July 4th!

Our day started out with a donut run and some kayaking!  SO American!!

We also celebrated, again this year, at the pool with friends!  Love this sweet crew!

Then we came home for a mini fireworks show of our own!

Happy birthday, America!  We’re so proud to be Americans!

Soccer Season!

The boys’ first soccer game of the season-Sam’s first ever!-and daddy was coaching.  Did my heart good to see all my boys out there together!I can hear Sam, “Hands in!  Put your hands in!”He started off kinda disinterested, but then he got into it a bit!  But just for a bit.  And then he was pretty over it.Jack did greatuntil Mark had him rotate out.  He wasn’t happy about that at all.  We’re working on sportsmanship.

Sam wanted to score a goal so bad, so he set himself up-and made it happen!!  He was SO excited!!Sweet first soccer game!  Way to go, Strikers!

World’s best daddy!

I mean.  They love him so!  And me, too!  Thank you, LORD, for Mark!

Christmas Eve Night

Cookies and milk out for Santa, daddy read “Twas the night Before Christmas, we took our under the tree jammie picture, and now it’s time for visions of sugar plums to dance in their heads!

Pumpkin carving night

Tonight was our carving night, and I thought we (Mark!) had our work cut out for us!  Jack picked one of the biggest pumpkins in the patch!  But Mark took care of it in no time, and the boys had fun getting out the goop.  All done!

Master’s Sunday

My cup overflows.

Meeting the Easter Bunny

Before heading up to brunch, the boys got to meet the Easter Bunny.  Sam liked him this year!After Jack thanked the EB for his basket of goodies, he said to me, “Mom, I know that’s not the real Easter Bunny cuz I heard him talk.  That’s just a person in there.  The real Easter Bunny must be taking a nap somewhere.”  Oh, goodness!

Waking up on Easter morning

It’s Easter morning!!  Alleluia!  The boys were sure the Easter Bunny had stopped by last night, so they ran down the hall to check it out.Sure enough!Now let’s get ready for church-my favorite service of the year!

Christmas morning

So the boys woke up just like any other morning.  Jack came into our room at about 7:45 and hopped into our bed.  He snuggled for a few minutes, then Mark asked if he’d heard the reindeer hooves on the roof last night.  That’s when he got excited!  He said we should get up, and hurry!, and he ran to Sam’s room.  We heard him asking Sam if he heard the reindeer hooves and telling him that it’s Christmas morning!  It was the cutest thing!  So we got up and went to see if Santa did, indeed, stop at our house!  Oh, these faces!This is one of my favorite pictures from the morning.  Jack wrapped a gift for Mark in layers of foil and pipe cleaners.  This was his first wrapping job, and it was wrapped with love, for sure!That Santa never eats all his goodies, and these boys don’t complain about that!Happy birthday to the newborn King!The boys played with their new toys and then we got ready for another celebration with the Thomases.  It was the BEST kind of morning!  We’re so blessed and we’re so thankful for the precious gift we were given that first Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve Night

After church, we stopped at home to pick up some things, take a few pictures by the tree, and to sprinkle some Reindeer food out front.  Can’t have those guys getting lost!Then we headed to RaRa and Dick’s.  We love, love this little tradition and celebrating Christmas with friends that are more like family!  We exchanged gifts and enjoyed yummy food and even better company.  I’m not sure how I missed pictures of big Sam and all the adults, but I did!The boys sure enjoyed all the attention from the girls (who I think also enjoyed the love from these little boys!) and I’m pretty sure they would’ve stayed all night long if we would’ve let them!I mean, there was even BOWLING!And the girls ended the night Christmas Caroling!We wished everyone a Merry Christmas and headed home to get two boys snug in their jammies so Mark could read to them! He also read The Three Billy Goats Fluff (yes, fluff)and Sam always gets a little nervous at the mention of the Troll.He bounces back quickly, though! :)And with that, we put treats out for Santa and the reindeer and put two little boys to bed-with visions of Sugar Plums dancing in their heads!  We can’t wait to celebrate the birth of the Newborn King!