bird will spend every other year at our house! :o)

Kenz fell sound asleep on the stairs the day the boys were hunting. I walked into the den to see if she was ready to go shoe shopping and she was breathing so loud, all I had to do was follow the noise! She said she was watching the clock and it put her to sleep!